equals four farsakhs, and a farsakh is three miles. The distance between ʿAyr and Thawr on the eastern side is estimated at twelve miles, and the same distance separates them on the western side.

Then the committee walked along the proposed boundary line in order to apply the texts they had discussed and the conclusions they had drawn from them. Their route was as follows:

1 – The committee reached Mount Thawr, which lies behind Mount Uhud to the north-east. They climbed it and found it exactly as the scholars have described: a small mountain compared with Mount Uhud; the surrounding hills encircle it so that it is rounded rather than elongated; its colour tends toward reddish; it sits behind Uhud on the north-eastern side; and the space between the two mountains is roughly fifty metres.

2 – The committee then moved to the eastern lava field. They found a ḥarrah made up of brittle, black stones that look as though they had been scorched by fire. This ḥarrah is interrupted in several places—especially on its northern edge—and extends in others, particularly toward the south, so that it appears to comprise several separate lava fields. It is known as Ḥarrah Wāqim and is separated from the eastern flank of Mount Uhud, its foothill, and other nearby elevations. It encompasses the dwellings of Banū Ḥārithah, Banū Ẓafar, Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal, and Banū Muʿāwiyah; the al-ʿArīḍ district with its workshops and orchards; Baʿāth—now called al-Mabʿūth—up to al-ʿAwālī and Qurabān; and the homes of Banū Qurayẓah and Banū al-Naḍīr. The boundary within this ḥarrah was not as clear as it is on the side of the two mountains, ʿAyr and Thawr; therefore the committee walked through the middle of the lava field at a point midway between ʿAyr and Thawr and halted there to verify the distance between the two mountains and take its measurement.

3 – Next the committee proceeded to the edge of ʿAyr on this side—that is, the south-eastern side—and stood close to the mountain near the Butḥān Dam. They established its distance from Mount Thawr, using the midpoint of the eastern lava field as their reference. It was resolved to begin from the south-eastern tip of ʿAyr—bringing within the boundary the course of Butḥān and Mudhaynīb—and to run the line past a series of wells connected to the centre of the lava field, placing every three kilometres a large, coloured marker inscribed “Boundary of the Ḥaram” until