Old Khaybar, Medina Province. December 2017
Khaybar is old. The modern city along Saudi National Route 15 is totally unremarkable. Brothers aQ and I stayed there one night after the Black and White Volcanoes adventure [see: Black and White Volcanoes]. More like a town from the Australian outback than Saudi Arabia, it had some pretty beat up hotels and we ended up eating broasted chicken with rice for dinner because there were literally no other options. Khaybar should have been a minor travel footnote - but it wasn't. In the fading light of the volcano exploration day, we walked around the old city. The original Khaybar was to the north of the modern town and basically in ruin. We started by exploring the pre-modern city (no posted ages to the buildings, but I am guessing about 200 years old?). It looked as if the townsfolk all just left one day and moved to the "new" Khaybar down the road. The dusty, empty town was perfect for a film set. Unfortunately, the police came along and moved us along because it was "unsafe". Granted, the buildings might not have been totally structurally sound, but even brothers aQ were dubious as to why were weren't allowed to see that part of Old Khaybar - even from the outside. We continued inland from the main road and found the remains of an even OLDER Khaybar. That place was seemingly not off limits. As it was the weekend, there were lots of people enjoying picnics in its parklike setting. Below the ruined, old houses was a sea of date palms, perhaps descendants of those planted by the Nabateans? [see: Sadd al Bint dam]. On a rocky outcrop on the other side of the date palm grove was a fortress that beckoned exploration, but was totally off limits. We had no idea why. From the stories surrounding Al Ukhdud [see: Al Ukhdud] I learned that Najran was once Christian. Similarly, the original inhabitants of Khaybar in the 7th century had been Jewish. They were forcibly removed by Caliph Omar to Syria. Khaybar and its palm grove along the Hejazi trading route was quite a prize to the nascent and rapidly expanding Rashidun Caliphate no doubt. Whatever the case, people had lived there for centuries. The town had grown and moved. It had its own fortress - I guessed of Ottoman origins, but there was literally zero information about the place other than what existed on the internet (which was little). The place holds ruins that date back to the Nabateans and has an at least 19th century town INTACT, yet the whole place was moved to "modern Khaybar" along Route 15. Old Khaybar just sits there. Neither brothers aQ nor I had any answers, but it certainly had me intrigued. What was it about that place that it deserved to be ignored totally? Even today Google Maps has "Ancient Khaybar" marked as "temporarily closed"? Awaiting restoration perhaps? Is there something there that we AREN'T supposed to know about? It remained an X-File, and yet another fascinating detour on that trip.