Abar Ali: Difference between revisions

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 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 date 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 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 the same 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 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 Muhammad|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.