Damascus # 4 - Saladin's Tomb + the Mosques





Saladin

Third Crusade 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin
The armies of Saladin engaged in combat with the army of King Richard at the Battle of Arsuf on September 7, 1191, at which Saladin was defeated. All attempts made by Richard the Lionheart to re-take Jerusalem failed. However, Saladin's relationship with Richard was one of chivalrous mutual respect as well as military rivalry. When Richard became ill with fever, Saladin offered the services of his personal physician. Saladin also sent him fresh fruit with snow, to chill the drink, as treatment. At Arsuf, when Richard lost his horse, Saladin sent him two replacements. Richard suggested to Saladin that Palestine, Christian and Muslim, could be united through the marriage of his sister Joan of England, Queen of Sicily, to Saladin's brother, and that Jerusalem could be their wedding gift.^{[citation needed]} However, the two men never met face to face and communication was either written or by messenger.
As leaders of their respective factions, the two men came to an agreement in the Treaty of Ramla in 1192, whereby Jerusalem would remain in Muslim hands but would be open to Christian pilgrimages.

Given the greatness of the man, his monument is humble.  There is a tomb inside where his remains are buried and next to it is another  ornate marble tomb , given to the city by Germany,  that rests side by side.   I don't get the connection other than Saladin fought the kings of England , France and Germany in the Third Crusade and was incredibly kind in victory.

To enter the Saladin shrine and the mosque , women had to be in full hijab or wear a special robe that could be rented at the entrance.\

The special robe

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: جامع بني أمية الكبير‎, transliteration Ğām' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr), located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. It is considered the fourth-holiest place in Islam.^[1]
After the Arab conquest of Damascus in 634, the mosque was built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist (Yahya) since the time of the Roman emperor Constantine I. The mosque holds a shrine which today may still contain the head of John the Baptist, honored as a prophet by both Christians and Muslims alike. There are also many important landmarks within the mosque for the Shī‘ah, among them the place where the head of Husayn (the grandson of Muhammad) was kept on display by Yazīd I. The tomb of Saladin stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.

The spot where the mosque now stands was a temple of the god Hadad in the Aramaean era of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age. The Aramaean presence was attested by the discovery of a basalt orthostat depicting a sphinx excavated in the north-east corner of mosque.^{[citation needed]} The site was later used for a Temple of Jupiter in the Roman era, then a Christian church dedicated to John the Baptist in the Byzantine era.

This is the inner courtyard (or half the inner courtyard).  In the Koran , tradition has it,  Jesus, a major prophet for the Muslims will return in the Second Coming and sit atop one of the four minarets of this mosque.

The Mosque attracts both Suni and Shiite worshippers. The women in the picture are Shiites from Iran. 

 

This picture above shows the expanse of the mosque.  It is taken in the women's area with the men's area to the right.

 

This is the tomb of Saint John the Baptist.  Tradition has it that his head is buried here.  Muslims revere St. John so when they converted the church to  a mosque, they left the tomb untouched. 

This style of tomb seems to be typical Muslim and I saw it here and in Central Asia.  Saladin's tomb looks exactly like this but pictures were not permitted.

For centuries the mausoleum of Ruqayya bint al-Hussein ash-Shaheed bi-Kerbala (Ruqayya, the Daughter of the Martyr Hussein of Kerbala) was hidden among the clutter of tumbledown Damascene housing just to the north of Umayyad Mosque. In 1985 the Iranians (Ruqayya being a Shiite saint) began construction of the Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque around the mausoleum, designed very much in the modern Persian style.

While the portico, courtyard and main 'onion' dome are relatively restrained and quite beautiful, the interior of the prayer hall is a riot of mirror mosaics. Except during Friday prayers, non-Muslim visitors are welcome (modest dress is required and women must cover their heads).

The daughter's tomb

The men would sit in a circle where they beat their chests as hard as they could and then stop while one of them stood up to sing verses from the Koran.  When this man sang, in a beautiful mornful voice, many of the men and most of the women were crying. 

The women sat passively outside the circle and watched.

Outside the mosque. the women sell  nuts.