Haïl

Hail (حَائِل ) is a city in north-western Saudi Arabia. It is the capital and largest city of Ha'il Region, with a population of about 605,930 (2018). Hail is largely agricultural, with significant grain, date, and fruit production. A large percentage of the kingdom's wheat production comes from Hail Province, where the area to the northeast, away, consists of irrigated gardens. Historically, Hail derived its wealth from being on the camel caravan route of the Hajj. Hail is well known by the generosity of its people in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world as it is the place where Hatim al-Tai lived. It is also the homeland of the Rashid royal family, historical rivals to Saudi royal family. The construction 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 city of Ha'il was the capital of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar from 1836 until the Saudi conquest of the emirate in 1921. The emirate was led by a monarchy of the House of Rashīd. The first emir, Abdullah bin Ali Al Rashid, took power with his brother emir Obaid and Jabbr's sons. Abdullah bin Rashid continued constructing the Barzan Palace in Ha'il which had been started by Mohammad Ibn Ali. After the death of Abdullah Al Rashid (in 1848) his son and successor, Talal, completed the palace. During the Rashidi period many foreign travellers visited Ha'il and the Rashidi emirs, and described their impressions in different journals and books, including those of Georg August Wallin (1845), William Gifford Palgrave (1865), Lady Anne Blunt (1881), Charles Montagu Doughty (1888), and Gertrude Bell (1914). Rashid emirs were considered relatively tolerant towards foreigners, including traders in Ha'il: "Many of these traders belonged to the Shiyaa sect, hated by some Sonnites, doubly hated by the Wahabees. But Telal affected not to perceive their religious discrepancies, and silenced all murmurs by marks of special favor towards these very dissenters, and also by the advantages which their presence was not long in procuring for the town.