To trail the footsteps of the Prophets.. (11)

(cont’d)

Today was our last day in Suria. We went out early in the morning to do some unintentional work out. Huhu. We climbed a significant hill, Jabal Qasyun which is believed to be the location where Abel (Habil) was murdered by Cain (Qabil). To recap the story on Able and Cain, kindly you can refer to my earlier post (Al-Maidah : 27-31).

From the base of Jabal Qasyun, we were brought uphill halfway by a lorry. We had to stand at the back of the lorry, grasp the handle really tight and let the lorry carry us as high as it can reach. The road was steep, twisted and narrow with houses and shops everywhere. The lorry stopped when we arrived at a point where we can climb the stairs. It was tiring but exciting. After a distance we rested for a moment and had our breakfast; honeydew. We then continued climbing and alhamdulillah at last we managed to reach our destination; the mosque close to the top of Jabal Qasyun.

The mosque was built as a continuation of a cave. The bloke who looked after the place explained (translated by ustaz) to us the significance of the cave. When Abel was murdered, the cave got too irate that it wanted to swallow Cain for his wrongdoing. However suddenly came Jibril a.s. appearing in the form of human using his hand to obstruct the closing cave. So there we can see the indentation of human fingers left on the surface of the cave. Apart from that, we were also introduced to a rock that’s believed to have been used by Cain to murder Abel. The unusual thing was that the rock is said to be lighter than it looks.

Referring to the book “Stories of the Quran by Ibn Kathir” (page 9), it states that “there is a cave, called the "Blood Cave", in a mountain located to the northern part of Syria. It is thought to be the scene of the crime where Cain killed his brother Abel. The people living there came to know this through the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) and only Allah Almighty knows the validity or realness of this.” So I think wherever the crime actually took place isn’t that important, it’s the moral of the story that we should apply in our lives.

After spending quite a long time there, we headed downhill and again had a ride on the lorry. At the base of Jabal Qasyun we bought our second breakfast; something like pizza and was very yummy. With full stomachs we went directly to Ustaz ‘Kayu’’s house for lunch and were made aware about this Arabic intensive class carried out in Syria for 3 months, just if we want to join for the next summer. Interesting and can be considered. Really fervent to learn the Quran’s language especially after this Middle East getaway. Huhu.

Now it’s time to leave Syria. No matter how heavy-hearted I was, the journey ought to come to an end. Anyway before we left we bought a ‘souvenir’ to bring home; the famous Baklava. During the bus ride from Damasus, Syria to Amman, Jordan, passing the immigration wasn’t that easy. However despite of everything, alhamdulillah we finally got back to Amman late afternoon and waved goodbye to the Jordan students who went back to Irbid.