Religious Tours/ Pilgrimage

Jordan has been a place of inspiration and pilgrimage for thousands of years.  As a place through which Abraham, the father of all the monotheisms, passed in his travels from Babylonia to Arabia, Jordan has hosted the prophets and messengers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Pilgrimage sites dot our whole landscape; shrines to Noah (Nuh), Lot (Lut), Khidr Elias, Elijah, Jethro (Shu`ayb), Moses (Musa), Joshua (Yusha), Aaron (Harun), Job (Ayyoub), John (Yahya), Jesus (`Easa), and the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad are pilgrimage destinations for people from the world over.

Whether you are a devout Christian, Jew or Muslim – or a traveller interested in all three traditions – we are happy to arrange a tour of religious sites for you. 

The visitor interested in Islamic tradition might want to visit the maqamat, or holy shrines and tombs of prophets and Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as well as memorialized sites of Muslim historical events such as the battles of Muta’ and Yarmuk.  We can take you deep into desert to the site of a famed encounter between the Prophet Muhammad and a Nestorian monk, who foretold the young man’s future as a religious leader.  We can also visit archaeological sites which mark the very earliest centuries of Islam - - the early minaret (ma’athanah) at Qastal, the church-to-mosque conversions in northern Jordan , or the first tiny mosque at Humeima, whence the Abbas family would topple the Umayyad dynasty.

The traveller intrigued with the Jewish past can visit the Tomb of Aaron (Nabi Haroun), towering above Petra , or the many shrine sites to prophets of the Hebrew Bible.  We can stop at Qasr al-`Abd, the stunning palace of the Tobiad prince Hyrcanus, II century governor of Amman, and tour `Iraq al-Amir, the enigmatic caves and tombs in the surrounding valley, or tour off-road the geography of the Abrahamic past and the age of the prophets.

The Christian tradition has been recently refurbished for the occasion of the Christian millennium in 2000.  We might visit Umm ar-Rasas, Mount Nebo and Madaba with their beautiful mosaics, and the newly interpreted Baptism site at Maghtas; then we could travel north to stop at Pella of the Decapolis and Jerash, with its many churches and mosaic floors, punctuated by Hellenistic temples and the mosques of the new Muslim communities of the 8^th century AD.  In Petra the Blue Church and Byzantine remains attest to the lively early Christian presence which followed the Nabataean and Roman cities.

For anyone interested in exploring modern Islam, JIT is delighted to connect you with Jordanian Muslims – share meals with families, speak to Muslim clerics, visit a mosque, attend community prayer.  Likewise for those interested in learning about one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, we are happy to connect you with the Orthodox Christians of Jordan’s Christian communities and churches.  Attend traditional Eastern masses at village churches, take communion in a land where Jesus and early Christian ascetics retreated for contemplation.