Al-Kharabah
Al-Kharabah was a station of Darb Zubaydah on its last stretch towards Makkah, in the plain of Rakbah. It has two well-preserved pools fed by a channel from…
Al-Kharabah was a station of Darb Zubaydah on its last stretch towards Makkah, in the plain of Rakbah. It has two well-preserved pools fed by a channel from Wadi al-Aqiq: a rectangular tank about 36 by 28 metres and 5.8 metres deep, and a round pool about 54 metres across, with a single domed room between them. The pools lie in open desert north-east of Makkah. Darb Zubaydah, the pilgrim road from Kufa in Iraq to Makkah, was laid out by the Abbasid caliphs from 751, and Zubaydah, the wife of Harun al-Rashid, paid for many of its wells, pools and rest stations, which is why it bears her name. Saudi Arabia and Iraq have placed it on UNESCO's Tentative List.