Abar 'Ali

A photo of the area Abar 'Ali in Medina

Ābār ʿAlī (آبار علي), "Ali's wells" (Ali's wells) is an area in the south of Medina, which is also called (Dhul-Hulayfah), where the (Masjid al-Shajarah), which is the miqat for the people of Medina, is located. This region, through which (Wadi 'Atiq) passes, has had and still has palm groves and wells. This area has been called "Abar Ali" or "Be’r Ali" since past centuries, so much so that Masjid Shajarah was also referred to as Masjid Be’r Ali. According to some narratives, the name Be’r Ali (Well of Ali) is derived from the name of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Some have said that there was a well at this location where Ali fought with the jinn, and others consider it to be the land that the Prophet gave to Ali as a fief. However, some sources do not accept such an attribution. Location "Abar" and "Abiyar" are plural forms of "Be’r" and mean wells.(1) Farāhīdī, Kitāb al-ʿayn , vol. 8, p. 290. , Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, vol. 4, p. 37. , Ḥusaynī al-Zabīdī, Tāj al-ʿarūs min jawāhir al-qāmūs, vol. 6, p. 43. Abar Ali is the name of an area located 9 kilometers south of the city of Medina, in Wadi Aqiq and on the western slope of Mount Ayr, which is on the route to Mecca. This area is the same as the area of Dhu al-Hulayfah, where Masjid Shajarah, which is the Miqat (station) for the people of Medina, is located.(2) Shurrāb Muḥammad, Al- maʿālim al-ʾathīra fī al-sunna wa al-sīra , p. 103. Today's situation Today, in the gardens and farms located to the west of Masjid Shajarah on the banks of Wadi Aqiq (Aqiq River), there remain numerous ancient water wells.(3) Kaʿakī, Ma ʿālim al-madina al-munawwara bayn al-ʿMārat wa al-Tārīkh, vol. 2, p. 478-483. Some of the pilgrims visit a number of these wells (which are located on the farm of Mansour Osman Al-Faridi(3) Kaʿakī, Ma ʿālim al-madina al-munawwara bayn al-ʿMārat wa al-Tārīkh, vol. 2, p. 478-483. These wells are considered by some pilgrims to be attributed to Imam Ali, but according to Abdul Aziz Kaaki, a contemporary geographer of Medina, the wells attributed to Imam Ali have disappeared today and their location is unknown.(4) Kaʿakī, Ma ʿālim al-madina al-munawwara bayn al-ʿMārat wa al-Tārīkh, vol. 4, p. 487. Naming history The use of the name Abar Ali or Be’r Ali has ancient origins, but the reason for its naming is not clearly known. Sources from the eighth century indicate that Be’r Ali was a common name, and nobody recognized this place by the name Dhu al-Hulayfah.(5) Samhūdī, Wafāʾ al-wafā bi akhbār dar al-Muṣṭafā, vol. 3, p. 421. (6) Fīrūz Abādī, Al-maghānim al-muṭāba fī ma ʿālim al-ṭāba, p. 82. Evliya Çelebi, who went on pilgrimage in the eleventh century, referred to the Miqat (station) for the people of Medina as Abar Ali and even called the Ihram Mosque as Masjid Ali.(7)* Chilibī, Al-Raḥla al-ḥijazīyya, p. 161. Farhad Mirza also notes in his travelogue from the year 1292 AH that the local people only know Masjid Shajarah by the name of Be’r Ali or Abar Ali.(8)* The battle of Ali with the jinn It is narrated that in this area there was a well where Imam Ali fought with the jinn.(9) Samhūdī, Wafāʾ al-wafā bi akhbār dar al-Muṣṭafā, vol. 4, p. 246. (10) Ibn Najīm,Al-Baḥr al-rāʾiq: sharḥ-i kanz al-daqāʾiq, vol. 2, p. 555. , Ḥaṣkafī, al-. Al-durr al-mukhtār, vol. 2, p. 522-523. , Ajlūnī, , al-. Kashf al-khif ā, vol. 2, p. 418. Samhudi, a famous historian of Medina, quotes Ibn Jama'ah(11) Najafī, Madīna shināsī , p. 181. states that he refutes the accuracy of this story.(12) Samhūdī, Wafāʾ al-wafā bi akhbār dar al-Muṣṭafā, vol. 4, p. 247. However, the fact that in some geographical sources from the ninth century or before and after, terms like "Be’r Ali ibn Abi Talib" are used to refer to this well(13) Ibn Mujāwir, Tārīkh mustabṣir , p. 27. "Be’r Ali radhi Allah anhu" (Be’r Ali, may Allah be pleased with him),(14) Fīrūz Abādī, Al-maghānim al-muṭāba fī ma ʿālim al-ṭāba, p. 172. "Al-Be’r al-Mansubah ila Ali ibn Abi Talib" (The well attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib)(15)* indicates that the attribution of this name to Ali ibn Abi Talib was a common belief. The fief granted by the Prophet to Ali It is sometimes said that Imam Ali had dug wells in this area, and for this reason, the place was named after him.(16) Damyāṭī, Al-sayyid al-bakrī, al-Iʿāna al-ṭālibīn, vol. 2, p. 341. (17) Abṭaḥī, Manāsik-i ḥajj wa ʿumra , *103, p. 91. ** Ṣāfī Gulpāyigānī, Manāsik-i ḥajj , p. 91. Some researchers have also suggested that this area might have been part of the lands that the Prophet granted to Ali ibn Abi Talib as a fief, and the name of the area originates from this. This interpretation is based on a narrative according to which the Prophet granted lands including Faqirin, Qays, and Shajarah to Ali.(18) Najafī, Madīna shināsī , vol. 1, p. 181. On the other hand, some reports indicate that this area (Wadi Aqiq) was granted by the Prophet to Bilal ibn Harith al-Muzani as a fief, and it was called Bilad Muzaynah.(19) Ḥamawī,Muʿjam al-buldān, vol. 4, p. 139. , Samhūdī, Wafāʾ al-wafā bi akhbār dar al-Muṣṭafā, vol. 4, p. 14. Based on this, some consider the attribution of the wells in this area to Ali ibn Abi Talib to be incorrect.(20) Ṣabrī Pāshā,Mawsūʿa mirʾāt al-ḥaramayn, vol. 4, p. 876. The connection between the name Ali and Ali Dinar In an undocumented report found on the internet, the name "Ali Dinar" has been attributed to Ali Abars. It is said that in the year 1898 AD / 1315 AH, he reconstructed the wells of Zu al-Halifah and thereafter this area came to be known as Ali Abars. However, such a claim is not accurate because the name Ali Abars (as mentioned earlier) has been prevalent for centuries.(21)*

References .Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad b. Mukarram. Lisān al-ʿArab. Qom: Adab al-Ḥawza, 1405 AH.

• Najafī, Sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir. Madīna shināsī. Tehran: Mashʿar, 1387 sh.

• Shurrāb Muḥammad Muḥammad b. Ḥasan. Al- maʿālim al-ʾathīra fī al-sunna wa al-sīra. Beirut: Dār al-Qalam, 1411AH.

• Kaʿakī, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Ma ʿālim al-madina al-munawwara bayn al-ʿMārat wa al-Tārīkh. Beirut: Dār wa maktabat al-hilāl, 2011. • Fīrūz Abādī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb. Al-maghānim al-muṭāba fī ma ʿālim al-ṭāba. Edited by: Ḥamad al-Jāsir. [n.p], 1969.

Ḥamawī, Yāqūt b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Muʿjam al-buldān. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir, 1995.

• Fatḥ Allāh, Aḥmad. Muʿjam alfāz al-figh al-jaʿfarī. [n.p], al-Damām, 1415 AH.

• Ṣāfī Gulpāyigānī, Luṭf Allāh. Manāsik-i ḥajj. Qom: Dār al-Qurān al-Karīm, 1416 AH. • Ṣabrī Pāshā, Ayyūb. Mawsūʿa mirʾāt al-ḥaramayn. Cairo: Shirkat al-Dawlīyya li-l-Ṭibāʿa, 2004.

• Abṭaḥī, Muḥammad ʿAlī .Manāsik-i ḥajj wa ʿumra. [n.p], 1418 AH.

• Damyāṭī, Al-sayyid al-bakrī al-. Iʿāna al-ṭālibīn. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1418 AH.

.Ibn Najīm, Zayn al-Dīn al-Ḥanafī. Al-Baḥr al-rāʾiq: sharḥ-i kanz al-daqāʾiq. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1418 AH.

Ḥusaynī al-Zabīdī, Muḥammad Murtaḍa al. Tāj al-ʿarūs min jawāhir al-qāmūs. First edition. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1414 AH.

• Ibn Mujāwir, Tārīkh mustabṣir. Edited by: Mamdūḥ Ḥasan Muḥammad. Cairo: Al-Thiqāfat al-Dīniyya, 1996.

• Ḥaṣkafī al-. Al-durr al-mukhtār. . Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1415AH.

.ʿAynī, Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad. ʿUmdat al-qarī; Sharḥ ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Edited by ʿAbd Allāh Maḥmūd Muḥammad ʿUmar. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1421 AH. Farāhīdī, Khalīl b. Aḥmad. Kitāb al-ʿayn. Edited by Mahdī Makhzūmī and Ibrāhīm Sāmirāʾirī. Qom: Dār al-Hijra, 1409 AH.

• ʿAjlūnī, Ismāʿīl al-. Kashf al-khif āʾ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1408 AH. • Samhūdī, ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh. Wafāʾ al-wafā bi akhbār dar al-Muṣṭafā. Edited by Muḥammad Muḥyi al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd. Beirut: 1984.

• Chilibī, ʾUlīyā. Al-Raḥla al-ḥijazīyya. Translated by Aḥmad al-Mursī. Cairo: Dār al-Āfāq al-ʿArabīyya, 1420 AH.