Ar-Rayyan

Ar-Rayyan lies in the hills southwest of Wadi al-Fara, a long valley south of Medina. Springs have watered the valley’s date palms and gardens, including the spring of al-Madiq. An old caravan road between Mecca and Medina passed through al-Fara. In its villages, a keeper supervised the springs, attending to the water channels and their repair for the farms that shared them.