On the morning of the 28th, we started the journey to Faiyoum. The journey took about 1 1/2 hours. Instead of Afzan as the guide, we had Hairul, a young newlywed (just got married for 3 months). As soon as we reached the border of Faiyoum, we were stopped by the police and to our surprise, they started to escort us. The journey from then on was slower because the police's jeep was so slow...sigh.
I was captivated when Hairul started telling us about the history of the area. The first shock came when he told us that the lake on our right was also known as Tasik Qarun (Qarun's lake). It used to be Qarun's warehouse. My goodness, the lake was so huge! It looked practically like a sea! Imagine how rich Qarun was. Subhanallah...
It was said that the key to Qarun's warehouse was so heavy that it took many people to carry it. Seriously, the lake was huge! Hairul told us that maybe because the lake was cursed that it had a bad smell and not many fish could live there. The water for the surrounding farms was taken from the Nile and not from the lake because the water from the lake was foul.
Imagine, the wrath of Allah... Qarun lived during nabi Musa's time (more than a thousand years ago) and yet the remains were still there for us to see and hopefully learn from. It was really a humbling experience for me. I told the kids that they have to share their wealth with those more unfortunate than them and pay out zakat. I think Hadi took it to heart because now when he didn't want to share his things, I would say, "Don't be...", he would finish it for me and say "...like Qarun"...hehehe
It looks like the sea...
The water smells bad...
From afar...
Huge...
Our family minus Hadi...
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