NAWA, SYRIA
How to get here:
The village of Nawa is approximately 100km south of Damascus and is one and a half hours’ drive by car on the M5 highway. Busses also service this route but do take longer.
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Situated on the old Silk Route, this town was one of the main resting stations for travellers and caravans traveling from the Arabian Peninsula to the Levant.
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It is from this town that the first glad-tidings of prophethood were given. Bahira the Monk resided in a monastery there and he recognised the seal of prophethood when Muhammad SAW arrived there with his uncle as a young boy of 13 years.
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The site of the monastery was converted into a musjid and named Musjid Mabrak an-Naqah (lit. the sitting place of the camel) as there is an imprint of the camel on a rock inside the musjid. It is mentioned that it is the imprint of the feet of the camel that Muhammad SAW was riding when it rested here.
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It is mentioned that Muhammad SAW returned to Busra as-Sham at the age of 25 when he came on a trading mission for Khadija RA prior to him marrying her.
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A madrassah was initiated at this musjid in later years and the scholar Ibn Kathir RA who was born in this town studied here in the 14th century.
