The Northern Ḥeǧâz/Appendix 15
APPENDIX XV
THE PILGRIM ROUTE FROM DAMASCUS
The Syrian pilgrims’ highroad follows the old transport route of at-Tebûkijje, which is referred to by Ibn Isḥâḳ (aṭ-Ṭabari, Ta’rîḫ [De Goeje], Ser. 1, pp. 2078 f.). This is clear from Jâḳût, Muʻǧam (Wüstenfeld), Vol. p. 336; Vol. 2, p. 135, according to whom Muḥammed ibn Saʻdûn al-ʻAbdari relates that Abu ʻObejda marched from al-Medîna through the valleys of al-Ḳura’, al-Aḳraʻ, al-Ǧunejne, and Tebûk to Sorṛ, whereupon he entered Syria. Al-ʻAbdari copies the record drawn up by Abu Ḥuḏejfa Isḥâḳ ibn Bišr in his book about the conquest of Syria. The headquarters of Wâdi al-Ḳura’ were formed by the modern oasis of al-ʻEla’. Al-Aḳraʻ is situated to the north of al-ʻEla’, while al-Ǧunejne is identical with Ǧenâjen al-Ḳâẓi between al-Aḳraʻ and Tebûk. Sorṛ, which must be read in place of the erroneous Sorûʻ of the text, denotes the oasis and stronghold of Soṛar to the north of Tebûk.
After the conquest of Syria, many pilgrims and even caliphs and members of the ruling house of the Omayyads (Beni Umejja) journeyed every year along this road to the Holy Cities. Ibn al-Faḳîh, Buldân (De Goeje), p. 106, states concerning the Caliph al-Walîd, the son of ʻAbdalmalek, that at the various halting places on this Pilgrim Route he had reservoirs built and at some of them infirmaries for pilgrims who were sick.
No author mentions that the Omayyads had this highroad surveyed and furnished with milestones. Only in the holy bounds at Mecca did the Caliph Merwân ibn al-Ḥakam have milestones set up (Ibn Roste, Aʻlâḳ [De Goeje], p. 56). If this highroad had been furnished with milestones, the geographers would certainly have told us the distances of the various halting places in miles, as they do in the case of the highroad from al-Kûfa to al-Medîna. The older authors do not even record all the halting places from Damascus to Mecca and refer to them only in a general way without stating the distances.
Ibn Ḫordâḏbeh, Masâlik (De Goeje), p. 150, calls the first and second halting places beyond Damascus by the general name of manzal (inn), while the third he calls Ḏât al-Manâzel (the place with several inns). The first manzal certainly denotes al-Kiswe, while Ḏât al-Manâzel is Ḏerʻât, situated about 105 kilometers to the south of Damascus. Beyond this halting place the first name mentioned by him is that of Soṛar (330 km.), this being the correct reading rather than the erroneous Soraʻ of the text. Thence, according to Ibn Ḫordâḏbeh, the road leads to Tebûk, al-Muḥdaṯa, and al-Aḳraʻ. The name of this latter halting place has been preserved in the reservoir of al-Aḳraʻ, about two hundred kilometers south-southeast of Tebûk and not far from the railway station of al-Muṭallaʻ. The halting place of al-Muḥdaṯa is unknown to me, but it may be identical with the modern station of al-Muʻaẓẓam. The ancient halting place of al-Aḫẓar between al-Muʻaẓẓam and Tebûk is still remembered under this name, but there is no reference to al-Muḥdaṯa after the time of Sultan al-Malek al-Muʻaẓẓam, who had the reservoir of al-Muʻaẓẓam constructed. It is therefore probable that the old name al-Muḥdaṯa was replaced by the more modern al-Muʻaẓẓam. After al-Aḳraʻ the next halting place mentioned by Ibn Ḫordâḏbeh is al-Ǧunejne; this, however, should have come before al-Aḳraʻ and even before al-Muḥdaṯa. Al-Aḳraʻ is only forty kilometers away from the next halting place of al-Ḥeǧr, so that it is scarcely likely that there was still another halting place between them. About halfway between al-Aḫẓar and al-Muʻaẓẓam (al-Muḥdaṯa) is a place known as Ǧenâjen al-Ḳâẓi with scanty remains of the fortified building and reservoir with which all the pilgrims’ stations were provided. It is there that we may locate the ancient al-Ǧunejne. From al-Ḥeǧr the highroad proceeded to Wâdi al-Ḳura’, or the modern al-ʻEla’.
Ibn Roste, op. cit., p. 183, and Ḳodâma, Ḫarâǧ (De Goeje), p. 191, omit the first two halting places and mention the following ones in the same order as that recorded by Ibn Ḫordâḏbeh.
Al-Muḳaddasi, Aḥsan (De Goeje), pp. 249 f., states that the road leading to Tebûk begins at ʻAmmân. After two night halts it reaches Maʻân; after the same space, Tebûk; and after a further four nights it arrives at Tejma. Al-Muḳaddasi thus gives the distance from ʻAmmân to Maʻân as three days’ march, thence to Tebûk as likewise three, and from Tebûk to Tejma as five. From ʻAmmân to Maʻân is more than one hundred and ninety kilometers, so that one day’s march would work out at nearly sixty-three kilometers. The length of the daily march between Maʻân and Tebûk would be still greater, amounting to nearly one hundred kilometers, if between these two places there were two and not (as given by Codex Constantinopolitanus; ibid., p. 250, note b) three night halts (manâhel). As, however, a day’s march on the Pilgrim Route always amounts to about sixty kilometers, we must agree with the Constantinople codex and assign, not two, but three manâhel between Maʻân and Tebûk. If the author reckons four halting places from Tebûk to Tejma, he fixes a day’s march at about fifty-five kilometers and the same also for the march from Tejma to the valley of al-Ḳura’.
Al-Idrîsi, Nuzha (Brandel), p. 28, records more place names than his predecessors. These names, however, are recorded so incorrectly that it is difficult to locate the places. He asserts that the road from Damascus leads to the first halting place of al-Kiswe, which is situated on a hill on the western bank of the river al-Aʻwaǧ, which flows into a lake. To the east of al-Kiswe there stood a large khan in which travelers put up for the night. From al-Kiswe it is a day’s march to Zerʻa (Ezra, see below; in the text erroneously spelled Daʻa), and after a farther march the inhabited settlement of Ḏât al-Manâzel, which I identify with Ḏerʻât, is reached. From there onward the location of the various names occasions great difficulties. The name of the next halting place, Janûʻ or Banûʻ, is the usual erroneous transcription of the accurate Soṛar, which halting place is mentioned by all the early geographers. But from Ḏerʻât to Soṛar is more than three hundred kilometers, and al-Idrîsi does not refer to any halting places situated between them. From Soṛar it is a day’s march to al-Baṯanijje, but al-Idrîsi writes (Brandel, op. cit., p. 30) that Baṯanijje is identical with Ḏerʻât. After al-Baṯanijje follows the inhabited settlement of Damma (Dimne). We might locate this at the halting place of Ḏât al-Ḥâǧǧ, about forty kilometers south of Soṛar, near which terminates the šeʻîb of Dimne coming from the spring of the same name. Soṛar and Dimne in this order would agree with the next halting place, Tebûk. The farther halting places are the same as those given by the older authors, except that the name al-Ǧunejne is erroneously transcribed as al-Ḥanîfijje.
In the year 1313 A. D. Abu-l-Feda’ (Muḫtaṣar [Adler], Vol. 5, pp. 280 f.) made the journey on a camel from Mecca to Hama’ in twenty-five days. He estimated the time occupied by his stay at al-Medîna, al-ʻEla’, Birke Zîza, and Damascus as three days, so that he traversed the whole distance in twenty-two days but changed his animal on the journey. From Mecca to Ḥama’ is more than nine hundred kilometers, so that Abu-l-Feda’ must have traveled forty-five kilometers a day. As is clear from the halting stations mentioned by him, he also proceeded on the highroad of at-Tebûkijje.
When Ibn Baṭṭûṭa (Tuḥfa [Defrémery and Sanguinetti], Vol. 1, pp. 254 f.) set out on his pilgrimage in September, 1326 A. D., he proceeded with the pilgrims’ escort from Damascus to al-Kiswe, aṣ-Ṣanamejn, Zerʻa, Boṣra’, and thence by way of Zîza, al-Laǧǧûn, and al-Kerak to Maʻân.—Defrémery and Sanguinetti (loc. cit.) identify Zerʻa with Eḏdraʻât. This, however, is not correct, for Zerʻa corresponds to the settlement of Ezraʻ situated on the direct road from aṣ-Ṣanamejn to Boṣra’, while Eḏraʻât is to the west of it.
According to Ibn Baṭṭûṭa, Maʻân is situated on the border of Syria. To the south of Maʻân, beyond the halting place of ʻAḳabat aṣ-Ṣawwân (the modern ʻAḳabat al-Ḥeǧâzijje) the escort proceeded through a bare, rocky plain, of which it is said: “He who enters it is as if lost, he who departs from it is as if new-born.” After two days the escort encamped at the halting place of Ḏât Ḥaǧǧ, where there were two shallow wells with water from below but no building. Ibn Baṭṭûṭa locates the next halting place in the waterless valley of Baldaḥ. This name is not familiar to me. The valley itself must be identical with al-Bezwa, which crosses the Pilgrim Route about fifty kilometers to the south of Ḏât al-Ḥâǧǧ. The next halting place is situated nearly forty kilometers to the south of it. Beyond Tebûk the escort reached a region even more waste than the former one and therefore marched more quickly in order to get away from it as soon as possible. The halting place of al-Uḫajḍer (al-Aḫẓar) lies in a deep valley enclosed by high slopes in places covered with lava. Ibn Baṭṭûṭa rightly compares this to a valley of hell. Through this valley the escort made its way to the large reservoir of al-Muʻaẓẓam named after a sultan of the Ayyubite family. On the fifth day after leaving Tebûk the escort reached the halting place of al-Ḥeǧr. The data given indicate that the daily marches were fifty kilometers long.
Ḥaǧǧi Ḫalfa (Ǧihân numa’, Constantinople, 1145 A. H., pp. 531, 539 f.; Musawwada, Codex Vindobonensis, 1282 [Mxt. 389], fol. 187 v.) also describes this journey. Beyond Maʻân comes the waterless halting place of Ẓahr al-ʻAḳaba, which is said also to be known as ʻAbâdân. Then come the date palms of Ṭubejlijjât not far from the settlement of Lîs; the next place reached is Ḏât Ḥaǧǧ, or Ḥaǧar, where Sultan Suleiman built a stronghold and where numerous wild palms grow in small gardens irrigated from springs. There follows the halting place of Ḳâʻ al-Busajṭ, or ʻArâ’id, situated in a sandy region not far from Mount Šarawra’. Thence Tebûk is reached. Farther south are the halting places of Moṛârat al-Ḳalenderijje near a small hill without water, Uḫajḍer, Birket al-Muʻaẓẓame, and Maṛâreš az-Zîr, or Aḳraḥ. A half day’s journey still farther to the south from the last-named rises Mount aṭ-Ṭâf, where at Mazḥam the camel of the Prophet Sâleh was killed. Thence the road leads east to Mabrak an-Nâḳa and via the halting place of al-Ḥeǧr to the settlements of the Prophet Ṣâleḥ, where there are rock dwellings and numerous springs, from which, however, no water should be drunk. The halting place of al-ʻEla’ is a half day’s journey distant from al-Ḥeǧr and is situated below Mount Anân.—
The halting place of Ẓahr al-ʻAḳaba is identical with the small stronghold of Faṣôʻa, near the slope of ʻAḳabat al-Ḥeǧâzijje. The name of ʻAbâdân is not used by the old writers for this halting place. The oasis of Ṭubejlijjât must be located at Ṣoṛar. What Ḥaǧǧi Ḫalfa means by the village of Lîs and where he locates it is not clear to me. In his Musawwada, or preliminary sketch of the Ǧihân numa’ (Codex Vindobonensis, loc. cit.) he notes Lîs in the margin and does not include it at the right place. It is possible that Lîs stands for Dîs or ad-Dîse, the name of a valley terminating near Soṛar. The basin near Soṛar could be transformed into a large oasis. Meḥmed Edîb, Menâzil (Constantinople, 1232 A. H.), p. 71, connects Lîs with Ẓahr al-ʻAḳaba and says that it is situated beyond ʻAbâdân and resembles a village. The halting place of Ḏât Ḥaǧǧ has preserved its name. Ḳâ’ al-Busajṭ, or ʻArâ’id, is identical with the halting place of al-Ḥazm, located in the flat, extensive plain of al-ʻArâjed and to the west of Mount Šarawra’. Moṛârat al-Ḳalenderijje must be sought where the route leaves the plain and enters among rugged crags near Ẓahr al-Ḥâǧǧ. The names Uḫajḍer and Birket al-Muʻaẓẓame have been preserved as al-Aḫẓar and al-Muʻaẓẓam respectively. In place of Maṛâreš az-Zîr should be read Mafâreš ar-Ruzz (rice carpets), as the plain is called near the halting place of Dâr al-Ḥamra’ because the pilgrims declare that this plain is covered by petrified rice. Aḳraḥ is erroneously transcribed instead of Aḳraʻ. In place of aṭ-Ṭâf should be read aṭ-Ṭâḳ, which is the modern Abu Ṭâḳa. The name al-Mazḥam today belongs to a small railway station.
ʻAbdalṛani an-Nâbulusi (Ḥaḳîḳa, Codex Vindobonensis, 1269 [Mxt. 712], Vol. 2, fol. 170 r.—172 v.) on his return from al-Medîna in the year 1694 A. D. spent the night at al-ʻEla’ and rode between sand drifts and rugged mountains as far as a place called the Wells of the Ṯamûd, which was also known as Medâjen Ṣâleḥ, or al-Ḥeǧr. The pilgrims’ escort stayed there all night and until the noon of the following day; at midnight it reached the defile of Šuḳḳ al-ʻAǧûz, which I identify with the gully of Šoḳb al-ʻAǧûz, about forty kilometers distant from al-Ḥeǧr. The pilgrims then proceeded through the plain of az-Zelâḳât, which is covered with sand and soft stones and where the riding and draft animals frequently stumbled, and at daybreak were at al-Eḳêreʻ or Mafâreš ar-Ruzz. The author here is connecting two places which in reality are at some distance apart. Al-Eḳêreʻ, the name of which is the diminutive form of al-Aḳraʻ, lies to the southwest of Šoḳb al-ʻAǧûz, while Mafâreš ar-Ruzz extend more than twenty kilometers farther to the north. About an hour after sunrise the pilgrims reached Dâr al-Ḥamra’, where they found no water. Here they stayed until one o’clock in the afternoon and then continued their journey all night as far as the stronghold of al-Muʻaẓẓam, which they reached an hour after sunrise. This they found half-ruined and uninhabited. Formerly it had been guarded by a company of Syrian soldiers, but the Bedouins had broken through the walls and murdered the soldiers; whereupon the stronghold had been deserted. To the east of it ʻAbdalṛani inspected a square reservoir, each side of which was two hundred cubits long. The wall, one cubit thick, was built of the same material as the stronghold. The latter contained a well with an abundance of water.
Setting out in the afternoon, they rode through a narrow, rough valley covered with stones, which valley the author calls aṣ-Ṣâfi. It seems to me that this is an incorrect transcription of the name Luṣṣân, which he hastily noted down while riding on his camel; for Luṣṣân is the most difficult section of the Pilgrim Route between al-ʻEla’ and Tebûk and the one with the worst reputation. That ʻAbdalṛani actually means Luṣṣân is clear from his further statements. They rode for three hours through the rough valley, whereupon they arrived at the basin of Ǧenâjen al-Ḳâẓi. This basin lies fifteen kilometers northwest of the beginning of Luṣṣân, which would entirely agree with the three hours’ ride. At Ǧenâjen al-Ḳâẓi they found much sand and rugged soil covered with prickly plants which tore pieces from their clothing. After sunrise they again entered the valley and in three hours were at the halting place of al-Aḫẓar. ʻAbdalṛani refers to this well-constructed stronghold also as al-Uḫajḍer and explains that every year soldiers arrive there from Damascus to guard the reservoir against the Bedouins who would like to water their flocks in it. Near the reservoir he saw a deep well containing good, fresh water, which was said to have been dug for the pilgrims by the Prophet al-Ḫaḍr, who was honored in the stronghold.
To the northwest of al-Uḫajḍer the pilgrims left the inhospitable valley, and it seemed to them as if they had departed from the lower world. From the valley they passed through the gap Naḳb al-Uḫajḍer, covered with stones and bordered by rugged crags. Here both the people and the animals were filled with fear and weariness. At the first gleam of daybreak they reached an extensive plain and an hour later arrived at the halting place of Moṛâjer Šuʻejb, where there was no water. They remained there until four o’clock in the afternoon. This halting place is certainly identical with the modern Ẓahr al-Ḥâǧǧ, situated about thirty-five kilometers to the northwest of al-Aḫẓar. Towards midnight they proceeded through the sandy valley of al-Eṯel and at sunrise had before them the stronghold of Tebûk, where they encamped. They thought that they would meet there with various traders and people dispatched toward them from Damascus, but these people were late and had not yet arrived. In the powerful stronghold of Tebûk there was a well containing good water drawn up by a pump which was set in motion by animals. The water thus obtained flowed into a spacious reservoir in the new fortress.
Having completed their afternoon prayers—that is, toward four o’clock—the pilgrims left Tebûk and throughout the night traveled along a plain covered with ṛaẓa until they reached the halting place of al-Ḳâʻ, or Ḳâʻ al-Bazwa, which name has been preserved in the modern Šeʻîb al-Bezwa south of the railway station of al-Ḥazm. Soon after noon they rode on, crossed a narrow but slippery plain at midnight, and encamped by the large stronghold of Ḏât Ḥaǧǧ, where a company of Syrian soldiers was guarding the reservoir. They remained there all night, watered their animals, provided themselves with water for three days, and at four o’clock in the afternoon continued the march. After midnight they again traversed a slippery soil, that of Zelâḳât ʻAmmâr near the modern station of Ḥâlât ʻAmmâr, and an hour after sunrise stopped at the waterless halting place of Ǧurajmân situated among the hills. This is probably another name for the site of the modern railway station of al-Mdawwara in the immediate vicinity of the ancient pilgrims’ halting place of Sorar; it is remarkable that ʻAbdalṛani makes no reference to this old stronghold. After the midday prayer the pilgrims rode on through almost impassable territory until daybreak, when they ascended the slope of ʻAḳabat al-Ḥalâwa, or the slope of sweetness so called, ʻAbdalṛani says, because it brought the pilgrims the joyful news that they would meet with their friends. After a short rest they started off again at noon and did not encamp until they reached Maʻân.