SYRIA, A JOURNEY TO THE PAST (PART 4)

11/05/09 (Monday)

This morning, as my mother was having her conference in the hotel, I was not alone or staying in the room. Gladly the wife of my mother’s friend (kak Amnah) came by and accompanied me to go to the National Museum of Syria. It was only about 10 minutes walk from our hotel.

The National Museum of Syria when I went to was still under reconstruction at some parts of the building, which is under collaboration with the Italian government. However, the numbers of Rome monuments, scriptures and remnants of the country was more emphasized in the museum, as if mitigating the Islamic influence of the country. This is my perspective as from what I saw and we even got a chance to have a look into a room that was filled with pictures on the wall, describing a story of Prophet Musa a.s. as being told in the Qur’an, Taurat and Injil.

We then had our lunch with my mom and her other friends at an Arab restaurant. It was actually an awkward for the Arabs to have women eating huge meals inthe restaurants with the men, coz they usually eat separately between male and female. The meal was sooo huge, which I thought we might never able to finish it. But we finished it, maybe because we were all hungry and we took smaller meal (3 people eating a meal for 2).

We spent the evening then by continuing our shopping activities at Souq Hamidi (again) and Souq Towiil. Thanks to Mukaramah and Asma’ (the Malaysian students who are studying there) for helping us in buying things, even brought us to the underground area to buy cheap robes and abayas. I’ve learnt some of the key words in buying things there example ‘addish (how much?) and takhfif syuwaih (can you lower the price). These communication words could not be found in my previous Arabic language textbook…

There's one type of dress that almost all the Syrian women are wearing, which I admire of: Monteaus. They are basically chic coats, like those are worn by Western women as over a suit or a dress. But they are ankle length and wear with hijab being tucked in. So it’s not loose or flowy but more fitted and smart. I like them very much but don't think it will be appropriate to wear in Malaysia because of the hot weather.
The cost of living in Damascus is still cheap as compared to Malaysia or Singapore. This may be due to the existence of many souq compare to the supermarkets, where the prices of the goods and things are much more cheaper and also the tenants of each shops. The market sellers are very hardworking people, they even open their shops till late at night, a high spirit lesson I’ve earned from them.

SYRIA , A JOURNEY TO THE PAST (PART 3)

10/05/2009

After about 12 hours sleep, I felt so fresh this morning. We had a good and appetizing breakfast in the club room of the hotel (also free). Though it was an Arabic style of breakfast, I was kind of got used to them: cheese burok (very soft and half-melt cheese inside a pastry), fresh cooked button mushrooms, fresh fruits (kiwi, strawberry, orange) and many types of breads. The breads are eaten with many types of side dish: humus (chickpea), yoghurt, nuts, tahini and sliced cheese. What made it so delicious coz they all seemed to be very fresh and natural.

At 8.30 in the morning, we took a cab to go to Jami’ Umawi (Umayyad Mosque). We were told that it was the main place of attraction in the city and other main places were just nearby. It is known as the sacred heart of Damascus and became the preferred residential areas of Muslims.

We took a cab, however the taxi driver could not speak in English, therefore I tried to recall and speak in Arabic language, which I already left for about 7 years ago (can u imagine how awkward I sound). Alhamdulillah, I still can understand some of the things that the driver try to convey, he was a friendly guy. The funny part was, he asked us whether we’ve been to the Jabal Qosioun (which was initially not understood by me). Then my mother thought that he want to brought us to the castle, which is one of the place that we wanna go. So he brought us to the mountain, and that became our first place of visit in the city of Damascus.

Mount Qasioun (Arabic: جبل قاسيون‎, transliterated as Jabal Qasioun) is a mountain that overlooking the Damascus city, where a beautiful view of the whole city could be seen from its top with range of restaurants, especially at night. It’s also known to be the place of murder between Qabil and Habil (sons of Prophet Adam a.s.). According to Sunni Muslims, it is the site of the mihrabs of 40 saints, who are said to pray the night vigil prayers every night.

Then we went to The Great Umayyad Mosque. This mosque has a unique structure building as it contains 3 main religion influences: Paganism, Christians and Islam. In the 1^st millennium BC, several temples had been built on this site, which later turned into a church when Christianity proclaimed as the official religion of the region in 379 AD. When the Arab Muslim conquest reached Damascus in 635 Ad, the city was liberated from the Byzantine rule. Muslims and Christians attended their worship side by side as the Muslims only occupied the eastern half of the temple and left the church already erected in the west side for Christians. This harmony situation lasted for 70years.

In order to accommodate the increasing number of Muslims worships, the mosque was expanded and negotiations with the Christians were done in order to relinquish the built church at the half side of the temple. There are many historical remnants inside the mosque like the Mousaleum of Prophet Yahya a.s. (a.k.a. as John the Baptist by the Christians) and the Shrine of al Hussein (it is said that the head of al Hussein is buried there). There are also many pigeons could be seen in front of the Umayyad Mosque, which remind me to the Trafalgar Square in London.

Just in front of the mosque, one may unable to miss the busy part of Souq al Hamidiya. It is the most famous historical souk 600m long and 15m wide in Dimashq Qadim (old Damascus). There are many things sold in this area: foods (fresh breads, delicious pistachio ice creams), clothes (mantoue and abayas), head scarves, embroideries, tablecloths and handcrafts. The prices are negotiable and can be very cheap, if u knows how to bargain.

As we walk between the buildings, we lost our track and then we reached the Mosque of Ruqaya, granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. It was originally an 18^th century mosque and there is Mouseleum of Ruqaya inside. The construction buildings are sponsored by the Iranian government and we could see many Iranian visitors when we entered the building.

By afternoon, we arrived at the hotel with plastic bags and foods. I guess the guard and porter of the Hotel’s entrance already recognized us as the shopping-like person coz each time we came back, our hands will be occupied with shopping plastic bags, hehe. In the evening, we went for a walk at the nearby garden as the weather was just nice, not too windy and cool. There were many flowers could be seen and the people love to sit and relax at the park, especially with their family members. They like to sit on the grass with their children and wives, sometimes smoking shisha. As for dinner, we bought only one meal of chicken and mushroom with some side-dishes of small pizzas. But my goodness, it was a huge meal for the two of us and the price was also cheap (about RM12) though we bought at an exclusive restaurant nearby the hotel (Bait as Sham).

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabal_Qasioun
• The Great Omayyad mosque, by Dr. Ali al-Qayyem
• Touring Damascus & Countryside in 7 Days by Heidi Hakim & Ahmad Kattoub.

SYRIA, A JOURNEY TO THE PAST – PART 2

9/5/2009 (Saturday)

We began our journey near midnight as our flight will be on 3.30am on the next day by Qatar Airways. Nice plane and service (and cheaper), we also got free bags of toothbrush and socks. The stewards and stewardesses were mostly foreigners and not Arabs (as I expected), but I liked their dress, it was professional and convenient for their jobs. I like the way they ‘islamicize’ the airplane service by starting the journey with recitation of do’a on the screen television:

سُـبْحَانَ الَّذِى سَخَّرَ لَنَا هَاذَ وَ مَا كُنَّا نَـحْنُ مُـقْرِنِيْنَ وَ إِنَّ اِلىَ رَبِّنَا لَـمُنْقَلِبُوْنَ

“Subhaanal ladzii sakhkhara lanaa, haadza wa maa kunnaa lahu muqriniin, wa inna ila rabbinaa lamunqalibuun”.
"Glory to Him Who has subjected this (means of transportation) to our (use), for we could never have accomplished this (by ourselves). And to our Lord, surely, must we return." (Qur'an 43.13-14)

We were so sleepy that we missed the sandwiches given after the plane departed. But I’m the type who likes to awake while on board (whether by car, bus or plane). After 7 hours on plane, we arrived at Doha International Airport for another 7 hours transit. Because I only slept for 2 hours in the plane, I was very sleepy and tired but still glad that I could stretch my arms and legs and lay down in the musolla at the airport.


Doha International Airport is a very busy airport, which will disturb you with many announcements and flight callings every second. It was a big airport and many shops too. But still, KLIA is better (proud to be Malaysian). While waiting for our next flight, I couldn’t stop from watching and observing people around me. Most of them were Arabs, with different skin colors, dialects and dress. I was amazed with different kinds of fashions and designs could be done from single dress of black robes and hijabs, which are the formal dress of Arab women. These are examples, and the latest version was the one with a hood



After 3 hours flight from Doha, we finally arrived in Damascus, the capital city of Syria. When I first saw the airport, it was totally different from what I’ve seen in Doha. The buildings are old style, and they remind me to Malaysia’s previous Subang International Airport (no offend though). There were not many shops as in KLIA at the arrival area but the outside air was cool breeze and calming (though it was early summer).



My mom and I then head to Dedeman Hotel (our next 6 days place of stay), with the help of Ustaz Wan (one of Malaysian student who is studying there) by bus and taxi, so that cheaper. As we got to our room, we were exhausted and not bother to go outside as it was getting darker. Need to have good rest for the next day exploration of this ‘city of secret’, Dimashq…


Source:

http://www.islamiska.org/e/s5.htm

SYRIA, A JOURNEY TO THE PAST – PART 1

8/5/2009 (Friday)

My mom was going to have a conference at Syria, and because the date will be just right after my final professional exam, so I took this chance to have a break/holiday with my mom coz I know I may don’t have such opportunity once I start working. It has been my dream to travel to the Middle East since I had my umrah 8 years ago. This is because I would like to learn more on their cultures, history and environments. That’s why I chose to go to Syria...

Syria, as called in Arabic: سورية‎ sūriyyaħ or سوريا sūriyā is officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية‎ al-jumhūriyyaħ al-ʕarabiyyaħ as-sūriyyaħ), an Arab country in Southwest Asia. From the world map, we can see that this country is bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north.

The name Syria, formerly comprised the entire region of the Levant (Arabic: بلاد الشام‎, Bilad ash-Shām, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām), which comprising Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, and Syria. However, the modern state encompasses the site of several ancient kingdoms and empires. In the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Empire and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Empire. Damascus is widely regarded as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, which means the city has been lived by the people since 9 thousand years ago until present.

The population is 80% Muslim, mainly Sunni Muslim but with significant Alawi, Druze and Christian minorities. Ethnically, some 90% of the population is Arab, and the state is ruled by the Baath Party according to Arab nationalist principles, while approximately 10% belong to the Kurdish minority.

The currency issued by Bank of Syria is Syrian Pound (SYP), also called as Lira Syria. 1 Syrian Pound value is not as same as RM1, therefore each time I want to buy things, I divided the Syrian Pound by 13 as 1USD is equal to SYP46.5. Complicated? I thought so...

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria
• SYRIA BUmi Barakah - Malaysian Student Association In Syria
  
• Touring Damascus & Countryside in 7 Days by Heidi Hakim & Ahmad Kattoub.