The most beautiful religious buildings Salalah

Very beautiful, this mosque was built in August 2009. The building is imposing. Adorned with two minarets, it blends into the landscape by its beige and sand colors. Inside the large prayer hall, one can admire a huge carpet made of a single piece and a surface of 4 200 m². Several masterful Swarovski crystal chandeliers also contrast with the sobriety of the whole. A special mention for the particularly spectacular one placed in the center of the room. Outside, a pleasant garden unfolds.

Imran and Hannah had a daughter whom they named Maryam, the one who was to become Umm Issa, the mother of Jesus. Let us read the Qur'an again: "Remember the day when Imran's wife prayed to God: 'Lord, I have consecrated to you what is in my womb, it will be yours in full; accept it, for you hear and know everything. When she gave birth, she said, "Lord, I have given birth to a daughter, and I have named her Maryam; I place her and her offspring under your protection, that you may preserve them from the wiles of Satan the stoned In the Christian tradition, the same story is written under different names as Imran becomes Joachim and Hannah is called Hannah. Their story appears in the apocryphal Gospel of James. Joachim is described as a rich and pious man who regularly gives to the poor. However, because his wife is barren (a sign of divine displeasure), the High Priest rejects Joachim. Joachim withdrew to the desert where he fasted for forty days. Angels appear to him and promise him a child. Joachim returns to Jerusalem and finds Anne whom he "embraces". And so, oh surprise! It is the tomb of Joachim, the maternal grandfather of Jesus-Isa and one of the 25 prophets mentioned in the Koran that we find two kilometers from the old airport. Take off your shoes and enter the mausoleum adjacent to the mosque for an out-of-bounds experience. There, in an ethereal halo, it is indeed a 13-meter long tomb, giving off something intensely mysterious and surreal.

Pierre Assouline, author of Vies de Job, says: "The character trait of Job that I remember most is his ability to resist. Everything gathers against him, starting with his god, which is quite something! His body is martyred, he is abandoned by all, and even there, in the depths of this absolute solitude, he continues to resist. He does not give up. This is an extraordinary lesson Whether Ayyoub (Job) existed or not is not the question, because in the general opinion of Dhofarien, he is buried there in this small mausoleum topped by a dome adjacent to a small mosque. A character common to the three religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, he is the hero of the Book of Job, a didactic prose poem common to the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, considered a masterpiece of biblical literature. Job is mentioned in the Koran, among the 25 prophets, in the same way as Adam, Solomon, Moses or Jesus. According to the Talmud, he was one of the three advisors consulted by the Pharaoh of the Exodus before making a decision concerning the children of Israel who were multiplying in an alarming way, the one who did not oppose the elimination of newborn males. It is for this silence that God will punish him in this way. There is nothing to explain his presence in the mountains of Salalah, except the popular account of a legendary trace. The story of this prophet could make a good subject for the baccalaureate: "Is misfortune always the result of a divine punishment? Why is the innocent man also called to suffer? Satan, trusting in Job's weakness, proposes the form of a trial: "Stretch out your hand; touch his possessions, and we will see if he does not deny you to your face." God accepts the proposal. In a few hours Job sees himself stripped of everything, reduced to begging, deprived of children. Nevertheless, he does not deny God. Satan does not consider himself defeated. " Stretch out your hand; touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he does not deny you to yourface And here is the servant of God afflicted with leprosy. Then Job gets up, tears his cloak and shaves his head; then he throws himself on the ground, prostrates himself and says: "I came out of my mother's womb naked, and naked I shall return to the earth. The Lord gave, and the Lord took away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Immediately thereafter, God restores Job's wealth, giving him twice the wealth he had, and 10 children. Job lived a holy and happy life and died a beautiful death. In Salalah? How to know? In Oman, no information or reflection is offered on the intellectual work attributed to Ayyub, despite his dazzling thoughts and the exegesis made of them by some and others, believers or agitators of ideas. Of a serene banality, the place of his last rest is moreover quite modest, tiled, very simple and without any ornament. It might disappoint if the aura surrounding the man were not so great and if the access road itself, open to the vast surrounding plains, were not worth the journey by its quiet beauty.

Continuing on the main road to Jebel Al-Qara (6 km after Job's tomb), one reaches the village of Titam. Pass it, then stop a few kilometers further to appreciate the landscape. We are here at the top of the plateaus. By continuing the road until Uyun, one will be able to see trees with incense.

The story, as recorded in the Qur'an, tells that the Prophet and Messenger Sauliah, at the request of Allah himself, endeavoured to teach faith in one God to the Thamudites, polytheistic troglodytes: "O my people! Worship God! There is no God but he. A proof has come to you: God's camel, as a sign for you. Let her graze the land of God, do not touch her with any evil. Otherwise, a painful punishment will seize you. The Prophet declared that this camel would need water and he established a rule: the people would now have access to water only every other day, the other day being reserved for the animal. After a few weeks, disgruntled people were heard: "They killed the camel, disobeyed the command of their Lord and said, 'O Saleh, bring us what you threaten us with, if you are one of the Messengers. When Sunday morning came, they perfumed themselves and sat down, waiting for the punishment that was to come. After the sunrise, a mighty breath came from the sky and a cry went out from below them. All the souls died and all movement stopped. According to tradition, the rock here, which is protected and visually accessible to visitors, would bear the traces of the camel's footsteps and the blood of her wounds; the other footprints would be those of the prophet and his cane. Do not expect anything spectacular; objectively speaking, the site is quite strange, but the believers seem attached to it. Provide a telephoto lens to capture the details!