The Journey of a Sufi (Part 8: A Visit to the Great Umayyad Mosque)

Three boys are ready to go

12th May 2010

This was the first day for us to conquer Syria. After the morning walk, we had our first breakfast. Can’t remember exactly what did we have for that very first breakfast. Was it ‘maggi goreng’? maybe. Then we prepared ourselves for our first outing to see some amazing places and people. We decided to go by foot to our destination. It had taken some 15 minutes to reach the great mosque. But for us the first timers, except for Sufian and Jiju, we felt it was longer than that. We walked on the pedestrian next to a main road consisting lots of cars and other transports. While walking, I noticed that the Syrians drive their cars so fast and so furiously. The honks of the cars were crying here and there, now and then. I said “my God!” These people really don’t have a good system on the road. But what surprised me was that, from my observation over the two-month period there, I didn’t see any single accident happened before my eyes. But the opposite is happening in Malaysia. You know what I mean right. We have a good system, but still, the number of accidents is uncountable to say the least. On our way I also looked at the people, especially women. Hey, don’t be negative okay. I ain’t doin nutin wrong. Just observing. My friends said that Syrian women are the prettiest in the world. When I kept observing, I guessed the statement was true. Syrian women do look pretty. Hot I should say. I don’t lie. They are, to the point that every time I see one, I need to quickly lower my gaze and say a ‘salawat’ to bring back my consciousness. But don’t worry, I won’t fall in love with them as it’s almost impossible for Malays to have a Syrian wife. Besides, they don’t eat Tom Yam like I do. So I don’t give a damn.



Old jami' every where


Okay, coming back to our walk. We passed through a market street named ‘Suq Sarijeh’. Here, they sold stuffs used in kitchen. This was the place where we came and by ingredients to cook in the future. Unfortunately I didn’t even think to take pictures of the street. It could’ve been nice to some pics of it. On our way, we saw so many jami’ on our left and right, with different old school designs. Passing Suq Sarijeh, then a long row of shops, finally we were nearing Umayyad mosque or Jami’ Umawi. But not before we encountered another long market street. This time, it was even bigger and more shops selling all kinds of goods that not only the Syrians would by, but of course the travelers like us would feel irresistible to by. The market was called ‘Suq Hamidiyah’, but we just always shortened it as ‘Hamidi’. The street in the middle of two rows of shops where people walked was quite large in width. But the people were extremely packed that we needed to walk close to each other for fear of lost. Above, there was an arc roof. The length of the Suq Hamidi street was about 500 metres I guessed. And that’s not all. At some points of the two rows of shops, there were many junctions that lead to other long and narrow market streets. This was hell! The first timer would surely get lost walking alone in this crowded market. From the historical aspect, judging from the stones used on the street stepped by people’s feet, I could imagine all the way back the time when Khalifah Arrashidun ruled more than half of the world and Damascus as the centre. I believed that these kind of stones on this street were a characteristic of Roman architecture before the Middle Ages when one of their rulers was Alexander the Great. So eventually what could be seen today was a cross design between east and west. Before we went deeper through the street, we went to a money changer stall on our right. Sufian and Jiju did the bargain. In Syria, they use ‘Leirah’ currency, or Syrian Pound. The rate was around 50 leirah equaled to RM3.


The long way of Suq Hamidiyah


One of the junctions lead to this chocolate street


Sufian changing our dollars and euros



Shops selling Jilabiyah for men and women


Quran for hantaran and presents

Actually we entered Suq Hamidi through the back gate, so now we had passed the front gate. In front of it, stood a ruin of the Jupiter temple. The arc looked old. It must have been built since the Romans epoch I thought. And finally, right before us after coming out of the Suq, the great Jami’ Umawi was visible. We could only see a long and tall wall made of cubic stones. At the centre of it was a large door, and there were so many people struggling to go in and out of it. And from far,through the door, I could see the courtyard in the middle of the jami’.



The front gate of Suq Hamidiyah



The wall of Jami' Umawi


The main entrance


Before we entered, we took off our shoes and brought along with us. After managed to pass the crowd inside near the door, at last! The full scenery of the open space of the jami’ really flashed before us for the first time! Before I came in, I had been wondering how does the jami’ look like? And now I remembered that I’d seen this place before. It was during a visit to Islamic Art Museum in Malaysia that I saw a model of this mosque. And now, I couldn’t believe my eyes that I was stepping my feet in this jami’. Cool! All praise be to God. I didn’t notice that my mouth was gapping seeing this. The design was awesome. It looked rather unique, a mix of Roman before the Islamic era and Arabic style after the arrival of Islam. I swear to God you should see this. There were so many tall, giant columns. They supported walls with interval arcs above there. And on them were decorated with pictures of trees, old houses and rivers. What stunned me was that the pictures were not painted, but were made of small pieces of, I don’t know what to call it, mosaic I guessed. But there were really indescribable. It shows how the people at that particular time whole-heartedly appreciate art. Maybe I should brief you a little. This jami’ was initiated by Khalid Ibn Walid in 707 CE, and the site was originally a Christian Cathedral of St. John. By 715, the jami’ was complete and sadly, Khalid Ibn Walid died the same year. May God bless his soul, amin.
To the west (the entering door as south), there was an old tall minaret. It looked so mysterious because my friend said that in the end of the day, Jesus would come down on that minaret. Should I or shouldn’t I believe it? Whatever, Jesus would surely come. So it’s not a big problem.







The Dome of Damascus' Treasury


Jesus ain't a son of God bro...



The pictures on the wall were deliberately made of small pieces of barada mosaic





Anip at the ablution stream

It’s noon, so the air was getting warmer. Before we entered the main prayer hall, Sufian lead us into the chamber of a dead written above the entrance ‘Raks Saiyidina Husin’ meaning the head of Saidina Husin. Well, I’m not gona tell anything about this guy called Husin coz I don’t even know his story and how did it happen that only his head was inside the chamber. So, another rule of thumb before you travel, do some research! Inside, I was surprised to see so many people. The most obviously visible were women covered in dark cloths from heads to toes accept for their faces. So then I knew that these people in the chamber were mostly Shias. The space was small and crowded, so it took quite a long time to reach the Maqam of Saidina Husin. From far, we heard a voice of a man caroling melancholic verses of prayer so loudly. I wonder what was the sound? And later when we reached the Maqam, we saw some people sitting near the Maqam, crying. The one doing the howling was among the group. I said to myself, “what on earth are they doing?” all the people surrounding him were crying and heaving as well. The guy seemed to ask and beg something from the Maqam. As if pleading from God! And the women surrounding the Maqam were wiping the box of the Maqam with a cloth while crying. What the fish! Okay, that’s enough for this chamber. We better go out. Didn’t want to see the ghost of Saidina Husin conjuring up in the chamber. Let’s go!!!

Written on the plate, 'The grave of the head of Saidina Husin'



Under this cover must be the head of Saidina Husin. Alfatihah...


let bygone be bygone bro...


In front of the Maqam

Then we were in the main prayer hall. The inner design was cool too! There were lots of giant columns, and these must have survived since the Roman Empire. One day in the two months, I came to the jami’ for a talaqi with a sheikh (A kind of lecture in the jami’), I saw that the night scenery of Jami Umawi was even cooler, especially in the open space. I wonder when Imam Ghazali was writing his books on the soul, he finished them up in this great mosque. I just can’t stop wondering the Islamic golden history when I was in the jami’. Everything looked so real before me.















The majestic view of the inner designs and the splendid night view

It’s time to go back home. Before leaving through Suq Hamidi, from the main door of the jami’, we saw on our left, flocks of pigeons gathering on the ground to feed their foods. We were like small boys, running towards the pigeons to scare the birds and let them fly in a huge flock. But it’s hard to have a nice shot if you just have a digital camera with you. So, the golden rule, get the best camera while traveling. Preferably the DSLR. While playing the scare-and-catch, all of a sudden a voice of a guy yelled at me to stop doing it. What the *************. It was a little embarrassing but I don’t give a damn. Okay, I’ll say no more. O yes, before I forget, on our way going back through Suq Hamidi, we stopped by a shop for ice cream, and every first taste of experience tasted really good.

What would the next post be? Mmm… we’ll see. Thanks for reading folks.







Yesterday I lived, today I die, and tomorrow’s the resurrection. Time, who has time, every second is precious
I’m in the darkful
Looking for the sun to rise
Tears running down my eyes
Thinking bout the one
Thinking bout my life
Thinking bout my death
Know I’m getting closing with every breath
I know It could be over but I’m still taking steps
Until there’s non left
Until I’m defeated
I know some feel cheated
But in this race
Quicking your pace, live your life
You’re only given the taste of this place
And that’s life
So when my eyes roll back
My body died
Please know that my tears have dried
So don’t cry
Say goodbye to your prayers
And let the memories get you to the years.

[Inevitable Journey – Jabbar and Ali]