Legend of Abel

View of the total place

We all have heard the very well known legend of the two sons of Adam, Cain and Abel, as this legend is shared between many religions, it is when Cain slew his brother Abel, Cain having committed the fratricide, became exceedingly troubled in his mind and carried the dead body not knowing where to conceal it, so then Allah taught him to bury it by the example of a crow, who, scratched in the earth and show him how he might bury his brother.

The shrine form the outside But what you might don’t know that it is claimed by some people that he is buried in Syria exactly at the heights of west mountains of Damascus, near the Zabadani Valley, overlooking villages of Wadi Barada.

I went there nearly about four times, but what surprises me; is that every time I go there I find the shrine is getting larger and larger, I still can remember that it was a simple wooden tomb, nearly about 6-7 meters in length covered by a green rag, placed in a small room divided by a wall separating the room into two parts one for women and other for men.This year it seems that claimed Abel became lucky enough so he got a larger marble magnificent shrine, and for not to be left alone on the top of the mountain, many rooms were built for those who made vows to God, so they can sleep there and be close to Abel.

A lot of visitors had found a way there, you can find hundreds of them heading toward this holy so called place, a kind of pilgrimage in the hopes of divine intercession! what bothers me the most is that a lot of mistakes is done there by the name of Islam although other religious sects rather than Muslims are also present there practicing their weird own rituals, but for a foreigners they might think it Islam, while in fact it has nothing to do with it. Islam clearly affirms that visiting graves is permissible for the purpose of being admonished by remembering death and the Hereafter. No asking for dead intercessions or wailing, laminating, clutching and touching the grave, As it is only a piece of a stone no more! I wonder if Abel is really buried there, why didn’t our ancestors care about him or build him a respectable shrine? and what surprises me more; I’ve heard that he is buried in many other countries as for example, Turkey! So I don’t know!

A man kissing the tomb as a kind of blessing!

It is for making wishes!

What is distinct there that all visitors place there hands on the top of the tomb and then turn around it not lifting their hand from it!