Shepard Urgent Action Grant Report: Umm Al-Qurun on the Darb Zubaydah - American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)

SHARE

Shepard Urgent Action Grant Report: Umm Al-Qurun on the Darb Zubaydah

2024 Shepard Urgent Action Grant: The Rest-stop and Minara of Umm Al-Qurun on the Darb Zubaydah

Rajwan Al-Maiyali (University of Al-Qadisiyah), Richard Wilding (Eye on Heritage)

The Darb Zubaydah

For centuries before the advent of modern air travel, pilgrims travelled long distances by land and sea. In addition to their religious function, pilgrimage routes also served as important arteries for commercial and cultural exchange. The hajj (the annual Islamic pilgrimage) routes followed pre-Islamic trade pathways but gradually evolved to accommodate the specific needs of Islamic pilgrimage. Various routes emerged and flourished during different historical eras, adapting to the rise and fall of successive Islamic empires

The route connecting the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Baghdad to Makkah was known as the Darb Zubaydah. It grew in importance during the first hundred years of the Abbasid Caliphate from 750 to 850 CE, a period renowned as a golden age of Muslim civilisation. The flourishing Abbasid economy greatly increased the numbers of pilgrims able to undertake the journey to Makkah, exerting greater pressure on the limited water and food resources available in a 1,300 km stretch of desert with no permanent lakes or rivers.

The Darb Zubaydah was named in honour of Zubaydah bint Jafar, wife of the Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid, recognising enhancements made to infrastructure along the route under her patronage. Zubaydah had witnessed the hardships endured by pilgrims when undertaking the hajj in 792 CE and dedicated her considerable power and resources to improving pilgrims’ safety and comfort.

The route of Darb Zubaydah and its waystations.

The Abbasids originally constructed a series of 27 stations between Kufa and Makkah at intervals suited to the travelling speed of donkeys, horses and camels. They were built at regular distances calculated in barid, a unit of measurement also meaning “postal service”, reflecting the postal and intelligence network that developed alongside the pilgrimage trail to help the Abbasid Caliphs maintain communication and control across their wide empire.

An additional 27 intermediate stations were later added to cater for the increasing number of pedestrian pilgrims, while improvements were also made to the original 27 main stations. The new and enhanced infrastructure included a system of wells, cisterns and dams to provide water for travellers and their animals. Caravanserais, palaces and forts were constructed to improve the pilgrims’ safety and comfort, and some stretches of the route were paved. A series of milestones and markers were installed, with the addition of lighthouses to guide pilgrims who often travelled at night to avoid the daytime heat.

Camel caravan travelling at night, depicted in an engraving by Gaston Vuillier to illustrate the story “A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the Cradle of the Arab Race”, by Lady Anna Blunt, 1878-1879.

In the 10th century, a break in relations between Iraq and Makkah affected the ability of Iraqi and Persian Muslims to undertake the pilgrimage, leading to the progressive decline of the Darb Zubaydah. It was partially revitalised in the 11th century, but never recovered the status of its heyday in the 8th century.

The final organized pilgrimage was carried out in 1243 CE during the reign of Al-Musta’sim, the 37th and last Abbasid caliph ruling from Baghdad. In the following centuries, the trail was almost completely abandoned by pilgrims who forged new routes to Makkah. The last two centuries have seen even more dramatic changes to hajj travel, with the emergence of European maritime companies, the opening of the Suez Canal, the Ottoman Hijaz railway, and finally the arrival of air transport from the mid-20th century.

UNESCO Nomination

The Darb Zubaydah is a transnational nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, jointly submitted by the Republic of Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It comprises a series of key stations dating from the Abbasid period on the route between Kufa and Makkah. This nomination is part of a long-term programme that also aims to inscribe other hajj pilgrimage routes including the Egyptian and Syrian hajj roads.

The section of the Darb Zubaydah located in present-day Iraq covers approximately 1/5th of the total length of the route, while the other 4/5th is located in present-day Saudi Arabia. The nomination includes 13 sites, four in Iraq and nine in Saudi Arabia. The four sites in Iraq, from north to south, are the stations at Umm al-Qurun, Talhat, Sharaf and Al-Aqaba.

South and East sides of rest house (qsar), September 2024.

Aerial view of station complex showing rest house (top left), basins (centre) and wells (right and upper centre), September 2024.

The lighthouse of Umm Al-Qurun stands alone in the desert 1.35 km from the station. Its separate location was possibly due to the need for siting on higher ground, whereas the station complex needed to be located at a lower elevation for water collection and wells.

The lighthouse tower has collapsed at an undefined date. The remains of the fallen tower reveal an interior made of fired bricks that likely contained a staircase to access the roof. The cylindrical tower, decorated externally with geometrical patterns, was built over a two-meter- high stone square substructure, and probably reached a total height of 12 metres.

View of manara showing the collapsed cylindrical section and the foundation section, September 2024.

Contemporary developments

Being the closest surviving station on the Darb Zubaydah to the city of Najaf, the surviving architecture at Umm Al-Qurun, especially the lighthouse (manara) and rest house (qsar), has been vulnerable to intentional and unintentional damage. Both structures are now in an extremely vulnerable state and in need of greater protection and stabilisation.

One particularly concerning development is the construction of a modern tarmacked road from Najaf along the route of the Darb Zubaydah. In addition to potentially disrupting important archaeology relating to the hajj route, the road passes extremely close to the site of Umm Al- Qurun, even passing between the station complex and manara.

Groundworks associated with the road building have resulted in the digging of numerous ditches close to the manara, and tracks left by bulldozers demonstrate how easily damage could be inflected, even unintentionally, to this unique historical structure. The road will also improve access to the site by private and commercial traffic from Najaf, increasing the risk to these unprotected sites.

Aerial view of collapsed manara at Umm Al-Qurun showing tracks and ditches, September 2024.

Project Outcomes

Funding from ASOR has allowed the project team led by Rajwan Al-Maiyali from the University of Al-Qadisiyah and heritage consultant and photographer Richard Wilding to complete the following measures:

1. Emergency protection measures around the manara including the erection of a protective fence and covering of the manara
2. Documentation through photography and drone filming of all structures at Umm Al- Qurun in their current state of preservation.
3. Community engagement with local stakeholders to increase awareness of the site’s importance and need for greater protection

Fencing installed around manara site, September 2024.

Aerial view of cisterns showing vegetation, September 2024.

Cistern walls with qsar in distance, September 2024.

Community Engagement

On 14 September 2024, as part of the project’s public outreach and engagement efforts, Rajwan Al-Maiyali and Richard Wilding gave presentations about Umm Al-Qurun and the Darb Zubaydah in a seminar hosted by the Association of Literature and Writers in Najaf. Following the presentations, the team answered questions posed by the audience. The event was subsequently broadcast by two national television stations in Iraq.

Further outreach work is being undertaken through visits to elders at the Great Mosque of Kufa and a forthcoming workshop being organised with the Karbala Holy Shrines Endowment.