Road to Jannah

Description of Sand Storm

One day while we were in Damascus on the last day in March my flatmate noticed it was getting darker and darker out. It was 2PM and it looked like the sun was SETTING! This really freaked us out and we went outside and started wandering around. We noticed then that it was RAINING MUD. And that it was all over our clothes and when we took a picture you could see these little particles in the air. Then we noticed the cars were covered with a thin layer of the red clay too. Look at the picture of us looking out the window. It was bright NEON ORANGE outside! We thought for a moment the Day of Judgement was comin…. so we went home and called up my brother and he was up on the roof taking a video of everything! So then we called my sister, and she and her husband asked their tutor and he said it was a sandstorm! Apparently extremely uncommon but they do sometimes happen here.

So of course me and my flatmate went out again ‘to experience a sandstorm’ proper and took those freaky pictures of the graveyard and took some video from my sister’s roof. The interesting thing is that when these weird kind of weather things happen in Damascus, everyone goes inside and PRAYS. They make repentance and pray. SubhanAllah!

Link to the pictures of Sandstorm

Description of Salahuddin’s Tomb

A few years ago on my website we played ‘Who Want’s to Be a Mu’min; and one of the best questions was: Who is buried in Salahuddin’s tomb? Everyone was like…uhhh that must be a trick question??

Salahuddin al-Ayyubi is buried here in Damascus behind Jamia Ummiye. In the pictures it’s the orange dome structure. Thousands of people visit him every year, Muslim and non-Muslim. If you don’t know who Salahuddin is, you MUST learn more about him. He is one of the greatest warriors and heros of the Muslim world. He was also one of the greatest Muslims who showed his morality and faith in Islam by his actions. Because of it, even his greatest enemies respected and revered him. People even today study his genius in planning, strategy, attack and diplomacy. BTW Kingdom of Heaven is not wholly accurate but you can see even in that movie how they portray ‘Saladin’ as a great and moral man.

So if you look at the pictures you’ll see two tombs. The wooden carved one is where Salahuddin is buried (under that). And the one next to it in all marble was a gift of a German emperor who visited this site and said that a man like Salahuddin deserved more splendor and recognition so he sent the marble tomb as a gift.

Also kind of to the side there used to be a sign about someone else buried there. And NO ONE knew who it was. Some said it was Salahuddin’s son, some said the commander under him, some said it was a secretary. Everyone we asked would say something different. Today there is no sign so I have to wonder if there ever was anyone else in there? There are however 3 people buried outside the dome near it. Two are fighter pilots who fought for Syrian independence and I forget who the third is.

Anyway the place is SUCH a tourist attraction, it’s hard to get the feeling that Salahuddin is RIGHT THERE. Every time I go and every Damascene goes often, I can only just make dua for him that Allah rewards him for being the great man that he was.

Link to the pictures of Salahuddin’s Tomb