Pictures of the “Barhut” well in eastern Yemen, known as the “Hell Well”, around which stories and legends abound, one of which says that the inhabitants of that hole are jinn and demons.
The crater is an incomprehensible natural wonder, close to the border with Oman, and is about 1,300 kilometers from the capital, Sanaa. The giant crater is located in the desert of Al-Mahra Governorate. Its width is 30 meters, and its depth is believed to range between 100 and 250 meters.
The locals believe that the well is a prison for the jinn, and it is called “the bottom of Hell” because it is known for its foul smell coming out of its depths. Yemeni officials simply point out that they do not know what is at the bottom of it.
Mystery surrounds the Barhout Well in eastern Yemen, as many stories and legends circulate about it being inhabited by jinn, while not much is known about this deep hole.
But activists questioned, via social media, the authenticity of a hadith attributed to the Prophet Muhammad – may God bless him and grant him peace – in which the name of the well was mentioned, while others indicated that it was meant by (a disabled well) mentioned in the Qur’an, so what is the story of this mysterious well?
About 1,300 km east of the capital, Sanaa, near the border with the Sultanate of Oman, Barhout Well is located in the desert of Al-Mahra Governorate. It is believed that the depth of the giant pit ranges between 100 and 250 meters and its width is up to 30 meters.
“We visited the site and reached a depth of more than 50-60 meters from the well,” the director of the Geological Survey and Mineral Resources Authority, Salah Babhir, told AFP. And we noticed inside it strange things and smells that we did not know what it was,” describing the situation there as “strange.”
“We didn’t get any deeper due to the lack of oxygen and the lack of ventilation at that location,” he added. The sunlight does not reach the bottom of the hole, and from the edge of the hole, it is not possible to see much of what is in it, except for some birds.
The reality of the well and its mention in the Qur’an and Sunnah
And regarding the reality of this hole, Dr. Abdul Salam Al-Majidi, professor of interpretation at the College of Sharia – and he is from the people of Yemen – said that the hadith of Well Barhout was narrated by Tabarani in his book “Al-mu^jam Al-Kabir”.
And the hadith says: On the authority of Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him, he said, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said (what means): “The best water on the face of the earth is the water of Zamzam, which contains food for satiation, and a cure for illness, and the worst water on the face of the earth is the water of Barhout, the remnant of Hadramout, like a locust man from vermin, it becomes flowing in the morning and with no water at night..”
He continued (what means), “It is said that it is a crater of Hell and that the souls of the infidels are in it, and some Shafi’is were reported to dislike performing ablution with the water in it.”
And he pointed out that “some people tried to explore it, and some of them went to the place and devoured it, so is it connected to something from the world of the unseen? God Knows best”.
Ibn Hajar said that his narrators are reliable, and the site added that this mysterious hole is what is referred to (وَبِئْرٍ مُعَطَّلَةٍ) in the verse
“فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ فَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا وَبِئْرٍ مُّعَطَّلَةٍ وَقَصْرٍ مَّشِيد”
