soul is, this is the mosque of David, from which the prophet told us that he ascended into heaven. He (upon whom be peace) gave us a circumstantial account thereof, and especially mentioned the fact that we had found upon the Sakhrah a quantity of dung which the Christians had thrown there out of spite to the children of Israel."* AVith these words he stooped down and began to brush off the dang with his sleeve, and his example being followed by the other Mussulmans of the party, they soon cleared all the dung away, and brought the Sakhrah to light. Having done so he forbade them to pray there until three showers of rain had fallen upon it. Another account relates that, on conquering the city, Omar sent for Ka'ab, a Jew who had been converted to Mohammedanism during the prophet's lifetime, and said to him, " Oh, Abu Ishâk, dost thou know the site of the Sakhrah ?" " Yes," replied Ka'ab, " it is distant such and such a number of cubits t from the wall which runs parallel to the Wâdy Jehennum ; it is at the present time used for a dunghill." Digging at the spot indicated, they found the Sakhrah as Ka'ab had described. Then 'Omar asked Ka'ab where he would advise him to place the mosque ? Ka'ab answered, " I should place it behind the * It needed no prophetic inspiration to acquaint Mohammed with. this fact. The site of the Temple was not only well known to the Christians, but was systematically defiled by them out of abhorrence . for the Jews. Eutychius expressly tells us that—" when Helena, the mother of Constantine, had built churches at Jerusalem, the site of the rock and its neighbourhood had been laid waste, and so left. But the Christians heaped dirt on the rock so that there was a large dunghill over it. And so the Eomans had neglected it, nor given it that honour which the Israelites had been wont to pay it, and had not built" a church above it, because it had been said by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospel, ' Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate.' " f Eeynolds, again misunderstanding the Arabic, renders this " one cubit."