Day 11: Sightseeing in Jordan

Tuesday, 18th March 2008:

Still fighting jetlags, we managed to do more sightseeing today. We headed to a city called Salt, just half an hour drive from home.

We visited and paid respect to Prophet Shoaib's tomb. The mosque is located in the Wadi Shoaib which leads up from the Jordan Valley to the city of al-Salt just northwest of Amman in Jordan . The mosque is of modern construction and houses a refurbished Mazar of the prophet Shoaib Alaihissalam.

Outside the mosque, a friendly feline came our way. Ia suka kan kami, nya mama rezeki tu.. hehehe. Lampuh kucing nya ah macam Garfield.

We later moved on to visit the tomb of Prophet Joshua (Yusha), also in Salt. He was the successor of Prophet Moses and commander of the Israeli conquest.

The tomb itself is roughly 10 meters in length. Some scholars and travelers claim that this is actually the Mazar of the prophet Hosea [Ar. Hoshu'a] (Peace be upon him). Hazrat Prophet Joshua (Peace be upon him) is not mentioned by name in the Quran but Muslim scholars say that he is the "companion" of Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him) was mentioned in the holy Qur'an and he became prophet after Hazrat Musa (Peace be upon him). Scholars on the narratives in the Quran referring to the Israelites' conquest of the Holy Land detail the stories associated with Joshua b. Nun. Ibn Kathir reports that Joshua was a great warrior and lived for 127 years.

The entrance to the cave that housed the tomb:

The picture above is the dome of the old mosque connected to the cave.

Next. Good thing the day was sunny with cool wind blowing, we easily made our way to the The Cave of the Seven Sleepers (Kahf Al-Raqim) in Amman.

This cave is located near the village Al-Raqim, 10 km east of Amman. A group of pious youths took refuge in this cave because of religious persecution. To preserve them, God put them to sleep for 309 years as Christianity was widespread. At the cave you find Byzantine and Roman ruins and a mosque.

The picture below showed the first 4 tombs. There is a hole made on one of the tombs to see the remains of the bones of "the seven sleepers". A bit spooky.

That's all for today. We have to head back early and pack again. Tomorrow we'll be going on a long road-trip to Syria, our 3rd country after Saudi Arabia.

We miss you all.