Ayla (Aqaba), Also Ayla, Aqaba, Eilat, Elath

City

CityAlso Ayla, Aqaba, Eilat, Elath

Ayla (Aqaba)أيلة

A port at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, the 'town by the sea' of the Sabbath-breakers in tradition.

Many commentators say 'the town that stood by the sea', whose people broke the Sabbath to catch fish and were turned into apes, was Ayla (7:163-166). During the Tabuk expedition in 630 its Christian ruler came to the Prophet ﷺ and made a treaty. Ruins of an early Islamic town have been dug up in Aqaba.

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