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The Great Mosque of Aleppo
By Jason Hamacher
The Great Mosque of Aleppo, Syria was built between 705 to 715 CE. Since then it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over. Inside the mosque is said to be
the severed head of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. People come from everywhere to pray in front of his heavily-padlocked tomb. The mosque's minaret
streaches 154 ft to the sky and hasn't changed since 1090. Five times a day, a muezzin, or mosque official, climbs to the top and sings through a loudspeaker
summoning the faithful to prayer. I usually ignored the call to prayer but one day I decided to listen.
I passed through a huge wooden door and stepped down three large stairs to remove my shoes. I held them in my hand and admired the lush oriental carpets softening
the stone entrance. I stepped out of the shade and entered the courtyard of the Great Mosque. The baking midday stone seared my feet as I quickly crossed the
courtyard. I was headed for the prayer hall in the hopes of photographing a typical Syrian Islamic prayer service for my book on Aleppo.
For the sake of a visual, I'm pale with arm tattoos and a shaved head. With a camera slung over my neck and large black backpack, I didn't look like I was coming
to pray. As I approached the entrance to the prayer hall a man greeted me in broken English.
"Food outside. You hungry, go that way." He pointed towards the door I had just entered and seemed perturbed.
Confused, I responded, "I'm not hungry, I came to take photos." I grabbed my camera and shook it for emphasis and pointed to the prayer hall entrance.
"Falafel, hummus, outside." He angrily pointed to the door again and began herding me in that direction. "No photos!" he exclaimed, as he shook his index finger
quickly side to side.
"Not hungry," I pleaded. I can speak maybe five Arabic words and none of them were helping. "I am working with Imad Mustapha, Syrian Ambassador in Washington DC."
No good. I couldn't communicate with the guy. He was angry and trying to kick me out and I was frustrated for not being able to speak. I gestured for him to
wait a second. I took off my backpack and got out a single run photo book made with images from my previous trip to Aleppo. I signaled for the man to come over.
He reluctantly walked over. I pointed to the book and then pointed to me and then pointed to the prayer hall. I flipped to a photo I had taken while attending
a meeting between Mor Gregorius Yohanna Ibrahim, Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, a Shiite sheik, and two Sunni sheiks. I came to find out that the two
Sunnis were the sons of Dr. Sheikh Ahmad Badruddin Hassoun, Grand Mufti of the Syrian Republic. I pointed to the religious figures and then pointed to my camera
and then pointed to me. I flipped though to the end of the book where there was a photo of me with the Archbishop and pointed at my chest and the photo.
"Lots of Christian photos. Need Muslim photos," I said. The man took the book out of my hand and began flipping though the pages. A second onlooker came over
and began looking through the book. They both were smiling and seemed impressed. After an awkward three or four minutes of leafing through the book, the first
man kissed me on both cheeks, grabbed me by the arm and escorted me into the mosque. He spoke to a few people inside and said, "Photos no problem." He smiled,
patted me on the back, and walked off.
I spent the next 90 minutes quietly photographing people praying and reading the Qur'an. I felt a supreme reverence being among such spiritually rich followers.
My time spent inside the Great Mosque was one the most serene moments of my trip.
Jason Hamacher's Bio
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