ommayyades

Updated: August 23, 2026

Out of these memory-pictures of Damascus I choose three. The Lady and I are climbing up from the great Mosque of the Ommayyades into the Minaret of the Bride, at the hour of 'Asr, or afternoon prayer. As we tread the worn spiral steps in the darkness we hear, far above, the chant of the choir of muezzins, high-pitched, long-drawn, infinitely melancholy, calling the faithful to their devotions.

Henry Van Dyke - Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land: Impressions of Travel in Body and Spirit