<DIV><p>This large format illustrated reference is the only mainstream history of the Darb Zubaidah?the early Muslim pilgrim trails to Mecca and Medina coming down from Iraq. Established during the Abbasid Caliphate, this desert route brought travelers in their hundreds of thousands down from Kufa for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.</p><p>A unique work of scholarship enlivened by illustrations, charts and maps.</p><p>Professor <B>Saad Al-Rashid</B> is a leading Saudi scholar on the early Abbasid period of history and works on archaeological sites across the trail.</p></div>