Madinah
Harat al-Aghawat was one of the best known old quarters of Madinah. Its main street began in front of Bab Jibril on the eastern side of Masjid al-Nabawi and…
Harat al-Aghawat was one of the best known old quarters of Madinah. Its main street began in front of Bab Jibril on the eastern side of Masjid al-Nabawi and ran east for about 255 metres to the Juma gate of the city walls, which opened onto al-Baqi'. It took its name from the aghawat, the servants of the mosque, most of whom lived here close to their work: by day they cleaned and prepared the mosque and by night they guarded it, following a system of duties handed down from the Mamluk period. The quarter was a narrow street of two and three storey houses of mud brick and stone, with lanes leading off it, a well, a kuttab for children, and the libraries of Omar Efendi and of Shaykh Abd al-Ghafur al-Bukhari. It was cleared when Masjid al-Nabawi was enlarged, and its site lies just north-east of the Green Dome, on the side of the mosque facing al-Baqi'.