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Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
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33
Saad A. Al-Rashid
There were at least seven major routes which brought the pilgrims
from different regions to Mecca and Medina during the early period of
Islam:
Not all these routes were established during the Islamic period. There
were some which had been in use a long time before Islam, particularly
those routes along the coastal line that linked South Arabia with the
areas north and north-west of Arabia. Meccan caravans traded with South
from the Muslim historians and geographers that these routes came into use
officially from the start of the early Muslim campaigns against Iraq and
Persia, and particularly after the foundation of the two new Muslim cities,
Basrah and Kufa, during the reign of cUmar b. al-Khattb A.H. 17/638 (2).
After the establishment of these two cities communications between
them and the Hijz province became important, and they enabled Muslim
soldiers to perform the Pilgrimage regularly.
What concerns us here is the Kufa-Mecca road (Darb Zubaydah). There
is hardly any information about the state of the road before the Islamic
( cuyn) dug at the station of Fayd (3). The plain on which Fayd was
established used to be open country between the Asad and the Tayy tribes
in the pre-Muslim period. Pre-Islamic poetry indicates that Fayd was a
watering station in pagan times (4). When the chief of the Tayy tribe,
Zaid Al-Khayl, later named Zaid Al-Khayr by the Prophet Muhammad,
accepted Islam, the Prophet awarded him Fayd as state-owned grazing land
(5). cAli b. Abi Tlib (35-40/656-661) marched from Medina to Kufa in
Kufa in 60/679. They both followed what seems to have been the main
Pilgrim road between Kufa and Mecca, judging by the stations they stopped
at on their way to Iraq. These stations were: ar-Rabadhah , al-Hjir,
Fayd, Zard, ath-Tha' labyyah , Zublah and al-'Aqabah (6). Such places
became prominent pilgrim stations during the 'Abbasid period. Ar-
state grazing reserve for the state animals which came to the Treasury
by way of tax (7). During the period of the caliph cUthman, ar-Rabadhah
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34
became the refuge of the Prophet's companion Abu Dharr al-Gifri, who
died there in 62/652 (8). Although the road was in use at the time of
the Umayyads we have little information about the supplying of the road
with the necessary facilities for travellers.
It is not really the Umayyads however who established the road, but
the 'Abbasids, who established officially the Kufa-Mecca road ( and the
the road from al-Kufa to Mecca and for providing it with all the
facilities needed for travellers, i.e . pilgrims, soldiers, merchants and
civil servants. The most important facilities constructed along the road
were water tanks, wells (and basins), rest houses, khans or fortresses,
134/751 that fire signals and milestones be established from Kufa to Mecca
faster, so that al-Mahdi could get ice brought to him when he was in
Mecca on his Pilgrimage in 160/776, which none of the previous caliphs
had done (10). Al-Mahdi made further improvements by making the road
fAbbs as-Saffh, and he left the forts built by Abu Ja'far unaltered.
Al-Mahdi also ordered the building of cisterns and the renewal of milestones and reservoirs and the construction of dug wells with basins. For
this he appointed Yaqtin b. Musa to supervise the work, with his brother
road for ten years , the road from Iraq to Mecca became one of the best
for the first time between the holy cities, Medina and Mecca, with the
Yemen (13). Thus all Arabia and the central government in Baghdad were
now linked together by reliable communications.
visits to the holy cities and on each of these visits he inspected the
Pilgrim road and spent generously for the welfare of the pilgrims and
poor people. Along the Kufa-Mecca road he built cisterns, dug wells and
forts. To the holy cities, particularly Mecca, he provided certain
facilities such as inns, to accommodate the pilgrims and poor people (14).
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35
activities of a lady from the cAbbasid court. This was the wife of Harun
ar-Rashid himself, Queen Zubaydah, who was born 145/762-63 and died in
216/831. She made outstanding contributions towards the Pilgrim road and
the holy city of Mecca. The somewhat sparse information from Muslim
historians and geographers proves that she devoted much of her time and a
great deal of attention to the welfare of the pilgrims and above all the
inhabitants of Mecca. Several sites and monuments along the road to Mecca
were called Zubaydiyyah in her honour. al-Imm Abu Ishaq al-Harbi, who
was born .198/813 and died in 285/898, registered in his valuable geog-
geographical work Al-Manasik numerous places along the Pilgrim road where
Zubaydah had provided water tanks, wells, palaces and rest-houses. These
are mentioned by al-Harbi as birkah Zubaydiyyah, Qagr li Umm Ja c far and
birkah Zubaydiyyah mudawwarah. al-Harbi also records an urjuza composed
by Ahmad b. * Amr who accompanied Zubaydah on one of her visits to Mecca.
In this the poet enumerates the main pilgrim stations along the entire
length of the road, indicating the places where Zubaydah had provided
facilities for the people who travelled regularly to and from the holy
cities (15). The contribution of Zubaydah however seems to have been
concentrated on building shelters and watering facilities in places
located at some half-way spots between older established stations and
Both Ibn Jubayr, who travelled along the road around 578/1183, and
Ibn Battuta who travelled along the road in 726/1326, attributed the
We can safely say that the road was fully furnished during the time
of Harun ar-Rashd and Zubaydah. The work of the later caliphs was
limited to the improvements of certain parts of the road, and from time
to time they would build a cistern here and a well there as a replacement
When al-Ma' mun became caliph (218-227/833-842) he gave orders for the
measuring of the whole length of the road between Baghdad and Mecca: the
result was 712 miles (17)
road became the target of major tribes in central Arabia. Such tribes as
the Ban* Sulaym, Banu Numayr, Ban Asad, Ban Hill , Banu Shaybn, Ban
where they drained the water from its wells and reservoirs and filled
them with colocynth (al-foanzal ) . On the arrival of the pilgrims at the
the water, killed a large number of them and confiscated their property.
Although troops were sent immediately to deal with this attack and to
bring back the goods which had been taken, the damage caused by the tribe
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36
was enormous (18). al -Hafiz who puts this incident a year later (403/1012)
estimates that 15,000 pilgrims were killed at the hands of the Khafjah
tribe (19).
late 3rd century A.H. (early 10th century A.D.) made the roads from Barah
and Kufa to Mecca totally unsafe. For over thiry years they carried out
their raids against the pilgrim caravans and attacked the big pilgrim
stations, and sacked and plundered big cities such as Kufa and Basrah
which were important for the pilgrims. The Qarmatians went even further
by sacking Mecca itself in 317/930 (20). An example can be given here to
illustrate the damage that was caused by the Qarmatians. In 294/906
under the leadership of Zikrawayh the Qarmatians spread their forces
along the entire length of the road from the station of Fayd up to the
city of al-Kufa. At the end of the Pilgrimage season of that year they
left dead by the Qarmatians; the property seized from the pilgrims was
estimated to be worth two million dinars. After this massacre both wells
and cisterns were filled with the dead and wounded animals and other
beasts. But the Qarmatians failed to gain control over the station of
Fayd which was strongly fortified. The pilgrims and the government
soldiers were safe in its famous Hisn and mosque (21). But other stations
Despite the effect of the Qarmatians and the irruption of tribes the
'Abbasid caliphs and their subjects maintained their religious duty by
improving the road and repairing its watering facilities. Archaeological
evidence shows that the road was improved at the time of the caliph
al-Muqtadir, 295-320/908-932, under the supervision of the famous wazir
'Ali b. 'Is in 304/916-17 (23). During the rule of the Buwayhids in
restoring the road from Baghdad to Mecca. Water basins were made available
along the road together with wells and springs. Imposts on the pilgrim
caravan's were abolished. The danger of tribal raids or other banditry
against the pilgrims seems to have died down during the period of cAdud
ad-Dawlah (24).
<.
(25)
He also built the famous Manrat al-Qurn, i.e. the minaret of horns. A
Jubayr and Ibn Battuta we find that the section between Ma* din an-Naqirah
and Mecca, via Ma' din Banu Sulaym, was not in use from the time of Ibn
When the pilgrims arrived at Ma* din an-Naqirah they would turn to
way of al-Mislah where they rejoined th main road from Ma'din an-Naq
For a few years preceding the fall of Baghdad at the hand of the
Mongols in 1258 the pilgrims from Iraq and the rest of the eastern lands
were often joined by other caravans from Damascus to Medina and Mecca.
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37
The road at this stage was insecure, and the pilgrims who took risks and
travelled by it were often left stranded in the desert without food or
water. In 622/1225 the Amir of the pilgrims, Husm ad-Din Abu Firas alKurdi, left the pilgrims between Medina and Mecca and fled to Egypt. It
was said that he absconded because the road was not safe, owing to the
cutting off of financial aid from the caliphs of Baghdad for the upkeeping of good order along the highway (27).
caliph was in 641/1243. In this year the mother of the caliph al-
It must be pointed out that not only the cAbbasid caliphs and Queen
secretaries attached to the cAbbasid court, and also a number of men and
of the 'Abbasid family. He constructed a well at the station of arRabadhah and established (or supervised) the Suf aynah-Hadhh route which
The Barmakids were credited with providing the road with watering
Badr b. Hasanwayh, who in the late 4th and early 5th centuries A.H. (10th
- 11th centuries A.D.) ruled the lands west of Iran and upper Mesopotamia.
He contributed towards the Pilgrim road from Kufa to Mecca at a time when
condition. From the revenue of his extensive estates Hasanawayh paid for
the safety of the pilgrims and donated a large sum of money every year for
the maintenance of the road and for the upkeep of its water-supply, or
for building new water tanks and digging new wells. He also assured the
regular supply of fodder for animals along the whole length of the road
by paying at the going rate to the inhabitants of the stations. When
Badr died we are told that this regular contribution stopped and directly
finest and most remarkable and extensive road system in the early period
of Islamic history.
different types of terrain. The regions through which the road runs
consist of level ground, moderately rough, and regions with thick desert
and sandhills which can be traversed but are very exhausting to
travellers. The road also passes through areas of rock and lava,
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38
'low walls on both sides of the track. The track was also marked with way
marks along its entire length, some of which are still standing in situ.
Some milestones from the 'Abbasid period have survived and these indicate
the distance of the road from al-Kufa to Mecca in both the mile-system
itwJL.Vl
w , ^. . ^ o wJLt '
- and , ^. the costai . system ^ ' *
As for the monuments of the road, many of its wells and water tanks are
still preserved and in a good state of preservation, although a large
number of these are either completely sanded-up or partly filled with
than 90 reservoirs, but th total number must have been far greater.
During the present writer's recent investigation along sections of the
sha* ib towards the direction of the birkah during or after the rain.
The most important type of water source along the Zubaydah road is
the bi3 r or dug well. A large number of wells have been constructed at
every suitable point along the entire length of the road. From the
number includes three types of wells - the bi* r , qalb and the frisu. Many
of these wells have survived, and they give clear evidence of the ability
and skill of the engineers who built them. The design of the wells may be
round or square or rectangular in plan. Some have a lining of cut stone
on the inside from the top down to the level of the water; others are
partly lined with stone and partly cut in solid ground. They vary in
depth between 20 and 50 metres. All these tanks and wells were provided
at the main and interval stations, which according to early Muslim
places along the road. These are the remains of ancient fortresses and
rest houses. These buildings, although in a ruinous state, are no doubt
of great importance for scholars, their architectural design apparently
representing one uniform style. So far we can note that these buildings
are square in plan and vary in size; for example the ruins at al-Qa'wal
construction that we have seen along the Zubaydah road. The main features
of the qasr or the hisn is in the centre of a huge complex where a square
into the form of an enormous mound, which reaches about four metres above
ground level . There seems to be a tower at each corner but it is
difficult at this stage to know the layout of the actual plan. The
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39
-ancient settlements and houses are situated to the west of the qasr . A
large number of wall foundations are to be seen, and rooms and passages
can easily be distinguished.
**************
(3) al-Harbi, Abu Ishq Kitb "al-Mansik" Wa Amkin Turuq alHajj Wa Macalim al-Jazirah, ed. Hamad
al-Jasir (Riyadh-Beirut 1969) 309.
(4) al-Bakri, Abu 'ubaid Mu'jam M I sta 'jam, 4 vols. (Cairo 1949)
Abdullah b. *Abd al- vol.3, 1033.
Aziz
(6) at-Tabar, Abu Ja'far Tarkh ar-Rusul Wai Muluk, ed. M.J. de
293-4.
(7) Yaqt al-JIamawi op. cit . , vol.3, 24-5. al-Bakr , op. cit . ,
vol.2, 633-38. al-Hajari, op. cit. , 239-
246.
60.
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40
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41
128.
(32) Ibn Rust ah, Abu cAli Al-A4q an-Nafisah, ed. M.J. de Goeje
186.
(35) For more details on the whole topic see the very recent work:
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42
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43
Plate 2: Birkat al-Jumaymah. Square in plan; showing the internal staircases which partly lie in the solid ground. The water-canal is
visible in the picture.
44
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45
9
Plate 7: Birkat al-Huwayd, north of the station of Fayd. A four-sided
tank with internal buttresses.
Plate 9: A round birkah on the Way between Fayd and Samrah , showing
internal stairs leading in opposite directions and a water
channel with a sloping end.
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