Mosque of Umm Haram

English, as on the record

Sinclair was ADC to Sir Garnet Wolseley in 1878 and remained in Cyprus for some years. He was an amateur painter who made a series of watercolours of Cyprus, sold with the contents of his family home Lady Place in Sutton Courtenay in 1990. This watercolour depicts one of the most important Islamic monuments on the island, the Tekke of Umm Haram or Hala Sultan Tekke. The Tekke is dedicated to Ummu Haram, foster aunt of the Prophet who came to Cyprus in 647 AD. She then fell from her mule, broke her neck and died. Legend has it that she was buried at the spot over which stands the Tekke. There are various versions in the Islamic Tradition related to the tomb and the tekke. Nevertheless, the first reference to this site appears in Ottoman sources in 1658 and 1661 when the name of keepers of the tomb are mentioned. In western sources, the tomb is first mentioned by Cornelis Van Bruin in 1683. [reference: Van Bruin in Cobham Excerpta Cypria p240]