Zubaida canal

ZUBAIDA, A MUSLIM QUEEN

 

On the bank of River Dejlah (now called River Tigris, in Iraq) a crowd had gathered outside the beautiful palace of the queen, waiting for her audience. The queen appeared in the balcony and very gracefully addressed the crowd: "Today I close all the account books on the canal. Those who owe me money need not to pay back. And those whom I owe, will be paid immediately and double the amount." Saying this, she ordered that the account books be thrown into the river and said: "My reward is with Allah."

 

The queen was none other than Zubaida, the daughter of the Abbasid caliph Mansur's elder son, Jaffer, the cousin and wife of the richest and the most powerful of the caliphs, Haroon al-Rashid (170-193 Hijra), the fifth Abbasid caliph. She ordered that a canal be built up to Mecca to provide drinking water to pilgrims. The canal, a remarkable feat of engineering and construction at that time when no modern technology was available, was named after her – Nehr-e-Zubaida (Zubaida Canal). It served the believers for more than one thousand years.

 

The queen had a passion for serving humanity. After having improved the road used by the pilgrims – 900 miles of desert from Kufa to Medina and Mecca – still there in south Kufa and known as Darb-e-Zubaida, the newly built canal was another feat that she had accomplished. Till she died in 226 Hijra, about 32 years after her husband's death, serving humanity remained her prime goal.

 

In those days there was an acute shortage of water in Mecca. The pilgrims coming for Hajj solely depended on ZamZam water. There were no other source from where water could be provided to the pilgrims in the arid plains of Arafat, Mina and Muzdalfa.

 

Realizing this difficulty, the second caliph, Hazrat Umar bin Khattab, while performing Hajj in 17 Hijra, made some emergency arrangements to increase the supply of water. Later, the companions of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be upon Him) Hazrat Abdullah bin Amer and Amir Muawiyah also made several arrangements but all the efforts could not meet the increasing demand of water. The pilgrims continued suffering.

 

During the time of Caliph Haroon al-Rashid, water shortage during Hajj became so acute that one pail of water would sell for 20 dirham. The additional arrangements made by the caliph also did not bring relief to the pilgrims. After his death in 193 Hijra, Zubaida went for Hajj. The water problem in Mecca grieved her so much that she immediately decided to make a great canal to solve the water problem forever.

 

She called prominent engineers and surveyors from different parts of the world to build the canal. After surveying the entire area they decided to bring the canal from Hunnain valley where a water spring from the mountains provided water to the residents and for irrigation. The valley of Hunnain is the same valley where the Holy Prophet had fought a battle called Ghazwa-e-Hunnain with the infidels. The area was rocky, the land was barren and dry, and the weather very hot. It was very difficult to sustain a canal on the surface of the earth, so the engineers planned to make a subterranean canal in the form of a tunnel (aqueduct), with water stations raised above the ground at different intervals, wherefrom people could meet their water needs.

 

At the orders of Zubaida, the entire area of Hunnain valley, which contained spring and other sources of water, was bought by paying a huge amount of money. To bring the water through the mountains was nothing less than a Herculean task, which required a large number of manpower, enormous funds and expertise for cutting the mountains and digging the barren and rocky hills. Nothing could frustrate her determination.

 

"For each stroke of spade and shovel, I'm ready to give a dirham if needed", saying this she ordered to launch the work.

 

After several years of hard work, the canal was eventually brought all the way down to Jabal-e-Rahma (the Mountain of Blessings) in Arafat, and then to Mina and Muzdalfa. The spring water from Hunnain valley and whatever water sources found on the way were converged into the canal. The water supply through this canal brought a great relief to the pilgrims as well as to the locals.

 

In 245 Hijra, an earthquake in Mecca made several cuts and cracks in the canal but they were immediately repaired at the behest of the sitting caliph. Later, several rulers made additional improvements to the canal.

 

With the passage of time the canal seriously suffered from lack of repair and maintenance, and consequently the supply of water was stopped. Also, over the span of several centuries, new sources of water had already been made available to meet the water needs and therefore no attention was given to restore the canal.

 

In 1295 Hijra, a committee was formed by the Saudi Government to look after the repair and maintenance of the canal. The committee was able to regulate its water. But unfortunately in 1344 Hijra, a huge flood in Numan valley damaged the canal and its water supply stopped for three months. King Abdul Aziz, who took over in 1343 Hijra, had it repaired but in the beginning of 1400 Hijra the water of the canal stopped completely due to certain reasons and could no be restored.

 

In recent times, the rulers of Saudi Arabia took special interest to meet the water needs of the pilgrims. In addition to bringing in more supplies of water to Mecca, they installed a water desalination plant, 100 kilometres away from Mecca, which now meets the water needs during the Hajj season. The plant, built in four years, was inaugurated by the late King Fahad on July 21, 1988. This, however, did not leave the great canal forgotten.

 

The current king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah (then crown prince), in 2001, gave the instructions to revive the canal to substantiate the water supply to Mecca and save the remarkable heritage of the Muslim Queen, which served the Ummah for more than one thousand years!