Abar Ali: Difference between revisions

'''Ābār ʿAlī''' (Arabic:{{iarabic| آبار علی}}, lit. Wells of Ali) is an area mostly covered with palm groves, 8 kilometers south of [[Medina]] in which water wells attributed [[Ali b. Abi Talib (a)]] are located. The place is a [[Miqat]] of [[Hajj]]. This area is referred to as Abar Ali, [[Dhu l-Hulayfa]], and [[Masjid al-Shajara]].

The word "Abar" (Arabic: آبار) is the plural form of "bi'r" meaning water well, and "Abar Ali" refers to water wells attributed to [[Imam Ali (a)]]. In Arabic, the word "al-Bu'ra", from the same root, means pit.

==Geographical features==

Abar Ali is located in about 8 kilometers south of [[Medina]] in the area of 'Aqiq and the western hillside of [['Ayr Mountains]] on the way to [[Mecca]]. The area is rife with water wells and palm groves.

Today it is mostly known as Abar Ali. The area with water wells was originally called "Shajara" and "Dhu l-Hulayfa", but at a point in history it came to be called Bi'r Ali or Abar Ali. Some researchers have written on this. All the three names appear on the board indicating the place: Abar Ali, Dhu l-Hulayfa, and masjid al-Shajara.

Sources differ on the history of the place, and particularly, its water wells and when they were dug. According to some sources, the water wells were already there before [[the Prophet (s)]]'s [[Hijra]] (or immigration) to [[Medina]], and on his command, [[Ali b. Abi Talib (a)]] fought tribes of [[Jinn]]s near these wells and defeated them. [[Sunni]] sources cited this event and took it to be opinions of laypeople, emphasizing its falsity. Contemporary [[Shi'a|Shiite]] scholars raised objections to the contents and chains of narrations of this story.

Some [[Sunni]] scholars have sought to deny the attribution of these wells to [[Ali b. Abi Talib (a)]], that is, they take "Ali" in "Abar Ali" to be someone other than Imam Ali (a), including a contemporary Sunni scholar in [[Egypt]] who attributed "Abar Ali", the pilgrims' [[Miqat]] in [[hajj]], to Ali b. Dinar, the king of [[Darfur]] south of [[Sudan]]. According to him, in [[1315]]/1898, in his [[hajj]] pilgrimage Ali b. Dinar dredged, restored and restarted the water wells of Dhu l-Hulayfa, and since then they were called "Abar Ali". However, many Sunni scholars have called these wells "Abar Ali" in works that date back to times before the period of Ali b. Dinar, including: [[Ibn Taymiyya]] ([[728]]/ 1327), [[Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani]] (d. [[852]]/ 1448), 'Ayni (d. [[855]]/ 1451), Samhudi (d. [[911]]/ 1505), Ibn Najim al-Misri (d. [[970]]/ 1562), and Ru'ayni (d. [[954]]/ 1547). Moreover, other cases have been made to reject this view.