Hujrah Meaning

ḤUJRAH (حجرة‎). The “chamber” in which Muḥammad died and was buried, which was originally the apartment allotted to ʿĀyishah, the Prophet’s favourite wife. It is situated behind the Masjidu ʾn-Nabī, or Prophet’s mosque, at al-Madīnah, and is an irregular square of fifty-five feet, separated from the mosque by a passage of about 26 feet. Inside the Ḥujrah are supposed to be the three tombs of Muḥammad, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar, facing the south, surrounded by stone walls, without any aperture, or, as others say, by strong planking. Whatever this material may be, it is hung outside with a curtain, somewhat like a four-post bed. The outer railing is separated by a darker passage from the inner, and is of iron filagree, painted green and gold. This fence, which connects the columns, forbids passage to all men. It has four gates, the Bābu ʾl-Muwājihah (the Front Gate), the Bābu Fāt̤imah (the Gate of Fāt̤imah), the Bābu ʾsh-Shām (the Syrian Gate), and the Bābu ʾt-Taubah (the Gate of Repentance). The Syrian Gate is the only one which is not kept closed, and is the passage which admits the officers in charge of the place. On the southern side of the fence there are three small windows about a foot square, which are said to be about three cubits from the head of the Prophet’s tomb. Above the Ḥujrah is the green dome, surmounted by a large gilt crescent, springing from a series of globes. Within the building are the tombs of Muḥammad, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar, with a space reserved for the grave of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom Muslims say will again visit the earth, and die and be buried at al-Madīnah. The grave of Fāt̤imah, the Prophet’s daughter, is supposed to be in a separate part of the building, although some say she was buried in Baqīʿ. The Prophet’s body is said to be stretched full length on the right side, with the right palm supporting the right cheek, the face fronting Makkah. Close behind him is placed Abū Bakr, whose face fronts Muḥammad’s shoulder, and then ʿUmar, who occupies the same position with respect to his predecessor. Amongst Christian historians there was a popular story to the effect that Muḥammadans believed the coffin of their Prophet to be suspended in the air, which has no foundation whatever in Muslim literature, and Niebuhr thinks the story must have arisen from the rude pictures sold to strangers. Captain Burton gives the annexed plan of the building.

1.	Muḥammad.
2.	Abū Bakr.
3.	ʿUmar.
4.	The space for the tomb of Jesus.
5.	Fāt̤imah.

It is related that Muḥammad prayed that God would not allow his followers to make his tomb an object of idolatrous adoration, and consequently the adoration paid to the tomb at al-Madīnah has been condemned by the Wahhābīs and other Muslim reformers.

In A.D. 1804, when al-Madīnah was taken by the Wahhābīs, their chief, Saʿūd, stripped the tomb of all its valuables, and proclaimed that all prayers and exclamations addressed to it were idolatrous. (See Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. ii.; Burckhardt’s Arabia and Wahhābīs.)

The garden annexed to the tomb is called ar-Rauẓah, which is a title also given by some writers to the tomb itself.

Abū Dāʾud relates that al-Qāsim the grandson of Abū Bakr came to ʿĀyishah and said, “O Mother, lift up the curtain of the Prophet’s tomb and of his two friends, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar,” and she uncovered the graves, which were neither high nor low, but about one span in height, and were covered with red gravel. (Mishkāt, book v. ch. vi. pt. 2.)