ABSTRACT
Al-Harith and Aisha visit the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus while mosaicists are laying the mosaics of the western arcade of the building. They meet the foreman, Abu Zayd, and engage in a discussion about the meanings communicated by the image. They are joined by Salim and debate about whether the images relate to Qurʾanic descriptions of paradise. Al-Harith also notes similarities with floor mosaics in Jordanian churches.
