Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of Canaan, and allocated the land to the tribes. Joshua also holds a position of respect to
Muslims. Some see him as a prophet, others view him as a saintly man and great leader.
The conventional Bible chronology says Joshua lived between 1450-1370 BC and died at
the age of 110. The question is: where is he buried and had we parted with some silver
coins to stand solemnly in front of a false tomb?
Biblical tradition places the tomb in Timnath-heres, which is said to be the current location
of Kifi-Hares in the northern West Bank south of Nablus, on the other side of the River
Jordan. That was a fair step from the tomb where we were standing. Still people need to
make a living.
We continued to the small town of Fuheis, which is the only wholly Christian town in
Jordan. It was immediately noticeable that none of the women were wearing a headscarf.
The town was not large, and we managed to access a modern church attached to a school.
One of the teachers sorted out a key that we were to return after our look-see. It was both
modern and well appointed, but not too flashy.
It is evident that Christians enjoy a freedom of worship in Jordan not readily available in
many other Middle East countries. Most of the Christian sects appear to be represented and
they are responsible for operating a number of schools at which both Christian and Muslim
children are educated. It is noteworthy that the country has consistently been described, by
various international human rights organisations, as having the best human rights record in
the region and ranking first in the state of democratic reforms out of fifteen Arab countries.
Heading back to Amman we tried to get into the King Hussein Mosque, but were turned
away and they indicated no photos. The parklands surrounding the mosque were extensive
and at the bottom of the hill there appeared to be the Jordanian institute of sport comprising
various running tracks and sporting fields populated by a number of people doing training
of one form or another.
