BABU 'S-SALAM

"The Gate of Peace." The gateway in the sacred mosque at Makkah through which Muhammad entered when he was elected by the Quraish to decide the question as to which section of the tribe should lift the Black stone into its place. It was originally called the Bab Bani Shaibah, "the Gate of the Bani Shaibah," the family of Shaibah ibn 'Usman, to whom Muhammad gave the key of the Ka'bah. Burkhardt says that there are now two gateways called by this name. Burton says, "The Babu s-Salim resembles in its isolation a triumphal arch, and is built of cut stone." (Burton's Pilgrimage, vol. ii. p. 174. See Muir's Life of Mahomet, pp. 28, 29.)