Fayd
Fayd, about 120 km east of Ha'il, was one of the great stations of Darb Zubaydah, the pilgrim road from Kufa to Makkah that the Abbasids furnished with wells,…
Fayd, about 120 km east of Ha'il, was one of the great stations of Darb Zubaydah, the pilgrim road from Kufa to Makkah that the Abbasids furnished with wells, pools and resthouses, named after Zubaydah, the wife of the caliph Harun al-Rashid. Lying roughly halfway along the road, it served as a market where pilgrims rested and restocked, and the travellers Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta both passed through it. Excavations north of the modern village have uncovered the walls of its fortress, known as Qasr Kharash, with houses, wells, cisterns and underground water channels around it. A walkway leads over the remains, and a visitor centre explains the history of Fayd from before Islam through the Abbasid period. The site has been closed at times for works.