Islam Museum Islam Museum islam.museum
Search ⌕ ARENUR
Accessibility
Text size 100%

Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.

al-Rafiqa

الرافقة

al-Rafiqa, the Abbasid companion-city beside al-Raqqa; it had no ancient trace — al-Mansur built it in year 155 on the model of his city at Baghdad, stationing a Khurasani army in it, works continuing under al-Mahdi as heir apparent, al-Rashid building its palaces and al-Raqqa's markets being moved into the space between.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Overview

Al-Rafiqa is a city of al-Abbas beside Raqqa. It had no ancient trace. Al-Mansur built it in the year 155 AH on the model of his city in Baghdad, and stationed in it troops from the people of Khurasan. 1

Building after al-Mansur

The works there were carried out through al-Mahdi while he was heir apparent. Then al-Rashid built its palaces and transferred the markets of Raqqa to it. See The founding of al-Rafiqa. 1

Connections

Explore the connections

Site of
The Building of al-Rafiqa
Part of
al-Raqqa

People and things also explored

The Building of al-Rafiqa· al-Raqqa· The Conquest of al-Raqqa· The Killing of Mansur ibn Jamwana· Muhammad al-Mahdi· Abu Ja'far al-Mansur· Ali ibn Sulayman ibn Ali· Harun al-Rashid

Sources

  1. Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition) , p.247
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “al-Rafiqa”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/place/rafiqa/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Place

Cities, sites and routes on a map that moves through time. Related

The Building of al-Rafiqa

In al-Baladhuri: al-Rafiqa had no ancient trace — the commander of the faithful al-Mansur built it in year 155 on the model of his city at Baghdad and stationed a Khurasani army in it; works continued under al-Mahdi while heir apparent, then al-Rashid built its palaces, and between al-Raqqa and al-Rafiqa lay an open space of sown fields; when Ali ibn Sulayman ibn Ali came as governor of the Jazira he moved al-Raqqa's markets into that space — the city's great old market having been called Suq Hisham al-Atiq — and when al-Rashid later came to al-Raqqa he increased those markets, which have since been assessed with the crown lands; as for Rusafat Hisham, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik founded it, having previously dwelt at al-Zaytuna, dug the al-Hani and al-Mari canals and laid out Wasit al-Raqqa in it; that estate was seized at the dynasty's opening and passed to Umm Ja'far Zubayda bint Ja'far ibn al-Mansur, who built in it the estate named for her and added to its splendour.