UmQusai's Thoughts ..

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Its all about "Ibra"

I always wonder why Ibra has a special place in my heart .. The moment someone mentions Ibra my heart beats faster and I feel the love of the land over flow in my heart ..

I never lived there, we just went there occasionally .. and the only reason that would make us (me, my siblings and cousins) get excited is that we exercise a certain freedom to go out of the house without my parents worrying about us.

Anyway, Ibra is an average town in the sultanate. It has the basic facilities other towns in Oman have but ofcourse its not comparable to Muscat. Its located in the Sharqia (East) Region of Oman.

If you ask me what are the attractive places to visit in Ibra, I wouldn't know. When we go there, we would mostly spend our time with family. Sitting out with my uncles and aunts having Mshakek (BBQ) is what we do when we go there.
However, few months back we went to visit one important land marks in Ibra. Its mosque that has two "Qibla" (direction where we head to pray). The reason is, Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him, was first ordered by Allah to head towards Quds in Jerusalem while praying. Then, he was ordered to head to Mecca. I think this mosque is a proof that Ibra embraced Islam during the life of prophet Mohammed, since the mosque has direction to the two Qiblas. Its a very small and old mosque, I had some pictures taken by my sisters camera .. She didn't send me the pics yet but I promise I would post them once I get them.

Another thing that's unique to Ibra is Suq Al Arba3 (ensued Market). Its a market run by the women of Ibra every wenesday. They sell traditional Omani clothes, other materials and different things that women use. Sadly, I've never been to the Suq but its definitely something I always hear about. When I ask my aunt to make me my Omani clothes (that I usually wear when I go to Ibra and during Eid) she always mentions the Suq and what it has.

Wearing our national costume which consists of a dress that goes until the knee and a trouses that has special embroidery at the end, is something I always do when I go to Ibra. When we were young, my mom used to force us to wear it and we used to hate it. Now, I thank my mom million times for doing that .. if each mother didn't do that to their kid, we would lose the valuable Omani clothes. you would only see them in museums.

Ibra is facing a great danger now, few water resources. Rain falls are not as much they used to be before, and that is affecting the farms and crops there.

So, this is ibra how I see it .. Below are some pictures to help you visualize what I talked about:

Ibra-3laya main road & Al-Yahmadi

Ibra without water

Ibra clothes

Labels: وأنا لي رأي

Posted by Arabian Princess :: 4:42 PM :: 12 comments