Description of Khalid ibn Walid Masjid

Khalid ibn Walid was called the “Sword of Islam” by the prophet (s). He was the greatest Muslim General in history. He opened Syria to Islam and is revered here as he chose it as his home for the last years of his life and died here. His Mosque is Turkish in design with these silver domes and looks cool at night when it is all lit up. The whole thing is built in a park which reminded me of palaces/mosques in India. All around were kids and families picnicking. There were drink stands and yes cotton candy and ice cream guys. They also have stands of beautiful stones, precious gem stones and I bought a number of them on behalf of a friend who was going to make jewelry from them.

To stand in front of his Qabr and pray is an overwhelming feeling. Just to know that you were in front of one of the greatest men in history. I don’t think I was ever so scared in front of anyone’s grave.

That big stone monument is actually a sword that curves, which is how they say Khalid ibn Walid’s sword was like. On it are the last words of Khalid ibn Walid. Something along the lines of: I have participated in hundreds of battles and now I am dying like an old man in my bed. Our teacher said that the reason he died like that and not in battle is that Allah did not want our greatest warrior to be shown to be defeated on the battlefield. SubhanAllah. And of course we know there are many who will die on their beds Shaheed.

Link to the pictures of Khalid ibn Walid Masjid

Description of Jamia Nabulsi

Jamia just means ‘mosque’. Jamia Nabulsi is a mosque right down the street from our school. I remember going there a few times for taraweeh. The original Shaikh Nabulsi passed away but his son does Jumahs and used to do talks. I believe it was built in Mameluke style and you can see that from the rounded hexagonal minaret. The inside is particularly nice and well preserved, with a typical diwan (raised platform) for halaqat al ilm (study circles).

In all these pictures you can see more closely the different color bands of stones they used to create patterns or alternated when they built things. This is a hallmark of Islamic architecture of this era.

Link to the pictures of Jamia Nabulsi

Description of Ibn Kathir’s Madrasa

As part of our trip in Bosra we came to this oooold madrasa. It was Ibn Kathir’s school. Look at how cute the little door is. Apparently they kept them liliputian so that it would keep the heat out and the cool in. Once you get inside it’s dark and cool. We walked for about two hours in the desert sun before we got here and of course before that we were all over the amphitheater. We were extremely hot in our jilbabs and hijabs and sweating and dying of thirst. So as soon as I went in I went straight for the ‘zamzam tank’ (those big metal water tank things in every mosque, but never has real zamzam of course). Right after I drank a big metal cup of cold water, I sat down and took that video. And then it happened…everything started going black! I claim I didn’t pass out. Shaz said I looked unconscious. Whatever!! So lesson learned… when walking the desert ALWAYS have water and sip from it all day. Thereafter every trip we took we brought those 1 liter Boukein water bottles filled up. And man there were times when we were tromping around I’d drink 3 of those in a day.

Inside the madrasa there are two diwans or raised platforms on either side. One side was for studying and the other was for sleeping/eating. They also had these mini compartments for sleeping that were ‘dorm rooms’ for students. You can see a pic of that. The Quran in the pictures is a realllly old one. I forget how old, but it’s like 600 or 800 years old and in protective glass.

Link to the pictures of Ibn Kathir’s Madrassa

Description of Homs

As you can see we saw a lot of Homs… just kidding. Homs is like a huge modern city. I think the third biggest in Syria. It looked a lot like modern downtown Damascus so I didn’t take any pictures. The pics that are here are of the countryside outside and YES the trees were all sideways bent like that. Kinda freaky I still can’t figure out why they’re like that. Someone told us wind, but can wind do that over time? They’re seriously growing sideways.

The main reason anyone goes to Homs besides that the bus station is a main transfer, is for Khalid ibn Waleed’s Mosque and tomb. See pics of those.

Link to the pictures of Homs

Description of Hama Great Mosque

I totally can’t remember the history of this Mosque. I’ll have to look it up in my journal and add it here sometime. You must recognize that it’s Ummayad now because the layout and architecture look so similar. The mosque did have two tombs of former sultans (kings) of Hama. And I remember the khadim (keeper of the mosque) was really nice and brought us around to the locked areas.