Historical Umm Qais ⚔️ Roman Capital to Church then Mosque during Ottoman

Welcome to the new blog from Um Qais It is a historical place Where, for 2000 years, every nation and every government Has tried to bring this area under their control First the Greeks, then the Romans Followed by the Byzantines, and later the Ottomans Hello The borders of four countries meet here Lebanon, Palestine, then Syria, and where we are right now is Jordan The Battle of Yarmouk took place right ahead One year after Muslim victory at Yarmouk, the second major battle was the Battle of Thathin In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Peace be upon you as well as the mercy of Allah Welcome to a new vlog from Umm Qais I am Zubair Riaz from Madina Munawwarah First and foremost, blessings and peace upon the Prophet O Allah, bless our Prophet, Our Beloved our Master Muhammad, his\family and companions, may Allah bless him and grant him peace Today we will show you A historic place where, for 2,000 years, every nation, every invader And every ruler tried to bring this area under their control First the Greeks, then the Romans, followed by the Byzantines And later the Ottomans And now Israel Similarly, the borders of three or four countries meet here Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, occupied Palestine, and Jordan So, let me tell you a bit about the history of this place In terms of distance, it is about 70 to 80 kilometers from Oman to Umm Qais But it takes you around three to four hours to reach here You write Umm Qais or Gadara The call to prayer is also happening So, let me show you what Umm Qais or Gadara are We are here right now, and you can see it This is Gadara Umm Qais, okay? And here you can see the Golan Heights, and below is the Yarmouk River You might be able to see the line here And in front of you is the Lake of Tiberias And all of this is the Yarmouk and the Golan Heights, and we are here We have now arrived at Umm Qais This is one of the oldest historical cities here, located At the crossroads of four countries' border Further ahead, we will show you some things related to Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj Which Prophet Muhammad "Peace be upon you" had prophesied Its location is also here The river and the lake, whose water they will drink all of We will also show you from here Umm Qais city, and the ancient ruins within it, are referred to as Gadara This is an ancient city, approximately 2,500 years old This entire area, which is on the border of Palestine and Syria As well as on the border of Jordan If you look at it as a whole, this area lies beneath all sides And this was the highest city Initially, the Greeks settled here, and you can still see their remnants in this place After that, the Romans came, followed by the Byzantines And finally, the last ruling era here was the Ottoman Empire So, let’s move ahead and show you this area Here with us is the renowned scholar and commentator, Sheikh Usman And here is Nasir Sheikh our camera man And here, if you look, you can see the olive fruits. Masha'Allah At this time Ya salam, Masha'Allah Alright, let’s move upward And give you all a tour of the historical sites within this 2,500-year-old city First, we are taking you to the Roman Theater, known as the Western Theater In Gadara city, there were 10 such cities In which the Romans had established their control, those were the main cities From where they governed and administered their entire rule One of these was this city, Which later, during the Ottoman era, was called Maqoos This area, known as Qais, was essentially Maqoos in the Ottoman period A place designated for collecting and settling taxes Here we have this gate, which you can see, leading into the theater It was designated for the general public If you look here This theater, which is over 2000 years old and was built during the Roman period You won’t find any cement, mortar, or similar materials used anywhere In fact, the stones have been so beautifully fitted on top of each other That even after all these centuries Despite earthquakes, storms, and rainfall, it still stands strong and intact So, let’s head down first, inside the theater, come with me Bismillah. As you enter through the theater doors You will find this corridor. Where, before entering the theater People were divided here Different doors were created for people to go down through So that there wouldn’t be any crowding But the interesting thing here is that, if you look at this wall, despite its curve It has been built so meticulously that you don’t even feel the curvature It appears as if the wall is straight But if you step back and observe closely, you will see that it is, in fact, curved The main point here is that there are no girders in between these Between every two stones How these are perfectly interlocked over thousands of years This is a remarkable technique And if you look here You will see that there was a system in place for air to flow inside The cool breeze would naturally enter from here to this corridor Basically, this in the middle is its lock. The line you see in the center, if you were to remove one stone from it All the stones on the left and right would fall down As you can see on this side Over time, some parts of the structure have been slightly affected You will see that fallen That's why a door was installed to close it off Wherever the Romans went, they left behind their traces Throughout history, the greatest architect that have comes are it’s the Greeks and Romans whose works still stand today Even after 2 thousand years The buildings they constructed and the things they created are still intact. This is called Mas'alah al-Gharbi because From here, you can see Palestine and the city of Madinat al-Nasr Essentially, people would come here to enjoy the view Especially to sit and watch the sunset At this time, since renovations are ongoing Many of the monuments have also been damaged If you look above, you’ll see that these stones are broken, remnants of a past era The Germans are working on this project, and they have numbered the stones They numbered the stones Because, each stone, which was originally placed in a specific spot in ancient times Must be returned to its exact location during the restoration process Basically, what used to happen here Was that there were around three thousand stone chairs built here Where people would sit. During that time Artists would showcase their skills and performances right here The biggest challenge is If an artist showcasing his art here How the artist's voice would reach the three thousand people sitting above Especially with all the noise and commotion Let me show you a technique from that time If someone were to speak from below without a microphone How their voice would travel upwards Right now, the voice you’re hearing is coming from the microphone I have However, there is a natural Eco system here I’m going to turn off the mic now And you’ll hear the sound directly from here Nasir, can you hear my voice? Can you hear my voice coming from here? [Arabic] You might feel a change in your voice. I have turned off the mic right now [Arabic] Ya salam Ya salam One more thing that makes a difference here is Let me turn on the mic One thing you all should focus on is that This area is not yet in its original condition If this were in its original condition, the voice would be much clearer When all the stones were in place, they created an echo effect As you can see, there are wooden beams and iron fittings in several places now Because it’s no longer in its original state Anyway, this door you see here Was the entrance used by the royal families of that time Below, there were chairs specifically reserved for them to sit Which is currently broken and no longer exists here They used to watch from here whatever are was presented here And similarly, the common people would sit on the upper stairs Which are completely broken now, while the lower ones were reserved for the elite This stage was for the artists And the theater we have now comes from the Roman theater to the city center In the final period, before modern times, it was a Masjid here Before that, it was a church, which we call "Kanisa" This was built by the Byzantines approximately 1800 years ago The 8 pillars you are seeing That was the name of the church Referring to a church with eight pillars Kanisa means church Here, three different periods of history are mixed together One period is from the Ottoman era, when they converted it into a Masjid Before that, the Byzantines turned it into a church Before that, during the Roman era, it was the capital of the city Where people used to worship idols It was not for the worship of Allah Almighty But the Byzantines, who were all Christians And followers of Jesus (peace be upon him) So it was a church here. I will show you here now During the Ottoman era This is the mihrab where prayers were offered, as you can see here Before that, in the church, as you know in Christianity Children were baptized with holy water And certain words were recited to cleanse them inside the church It is the priest who performs the baptism This is the holy water from that time, in which children were baptized Isa "PBUH" had baptized by Yahaya "PBUH" in this manner in the Jordan River Allah willing, you will see this in some other vlog We will definitely visit there as well But here, the priest would stand on this side And baptize the children in this font during that time And if we look here, on this side You will see the Roman-era columns, pillars This whole area used to be their temple So basically, it was a Roman theater, then a Masjid, and alongside that, a church And after that, a Roman temple where they used to worship The Romans were strongly opposed to Christianity Which is why it was the Romans who sought to kill Isa "peace be upon him" [Arabic] But Allah Almighty raised him to the heavens And instead, it was someone who resembled him that was crucified in his place They claimed that they had, God forbid, killed Jesus (peace be upon him). Let's go So, we are standing on the main route Where people from all over the world would pass through when they traveled here This place was where taxes were collected And here, wealthy merchants or Romans Romans used to rest for a while How they enjoyed themselves in those times Before that let me first tell you about this path you are looking at We are fortunate that the weather today is very clear and clean So if you look ahead, you will see a mountain in front of you Is 71 kilometers away from here The city of Al-Nasr Madina, which is the city of Palestine We can see it from this point In front of it, there is a mountain And before that mountain, there is another one called Jabal al-Tajalli It was not Allah's manifestation here But rather, when Jesus (peace be upon him) was fleeing to save his life from Jerusalem He came to this mountain That is why The people here refer to it as the place where Jesus (peace be upon him) manifested As you know, some Christians believe, God forbid That Jesus (peace be upon him) is the son of Allah Almighty hat is why it is referred to as "Tajalli." The mountain you are seeing in front Is where Jesus (peace be upon him) had come in that area So He came from there Before this, there is a place called "Hayratbariyah" behind Related to Tiberias. I will try to create separate content for it As this may become too long It will include detailed information about Yajuj (Gog and Magog) as well So this, the entire path, is from that time Below, these are the signs that you are seeing In that era These signs were created by the pressure of the horse-drawn carriages that were used If you look here and look her So these are all signs of that era How they used to enjoy, let me show you This that you are looking at is a Roman bath A Roman bath, similar to the swimming pools we have today In those times The prominent Roman people would climb a staircase here, and then bathe inside With cold water and they used to enjoy Until their servants, the attendants, Took care of all the arrangements like taxes and other matters This is called a Sabil-e-Huriyat here Huriyat means the most beautiful girls of that time Statues of them were made here Or you could say that they were made to stand here Later, pillars in the shape of their likeness were made here What used to happen here? The hole you are basically seeing here This is a hole Below, this area that you can see, if you can observe So, all of this here There were 10 such ones built like this; these were water fountain This hole that you can see Water did not come here from the swimming pool Rather internally just like we lay pipelines today In that era, inside the stones they had created pathways for the water to flow Where the water would come from above, it would arrive cooled down Besides, the area itself is cold So, people used to drink cold water from here Meaning, anyone who came here, after drinking the water The remaining water would Flow down through this channel, which I am referring to as a drain, just to explain The horses of the wealthy traders, used to drink water from here Which used to be here below For the other animals, there was a separate system; they had to work hard on their own But this place was only for the important people Now, as wide as this path was, inside this city, inside the Gadara city On its left and right, you would find all these kinds of pillars Now they are broken, but in that time, there was also decoration on them Like the one you see here This decoration is not as simple as it may seem at first glance That it just for decoration, it is not just for decoration Rather, it has a history within it All the things you see here Point to something that they used to have here in that time Basically, this land was highly fertile in terms of agriculture So here it shows dates Similarly, they also kept honeybees and used to make honey from them For this, they also provided that design here Similarly, they had a lot of sunflower plants here And you can see the symbol of that here Behind us there is river Tabriyah, where they used to fishing Jordan's canal runs beneath it A sacred canal, which is considered holy by Christians The fishing that used to happen inside, the fish are also displayed here Similarly, they also kept goats here And you can see goats here Another thing is that grapes were grown in large quantities So you will see the fruit of grapes here Additionally, the grape leaves are also visible here Similarly, olives are also found here. Apart from olives Pigs are also found here. SubhanAllah Nasser was asking me Where the water goes when there are heavy rains in this city [Arabic] "Roman engineers were truly remarkable in everything they did It’s not like they would build something And the next day when it rained, they’d realize there was no way to drain the water [Arabic] Nasir Bhai is saying that the water was going towards This side, downwards, but that's not the case Rather, after every few meters, they had constructed channels like this If I could show you, you would see [Arabic] After that, the water would flow down here, and behind this The water would fall into the Jordan River Then, the water that you can see ahead would flow into it [Arabic] Ya salam So, we are now at the highest point where you can get a panorama view There is a lot of history here. If you are busy with something else You should pause for a moment and watch this video From here, we showed you entire the Umm Qais The water flows down, and it goes into the Jordan River below "The mountain you see in front of me is called Hawabt Majulan It was under Syrian control But in 1967, Israel occupied it If you look closely, you will see a small white structure, like a dome That is where the United Nations office is located They are stationed there to facilitate a ceasefire between two or three countries This mountain range is approximately 61 kilometers long And the total area is more than a thousand square kilometers Which Israel occupied in 1967 Before that, in 1948, during the war The lake you see in the back is called Lake Tiberias We will tell you about the Islamic history of Tiberias later But today we are informing you that Israel occupied this area in 1948 And it was originally part of Palestine The mountains you see faintly behind the League of Tiberias are in Lebanon Here, the borders of four countries meet At the farthest back, there is Lebanon, followed by Palestine, which is occupied After that, there is Syria, and where we are present right now is Jordan Why this place is very important? because, as you can see It has been under control since two thousand years ago The Romans held it, followed by the Greeks before them And then the Ottoman Empire also controlled this area during its rule The reason for its importance is that the freshwater reserves Are present here in front of us By the way, Gog and Magog will drink all the water here I will explain this in detail later in next vlog, Allah willing So, Israel now holds control over this area The area below, is under Israel's control Which is occupied Palestine Sorry, this is the occupied Syria, and you could say, this area The settlement below, is entirely part of Jordan Behind this, at the very bottom of the mountains The Yarmouk River flows alongside The Quran also mentions Yarmouk in relation to its significance [Arabic] That is about river Yarmouk We will, Allah willing, create a separate vlog dedicated to it So Yarmouk Here three rivers are converging The Yarmouk River, the Jordan River, and the Lake of Tiberias All this water then flows directly through Jordan And eventually reaches the Dead Sea after passing through areas like Amman In 1967, Israel attempted to take control of this area, including the city of Gadara From here to Ajloun The Ajloun is the city, which is a city you might know. Two years ago When we visited Jordan We made a video of Salahuddin Ayubi's castle You will find this in the comments below This entire area was something Israel wanted to take control of But Thank Allah they were unable to occupy it Yes, understanding this point is very important, as you can see Yiu can see in this same area the Battle of Hattin took place Hazrat Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah RA Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab RA had called Hazrat Khalid ibn al-Walid From Iraq to here So that with Hazrat Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah RA Could fight against the Romans, who were allied with the Jews at that time By the grace of Allah, the Muslims were granted victory in this battle As the Golan Heights end, the other mountain you see, which is part of Jordan Lies just behind it. Right behind that, near the top of Tiberias The Battle of Hattin took place Almost a thousand years after the Muslim's Yarmouk conquest, The second major battle after the Battle of Yarmouk was the Battle of Hattin Under the leadership of Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi, who later conquered Jerusalem That battle also took place here So now you can understand why Israel repeatedly wants to occupy this region Later, when Israel occupied this area in 1967 On the Golan Height So their aim was to expand from here to Ajloun Ajloun is also the place where Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi built his first fortress That is also a very elevated area From there, they could oversee the entire region of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Just as the weather here is clear today, and we can see the entire region Even the Ajloun mountains are visible to us And right in front of us, behind the Golan Heights With my own eyes I can also see Damascus the city where Hazrat Isa (A.S.) is believed to descend It is 80 kilometers away from here Since we are in an elevated area You can understand the importance of this place The city that we showed you at the beginning of the vlog The entire city of Jadara Who conquered it on behalf of the Muslims? fter the Battle of Yarmouk took place here, Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah (RA) sent Hazrat Shurahbil ibn Hasanah (RA) Along with a contingent of troops, and He conquered this Gadara And thus, during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) This city became part of the Muslim territories Later, Jerusalem was also conquered Similarly, Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi conquered Hattin In the Battle of Hattin, he defeated approximately 36,000 crusaders And in the end times As I will discuss in detail in the next vlog A major battle will also take place here Involving Prophet Isa (AS) and Imam Mahdi (AS) Allah willing, you will learn more about this in the next vlog I hope you enjoyed this vlog, which was entirely focused on history Particularly about Jadara (Umm Qais) We also tried our best To show and explain the other sites from here hat we couldn’t visit directly I hope you found it informative and interesting I kindly request you to give your feedback About what you found most interesting or enjoyable in this vlog And I request to like, share And subscribe to Zubair Riaz if you haven’t already If you want to know Zubair’s actual location Because vlogs as they are often uploaded later You can follow me on Instagram There, we regularly update stories about our activities So you are in any corner of the world If you would like to meet, must follow on Instagram It is possible that I have been to your city sometimes, And you will know from there, and you can meet me at that time Vlogs come later Do like share and subscribe for more videos Thanks for watching Allah Hafiz