NABI IMRAN TOMB

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.