Rabigh

Miqat al-Juhfah al-Juhfah
Masjid Miqat al-Juhfah, Wadi Rabigh, Saudi Arabia
Nickname(s): One of the Miqat
Location of al Juhfah is ES. of Rabigh Location of al Juhfah is ES. of Rabigh
Country	Saudi Arabia
Province	Rabigh
Time zone	AST (UTC+3)

Rabigh (Arabic: رابغ‎‎) is an ancient town on the western coast of Saudi Arabia, along the Red Sea in the Makkah Region. It was called "al-Johfa" or al-Juhfah until the early years of the 17th century. In some ancient stories, the town had been completely destroyed by sea water, and when it was rebuilt it was renamed as "Rabigh".

Geography and Climate

Rabigh is located on the east coast of the Red Sea, north of the equator between latitudes 22/23 on the Tropic of Cancer. Thus, it experiences extreme heat in summer. The temperature rises somewhat in winter as well. The temperatures begin to rise in month of April & reach maximum between July to September often reaching beyond 45 degrees Celsius. The climate is characterized by high relative humidity, especially in the summer. It also experiences short sudden rain showers due to extreme humidity.

Wadi Rabigh

Wadi Rabigh is an important historical wadi situated inland of the town of Rabigh, extending along the border of the al-Madinah and Makkah Regions of Saudi Arabia.

A natural lake near Haggag, some 35 km inland, fringed with reeds and fed by several permanent freshwater springs provides a natural wetland unique on the Tihamah north of Jeddah.

Ghadir Al-Khumm

For a discussion on the incident at Ghadeer Khumm, see Hadith of Ghadeer Khum.

For a discussion on Eid-e-Ghadeer, see Eid al-Ghadeer

Ghadir Al-Khumm (Arabic غدیر الخم "Pond of Khumm", Persianized Ghadir(-e) Khum, or Khom) is a location in the Wadi Rabigh mentioned in the Hadith of the pond of Khumm.

It was a pond or marsh formed by a spring in the wadi, located to the east of the road from Medina to Mecca, three (according to other sources two) Arab miles (roughly 4 to 6 km) from Al-Johfa (modern Rabigh), roughly 180 km from both Mecca and Medina, at ca. . The Arab geographers mention the thick trees that surround it and the Mosque of the Prophet lying between it and the spring.

It was situated on the Incense Route between Syria and Yemen where travelers could replenish their resources of water in the most arid part of Arabia between Mecca and Medina.

Population

Its population is around 180,352 according to the most recent government census. Typical of a multicultural society, most recent immigrants are from all over the Arabian peninsula and settling down, intermarriage creates new family ties for the burgeoning community.

Health care

Rabigh has one state-run hospital (named "Rabigh Hospital") that offers a wide arrange of health-care services but does not have the ability to perform major surgeries. There are also four small general private healthcare centres (Al Nakheel National Clinic, Al Amal Medical Center, Al Bishri PolyClinic and Dr. Kh. Idris Polyclinic) and a dental clinic called "Rabigh Dental Clinic".

Education

Rabigh has many schools for both boys and girls at all levels and private schools. There is a Rabigh branch of King Abdul Aziz University (with headquarters in Jeddah), and another college that has many departments, such as: Language (Arabic and English), Computer Science, Engineering and Medicine.

Industry

Rabigh has several industries such as a factory of Arabian Cement, an electricity station that supports Makkah & Madinah and a large refinery belonging to Saudi Aramco.

The refining operations in Rabigh have increased significantly as Aramco, in joint venture with Sumitomo Chemical of Japan, has built a new petro-chemical plant, Petro Rabigh. Once this 3,000-acre (12 km²) refinery is completed, it will be the world's largest petro-chemical plant.

Also about 40 km from Rabigh a new city named King Abdullah Economic City is under construction under the leadership of “The custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud”. While the planned city, first announced in 2005, would be fairly small (168 km², 50 km in length) it will be an important landmark in Saudi Arabia. The project cost is estimated at about 100 Billion SAR (US$26.67 Billion). "The project is part of the Kingdom's US$500-billion investment program to build six new cities that double as housing and commercial hubs for the country's young and growing population. The hope is the new centres will be home to five million people by 2020 and create one million jobs".

History

Ubaydah's Expedition in Batn Rabigh

Main article: List of expeditions of Muhammad

The Islamic prophet Muhammad ordered a military expedition in Batn Rabigh. It was carried out by Ubaydah ibn al-Harith, who was the commander of the second raid. This raid took place nine months after the Hijra of year 622, a few weeks after the first one at al-Is.

About a month after Hamzah's unsuccessful bid to plunder, Muhammad entrusted a party of sixty Muhajirun led by Ubaydah to conduct another operation at a Quraysh caravan that was returning from Syria and protected by two hundred armed men. The leader of this caravan was Abu Sufyan ibn Harb.

The Muslim party went as far as Thanyatul-Murra, a watering place in Hejaz. No fighting took place, as the Quraysh were quite far from the place where Muslims were in the offing to attack the caravan. Nevertheless, Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas shot an arrow at the Quraysh. This is known as the first arrow of Islam. Despite this surprise attack, no fighting took place and the Muslims returned empty-handed. It is believed that Ubaydah was the first to carry the banner of Islam; others say Hamzah was the first to carry the first banner.

Hadith Ghadir Khumm and Hadith al-Thaqalayn

See also: Wikisource:The Last Sermon of Muhammad

The hadith of the pond of Khumm narrates that the Prophet Muhammad is reported to have pronounced Ali ibn Abi Talib the mawla (patron, master) of those for whom Muhammad was patron. Shia Muslims take and claim this hadith as an announcement and investiture of Ali bin Abi Talib as the first caliph or successor after the Prophet's death and they celebrate this announcement each year as Eid al-Ghadeer. Many Sunnis also accept that the Prophet did actually declare Ali as the mawla , however they refuse to believe that this meant succession to the Prophet. According to the Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas, the oldest book in Islam after the Quran:

" 46.3 Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I have left two things with you. As long as you hold fast to them, you will not go astray. They are the Book of Allah and the Sunna of His Prophet."

The Hadith al-Thaqalayn refers to a saying (hadith) about al-Thaqalayn, which translates to "the two weighty things." In this hadith Muhammad referred to the Qur'an and Ahl al-Bayt ('people of the house', Muhammed's family) as the two weighty things. Although the Hadith is accepted by both Sunnis and Shi'as, the two groups differ on the exact wording of what Muhammad said, as well how to interpret these words. The Shias use the Hadith al-Thaqalayn to prove their claim that Muhammad meant for all his successors to be from his own family (Ahl al-Bayt). Some sunnis reject this view and believe in a different interpretation of Hadith al-Thaqalayn, whilst others believe that the Hadith does refer to the Family of the Prophet and his successors.

According to Sunnis, there is no record of any disagreement between Muslim scholars concerning the alleged caliphate of Ali bin Abi Talib in the years proceeding the Prophet. Imam Jafar al-Sadiq whose views most Shias follow and Imam Abu Hanifa and Malik ibn Anas whose views most Sunnis follow worked together in Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. Along with Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, Muhammad al-Baqir, Zayd ibn Ali and over 70 other leading jurists and scholars. On the other hand, according to shias, the dispute between Ali and the rest of the companions started right at the death of the Prophet when they abandoned him with the Prophet's dead body and quickly chose Abu Bakar as the caliph. These scholars were taught by Muhammad's companions, many of whom settled in Madina.

The Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas was written as a consensus of the opinion of these scholars. The Muwatta quotes 13 hadiths from Imam Jafar al-Sadiq. There had been oral transmission from generation to generation until then. The Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas is the earliest of these books that is written solely to record the hadith.

See also

• Rabigh Wings Aviation Academy
• Succession to Muhammad
• Hadith of the pond of Khumm
• Eid al-Ghadeer

External links

• Rabigh city website
• Wadi Rabigh springs BirdLife IBA Factsheet

links on Ghadīr Khumm

• All About Ghadeer
• The Ghadir Declaration The Ghadir Declaration by Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri
• Ibn Taymiyya’s opinion on Ghadīr Khumm
• خطابه غدیر
• Ghadir Khumm in Al-Islam
• The Sermon of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) in Ghadir Khum
• Ghadir Khumm - Interesting Aspects of a Unique Event
• What Happened at Ghadeer Khumm
• خطابه غدیر (Arabic)
• The event of Ghadeer Khum in Quran, Sunnah & History (Sunni perspective)
• Map of Ghadeer showing distance from Mecca, almost halfway between Medina and Mecca

• Complete Sermon at Ghadir Khumm in English Version
• Ghadir, the Greatest Eid of All Religions
• The Event of Ghadir Khumm in the Qur'an, Hadith, History
• Ghadeer Khoom in Hadith al-Thaqalayn
• (letters 55-58)
• Ghadir Khumm
• Event of Ghadir Khumm