Shumaisi district of Makkah have complained to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) after a local farm owner incorporated a well of historical significance into the confines of his land and closed the road leading up to it. The area of Al-Shumaisi was in former times known as the village Al-Hudaibiya, whose well is thought to be where the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions drank before he signed a peace treaty with the Quraish tribe. Residents of the area, already upset at a number of encroachments and illegal buildings in the vicinity, have now urged the SCTA to address the farmer's actions and protect the well. “The well used to be visited by a lot of people on Umrah and Haj pilgrimages who wanted to see the places mentioned in the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),” said Al-Shumaisi residents Fahad Al-Barakati and Faisal Al-Hashmi. SCTA sources confirmed that the well was among its 10,000 registered historical sites in the Kingdom, but added that some of those sites were to be found on private property. Nasir Al-Harithi, Professor of Antiquities at Umm Al-Qura University, said the identity of the well had in the past been disputed. “There are many wells in the area, but that particular well is most likely to be the one mentioned in the Sunnah because it is the nearest one to the mosque,” Al
