Zubala
Zubala, about 25 km south of Rafha, was one of the main stations of Darb Zubaydah, the Abbasid pilgrim road from Kufa to Makkah, and a meeting place for…
Zubala, about 25 km south of Rafha, was one of the main stations of Darb Zubaydah, the Abbasid pilgrim road from Kufa to Makkah, and a meeting place for pilgrims and trade caravans. The historians of Karbala record that it was here, on his journey from Makkah towards Kufa, that Sayyiduna al-Husayn received word of the killing of his foster brother Abdullah ibn Yaqtur and told those travelling with him of the killing of Sayyiduna Muslim ibn Aqil and Hani ibn Urwah, giving any who wished leave to turn back. The station kept its water in large stone-lined pools and in wells cut deep into the rock, and the remains of a fort stand on higher ground to the east. The Heritage Commission has excavated the site since 2015 as part of its Darb Zubaydah programme, and the pool is fenced.