Abar Ali: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Abar Ali.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|Abar 'Ali, 8 kilometers south of [[Medina]].]]

'''Ābār ʿAlī''' (Arabic: {{iarabic|آبار علي}}, lit. Wells of 'Ali) is an area mostly covered with palm groves, 8 kilometers south of [[Medina]] in which water wells attributed to [[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: {{ia|آبار}}) is the plural form of "bi'r" (Arabic: {{ia|بِئر}}) 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.

In [[shi'a|Shiite]] and [[Sunni]] sources of [[fiqh]], Abar 'Ali is also referred to as "Bi'r Ali" and "Abyar Ali."

Abar 'Ali is located in about 8 kilometers south of [[Medina]] in the area of 'Aqiq and the western hillside of [[Mount 'Ayr]] 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.

Since Abar 'Ali and [[Masjid al-Shajara]] are located in one area, both Shi'a and Sunni Muslims take it to be a [[Miqat]] of [[Hajj]] (Miqat of [[Medina]]). Sunni sources since 8th/14th and 9th/15th centuries took Abar 'Ali, Dhu l-Hulayfa, and Masjid al-Shajara to be one and the same place and the Miqat of Medina.

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]]/1897-8, in his [[hajj]] pilgrimage 'Ali b. al-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]] (d. [[728]]/1328), [[Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani]] (d. [[852]]/1449), al-'Ayni (d. [[855]]/1451-2), al-Samhudi (d. [[911]]/1505-6), Ibn Najim al-Misri (d. [[970]]/1562-3), and al-Ru'ayni (d. [[954]]/1547-8). Moreover, other cases have been made to reject this view.

* The material for writing this article is mainly taken from [[:fa:آبار علی|{{ia|آبار علی}}]] in Farsi WikiShia.