We took off to Homs, 
Then our first location that we visited that day was the shrine of Khaled Ibn Alwaleed placed in Khaled Ibn Alwaleed Mosque. I’m sure that most of us might have heard about Khalid al-Walid before, but just to share a few things about him; he was a companion of Prophet s.a.w. 
and was named “The Lord’s Unsheathed Sword” by Prophet Muhammad. He was a glorious Muslim Arab conqueror who had never been defeated in any war filed. His military talent was clearly shown in the battles he fought against the Murtaddin, the Persians and the Romans, in which he adopted a variety of tactics serving his constant strategy.
Then we went to a beautiful place where we found the waterwheel again, pretty much like the one in
T
he next destination brought us to the tomb of Omar bin Abdul Aziz, the just, sensible and ascetic caliph. He died in 101 Hijri at the age of only 40 years old as said by historians. In his luxurious age, he tried to make the prophecy 
instructions spread where high spiritual values flourished. That’s why, he ruled for 20 months but felt as if it had been 29 centuries. He governed half of the world yet his throne was just a decrepit carpet on the ground- what a majestic throne! His grave was visited by Sultan Salah Al Dein Al Ayoubi in 584 Hijri. He was also called the 5th caliph after the four Khulafa’ Ar Rasyidin, due to his great leadership. During his time he followed the style of leadership of Umar al-Khattab.
After that we headed off to Halab and the first place we went to was Aleppo Citadel or Halab Citadel. It was unquestionably 
huge and was positioned on top of a hill. Not like other citadels that we’ve visited before, most of the parts of the citadel were still there, carefully preserved. There was also this one hall which looked very new and the inside of it was fully decorated with beautifully carved wood. However I didn’t think that this hall belongs to the old age period.
Next we went to Umawi Mosque, a big mosque in the middle of 
the city. We had our lunch there- shawarma, and ustaz treated us with fries. Thanks ustaz! After performing the Zuhur prayer, we divided ourselves into 3 groups to begin our decisive mission- shopping in Souq Hamidi! Each group must have at least one person who can converse in Arabic and accompanied with one ustaz. Yes, when it comes 
to shopping, language really matters. The jubbahs sold there were cheap but hard to find a suitable one (I admit that I’m a bit fussy in buying things =p). I ended up buying only one jubbah which made me feel a little bit frustrated at first, especially when all of the groups gathered, after seeing most of us with a handful of plastic bags each. Tension. Huhu. But who knows; maybe this is a sign that I am meant go to
(to be cont’d)
