Ḥaql () or Ḥaqal () is a city in the northwest of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

near the head of the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba () or Gulf of Eilat () is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian Peninsula. Its coastline is divided among four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. ...

, adjacent to

Aqaba Aqaba ( , ; , ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative center of the Aqaba Governorate. The city had a population of 148, ...

across the

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian border. The coasts of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, and

can be seen from Haql. Haql is a small city and it is not a port used for

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

shipping, and the relatively small Saudi population does not engage in water

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

. As a result, the reefs in this area are pristine and populated with diverse flora and fauna. The coasts of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba in this region are scenic. There are views of the mountains of the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

across the Gulf of Aqaba. Shipping is limited to traffic to and from the Port of Aqaba, Jordan. It lies from the Jordanian border. It has become one of the most attractive cities to visit for diving sports and accommodation. The two most attractive factors are its climate and geographical location. The

Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities The Ministry of Tourism (MoT; ), before 2020 as the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), until 2015 as the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) and prior to 2008 as the Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT), is ...

(SCTA) has added more than 4 attractive spots on Haql.

Climate

Haql has a desert climate and most rainfall is in the winter. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is BWh. The average annual temperature in Haql is . About of precipitation falls annually.

Possible name origin

The city of Haql may have been a corruption of "Ashkelon". In the Mishnah, at the beginning of Tractate Gittin (1:2) it is written "... and Ashkelon as the south". There was a city named Ashkelon at the southern border of the Land of Israel south of the city of

Elath Elath (; ; , Ἀηλά, Αἴλανα, Αἰλανίτης, Αἰλανή, Ἐλάνα, Αἴλανον, Αἰλάς, Αἰλάθ, Αἰλών, Ἡλάθ, Αϊλά), or Eloth, was an ancient city mentioned in several places in the Hebrew Bible on ...

. This city of Ashkelon is entirely unrelated to the city of

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

on the Mediterranean coast. The researcher Haim bar Droma wrote "There was another Ashkelon in the Gulf of Eilat. This was a common practice for ancient cities, many cities were named after other cities in the same region. It may be that this is the similarity in sound between 'Ashkelon' and 'Haql'.

References

Populated coastal places in Saudi Arabia Populated places in Tabuk Province Underwater diving sites in Saudi Arabia Red Sea {{Saudi-geo-stub

Climate

Possible name origin

See also

References