Bir Adhq: The Well Near Where Madinah Came Out to Meet Him

Bir Adhq, also written Bir Azaq and in Arabic Bi'r Adhq, is one of the historic wells of Madinah. It stands west of Masjid Quba.

What happened near it is one of the most joyful moments in the whole seerah, and almost nobody who visits Quba knows the well is there.

The welcome

Arabic sources on Madinah's wells record that it was near this well that the people of Madinah came out to receive the Prophet ﷺ when he arrived in the city.

Set that in its place. He had left Makkah with a price on his head. He had spent three nights in a cave and days on the road. He had stopped at Quba and built a mosque. And then the people of the city came out along this road to meet him.

The seerah records the scene of that arrival at length: the whole city out, people climbing to see, children in the streets. The historians place the meeting near this well, on the Quba side.

The evidence, plainly

• The arrival in Madinah and the welcome: established in the hadith and seerah literature.
• That the welcome happened near this particular well: recorded in the Arabic literature on Madinah's wells. Level B.
• Its location west of Masjid Quba: from the same sources.
• Current condition, access or dimensions: not verified by us.
• Any virtue in the water: none reported.

Why it is worth ten minutes

Not because there is much to see. Because of where it sits.

You will already be at Quba. The well is on the same side. Standing on the road there, knowing that the welcome happened on this stretch of ground, changes what Quba feels like: not just the first mosque, but the last stop before a city came out to meet him.

Ask your driver about it while you are already there. If he can find it, take the ten minutes. If not, you have lost nothing.

Is visiting part of Hajj or Umrah?

No. Not a rite of either, and no prescribed prayer or reported reward attaches to it.

Visiting

• Ten minutes, as an add-on to Quba, not a trip of its own.
• Use both spellings with a driver: Adhq, Azaq.
• Do not expect a prepared site. We could not verify any visitor arrangement.
• Combine it with Quba, Masjid Banu Anif and al-Faqir Well, all on the southern side.

Related

• Masjid Quba — a few hundred metres away.
• The Hijrah route — the journey that ended here.
• Bir Ghars — the preserved well on the same side of the city.
• Madinah Ziyarat guide — every site with its evidence stated.

Getting there

Madinah's historic sites are scattered across the city, and reaching them one taxi at a time turns a short list into a whole morning. Our Madinah Ziyarat private car covers the round on one fixed fare for the whole vehicle with the driver waiting at every stop, and the Madinah Ziyarat tour is the guided version. For arrival, the Madinah airport transfer has fixed fares.

Accuracy note

The Prophet's ﷺ arrival in Madinah after the Hijrah and the welcome he received from its people are established in the hadith and seerah literature. That the people of Madinah came out to receive him near this well, and that the well stands west of Masjid Quba, are recorded in the Arabic literature on the historic wells of Madinah; this is level B documentation rather than an authentic hadith naming the well. We could not verify the well's current condition, dimensions or any visitor access arrangement, and have not invented them. No prescribed prayer, reported reward or virtue in the water attaches to the site, and visiting is not a rite of Hajj or Umrah. Content verified August 2026. If you hold sourced detail on this well, please send it.