Al-Rabatha (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

الربذة) is a settlement in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

located some 200 km to the north-east of

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

on the pilgrim route from

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf ...

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, known as Darb Zubaydah. The archaeological excavations directed by the

King Saud University King Saud University (KSU, ar, جامعة الملك سعود) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulaziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in the K ...

, have shown that, Al-Rabadha yields important information for the early phases of Islamic culture. The town is also known as the place

Abu Dharr al-Ghifari Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari Al-Kinani (, '), also spelled Abu Tharr or Abu Zar, born Jundab ibn Junādah (), was the fourth or fifth person converting to Islam, and from the Muhajirun. He belonged to the Banu Ghifar, the Kinanah tribe. No date of birt ...

spent his last years and died at. The excavations at Al-Rabadha give a good insight into urban housing in the Early Islamic Period. The site is dominated by a palace structure, consisting of 13 rooms all with doors opening on a central courtyard. Each room is likely to have served a different purpose, with evidence for ovens, grain storage and a furnace for

glass-making Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container ...

found in separate areas. A more typical house from the site is similar in its design, but smaller in area, with divided rooms averaging 3x2m.Rashid p.31 In contrast with Western Europe, timber is not used in construction, with all houses being made from sun-dried mud brick, with stone foundations.

References

{{coord, 24.6319, N, 41.2906, E, source:wikidata, display=title Archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia History of the Arabian Peninsula