A Witness to Yathrib Before Madīna

Significance

The āṭām were prominent landmarks of Yathrib when the Prophet ﷺ arrived on the Hijra. He ﷺ mentioned them in his descriptions of Madīna and pointed some out to his Companions along his route. With the building of the Prophet's Mosque and the growth of the town, most of the āṭām were effaced; the ruins of Rātij and a few others remain as material witnesses of pre-Islamic life in Yathrib.