Tabūk

Tabuk is an oasis in the northern Hejaz, on the route from Syria to Medina. Its spring and palm gardens provide water and shade amid the dry plateau, making the settlement an important halt for caravans. Tradition remembers the Prophet Muhammad's expedition to Tabuk in 630, when his army camped near the spring. The town later became a principal station on the Syrian pilgrimage road.

Ottoman rulers maintained a chain of forts, wells and reservoirs to provision the annual caravan from Damascus. At Tabuk a stone fortress rose beside the spring of Ayn al-Sukkar; its courtyard contained rooms, a mosque and a well, with towers for guarding the route. The fortress was rebuilt in the sixteenth century and repaired in 1654. Pilgrims could stop here before continuing south towards Medina, while the garrison kept stores and watched over a vital source of water in the desert.