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January 30 A Tomb with a View Salalah is famous for its tombs of famous religious figures. There is for example, next to Lulu supermarket, the tomb of the father of the Virgin Mary, although there is the possibility that it might not be. But, nils deperandum, as it is said that, if he wasn't the father of the Virgin Mary, then he must have been the father of Moses (or somebody good anyway). I guess you could say this tomb has killed two birds with one stone. The sarcophagus is 33 m long, so there is plenty of room for conjecture. One there is little doubt about (well, there is a little, as he has another tomb in Lebanon) is Job's tomb. This is the mausoleum of Job of the Old
Testament, known as the Prophet Ayub in the Koran. He is probably best
known for the misquote "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." Both the Bible and the Koran say that he was an enormously rich man whose wealth was taken from him, and who was afflicted with a terrible skin disease, but he never despaired, remained loyal to God and was eventually rewarded by being made even richer and restored to full health. Hence the idiomatic expression, to be as patient as Job. By the way, what Job actually said, according to the Bible, was, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." His simple tomb is on a pretty hilltop, with great views of Salalah, the coast and the surrounding countryside. Another very nice tomb is on just off the road to Mirbat. This is the tomb of Mohammed bin Ali Al-Alawi, a descendant of the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, who set up a madrassa (religious school) in Mirbat and died here in 1161. This abundance of nice tombs has given rise to tomb tourists: little groups of people who tour the tombs in taxis.   TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://iwys.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AB8BD1FA0ACF51BB!806.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
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