Ha'il Ha'il Design specification Category="Cities in Saudi Arabia"Ha'il (Arabic: ) is an oasis town in Najd in northwestern Saudi Arabia and is the capital of the Ha'il Province. Traditionally the town derived its wealth from being on the camel caravan route of the Hadj.

Center of power: 1836-1921

Ha'il was the center of the Rashidi amirs from 1836 until 1921. The 1st. Rashidi amir, Abdullah bin Rashid, took power in 1836 from the former ruler of Hail, Mohammad Ibn Ali, who was a fellow member of the Jafaar linage of the Abde section of the Shammar tribe. Abdulla bin Rashid continued contructing the Barzan palace in Hail which had been started by Mohammad Ibn Ali. After the death of Abdullah bin Rashid (in 1847 or 1848) his son and successor, Talal (or Telal), completed the palace.

During the Rashidi period many foreign travellers visited Ha'il and the Rashidi amirs, and described their impressions in different journals/books, see e.g.: G. A. Wallin 1854, William Gifford Palgrave 1865, Lady Anne Blunt 1881, Charles Montagu Doughty 1888 and Gertrude Bell 1907.

The Rashidi amirs were considered relatively tolerant towards foreigners, including traders in Ha'il:

"Many of these traders belonged to the Shiyaa sect, hated by all good Sonnites, doubly hated by the Wahabees. But Telal affected not to perceive their religious discrepansies, and silenced all murmers by marks of special favour towards these very dissenters, and also by the advantages which their presence was not long in procuring for the town". William Gifford Palgrave 1865.

Decline

The opening of the Hejaz railway between Damascus and Medina together with new inexpensive steamship routes to Jeddah undermined the traditional camel caravan economy of Ha'il.

The last Rashidi amir was ousted from power by Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia in 1921. Ibn Saud then gave orders to destroy the Barzan palace and also ordered the Rashidi leaders to move from Ha'il.

After this Ha'il fell into steep decline, as witnessed by by E. Rutter in 1931:

"Hail seem like a city marooned among the sand....the population of Hail was plainly in decline. Numbers of houses in the northern quarter of the town were in ruins....many people of Hail had fled to the comfortable realms of King Faisal of Iraq..."

Present

Ha'il today is the center of the agricultural program of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Most of the Wheat crops of the Kingdom comes from the area surrounding Ha'il.

References