10 Days in the Blessed Lands of (A personal account by Mufti Muhammad
ibn Adam al-Kawthari on his recent trip to I
begin in the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. All
praise is for Allah Most High; and peace and blessings be upon His
chosen servant, our master Sayyiduna Muhammad, his family, companions,
and followers. I
have always had a desire to travel and visit the blessed lands of
The
fact is that Allah Most High has blessed and honoured the lands of
1) Imam al-Bukhari relates from Abu Mas’ud that the Messenger of Allah
(Allah bless him & give him peace) gestured with his hands towards
2) Sayyiduna Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “The
people of 3) Sayyiduna Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “The
people of 4) Sayyiduna Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Belief
(iman) is that of the Yemenis while afflictions (fitan) appear from
there (the east), from where the side of the head of Satan will appear.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 4129) Imam
an-Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) mentions in his commentary of
Sahih Muslim that there is no bar in attributing
these narrations literally to the people of As
far as Fiqh and Hikma are concerned, the former (fiqh) means to have
a deep understanding of religion, whilst the latter (hikma) refers
to having conscious acknowledgment of Allah Most High (ma’rifa), coupled
with self-reformation, good character and abstaining from following
one’s desires and falsehood. The
meaning of “they are extremely gentle and soft-hearted” is that they
are the people of timidity (khashya) and have an attitude of humble
acceptance (istikana). They are extremely quick in accepting genuine
advice and Nasiha, and are easily affected by it. They are immune
from harshness, hard-heartedness and ruggedness. (See: Nawawi, al-Minhaj
Sharh Sahih Muslim, P: 158-159) The
above few narrations related from the beloved of Allah (Allah bless
him & give him peace) single out The
few narrations above have been taken directly from the two most authentic
books of Hadith, namely Sahih
al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
However, these narrations are not the only ones recorded in the praise
of 5) Sayyiduna Zayd ibn Thabit (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that
the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) looked
towards 6) Sayyiduna Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “…..And
trustworthiness (amana) is in (the tribe of) Azd, meaning in 7) Sayyiduna Jubayr ibn Mut’im (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that
once the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace)
looked up towards the heavens and said: “The people of 8) Sayyiduna Amr ibn Abasa (Allah be pleased with him) relates that Uyayna
ibn Hisn al-Fazari once remarked in the presence of the Messenger
of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) that the best of men
are ….the people of Najd. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him
& give him peace) replied: “You have lied! Rather, the best of
men are the people of In
this last Hadith, it was mentioned in the presence of the Messenger
of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) that the people of
Najd were the best of people, but the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless
him & give him peace) was quick to reject this notion saying that
this was wrong; rather, the people of Yemen were the best amongst
people. This Hadith reminds us of another narration recorded by Imam
al-Bukhari and others wherein the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless
him & give him peace) said: “O Allah! Give us Baraka in our Sham,
O Allah! Give us Baraka in our In
the final part of the last Hadith, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless
him & give him peace) referred himself as a Yemeni. The reason
could be (And Allah knows best) that “ 9) In another narration, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him &
give him peace) is reported to have said: “Faith is of the Yemenis,
and they (the people of There
are also other Ahadith in which the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless
him & give him peace) praised the tribes of Any
Muslim who has knowledge of these sayings of the beloved of Allah
(Allah bless him & give him peace) would naturally long to visit
Due
to the above reasons, for some time I have had this deep desire to
visit Friday 8th July 2005 On
Friday the 8th of July 2005, I left with my family for
San’a (the capital of Al-Hamdulillah,
our passage through the check-in and to the plane went very smoothly.
Everyone, as normal, was very friendly and welcoming. There was no
sign of any hate, intimidation or pointing of fingers. The flight
from Saturday 9th July We
landed at San’a international Airport at around 10am local time. San’a
Airport is quite small and modest, in complete contrast to In the City of San’a
is the capital of San’a
is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities of the world
from an aesthetic point of view. San’a has a very distinctive architecture;
hence, it is high on the preservation list for many international
heritage organisations. The city is situated between two huge mountains,
Ayban in the West and Nuqum in the East. The city is very close to
the equator and lies roughly 2150 metres above sea-level and is famous
for its moderate climate with sunshine all year round. Even in the
midst of a summer, amazingly there was no need for a fan or air conditioning.
The economy of San’a is
based on the fruits grown in the region. Present-day San’a is divided
into two parts: Old San’a (San’a al-Qadima) and New San’a (San’a al-Jadida). The
city of San’a
and its surrounding areas remained in the overall control of the King
of Persia until Allah Most High blessed humanity with the birth of
the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace). After
the Messenger of Allah’s (Allah bless him & give him peace) migration
to Madina al-Munawwara, he wrote letters to the many leaders of the
world inviting them to the true and pristine teachings of Islam and
to the worship of Allah only, Who has no partners. One such letter
was also sent to Kisra, the King of Persia. The letter was delivered
to Kisra and read out to him, upon which he tore it to pieces and
threw it away. When the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him &
give him peace) was informed of this, he prayed that the Kisra
had appointed a person by the name of Bazan (some have said Bazam)
as a governor of This
whole episode prompted Bazan and his government employees, all of
whom were residing in Bazan
(Allah be pleased with him) remained the ruler of San’a and surrounding
areas until he passed away. After his death, the Messenger of Allah
(Allah bless him & give him peace) appointed his son, Shahr ibn
Bazan, the governor of San’a and surrounding provinces. Thereafter,
the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) sent
many of his Companions to various parts of Hence,
San’a and other parts of This
whole incident (of the killing of Aswad Anasi) took place during the
Messenger of Allah’s last few days in this world when he was in his
illness that led to his demise. Aswad al-Anasi’s rule over San’a only
remained for approximately 3 months before he was killed. Thereafter,
Muslims once again regained San’a and since then the city has always
remained in the control of the Muslims. It is reported that Fayruz
al-Daylami (Allah be pleased with him) said: “We killed Aswad and
things returned back to normal in San’a. We requested Mu’az ibn Jabal
(Allah be pleased with him) to come to San’a and he agreed, hence
he used to lead us in prayer. By Allah, we had not offered prayers
for 3 days except that the news of the Messenger of Allah’s (Allah
bless him & give him peace) passing away reached us. (The above
details culled from Ibn Kathir’s al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya, 6/337-342, Ibn
Hajar’s al-Isaba fi Tamiz al-Sahaba,
1/170 & Ibn Abd al-Bar’s al-Isti’ab
fi Ma’rifat al-Ashab, P: 602-693) The
hotel we were staying at was in the centre of San’a, in the new part
of the city to be precise. One of my friends, Sidi Faiz Qureyshi,
who studies in Dar al-Mustafa (Tarim), had emailed me all the relevant
information that I needed for my stay in After
Maghrib Salat, I phoned a local Yemeni brother, whose name was Fari’
and whose contact details were given to me by Sidi Faiz, and informed
him that I had reached San’a. Sidi Faiz had already informed this
brother of my arrival; hence he was anticipating my call. The brother
swiftly came to my hotel shortly after Maghrib Salat and we had a
small chat about how to organise my schedule in terms of visiting
the various sights in San’a. Brother Fari’ then suggested we go for
a walk and see the surrounding area. We toured the roads and streets
of the Tahrir area in San’a. We were virtually in the centre of San’a
and right besides our hotel was the Tahrir square (maydan al-tahrir).
It’s an open square and the best place for open air photography. The
surrounding areas, main roads and side streets are full of shops and
you can virtually buy anything at a very good price. Dozens of modern
shops around the square sell cheap Japanese electronics as well as
imported clothing and souvenirs. The Town of Hadda My
family and I had not eaten anything all day long thus we decided to
go and have something to remove our hunger. We enquired from the locals
as to where we could find some good restaurants. We were advised by
one local brother to go to an area called Hadda. Hadda is a small
town about 10km SW of San’a and a ten minute drive from San’a city
centre. It is full of restaurants and takeaways, with both types of
food available, traditional Yemeni as well as western. We went there
by Taxi and I have to say, there were some great restaurants available
to choose from. We had our dinner, strolled around the area window-shopping
for a while and then returned to our hotel and retired to bed. On
the way back, I purchased some pure honey that was produced locally.
Since ancient times, Sunday 10th July The
following day, our guide made a plan of taking us to the old part
of San’a, visiting a grave of a Sahabi (Allah be pleased with him)
and some sight-seeing. In the morning, we went around some of the
shops in and around the Tahrir area close to our hotel, visited some
bookshops and had lunch. After taking a rest and performing our Asr
Salat, we headed first to the old part of San’a called San’a al-Qadima. Old San’a (San’a al-Qadima) The
old city of Our
guide parked the car just outside the “ Old
San’a is filled with shops, Souqs and bazaars where one is able to
purchase almost everything. One of the most popular attractions is
the 1000-year-old Suq al-Milh (salt market) where it is possible to
buy not only salt but also bread, spices, raisins, cotton, copper,
pottery, silverware, antiques and a host of other goods. The rest
of the Souq (market) is divided into different sections. The jewellers
are in one section, the leather sellers and makers in one section,
the blacksmiths in a different section and so forth. The Consumption of Qat As
we walked through old city San’a, I noticed many locals constantly
chewing on something that seemed like some kind of leaves. They were
holding a plant in their hands and kept consuming from it. They continually
chewed on this to the point that it seemed they had a massive bulge
on one of their cheeks! Many shop-keepers would just sit in their
shops and carry on chewing all day long. Upon enquiring, I was informed
that they were chewing on what was locally called Qat. Qat
or Khat is the Arabic term for Catha edulis and is used throughout
To
meet the ever-growing demand, one-third of Yemeni
consumers say that there is no harm in chewing Qat. They believe that
Qat increases stamina, concentration and mental alertness and elevates
mood. They consider it similar to drinking coffee or tea. Some Ulama
declared it to be unlawful (haram) saying that it was an intoxicant.
However, the majority of the Scholars don’t consider Qat to be an
intoxicating substance, but they still discourage its usage due to
the fact that it could be harmful and wastes one’s time and wealth.
Those who have any value for time would never consider spending their
valuable hours and minutes in chewing on a plant. Qat chewing is spreading
rapidly in some parts of The Great Mosque of San’a (al-Jami’
al-Kabir) Walking
through the markets and Souqs of the old city, we arrived at our destination
- the Great Mosque (al-Jami’ al-Kabir) of San’a. The Mosque is the
oldest and largest of the Mosques in San’a and one of the oldest in
the Muslim world. It was built in the lifetime of the Messenger of
Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) and then extended and
enlarged by Islamic rulers from time to time. It is reported that
Bazan (Allah be pleased with him), whom the Messenger of Allah (Allah
bless him & give him peace) had maintained as the governor of
San’a, had a garden which he gave as Waqf for the building of this
Mosque. The construction of the Mosque however, was carried out by
another Companion Wabr ibn Yahnas al-Kalbi (Allah be pleased with
him). Imam
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Allah have mercy on him) in his al-Isaba and other historians relate that when the Companion Wabr
ibn Yahnas (Allah be pleased with him) visited the Messenger of Allah
(Allah bless him & give him peace), he (Allah bless him &
give him peace) commanded him to build a Mosque in San’a that faced
in the direction of mount Dhayn. Hence, adhering to the Messenger
of Allah’s command, Sayyiduna Wabr ibn Yahnas (Allah be pleased with
him) constructed this historic Mosque in the city of We
entered this momentous and historic Mosque through one of its many
gates. The Mosque has now been significantly extended, and is structured
around a central courtyard measuring approximately 80 meters long
by 60 meters wide. To the north and south of this courtyard are the
prayer areas, and to the east and west of the courtyard are halls
of three aisles each. Inside the court, not exactly at its centre,
stands a domed square structure that dates to the early sixteenth
century when the courtyard itself was paved. We crossed the courtyard
and made our way to the southern/rear prayer area (not the area where
the Imam currently stands) and found two pillars marked out. One pillar
had the word “Manqura” inscribed on it whilst the other had “Masmura”
written on it. The area between these two pillars is said to be the
original Mosque that was built by the Companion Wabr ibn Yahnas (Allah
be pleased with him). It
was between Asr and Maghrib when we had entered this historic Mosque,
hence unfortunately I was not able to offer any voluntary prayers
(nafl) or the prayer of greeting the Mosque (tahiyyat al-masjid).
There was a Shaykh-like person sitting against one of the above-mentioned
pillars and I spoke to him briefly about the significance of the Mosque.
Many worshipers were seated engaged in the recitation of the Qur’an,
some in the front hall, others in the rear hall and many in the open
courtyard. Some students were also studying the Qur’an with their
teacher. I
could not get over the fact that I was unable to offer any prayers
in this historic Mosque; hence, I made a firm intention to return
to the Mosque the next day. After all, this was a historic Mosque
built by a Sahabi under the instruction of the beloved of Allah; and
many Companions, their followers and great scholars of Islam had worshipped,
offered their prayers and studied in this Mosque. Many great scholars
of Hadith are reported to have taught and related Hadith in this blessed
Mosque. Till today, one is able to sense the great Baraka left behind
by these great luminaries of Islam. Imam Abd al-Razzaq al-San’ani (Allah
have mercy on him) The
city of One
such great personality to have lived and taught in San’a was the great
Hadith expert (hafidh), Imam Abd al-Razzaq ibn al-Humam al-Himyari
al-San’ani (Allah have mercy on him). The Imam belonged to Himyar,
a major Yemeni tribe, and was known as al-San’ani, as he lived in
San’a, the capital of Imam
Abd al-Razzaq’s knowledge of Hadith was extensive. He wrote several
books, the most important of which is his “al-
Musannaf” - a collection of Ahadith in several volumes. His other
works include a commentary of the Qur’an and a book on the Prophet’s
life. However, only al-Musannaf
survives, and has been published more than once. The great Hadith
scholar of the Indian subcontinent Shaykh Habib al-Rahman al-A’zami
was the first person to have worked on and publish al-Musannaf.
A new and fuller edition was later published by Dar Ihya al-Turath
al-Arabi in Imam al-Shawkani (Allah have mercy on
him) Another
great scholar to have lived and taught in San’a was Imam al-Shawkani
(Allah have mercy on him). Imam Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abd Allah al-Shawkani
al-San’ani was born in a town called Shawkan, a days walking distance
from San’a, in the year 1173 AH. He then moved to San’a with his father
who was a judge and a scholar. He did not travel to gain knowledge;
rather, he remained in San’a and took from the Ulama there. He was
originally a Zaydi, but then left this school and began to concentrate
more on Hadith. He was quite extreme in rejecting Taqlid (following
one of the four Sunni Schools) and was an advocator of Ijtihad. He
authored many books, the most famous of which is known as Nayl al-Awtar, a commentary on the Hadith
collection of Ibn Taymiyya al-Jadd titled Muntaqa
al-Akhbar. He passed away in the year 1250 AH and was buried in
San’a (may Allah have mercy on his soul). Although Imam al-Shawkani
differed from the mainstream Sunni scholars on many issues, he is
still considered to be one of the major scholars of Hadith in this
Ummah. The
thought of all these scholars was ringing in my mind while touring
this great city and particularly this Great Mosque. Surely, these
great scholars must have conducted their study circles in the confines
of this historic Mosque. My guide also attempted to find exactly the
place where Imam Abd al-Razaaq actually taught, but he was unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, treading on the path where such great luminaries of
Islam once lived and taught was an honour in itself. One
of the responsible persons in the Mosque informed me that the Mosque
had a library in which there were large numbers of manuscripts of
the Qur’an dating back to the first century of Hijra. The library
was only open during morning hours; hence, I was unable to enter it.
It is said that the library also possessed a copy of the Qur’an that
was complied with the joint endeavour of Sayyiduna Ali, Sayyiduna
Zayd ibn Thabit and Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (Allah be pleased with
them all), and it was sent to San’a in the reign of Sayyiduna Uthman
(Allah be pleased with him). There are also a number of manuscripts
of books written by early scholars. It was surely a regret not to
have managed to see this library, but whatever Allah Wills, takes
place. After
spending this quality time in the Great Mosque of San’a, we made our
way back to our car. We once again walked through the streets and
alleys of the old city and departed the city through the Yemeni Gate.
Back in the car, we headed to visit a grave of one of the Companions
of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace). The Companion, Farwa ibn Musayk (Allah
be pleased with him) Our
guide took us to the eastern district of San’a called Musayk. It was
the town of the Sahabi, Sayyiduna Farwa ibn Musayk (Allah be pleased
with him). The whole area and the Mosque we intended to visit were
named after this Companion of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless
him & give him peace), and near to the Mosque was his grave (may
Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna
Farwa ibn Musayk al-Muradi (Allah be pleased with him) is one of those
Companions who came from The
area we had entered was very old and modest. Many of the houses and
buildings were quite rundown and not to the standard of the houses
we witnessed in other areas of San’a. We parked our car outside an
old Mosque and entered the Mosque called Jami’ al-Musayk, named after
Sayyiduna Farwa ibn Musayk (Allah be pleased with him). Just like
this whole area, the Mosque was old and not maintained properly from
a structural point of view. One of the responsible individuals there
informed me that the Mosque had been extended recently and work was
still ongoing. He also showed us the area where the original Mosque
was built. After visiting the Mosque, we walked to an area behind
the Mosque and found a locked room in which it is said that the companion
Sayyiduna Farwa ibn Musayk (Allah be pleased with him) is buried.
The door to the room was locked and we enquired about the keys. One
of the locals tried asking from the various people living there regarding
the keys, but the individual who had the key was not present, so we
had to be content with visiting the grave of this great Companion
of the Messenger of Allah from the outside. Someone removed a kind
of a big stone that was covering an opening to the room and we were
able to see the grave from the window. Hence, I was fortunate to give
my Salams, pay my respects and recite the Fatiha on one of the Companions
of the Messenger of Allah (Allah be pleased with him). There was also
another grave next to the Sahabi’s grave and a separate entrance for
women’s prayer. This whole area seemed very poor, with beautiful children
playing around the streets content with what they had. The area may
be poor in a materialistic sense, but they are rich with the presence
of a Sahabi’s grave amongst them! After
visiting the grave of this Companion, we toured some areas of the
new part of San’a. Our driver and guide drove pass the After
strolling for a while and being treated with the beautiful view before
us, we decided to leave and return back to our hotel. On the way,
we stopped at one of the major Islamic bookshops in San’a to enquire
about a book I was searching for, but was unsuccessful. We reached
our hotel just before Salat al-Eisha and after Eisha, we had something
to eat and retired to bed. Monday 11th July The
following day (Monday the 11th of July), I made a programme
to go and visit one of the renowned Institutions of Islamic learning
in the Arab world, Jamia al-Iman. Jamia al-Iman Jamia
al-Iman is a private Islamic university very similar to the Darul
Ulooms in the Indian Subcontinent, although with a slight difference
in its methodology. It was founded in 1993 by Shaykh Abdal Majid ibn
Abd al-Aziz al-Zindani (may Allah preserve him) with a group of other
scholars. Shaykh Abdal Majid is a renowned scholar in Jamia
al-Iman is situated on the outskirts of San’a. The area was uninhabited
before the Jamia was formed but now due to the Jamia, there are many
shops, houses and other commercial buildings surrounding the area.
The Jamia’s main objective is to produce male and female scholars
who are practising and who preach the message of Iman to others both
verbally and by their action. The Jamia has four faculties: faculty
of Iman, faculty of Shariah sciences, faculty of Da’wa and media,
and the faculty of human arts. It places a lot of emphasis on strengthening
one’s Iman, self-reformation and Da’wa. The
students are well-trained during their stay in the Jamia. They are
expected to be punctual with their daily prayers, along with the night
vigil (tahajjud) prayer. They are advised to fast two days of the
week, attend gatherings of spiritual discourses and engage daily in
physical exercise. The students also travel to other parts of The
duration of the full course is 7 years, with the first 3 years being
equal for all students. In these 3 years, students study all the major
traditional Islamic sciences, such as Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir),
Hadith, principles of Hadith, jurisprudence (fiqh) and the Arabic
language. After the initial three years, the students have an option
to specialize in any of the four faculties. There is also a separate
section for sisters to study. Currently, there are around 5000 students
studying in the Jamia with the number expected to rise up to 8000.
The students are from all around the world, including the West. There
are no fees to study in the Jamia; rather, the Jamia takes full responsibility
of catering for the student’s needs. Food, accommodation, transportation
charges and everything else is taken care off by the Jamia. The university
runs solely on public donations and contributions made by Muslims
in the form of Sadaqa and Zakat. We
entered with our car through the main white gate of Jamia al-Iman.
My guide took permission from the guard at the door to enter the university
saying that I was a foreign guest wanting to visit Jamia al-Iman.
The guard took the driver’s identity card and gave us permission to
enter. We parked our car and headed first to the office of the principle
Shaykh al-Zindani. His secretary informed us that he was out of town
and was not expected to return before next week; hence he suggested
we visit the vice-principle. One of the brothers took us to the office
of the vice-principle Shaykh Doctor Haydar Safih. We entered his office
and found some teachers of the Jamia seated there including the Hadith
teacher Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Khumaysi. I sat in the vice-principle’s
office for around 40 minutes discussing with them various issues.
They were quite intrigued to learn how Islam was being practised in
the West especially in I
reached my hotel, had lunch, performed my Zuhr Salat and had a short
rest. Thereafter, before Asr prayer, we left once again to visit some
more places. I was disappointed yesterday not to have offered any
prayers in the Great Mosque of San’a (Jami’ al-Kabir) due to the fact
that we had gone there after Asr, thus I requested our guide to take
me once again to the old part of San’a and to the great Mosque. Hence,
we once again entered old city San’a through the Yemeni gate (bab
al-Yemen) and headed straight for the Mosque. I offered my Nafl and
Tahiyyat al-Masjid prayers in the area where the original Mosque was
built by the Companion Sayyiduna Wabr ibn Yahnas (Allah be pleased
with him), between the two pillars (as I have mentioned in detail
earlier). My guide told me that there was a place here in old San’a
where Abraha, the Christian king of The Qullays (Cathedral) of Abraha It
has been recorded in the books of History and Sirah that Abraha al-Ashram,
who was the viceroy of the King of Abyssinia (Habasha) in This
was, however, something humiliating for the Arabs. Veneration of the
Ka’ba was a settled disposition with the Arabs. There was no chance
of them tolerating this intention of Abraha neither could they have
exchanged the Ka’ba with anything else, howsoever precious. The perturbation
caused by the declared intentions of Abraha set them on fire. A man
from the Kan’an tribe went to his cathedral and dishonoured it by
urinating in it. This caused a serious uproar. Abraha became infuriated
and he swore that he would not rest until he had destroyed the Ka’ba. Thus,
Abraha set forth and took the road to Makka with a strong force which
included a large number of elephants. The Arabs had heard awesome
stories about elephants. The news made them all confused and bewildered.
Some of the Arab tribes were prepared to fight his army and tried
to obstruct its progress, but they soon realised that it was beyond
their power to measure swords with him. Now, hoping against hope,
they left the matter to Allah Most High putting their trust in Him
to save the sacred sanctuary. Abraha and his army reached outside
the city of Allah
Most High points out to this historic event in the following verses
of the Qur’an: “See you not how Your Lord dealt with the companions
of the Elephant? Did He not make their treacherous plan go astray?
And He sent against them flights of birds, striking them with stones
of baked clay. Then did He make them like an empty field of stalks
and straw, (of which the corn) has been eaten up.” (Surah al-Fil) With
these verses of Surah al-Fil ringing in my mind, we had come to the
actual place where it is said that Abraha built his cathedral. The
area till today is called al-Qullays. In front of me was a wall built
as a circle and it was quite lofty, hence I was unable to see what
was inside it. We did not stay here for long, as the objective was
only to take admonition from Allah’s punishment and not to enjoy the
scenery as such. With fear and apprehension, we left the area called
al-Qullays and headed back to our car. The “People of the Garden” in Dharawan Our
next port-of-call was another place of fear and apprehension and a
sight where the punishment of Allah Most High had descended. Allah
Most High reveals in Surah al-Qalam the episode of a pious and devout
individual who had constructed a garden containing different types
of fruits and vegetation. Whenever the time of harvesting would arrive,
his habit was to maintain some of the growth for himself and his family,
whilst he would distribute the remainder amongst the poor and needy
of his community. When this pious individual passed away, his sons
inherited his garden. However, they were completely opposite to their
devout father. They said: “Our father was insane for giving so much
away to the poor and needy. We will surely not let this continue.”
Hence, when the time of harvesting arrived, they did not allow for
any poor person to even come close to the garden. They made arrangements
at night before going to sleep to safeguard their garden from the
poor and needy. They woke up in the morning thinking that today we
will have everything to ourselves and not give anything to the poor;
and thus they made their way to the garden. However, Allah Most High
punished them for this evil intention and destroyed all that had grown
in their garden overnight. When they arrived at their garden in the
morning, nothing had remained. Upon seeing this, they became remorseful
and regretted their actions. Then they started blaming each other
for what they had done. Allah Most High said that such is the punishment
of whoever opposes the command of Allah, is stingy and withholds the
right of the poor and needy. And the punishment of the hereafter is
more severe. (See: Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 4/522-523) Allah
Most High describes the above incident in the following verses of
Surah al-Qalam: “Verily, We have tried them as We tried the
People of the Garden, when they resolved to gather the fruits of the
(garden) in the morning, but made no reservation. Then there came
on the (garden) a visitation from Your Lord, (which swept away) all
around, while they were asleep. So the (garden) became, by the morning,
like a dark and desolate spot. As the morning broke, they called out,
one to another, go you to your tilth in the morning, if you would
gather the fruits. So they departed, conversing in secret low tones,
(saying) let not a single indigent person break in upon you into the
(garden) this day. And they opened the morning, strong in an (unjust)
resolve. But when they saw the (garden), they said: We have surely
lost our way. Indeed we are shut out (of the fruits of our labour).
Said one of them, more just (than the rest): Did I not say to you,
Why not glorify (Allah)? They said: Glory to our Lord! Verily we have
been doing wrong! Then they turned, one against another, in reproach.
They said: Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed. It may be that
our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this: for
we do turn to Him (in repentance). Such is the Punishment (in this
life); but greater is the Punishment in the Hereafter, if only they
knew.” (Surah al-Qalam, Verses 17-33) The
Qur’an, in accordance with its normal practice, does not mention where this incident took place. Allah Most
High normally describes such incidents as a warning; hence it does
not matter where they occur. However, scholars try their best to establish
the place and area where such incidents take place. Imam
Ibn Kathir (Allah have mercy on him) states in his commentary of the
Qur’an: “Some
of the early scholars have mentioned that these people were of After
offering our Asr Salat, we made our way to the area of Dharawan. This
place till today is called Dharawan. It is said, according to what
Imam Ibn Kathir has mentioned above, that the punishment of Allah
descended here. We travelled a distance of around half hour from San’a
until we reached the Dar al-Hajar ( After
Dharawan, we decided to visit the historic and symbolic Yemeni palace
called Dar al-Hajar (The Rock Palace). Dar al-Hajar is one of Our
driver parked the car below this amazing palace and we headed for
the entrance. We purchased our entry tickets at the door and slowly
made our way inside. The palace was several stories high and beautifully
structured from the inside. We climbed to the top of the rock palace
and, Subhan Allah, the scenery was just amazing. It took around an
hour to tour the palace where a great ruler of We
returned to the centre of San’a, the Tahrir area to be precise (where
our hotel was), prior to Maghrib Salat. There was approximately 45
minutes left for Maghrib Salat, hence I thought it would be a good
idea to make a short visit to the military The
Adhan for Maghrib Salat was being pronounced in one of the local Masjids
near the Tuesday 12th July The
next morning, we had a long journey by coach to the The City of We
first stopped for a short break at Ma’rib. The city of Allah
Most High says in the Qur’an: “There was, for One
of the Sabaean rulers was the Queen Bilqis (the Queen of Sheba) who
was renowned for undertaking a journey to meet the Prophet of Allah
Sayyiduna Suleyman (peace be upon him). The story of this Queen has
been mentioned by Allah Most High in the Qur’an. She established her
capital in Ma’rib. Many ruins of the Queen’s throne and temples have
remained till today. Hence, Ma’rib is considered one of the most significant
archaeological sites in Unfortunately,
due to the shortage of my stay in After
a few more hours of travelling, we again stopped in order to offer
Zuhr prayers and have lunch. The rest-house where we stopped was in
the midst of a desert. I stepped out of the coach and the heat and
humidity was unbearable. It was absolutely scorching, in complete
contrast to what we had left behind in San’a. I made ablution with
coldish water, offered my Zuhr and had something to eat. There were
also camels in and around the restaurant wanting to join in with us
for food! I pampered a camel and the thought of the Messenger of Allah
(Allah bless him & give him peace) and his Companions (Allah be
pleased with them) came to mind. After
around 8 hours of journeying, we finally arrived at our destination,
the city of The Hadramawt
is a large valley (wadi) in |