Sadd Al Bint Dam, Khaybar, Medina Province. December 2017
On the drive north from Medina to the Black & White Volcanoes [see: Black & White Volcanoes], before the town of Khaybar [see: old Khaybar] and the turnoff for the volcanos, brothers aQ and I noticed an old structure off to the side of the road. We agreed that after the volcanoes, time permitting, we would double back and pay a visit. Luckily, we ended up having time before calling it a night in very sleepy Khaybar and we stopped by Sadd al Bint.
Actually, the earthworks were the remnants of a HUGE dam (the largest pre-Islamic dam in Saudi Arabia). The earliest dams in this location were attributed to the Nabateans who trapped rare rain runoff to irrigate date palm plantations. The nearby town of Khaybar sat near such a grove of trees and Al Ula [see: Elephant Mountain], our destination the next day, also sat in a huge grove of palms. Settlements needed water, but they clearly needed more and the palm trees provided food, shade, and building materials.
The Sadd al-Bint (dam of the girl) is one of the largest ancient dams in the Kingdom. Although it is unclear when the Sadd al-Bint was originally built, according to a local legend it was built by the Queen of Sheeba. The dam structure is around 135 meters long and 20 meters high, constructed on a dried out river bed and almost one third of it has been breached. The upstream face is plastered with yellow mortar, the downstream face with bare stone. ...
The water from the dams at Khaybar was used to irrigate large plots of date palms. These dates became famous throughout the Arabian Peninsula. In time a large village was established. It was mostly inhabited by Jewish people. During the Muslim expansion under the Prophet Mohammed, Khaybar became an important center, after the Battle of Khaybar.
As noted above, the center of Sadd al Bint dam was washed away and the wadi below was dry (with a smattering of date palms), but the structure was still massive considering its age. It would have held back a considerable amount of water. The Queen of Sheba must have been an imposing historical figure as she is frequently referenced in other places in the region. Why would she have invested in the building of a dam so far from her home turf? dates? Control of the local water supply would have conveyed great power indeed.
The fate of the Jews of Khaybar was the same as the Christians of Najran [see: Al Ukhdud]. When Umar became Caliph he "cleansed" the Arabian peninsula of non-believers. Many of the Khaybar Jews resettled to Daraa, Syria and kept their identity as "Khaybar Jews" for centuries after. Islamic sources indicate that people removed from the Arabian peninsula were always given an equal amount of land wherever they were relocated for a fresh start (I wonder what the local people in the new location thought about that??).
Sadd al Bint now stands at some distance from modern Khaybar and any other town for that matter. It just appears to be some mad, massive, mud and stone wall across a dry riverbed in the middle of the desert. Saudi Arabia had surprised me (and brothers aQ) yet again. We ran across so much unexpected history on that trip which made it all the more memorable.