Staff at Blue Marine
hotel was very welcoming and friendly.
Receptionist Muhammad promised he would inquire about taxi fare and call me
7:30am in the morning. Sharp at 7:30am I received call in my room about booking.
Taxi driver spoke English and was happy to take me to North Shuna at a good
price. I agreed to be picked up at 9am. Taxis in Amman are perfectly safe, and
enjoyable experience. You are welcome the moment you step in and if you are
keen you will enjoy a nice talk with the driver. Most of the taxi drivers in
Amman are Palestinians, who were either born on the other side of Jordan river
or their parents migrated to Jordan fleeing atrocities of occupation.
Taxi driver was
Taariq, a middle aged Amman resident, a relaxed and composed man who had four
kids. He spoke English and we were communicating effortlessly. He said there
are many universities in Jordan and national literacy is high. He showed me
sprawling premises of Medical University buildings on the right side of the
road. North Shuna is 100 kms north of Amman and most of the road we took went
through fertile Jordan valley. Weather was cold and cloudy. Views on the way
were breathtakingly beautiful. What immediately caught my attention was the
landscape looked so ancient - the colours and texture of the rocks made me
believe as if Moses would just appear
with his followers.
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View of Mountains Leading into Jordan Valley
|
On our way we
stopped at a place reported to be final resting place of Yusha ibn Noon
(Prophet Joshua) , who is believed to be young companion of Moses when he
travelled in search of wise man Khidr (story narrated in Surah Kahf). My arrival timed well with the keeper of tomb
chamber opening the door for other group. Keeper there gave me a brief on
Yusha's history. Keeper said he himself came from family of Tamim Al Dari who
was Prophet Muhammad's companion. After a brief stop there, we started our
descent into the Jordan valley, it was here I caught first glimpse of the
mountains of holy land.
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| Reported Grave of Yusha Ibn Noon with keeper who is from family of Tamin Al Dari |
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| Entry to reported grave of Yusha Ib Noon |
On the way up North,
we stopped at the tomb of Abu Obaida Ibn Jarrah - who led successful conquest
to this part of the world , then called as 'Bilaad U Shham'. Masjid there is
large and beautiful with an impressive dome and towering minaret. Colour of the
stone is soothing to eye and is from local quarries. Water in wudu fountain was
very cold. His grave is clad with marble and is behind a glass curtain. I met a
few locals there who stood up to welcome me, and were very happy to see me
coming from the UK. People are the best thing about Jordan, without a shred of
doubt the most friendly I met. I prayed
in masjid before we resumed our journey to further north.
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View of Wudu Fountain in courtyard of Masjid of Abu Ubaida Ibn Jarray
|
On the way , my
driver kept stopping every now and then to check fresh produce from Jordan
valley. He was keen on buying oranges - one box full cost only 1.5 JOD he said,
just a fraction of city price. When we reached North Shuna it was raining
heavily. I prayed Zuhr with Jamaat, but didn't realise they combined it with
Asr due to heavy rains. I left after Zuhr - which meant I got a few minutes all
alone in tomb chamber of Muadh Ibn Jabal's while rest prayed Asr. I felt that
was a special arrangement from Allah to allow me some privacy. I cleared my
nostrils and with great anticipation, I looked into the tomb chamber from
outside through the door and could his grave covered in dark green velvet
cloths. Expectation was high, and I had a few candidate smells in my olfactory imagination. Took off
my shoes, and with very first step into the chamber, I was hit on the face by a
whiff of the most beautiful Oudh perfume. Like of which can only be found in
the most expensive Oudh perfumes from French niche lines, only that it was
richer than any that I had smelled before. A big smile came on to my face- I
kept sniffing, harder with every breath, as if smell would disappear or become
weak. There are two graves in the chamber, one near the door is that of Muadh
Ibn Jabal, and towards far end of the chamber is his son Abdur Rahman bin
Muadh's. Both of them died from plague of Amwas (started in 639AD)which claimed
lives of thousands of people. Having
used perfumes all my life, I can tell the difference between natural and
artificial smells , also whether smell is one of opening, middle or dry down. I
could tell with reasonable certainty it was natural perfume with layers of
complexity - bouquet of amber, rose, carnation and musk - wrapped beautifully
around rich body of Oudh in the middle. I sniffed walls, green velvet cloths on
this grave, windows , door - there was no trace of any smell on anything. Smell
was just hanging in the middle of the air. I noticed it was strongest near the
door, to right side where his head is. I could smell the same near his son's
grave but it was not as strong, or perhaps I was immune to its strength after
spending some time inside the chamber.
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| Muadh Ibn Jabal died in 18 AH, at age of 38 years |
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| View of structure over his grave, smell is strongest where wooden name plate is on the grave |
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| Tomb Chamber Visible in distance |
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| View Outside Masjid |
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| General View of tomb Chamber |
After spending a few
minutes there, I went outside to call in Taariq to show him the miracle of
Allah. He had come to Shuna before, but didn't go inside the chamber. As he entered, his first reaction was of
amazement and disblief. As I was trying to convince him that it indeed was
natural, a middle aged man entered the chamber - he was Jamil, smiling muezzin
at the masjid for 10 years. He provided a very beautiful summary of who Muadh
ibn Jabal was, and why he came here. He spoke in Arabic and Taariq translated
every line for me. For a second I felt the scene was from a documentary video.
Jamil said he has been visiting the place since he was a child, and assured us
that the perfume in the chamber hasn't changed a single bit. He said it is
particularly strong in the evenings. And of course to my question if someone
put perfume there secretly, he looked into my eyes and simply said, 'no one puts perfume here, it comes from the
grave'. He said that graves of the
companions of Prophet Muhammad who died in Amwas plague emanate same smell.
Unfortunate that Abu Ubaida's grave is behind a glass curtain - so I could not
witness it first hand. Thought that
immediately came to me was to write to famous perfume houses to send someone
here to recreate the smell and name it after Muadh Ibn Jabal. I was taking a
blessed feeling away, and a memory of fragrance that will remain in my
imagination forever.
On the way back,
rain got even heavier. Condition of the roads is pathetic but villages are
full of life. Once we were ascending
towards Amman from Jordan Valley, fog was so thick that only reference for us
was faint taillights of cars ahead of us. On our way back, Taariq stopped at
4-5 places to buy absolutely fresh Jordan Valley produce, there were oranges,
lemons, cucumbers, radishes and many other varieties in boot of taxi- which I
was sure would last him for weeks.
