located to the north-east of the Khadraʾ Well, for it lies at the midpoint of the area and because everyone we consulted affirmed that, in both former days and at present, pilgrims would assume iḥrām near this well. Around it are the remains of other filled-in wells, collapsed rooms and graves scattered along the north-western foothills that border Wadi aḍ-Ḍarībah.
These are the findings reached by the committee with regard to the miqāt of Dhāt ʿIrq. We ask Allah to grant us correctness in word and deed, and may blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muḥammad, his family and his Companions.
For added certainty, the Council asked Sharīf Shākir ibn Hizzāʿ, former deputy-governor of Mecca, to attend, review the committee’s report and share any information he possessed about the miqāt, given his expertise in the matter. He appeared before the Council of Senior Scholars on Saturday, 25/3/1414 AH and stated that the report’s contents agree with the conclusions of the committee formed in 1387 AH to demarcate Dhāt ʿIrq, of which he had been a member. At that time boundary markers were set up for the miqāt; they remain in place to this day and are the very markers observed by the present committee appointed by the Council.
Likewise, the two Council members, the esteemed Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Badr and the esteemed Shaykh Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh Abū Zayd, visited the miqāt of Dhāt ʿIrq on Friday, 24/3/1414 AH. They informed the Council that they had inspected the miqāt and its features and had questioned several local residents about it. They concluded that the description contained in the committee’s report commissioned by the Council is an accurate portrayal of Dhāt ʿIrq and corresponds precisely to what exists on the ground.
In light of the foregoing, the Council is of the opinion that:
- The government should pay due attention to the miqāt of Dhāt ʿIrq—which is one of the recognised spatial boundaries for Hajj and ʿUmrah—by safeguarding it and erecting clear, prominent markers at its eastern entrance and its western end, in accordance with the limits detailed in the committee’s report appended to this decision, so that no one exceeds them.