Jeddah (city): Difference between revisions

'''Juddah''' or '''Jeddah''' (Arabic: جدة) is the most important city and port in [[Saudi Arabia]] near the Red Sea. It is said that the history of the city goes back to the Stone Age. According to some accounts, Arabs and some Iranians were the main residents of Jeddah. After the emergence of [[Islam]], the city was ruled by the [[Umayyads]], the [[Abbasids]], the [[Fatimids]], the [[Ottomans]] and the [[Wahhabis]]. [[‘Abd al-Malik b. Ibrahim al-Jiddi]] and [[Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Kaziruni]] were prominent scholars of Jeddah. The city is known as the Bride of the Red Sea. It is the point of entry for pilgrims of [[hajj]]. It is a business center in Saudi Arabia, and the second largest city of the country, after [[Riyadh]], with a population of over 3,000,000 people. In recent centuries, many Iranian Shiites arrive in this city first when they go to the hajj pilgrimage, and then they go to [[Mecca]]. Iranian governments, such as the [[Qajar]] government, had an official consulate in Jeddah in order to take care of Iranian pilgrims.

It is said that the history of Jeddah goes back to the Stone Age. On some accounts, [[Quda’a]], an old Arabian tribe, were the first people who resided in Jeddah. And on other accounts, during the [[Jahiliyya]] period, [[‘Amr b. Lahay]] who changed the monotheistic approach in Mecca, took some idols from Jeddah to Mecca, and called people to worship them.

When the Sasanids were lost their power, Jeddah was abandoned such that during the emergence of Islam, it turned into a small village around Hijaz. After the emergence of Islam in 26 A.H. (647), [[‘Uthman b. ‘Affan]] turned Jeddah into Mecca’s port instead of Shu’aybiyya (a port south of Jeddah). After this, the city thrived again and became the center of the largest global market, especially during the [[hajj]] rituals.

Since it was located in the middle of ports in Hijaz and was close to Aden and India, it had a thriving business. In addition to Indochina, it had transactions with Egyptian ports such as ‘Aydhab, Qaws, as well as European and North African cities, Morocco, and sometimes Andalusia. Grains, argricultual products and livestock were carried to Jeddah from which they were sent to Mecca to meet the needs of hajj pilgrims. They led to Jeddah remaining a commercial center for consecutive centuries.

In 1811, Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha extended the Ottoman dominance to Jeddah. In 1256 A.H. (1840), Jeddah was directly ruled by the Ottomans; its ruler was appointed by them.

Sharif Husayn, who fought for the independence of Arabs, saved Jeddah from the [[Ottomans]]. Since the Wahhabis occupied Mecca in order to dominate [[Hijaz]] in [[Rabi’ al-Awwal]], 1343 A.H. (October 1924), Jeddah was the center of Sharif Husayn’s government. The city was sieged for one year, it was finally dominated in [[Jamadi al-Thani]] 1344 (December 1925) by the Wahhabi ruler, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz b. Saud, and eventually the Saudi government was recognized under the Jeddah Treaty on [[Dhu l-Qa’da]] 1345 A.H. (May 1927), and thus Jeddah was annexed to the Saudi realm.

* Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali b. Muhammad al-‘Ulaymi al-Muqri al-Qattan al-Jiddi (d. 468 A.H./ 1057)