(See photo below)
What if I was to tell you that I had no idea about this mosque until the morning of my trip to Birkat Al Mouz. Would you believe me? So, there I was, planning my trip to the Banana village when all of a sudden, I see a mosque right next to falaj Khatmeen. Of course, I’m drawn to mosques, so I do a little research and what I found was incredible!
This is the Al Yaaribah mosque. One of the oldest mosques in Oman. Built in the 1600’s, it is presumed to be Oman’s oldest mosques. Believe it or not, it’s still open, people still pray in it. It’s fully functional, and it is absolutely beautiful. Now, I didn’t get a chance to go inside it as I got there at 7am. Due to the summer heat, me and my friend Gareth planned an extremely early trip.
The structure is quite unique in shape. Square, made out of what looks like rock, and no minarets, which was surprising to me since most, if not all mosques have one or two minarets minimum. The mosque is located in Falaj al Khatmeen which is right next to birkat al mouz. The falaj itself is listed in the unesco world heritage list. The mosque might be too. You find a lot of locations on the unesco list, which doesn’t surprise me considering how beautiful and ancient some locations are.
You can hear the falaj (stream) as you’re walking around the tiny mosque, which adds to that already relaxing feeling you get when you’re in a quiet area.
