Arrived by el Tramco at around 16:30 hours, we visited the shrine of Sayeda Zainab binti Ali Ibn Abu Talib ra on the 7th Day of our trip to Syria. The prayer call – Adzan was aired from various minarets of the nearby masjids. Amir brought the kids to the prayer hall, while Azmi accompanied Nana, Afiqah and I to the shrine building.
Sayeda Zainab al Kubra is the daughter of the Caliph Ali Bin Abi Taleb radiyallahu anhu (ra), and the granddaughter of the prophet Muhammad saw (peace be upon him), from his daughter Sayeda Fatima al Zahraa rha and sister of Saidina Hasan ra and Saidina Husein ra. She was born in the holy city of al Madinah al Munawarah on the 5th Jamadi-ul-Awwal in the 5th year of Hijrah /627 A.D. Her Holiness became famous for her knowledge of the Holy Qu'ran and virtuous life. Her character she reflected the best attributes. In sobriety and serenity she was likened to Umm-al-Mumineen Sayeda Khadijah rha, her Grand-Mother, in chastity and modesty to her mother Sayeda Fatima al-Zahra rha and in eloquence to her father Saidina Ali karammallahhu wajhah.
As we entered from one of the four main doors, we saw the gold (pure) plated dome that glittered to our eyes. There was a big spacious courtyard around the building of the shrine. By the way, female is not allowed to enter the main building. However, female could sit or rest or etc, around the roofed area of the courtyard. Outside the building, we saw a small group of women clad in black circumambulating the shrine building, some were weeping near the corridor of the building and some were just sitting sadly chanting words that I myself did not understand. Well, none of my business! I went in with my D90 and took few shots of the overly decorated shrine. There were many people, I mean men, sitting around the shrine reciting Qur’an (I think), reading books and chanting holy words. And, some I observed were kissing, licking and banging their forehead on the shrine. Amazing scene! 5 minutes later, the security stopped me for taking photo. “mamnu’ shuwara ya Muallim” he politely hold me. I was a little bit confused though, thus with my very little knowledge of Arabic, I’d asked him why he allowed the other gentleman taking photo with his camera phone?! He explained to me, the camera phone was ok but not my DSLR?! This has made me further confused. Anyway, I’d complied with the rules. I left the hall and satisfied with I have taken.
Nana and Afiqah were frustratingly peeping through the casted iron grill partition around the corridor trying to see what’s inside.Her shrine in "al Ghouta” of Damascus is one of the most important Moslem shrines in the world and a wonder of Islamic architecture, visited by hundreds of visitors every day. Historians say that Mr. Mousa Murtadha, grandfather of the custodians of the Shrine of Zainab al Kubra constructed the mausoleum from rows of stones, bricks and wood. In 1870 the ceiling crashed down to be renewed with bricks supported by a wooden skeleton by Mr. Salim Murtadha, who gave the custody of the shrine to his son, and then to the oldest of his successors. Now a committee headed jointly by Dr. Hani Murtadha and Eng. Mohammad Ridha Murtadha is sponsoring the site.
0 comments:
Post a Comment