Turubah

Turabah (Arabic: تربة‎, pronounced truba) is a city in Makkah Province in western Saudi Arabia, located in the valley of the same name. Trubah is located south of the mountain of Hadhn ("Jebel Hadhn"), to the southeast of Mecca. It is therefore considered on the border between the topographic regions of Hejaz and Najd. The town's traditional inhabitants are the tribe of Al-Bugum (Ar. البقوم). It is also the seat of the Trubah Governorate. The population of Trubah proper was 31999 in 2004, while the population of Trubah Governorate was 42,810.^[1]

History

Ancient Ramadan (Ar. رمادان) was a marketplace of Tareba. Its area was a semicircle not more than 600 meters around. All the buildings were made from mud, but the foundations were of stone. Some of the buildings were composed of two floors. In the middle of the market was an area of 50 meters long, 30 meters wide, surrounded by shops and the rear of buildings and the mosque from the north. It could be reached from two entrances, one of them at the north, 2 meters wide, and a southern entrance divided into two passages inside the market, the building of which was penetrated by some vaults. Its commercial goods included butter, dates, rope, wooden household goods and textiles which were used in the wool houses such as Al-Tarige, Al-Felgan and Al-Ghadire. Inside it there were goods brought from Hijazi cities including clothes, coffee, seeds and so forth, also there were war necessities: guns, swords, spears, and gunpowder. Moreover, there were turbans, abbayas and furniture.

The market took its name from a fire that happened in the distant past. Its fence was restored by Imam Saud ben Abdul Aziz ben Mohammed after the Turkish attacks on Tareba in 1341 AH (1919 AD). Abdullah ben Mo'ammar, Tareba's prince, also restored the fences, and then Ramadan lost its commercial position in 1390 AH (1969 AD). (The persons belonging to it were 230, including owners, houses and shops). In 1412 AH (1993 AD) the municipality destroyed the old buildings after the building expansion, and the residents had gone to modern homes, only the mosques were restored. The Al-Bogom tribe strongly opposed the Ottoman campaigns, that beat the tribesmen and killed large numbers of them, which forced their governor Mohammed Ali Pasha to lead the campaign by himself. This was after the tragedy of the army leader (Mustafa Bey), who returned from accompanying the pilgrims and dismissed the Meccan prince Ghaeb Al-Sherif, after his defeat by Tusun Pasha, and disorder took place.

These battles occurred in Saleem Valley which was called Rayhan because it was full of corpses. It was located west of Tareba and east of Hadn mountain:

• In 1229 AH (1813 AD), Mohammed Ali Pasha prepared an army of 6,000, led by Bin Tusun and equipped by troops including hounds and guns, and directing it to Tareba, he blockaded it three days. He was beaten by Al-Bogom and about 1,800 were killed, but he took ammunition and all luggage and escaped with his soldiers.

• Mustafa Bey attacked Tareba leading his strong and well trained and equipped armies including hounds, machine guns, and other ammunition and horsemen from Libyan Bedouins and mercenaries from Napoleon's army and Europe. Then he blockaded Tareba for 12 days, and Al-Bogom prevented him from entering, defeating him and taking many gains, and killing more than 5,000 soldiers.

References