Ḥā'il

Ha'il lies in the northern Najd, at the foot of the Aja mountains and within the country of the Shammar. Its gardens and wells support settlement in an otherwise dry landscape. Roads connecting the Arabian interior with Iraq and Syria brought trade through the town, while the pilgrimage to Mecca added to the traffic crossing the surrounding desert. Ha'il became the chief town of Jabal Shammar and a centre of local authority.

The Al Ali family ruled Ha'il before the rise of their rivals, the Al Rashid. Shammar submitted to the Saudi movement in 1786–87, and in the early nineteenth century the two houses contested authority in the town. After the fall of the Saudi capital Dir'iyya in 1818, the Egyptian commander Ibrahim Pasha demanded tribute from Ha'il. Muhammad of the Al Ali began building the Barzan palace early in the century, giving the rulers a prominent seat in the town. In 1835–36 Abdullah ibn Rashid established his rule at Ha'il with Saudi support. He and his brother Ubayd took power after opposing the Al Ali, and Abdullah continued work on the palace. The new emirate of Jabal Shammar thus arose amid the shifting fortunes of the Saudi state and its opponents, with Ha'il as its centre.