Balıklıgöl (Pool of Abraham), Aynzeliha Lake and the Cave of Abraham's Birth

At the southern foot of the limestone cliff of Urfa Castle lies one of the most serene and atmospheric sacred landscapes in the Middle East: the twin spring-fed lakes of Balıklıgöl (Halil-ür Rahman Gölü) and Aynzeliha, set inside a vast, shaded park of cypress trees, rose gardens, stone water channels and Ottoman mosques (completely free to enter 24 hours a day).

The Legend of Prophet Abraham (Hz. İbrahim) and King Nimrod

According to Jewish, Christian and Islamic oral traditions preserved across northern Mesopotamia, the cruel polytheistic king Nimrod (Nemrut) ruled from the citadel above. When young Abraham (İbrahim) smashed the idols inside the royal temple with an axe and declared his faith in one unseen God, Nimrod ordered a colossal pyre of firewood to be gathered on the plain below and used the twin stone columns on top of Urfa Castle as a giant catapult to hurl Abraham into the roaring flames. At the moment Abraham fell, God commanded in the Qur'an (Surah Al-Anbiya Chapter 21 Verse 69): "O Fire. Be coolness and peace for Abraham." Instantly, the roaring fire transformed into the cool, crystal-clear spring water of the 150-metre-long rectangular pool of Halil-ür Rahman (Balıklıgöl, "Fish Lake"), the burning logs turned into the thousands of sacred whiskered carp that still swim in the water today, and a rose garden bloomed where Abraham landed.

• Aynzeliha Lake: when Nimrod's adoptive daughter Zeliha saw the miracle, declared her faith in Abraham and threw herself into the flames after him, a second, rounder tree-shaded lake, Aynzeliha, sprang up where she fell. Today you can rent a wooden rowboat for 20 minutes on Aynzeliha Lake and drink tea at the waterside garden pavilions beneath the castle cliff.

Halil-ür Rahman Mosque (1211), Rizvaniye Mosque (1716) and the Cave of Birth

Framing the western end of Balıklıgöl stands the square Ayyubid bell-tower-style minaret of 1211 Halil-ür Rahman Mosque (Döşeme Camii), while along the entire northern edge of the water runs the graceful stone arcade of the 1716 Ottoman Rizvaniye Mosque and Madrasa. Walk three minutes east through the rose gardens into the white limestone courtyard of the Mevlid-i Halil Mosque to step inside the Cave of Abraham's Birth (Hz. İbrahim'in Doğduğu Mağara), where tradition holds Abraham's mother hid inside the rock cavern for seven years to protect her newborn son from Nimrod's soldiers, and where sacred spring water (zemzem) still flows from the rock.