assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah,

Yesterday, a group of sisters took a trip with Ustadha Noura Shamma to visit two maqaams in the Jordan River Valley.

The drive from Amman down into the valley was a curvy descent. Here’s a view of the valley.

(The Jordan River divides Jordan from Palestine. Those hills in the distance are Palestine.)

The first maqaam we visted was Dirar Ibn al-Azwar, radi Allah anhu. This is the masjid around his maqaam:

The second maqaam was of Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, radi Allah anhu.

The masjids had a real sense of peace as you walked in there. In the courtyard of Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah’s mosque, we sat and listened to Ustadha Noura tell us a little about these companions. SubhanAllah, the stories she told of Sayiduna Abu Ubaydah were amazing (more is known about him than Sayyiduna Dirar). His life story shows his devotion to Allah and the Prophet, and his pure intention in everything he did, demonstrated through his not desiring leadership even when offered to him.

The whole trip really brought history alive, and bridged the gap between the present and the past. There was a feeling of physical connection to the sahaba who walked on the very spot that we were. There are actually a lot of sahaba buried in the Jordan River Valley, in both marked and unmarked graves, due to a plague that spread while they were encamped here.

The sunset on our drive home:

All of the above pictures courtesy of SunniPath’s Nausheen Akhter.