Mukhallaqa pillar is one of the pillars of Masjid al-Nabi and the closest pillar to mihrab of Prophet(a), which was the place where incense was placed to perfume the Masjid al-Nabi. After changeing Qibla in the second year of Hijra/ 624 , the Prophet used to pray in front of this pillar for some time. Therefore, this pillar, which was the sign of the Prophet's prayer, was called the “ʿAlam(sign) pillar”.
the sources mentions that blessing this pillar is recommended and prayers next to it is fulfilled. It is also reported that Imam Rida(a) prayed 6 or 8 rakats next to this pillar.
The place of Mukhallaqa pillar
Mukhallaqah is the closest pillar to prophet's mihrab, which is connected to the back of the mihrab from the west[1] and now it is a little ahead of its original place[2] and above it is written in a green circle with golden lines the words "اسطوانه المخلّقه Al- Mukhallaqa pillar".[3]
Concept
The arabic word, Mukhallaqa(مُخَلَّقه), is from Khalūq(خَلوق) or Khalāq(خَلاق) means good smell, it is a type of perfume whose major part is saffron.[4] This pillar was named Mukhallkha(Perfumed) because of that, to perfume the mosque, it was smeared with perfume or incense was burned on it.[5]
History
There are several narrations of the first people who tried to perfume the mosque, which are as follows:
- It is said that the first person who perfumed the Prophet's Mosque was the wife of Uthman b. Mazʿun, one of the first Muslims, when his wife spat in the mosque, he washed and perfumed it.[6]
- According to Jabir b. Abd Allah al-Ansari, the first person who perfumed the Prophet's Mosque was Uthman b. Affan.[7]
- During the Umayyah rule, Umar b. Abdul Aziz (R:99-101/717-8 -720) and during the Abbasid period[8], Khayzran, the mother of Harun al-Rashid, did this work in 170 AH/786-7.[9] It seems that since then, making the atmosphere of the mosque fragrant became popular.
ʿAlam pillar
After changing of the Qibla in the second year of Hijra/624, Prophet Muhammad(a) used to stand in front of this pillar to pray for some time. Then he prayed at the current mihrab, which is known as the prophet's mihrab, and this pillar, which was closer to the mihrab than the other pillars, was placed behind the mihrab. It was also called "Alam" which means the sign of the Prophet's prayer and Qibla.[10] Some biographers consider this pillar as the pillar of Tawba (repentance);[11] But Waqidi based on narration considered them two separate pillars[12].
References
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. Mukarram. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1414 AH.
- Najjār, Muḥammad b. Maḥmūd al- .Al-Durra al-thamīna fī akhbār al-madina. Medina: Markaz Buḥūth wa Darāsāt al-Madina al-Munawwara, 1427 AH.
- Qāʾidān, Aṣghar. Tārīkh wa āthār-i Islāmi Makka wa Madīna. 4th edition. Qom: Nashr-i Mashʿar, 1381 Sh.
- Sayyid al-Wakīl, Muḥammad al- .Al-masjid al-nabawīī ʿabar tārīkh. [n.p], Dār al-mujtamaʿ li-lnashr wa al-tawziʿ, 1988.
- Ṣāliḥī Damishqī, Muḥammad b. Yusuf. Subul al-hudā wa al-rashād fī sīrat khayr al-ʿibād. 1st edition. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1414 AH.
- Ḥalabī, Nūr al-Dīn. Al-Sīra al-ḥalabiyya. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, 1400 AH.
- Wāqidī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Al-Maghāzī. Edited by Marsden Jones. Beirut: Muʾassisa al-Aʿlām, 1409 AH.
- ↑ Yamānī, Mawsūʿa makka al-mukarrama, vol. 2, p. 435.
- ↑ Qāʾidān, Tārīkh wa āthār-i Islāmi Makka wa Madīna, p. 191.
- ↑ Qāʾidān, Tārīkh wa āthār-i Islāmi Makka wa Madīna, p. 191; Yamānī, Mawsūʿa makka al-mukarrama, vol. 2, p. 435.
- ↑ Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, vol. 10, p. 91, word(خلق)
- ↑ Qāʾidān, Tārīkh wa āthār-i Islāmi Makka wa Madīna, p. 191.
- ↑ Najjār,Al-Durra al-thamīna, p. 100.
- ↑ Najjār,Al-Durra al-thamīna, p. 100; Yamānī, Mawsūʿa makka al-mukarrama, vol. 2, p. 436.
- ↑ Yamānī, Mawsūʿa makka al-mukarrama, vol. 2, p. 436; Samhūdī, Wafāʾ al-wafā, vol. 1, p. 281.
- ↑ Samhūdī, Wafāʾ al-wafā, vol. 1, p. 350.
- ↑ Sayyid al-Wakīl, Al-masjid al-nabawīī ʿabar tārīkh, p. 50; Samhūdī, Wafāʾ al-wafā, vol. 2, p. 174.
- ↑ Ṣāliḥī Damishqī, Subul al-hudā, vol. 5, p. 8; Ḥalabī, Al-Sīra al-ḥalabiyya, vol. 2, p. 664.
- ↑ Wāqidī, Al-Maghāzī, vol. 2, p. 507.