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HistoricalAccountsoftheAD1256Eruptionnear
Al-Madinah
CONFERENCEPAPER·NOVEMBER2013
DOI:10.13140/RG.2.1.4493.9602
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VORISA SCIENTIFIC MEETING
NOVEMBER 17 – 18, 2013
Historical Accounts of the AD 1256 Eruption near Al-Madinah
Nabil Nasr El-Masry1, Mohammed Rashad H. Moufti1, Károly Németh1, 2, Hugo
Murcia3, Atef Ali Qaddah1, and Mohamed Farouk Abdelwahed1
1
Geological Hazards Research Unit, King Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Volcanic Risk Solutions, Massey
University, New Zealand; 3School of Environment, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Background
Eyewitness accounts mentioned by the historians of the 13th–16th centuries provide a vivid description of the
1256 AD volcanic eruption, commonly referred to as the Historical Eruption (Camp and Roobol, 1991), which
is located about 20 km to the southeast of Al-Madinah in the northernmost part of Harrat Rahat (Fig. 1). Stories
of thunder-like noises and tremors of earthquakes, the great fire that lit the sky at nights as far as Tayma in the
north (about 365 km away from Al-Madinah) and Mecca in the south (about 340 km away from Al-Madinah), a
rising fire at two newly-formed mountains, a cloud of smoke eclipsing the sun, and streams of molten rock
flowing like lead and carrying away small “mountains” represent a solid ground for investigating the history of
the eruption and its style.
Most of the narratives agree that the events that led to the 1256 AD (654 H) volcanic eruption near AlMadinah started on Monday, June 26, 1256 (Jumada-II 1, 654 H). However, some discrepancies emerge among
the historians of the 13th –16th centuries regarding what really happened between Monday and the early hours of
Wednesday when a strong earthquake hit Al-Madinah and terrified the population. According to Abu-Shama, a
sound of a distant thunder was heard on Monday and continued for two days until the early hours of Wednesday
when it was followed by three days of earthquakes. Al-Samhudi, in contrast, indicated that minor earthquakes
began on Monday; the tremors, which were unfelt by some, became more frequent and intensified on Tuesday.
Figure (1) Regional map showing the distribution of the volcanic fields (harrats) across Arabia and the Levant
(a). Map showing the location of the 1256 AD lava field relative to prominent geographic locations and
historical pilgrimage routes.
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VORISA SCIENTIFIC MEETING
NOVEMBER 17 – 18, 2013
Most commonly cited eruption narratives
The following summary of the 1256 AD volcanic eruption is based on the works of Abu-Shama (died 665 H,
1266-67 AD), Al-Matari (676–741 H, 1277–1340 AD), Ibn Kathir (701–774 H, 1301–1372 AD), Al-Samhudi
(844–911 H, 1440–1506 AD), and Al-Hanafi (died 988 or 990 H, 1580 or 1582 AD). Comments on interesting
narratives are given in italics and are separated from them by an em dash.
On Monday Jumada-II 1, 654 H (June 26, 1256 AD), a clear blue-sky day, a sound of distant thunder was
intermittently heard in Al-Madinah. The thunder-like sound continued for two days until the early hours of
Wednesday of Jumada-II 3, 654 H (June 28, 1256 AD) when a powerful blast was followed by a strong
earthquake, which shook the city’s buildings for many hours and terrified the population, who rushed off to the
Holy Mosque seeking refuge. The tremors, amounting 10-14 quakes per day1, continued for three days. On
Friday morning, Jumada-II 5, 654 H (June 30, 1256 AD), there was a strong earthquake, which rattled the
minaret and the ceiling of the Prophet’s Mosque in Al-Madinah, but the quake stopped during the period of
morning hours before noon.2 Then, a magnificent fire erupted at Al-Suwarkeyah route in the harrat (lava field)
near Quraydhah 3, which is a half-day walk (20-30km) to the east of Al-Madinah (Fig. 1).4 As the terrified
population was watching the fire, a great smoke emerged and rose into the sky and gathered into white clouds
that remained there to just before sunset. As the red flames rose up into the sky, the night sky turned red. The
fire remained there until its intensity and flames waned. For days, however, the raging fire flamed up and it was
like a great mountain or a great city in its height and width—which could be interpreted as a lava curtain or
chain of fountains continuously emitting lava. It belched pebbles that rose up into the sky and then fell back onto
the fire—which may reflect some intermittent explosion styles that could be associated with discrete
Strombolian-style explosions. It also threw mountain-like fire sending out thunder—which could be interpreted
as a more violent explosive eruption that may have produced larger volumes of ash. The fire then flowed like a
flood into Wadi Uhaylin5 and then moved downslope to Wadi Shadhah until it became close to Harrat Al’Urayd (Fig. 1)—The reference of a fire that moved like a flood indicates broad fast-moving lava flow activity.
In an arid climate where flash-floods are the common forms of floods inhabitants may see in their lifetime,
comparing something to such events indicate fast moving and fairly violent processes. The main source of fire
was quiescent for days, and then emerged again throwing stones until two mountains were erected behind and in
front of it—This would imply that in the initial phase of the eruption some lava fountaining might have
accompanied the lava effusion, but the dominant mode of the eruption must have been largely effusive
producing fast-moving lava flows just in few days’ time. Subsequently, after few days of quietness, two cones
must have formed in front and behind the original eruption point where there was likely a fissure somewhere in
the middle of the chain of vents. For some days, however, no “tongue” of fire emerged between the two
mountains—This indicates that the eruption must have been periodic having few days of quite period between
active times, which is a common feature of fissure-fed basaltic eruptions such as the 1973 Heimaey (e.g.
Mattsson and Hoskuldsson, 2003; Self et al., 1974) and the 1783-85 Lake fissure eruptions (e.g. Thordarson
and Self, 1993) in Iceland.
The judge of Al-Madinah, Shams Al-Din Sanan Bin Abdul-Wahab, wrote in Rajab 5, 654 H (Saturday, July
30, 1256 AD) a letter to some friends describing the strong earthquake that took place during the small hours of
Wednesday and how the tremors, which sounded like thunderclap, continued to Friday morning. According to
Judge Sanan, the city-size great fire that arose from Ras Ajlin in the Harrat Route showed up (revealed) during
Friday night. The light of that fire was seen in Mecca and the wilderness as well as in Yanbu (about 165 km to
the west from Al-Madinah). The river of fire flowed from the great fire down to Ajlin (Fig. 1) and then to the
pilgrimage plain (camping site). It was like a flowing sea of fire topped with moving burning embers—This
description fits very well to the observed lava flow surface textures in the 1256 AD lava flows, which showed
transitional type lava fields of slabby to rubbly pahoehoe (Murcia et al., 2013). It intercepted Wadi Shadhah 6
(Fig. 1) and blocked it. Judge Sanan predicted that floods will not anymore come down Shadhah as the harrat
1
Al-Qastallani reported 18 quakes during a daytime.
Apparently, there was a short recess in the flurry of events that had been bewildering the inhabitants of AlMadinah since Monday. In Al-Samhudi, Al-Qurtubi indicated that the tremors, which started in the early hours
of Wednesday, ceased on Friday morning.
3
Quraydhah (‫ )ﻗﺮﻳﻈﺔ‬is now known as Quraydah (‫ )ﻗﺮﻳﻀﺔ‬.
4
The onset of the eruption between noon and sunset is not clear. Judge Sanan wrote in a letter that “the great
fire at Ajlin was only revealed to us on Friday night.” Al-Samhudi, referring to Al-Qastallani, wrote: “the fire
appeared on Friday at mid-day.”
5
Uhaylin (‫ )ﺃﹸﺣﻴﻠﲔ‬is also referred to as Ajlin (‫)ﺃﺟﻠﲔ‬.
6
Wadi Shadhah (‫ )ﺷﻈﺎﺓ‬is currently known as Wadi Al-‘Aqul (‫ )ﻭﺍﺩﻱ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻗﻮﻝ‬. Its elevation is about 610 meters above
sea level compared to an elevation of 850 meters around the eruption center.
2
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VORISA SCIENTIFIC MEETING
NOVEMBER 17 – 18, 2013
(lava flow) attained a thickness of about two-and-one-third the height of a man (approximately 3.80 meters). At
the end of his letter, Judge Sanan referred to: (a) the fire (lava flow) had been moving until it partly blocked the
pilgrimage route and the pilgrimage plain, (b) smoke from the fire (lava flow) came close to the valley (wadi)
where he lived and the inhabitants were afraid that the fire might get to them, (c) the inhabitants gathered and
spent Thursday night in the Holy Mosque, (d) the nearby smoke extinguished, and (e) the fire was still throwing
camel-size stones and had unbearable sound—which may indicate that the distal part of a steep lava flow must
have been fairly mobile enabling large blocks to roll down. This is consistent with observations made in recent
transitional lavas elsewhere (e.g. Barberi et al., 1993; Wantim et al., 2011; Guest and Stofan, 2005).
Less known documents
In another eyewitness account, the magnificent fire erupted in Jumada-II 5, 654 H (June 30, 1256 AD) near
Quraydhah was seen from inside the city’s houses attaining more than three minarets7 in height. It shed also
streams of fire (lava flow) that flowed northward to Wadi Shadhah Al-Ma’ blocking it and the Iraqi Pilgrimage
Route as well. The harrat (lava flow) paused when reached the harrat (lava field) and then resumed moving
eastward where from the middle of it came out plains and moving mountains of fire eating stones and the
ground—This description is suggestive of some lava outbreak from a temporarily blocked zone, though its
location is hard to establish. In the same account, written in Rajab 5, 654 H (July 30, 1256 AD), the eyewitness
indicated that the fire increased in intensity and that burning fires returned back to the harrat (lava field) of
Quraydhah at the Iraqi Pilgrimage Route and were seen from Al-Madinah at nights as if they were the burning
torches of the pilgrims. The “great source” or the “source of the great fire”, described also as mountains of red
fire from which fire flowed to Quraydhah, was still raging.
Some of the short accounts mentioned in Abu-Shama included, however, some interesting descriptions of
the key events that took place during the eruption. In one of the letters, the great fire erupted from Ajlin was
almost the size of the Prophet’s Holy Mosque and could be seen from Al-Madinah shooting up great sparks in
the size of tree trunks8. From that fire flowed a stream, which was about 4 leagues in length (about 20
kilometers), 4 miles in width (about 6600 meters), and one-and-a-half the height of a man (2.50 meters) in
depth.9 Plains and small mountains came out of the moving stream, which was made of a molten rock that
became similar to lead. The molten rock was red when hot but it turned black when it cooled down. In another
short account, the narrator indicated that when the stream of fire that flowed off the great fire of the Friday
eruption arrived near Jabal Uhud, the eruption stopped and then resumed.
Al-Samhudi also included in his book many interesting citations from Al-Qurtubi, Al-Qashani, and AlQastallani. Al-Qurtubi described the great fire erupted at Quraydhah as a “great city” encircled by a wall with
bastions, towers, and minarets, as if there were men ridding it, crushing and melting mountains on its way. A red
and blue river, with thunder like sounds, came out of that fire engulfed rocks, reached the Iraqi Pilgrimage
Camp, and stopped near Al-Madinah. Al-Qurtubi also mentioned that debris piled up to a great mountain and
that a drift of cold air had been arriving to Al-Madinah during the eruption. Al-Qashani pointed out that during
the powerful earthquake on Friday, there was aloud cracking sound coming from the Holy Mosque’s ceiling.
According to Al-Qastallani, when the fire emerged on Friday noon, its smoke swirled up to the sky and
blackened the horizon. When darkness fell, the fire glowed from the east like a magnificent city. The fire spilled
out from the source’s vent flowed northward, away from Al-Madinah, down Wadi Uhaylin, for three months
and it was like a great sea of fire.
In a letter dated Rajab 5, 654 H (July 30, 1256 AD), sent from Al-Madinah to Damascus, Syria, the
eyewitness indicated that a month had been passed since the eruption and that the sun and the moon had been
almost eclipsed since then. The eyewitness also stressed that the light of the burning fire was as great as it had
ever been and it had also a great sound, which could be heard from late night to morning. The letter from AlMadinah explained to the Damascenes that the observed eclipse of the moon at the night of Jumada-II 16, 654
(July 10, 1256 AD), which was extremely red at early night but cleared later on. The sun also eclipsed in
Damascus during that time at sunrise and sunset for several days showing changed colors and feeble lights—
This meteoric event is consistent with a fine dust and/or high atmospheric vog cloud drifted over 1000 km away
7
There were three minarets in the Prophet’s Mosque during the time of the eruption. Their average height
ranged between 27.5 and 30 meters.
8
The description used in the original account is borrowed from the Holy Quran, Chapter 77, Al-Mursalat (The
Emissaries), Verse 32. Referring to Ibn Manzur (Ibn Mandhur), Lisan Al-Arab, Abdullah Ali Al-Kabir and
others (eds.), Dar Al-Maaref, Cairo, Egypt, p. 3648, the Arabic word “qasr—‫”ﻗﺼﺮ‬, however, has different
meanings including palace, castle, fort, and a thick log of wood (tree trunk) longer than three arms in length,
which is more than 150 centimeters.
9
Al-Qastallani approximated the height, above the original ground, of the stones produced by the fire (lava
flow) to that of a long spear.
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VORISA SCIENTIFIC MEETING
NOVEMBER 17 – 18, 2013
fairly quickly from Al-Madinah toward Damascus. Al-Samhudi summarized the characteristics of the fire in
terms of its duration, its strength, its light, and its source, as shown in Table (1).
Table 1 Criteria of the Historical Eruption as summarized by Al-Samhudi
Duration of According to Al-Qastallani10, the fire continued from Friday the 5th of Jumada-II, 654 H11 (June
the fire
30, 1256 AD) until Sunday the 27th of Rajab, 654 H (August 20, 1256 AD) when it subsided for
days but it showed up again. The fire lasted for 52 days, but intermittent periods of quiescence
and activity continued for a while.
Strength of According to Al-Qastallani, the Prince of Al-Madinah sent a number of knights to investigate
the fire
the fire, but eventually the knights failed to get close enough because it was throwing sparks
similar to tree trunks. In another attempt, an eyewitness could barely manage to be at two stonethrows12 away from the fire because of the heat coming from the ground, the fire flowing
underneath needle like stones, and the rising flames. The eyewitness, however, reported seeing
fire similar to stern mountains and groups of moving hills throwing frothy stones similar to
convoluting sea waves. Flames of fire darkened the sky as if the sun and the moon were
eclipsed.
Al-Qastallani also mentioned that the fire (lava flow) persisted until it arrived at the harrat (lava
field) and Wadi Shadhah crushing everything on its way, burning green trees, and melting down
pebbles. He also indicated that the eastern margin of the fire moved between the mountains until
it was stopped, whereas its northern margin extended to Jabal Al-Wu’ayirah, located to the east
of Jabal Uhud, and then flowed down Shadhah, apparently towards the Prophet’s Holy Mosque,
but it stopped flowing and cooled down.
Al-Matari, however, contradicted some of Al-Qastallani’s narrative. In his account, few days
after the eruption, two knights came close to the fire but there was not any heat coming out of it.
One of them walked towards the fire and reached it while it was eating rocks and stones, pulled
an arrow from the quiver and pushed the arrowhead into the fire, without feeling pain or heat.
The blade of the arrowhead sweated but the stick did not burn. He also pushed the feathery end
of the arrow back into the fire; the feathers burned down but not the wooden stick of the arrow.
Light of the According to Abu-Shama, the flood of fire, which flowed into Wadi Shadhah near Jabal Uhud
fire
and almost reached Harrat Al-’Urayd, tremendously terrified the population. Beyond Wadi Al’Urayd, the fire extinguished but it continued moving to the east. Abu Shama referred to Judge
Sanan’s letter, which described how the fire was seen from Mecca, Yanbu, and the wilderness,
and also to a credible witness who wrote at nights in Tayma on its light. Abu-Shama also
ascribed the eclipse of the moon in Damascus and its dim light to the fire in Al-Madinah.
According to Al-Qastallani the night the fire was erupted, its light was sighted in Tayma in the
north and as far north as Busra in Syria (about 940 km away from Al-Madinah). Travelers
reported that they could see the light of the fire as far as a three-day walk away. He also noted
that the light of the moon diminished next to the light of the fire.
According to Al-Matari, women in Al-Madinah were weaving on rooftops at nights by the light
of the fire.
Source of According to Al-Qastallani, the fire emerged near the houses of Quraydhah to the east of Qeba’,
the fire
between Quraydhah and Uhaylin. The fire erupted from there and spread eastwards close to
Uhaylin and then turned north and flowed to a place near Uhud, called Qurain Al-Arnab, where
it stopped and extinguished.
Estimating the pre-eruption earthquake magnitude
Although there was a three-day period of earthquakes, the narratives indicated that there were neither
fatalities nor any structural damages to the buildings, including the three minarets of the Prophet’s Holy
Mosque.
From the above information, it is concluded that the seismic intensity (I) was about VI on the modified
Mercalli intensity scale at about 20 km from the source. Thus the intensity at the epicenter (I0) can be estimated
as:
I  I 0  a log(
1 2
(   h 2 ) 1 / 2 )  b ( 2  h 2 ) 1 / 2  h ) ,
h
10
Al-Qastallani lived in Mecca during the events.
Originally stated as Friday the 6th of Jumada-II, 654 H.
12
About 12-15 meters.
11
12
(1)
VORISA SCIENTIFIC MEETING
NOVEMBER 17 – 18, 2013
where, a is the geometrical spreading (0.5), Δ is the epicentral distance, h is the focal depth (assumed here 10
km), and b is the anelastic attenuation (0.001). Accordingly, the I0 is estimated as 6.16. The magnitude of the
Friday earthquake of Jumada-II 5, 654 H (June 30, 1256 AD), however, is estimated from the I0 as proposed by
Sponheuer (1960) as follows:
M  0.661I0 1.7logh 1.4
(2)
Thus, the estimated value of the magnitude is M4.4. It is worth noting that an earthquake swarm occurred in AlAys region (about 170 km to the northwest of Al-Madinah) in May 19, 2009 having 19 earthquakes of M4.0 or
greater including an M5.4 event (Pallister et al., 2010).
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2002, Volume 5, pp. 292-298.
Al-Hanafi, Tarikh Al-Madinah. Mohamed Zainhum Mohamed Azab (ed.), Maktabet Al-Thaqafa Al-Dineya, AlZaher, Cairo, Egypt, 1995, pp. 117-121.
Al-Matari, Al-Taarif Bima Annsat Al-Hijra min Maalem Dar Al-Hijra. Soliman Al-Rehaili (ed.), Darat AlMalik Abdul Aziz, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2005, pp. 167-172.
Al-Samhudi, Wafa al-Wafa bi-Akhbar Dar Al-Mustafa. Khaled Abdel-Ghani Mahfouz (ed.), Dar Al-Kotob AlIlmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, 2006, Volume 1, No. 1-2, pp. 113-124.
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