درب زبيدة عرفات - Al Mashair

The Zubaydah Trail This trail is attributed to Zubaydah bint Jaafar bin Abi Jaafar al-Mansur, and it starts from Kufa to Makkah al-Mukarramah. This road is considered one of the most important pilgrimage and trade routes during the Islamic era. It was known as the “Zubaydah Darb” in reference to Lady Zubaydah, the husband of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, who contributed to its architecture and was immortalized throughout the ages. This road was used after the conquest of Iraq and the spread of Islam in the Levant, and its use became regular and affordable to a large extent, as the water centers and places of grazing and mining located on it became major stations. In the Abbasid era, the road became an important link between Baghdad and the Two Holy Mosques and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. The Abbasid caliphs took care of this road and provided it with multiple benefits and facilities, such as building water basins, digging wells, constructing ponds, setting up lighthouses, and so on. They also worked to widen the road so that it could be used by pilgrims, travelers and their animals. The historical and geographical sources and the remaining monuments indicate that the route of this road was planned in a practical and distinct engineering way, as it was built along stations, houses and rest houses, and its floors were paved with stones in sandy and muddy areas, in addition to providing it with the necessary benefits and facilities such as wells, ponds and dams, and signs, beacons, torches and stoves were erected on it. It clarifies its path, so that travelers may be guided by it (Al-Rashed 1993: 47-57). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Since the beginning of the Abbasid state, the Caliph Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah ordered the erection of miles (distance stones) and flags along the road from Kufa to Mecca, in the year 134 AH / 751 AD, and after him the Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansur ordered the construction of forts and water tanks at several points along the road While the Caliph al-Mahdi ordered the construction of palaces on the road to Mecca, and the Caliph Harun al-Rashid also ordered the construction of water tanks, the digging of wells and the establishment of forts along the road, as well as providing it with public facilities and utilities for the service and comfort of pilgrims and travelers. The caliphs appointed governors to supervise the road and undertake maintenance and reconstruction first. Powell (Al-Tabari 1979: 8 / 134-142). The number of main stations on this road is twenty-seven. The average distance between each station and station is about 50 km, as are secondary stations, each of which is called (dinner), and it is a break between every two main stations. It starts from Kufa Al-Qadisiyah, passing through the villages of Hajar, crossing the Arabian Peninsula and passing east of Madinah Al-Munawwarah until it reaches Mecca and ends at Arafat.