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from "tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balıklıgöl" ;


Balıklıgöl, (Aynzeliha ve Halil-Ür Rahman Gölleri ) Şanlıurfa şehir merkezinin güneybatısında yer alan ve İbrahim Peygamberin ateşe atıldığında düştüğü yer olarak bilinen bu iki göl, kutsal balıkları ve çevrelerindeki tarihi eserler ile Şanlıurfa'nın en çok ziyaretçi çeken yerleridir.


İbrahim Peygamber, devrin zalim hükümdarı Nemrut ve halkının taptığı putlarla mücadele etmeye, tek tanrı fikrini savunmaya başlayınca, Nemrut tarafından bugünkü kalenin bulunduğu tepeden ateşe atılır. Bu sırada Allah tarafından ateşe "Ey ateş, İbrahim'e karşı serin ve selamet ol" emri verilir. Bu emir üzerine, ateş suya odunlar da balığa dönüşür. İbrahim bir gül bahçesinin içersine sağ olarak düşer. İbrahim'in düştüğü yer Halil-ür Rahman gölüdür. Rivayete göre Nemrut'un kızı Zeliha da İbrahim'e inandığından kendisini onun peşinden ateşe atar. Zeliha'nın düştüğü yerde de Aynzeliha Gölü oluşmuştur. Her iki göldeki balıklar halk tarafından kutsal kabul edilerek yenilmemekte ve korunmaktadır. Eski bir rivayete göre, anadolu toprakları tümü işgal durumuna düşerse bu kutsal balıklar melek asker olup kurtuluş savaşlarına katılacak denmektedir. Kutsal balıklara da askerbalık denilmektedir.

from "http://www.todayszaman.com ";
The most obvious spot to begin is Balıklı Göl at the western end of a delightfully green and shady park area beneath the north face of Urfa's impressive citadel rock. Bordered by the elegant arches of the 18th century Rizvaniye Mosque to the north and by the older Abdürrahman Mosque to the south, the pale green waters of the spring-fed pool are thick with carp. According to legend, the origins of both the pool and the fish are tied to Abraham. The prophet, railing against the tyranny of the local dynast Nimrod, was captured, carried to the peak of the citadel rock and hurled down toward a massive bonfire below. God interceded and turned the flames into water (Balıklı Göl) and the burning logs into fish (the carp).

The fish, sacred to local Muslims, are never eaten, and itinerant vendors sell little trays of fish food to visitors. When the food is scattered across the lake surface, the water positively boils with a writhing, wriggling mass of hungry carp. The fish were not always quite so lucky. When British Anglican missionary Percy Badger was traveling through Urfa in 1824 (when there was still a considerable Christian population in the city) he noted that "the Christians often partake of the forbidden dainty, the fish being easily secured in the streams which flow from the pond through the gardens. They generally cook them with a wine sauce, and declare them excellent." A Spanish nun named Egeria, visiting the city in A.D. 384, saw the fish on the grounds of what was then the palace of the Christian King Abgar and commented: "I have never seen fish like them; they were so big, so brightly colored and tasted so good." The fish you see today are clearly revered by Muslims and were important to Christians, but the origin of the fish pools goes back much further, to the cult of the Syrian goddess of love and fertility, Attargatis. Then, the altar of the goddess lay in the center of the pool, and her followers would swim and indulge in erotic ceremonies in the cool waters.