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From the earliest Islamic times in the seventh century
A.D. to the eleventh century, the Egyptian pilgrims
route had passed through Sinai on the way to Makkah.
In the eleventh century came the arrival of crusaders
from Europe, their occupation of Jerusalem and their
establishment of a kingdom that extended to east Jordan
and to the Gulf of Aqaba on the west. They took control
of the city of Ayla (Aqaba) and constructed a fort on
Pharaohs Island (Gezirat Fara’un) in the Gulf
of Aqaba. After this disruption of the older route through
Sinai, the pilgrims took the Cairo?Kous Road across
the Nile and from thence across the desert to Aidab
on the Red Sea, where the pilgrims could embark on a
boat to Jeddah. As the Ayubbids rose to power under
Salah-el-Din el-Ayyubi (Saladin), the danger from the
crusaders disappeared in Aqaba in 1170 and they were
completely vanquished after the Battle of Hattin and
the conquest of Jerusalem in 1187. During the Ayyubid
Period, the Sinai route was known as Sadr and Ayla or
”Salah-el-Din Arab Road” and during the
Mamluk Period, it was again used as a route for pilgrims
after its stations had been changed. During the time
of Sultan el-Zahir Baybars, in 1266, this road witnessed
the first procession of the official Hagg (pilgrimage)
caravan bearing the new cover for the Kaaba in Makkah.
This was followed by an increase of urbanization along
the route in the days of the Mamluk Sultans: El Mansour
Qalawun, El Nasser Mohamed, Zein el Din el Mansoury,
El Nasser Hassan and Qansawh el-Ghawri. It was also
the object of attention of the Ottoman Sultans such
as Murad III, Ahmed III and others. It continued to
function as the pilgrim road until the construction
of the Suez Railroad and the Port of Suez, in 1880.
The Sinai route began at Birkat el Hagg outside Cairo,
passing through Dar el-Baidaa and the Fort of Agroud,
20km north-west of Suez. After these were the three
markers of Sinai, which served to guide the pilgrims
through this sandy area. Next lay El Qebab, the Fort
of Nakhl, El Karees (the Well of Abu Mohamed), Araqeeb
el Bagla, Sath el Aqaba and finally the Fort of Aqaba. |
The
Egyptian Pilgrim Road and its Stations in Sinai |
El-Qebab |
Naksh al-Ghawri
(The inscriptions of el-Ghawri) |
The Fort
of Nakhl |
El-Qarees
Station (The Well of Abu Muhammad). |
The
Forts of Salah-el-Din |
Egyptian
vulture, Neophron percnopterus |
Pharaoh’s
Island. |
Other
Islamic sites in Sinai |
Qalat
el-Tina (the Fort of el-Tina), A.D.1509. |
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The Fort of Umm Mafraq (c. 1425). |
Khan el-Khuweinat
(el-Warada). |
El-Sheikh
Zowayed (Bitulion). |
Nuweiba Fort.
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Mosque
at St.Katherine's Monastery
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El-Thamed
Station |
Nabi Salih.
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Shrine
to Nabi Haroun (the Prophet Aaron).
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Sheikhs’
shrines |
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