In the northwest of Failaka Island used to stand a maqam dedicated to Al Khidr. According to Failaka Island: The Ikaros of the Arabian Gulf, “the shrine in the 1930s was built from blocks of stone and stood out prominently from the land and the sea. Local lore had it that Al Khidr, on route to Friday prayer in Mekkah, stopped every Thursday night in Failaka.” According to this Gulf News article, he, “stayed there for some time to make the island verdant and provide it with the underground fresh water that Failaka enjoys even though the mainland was parched.” The building no longer exists, but below are old photographs (sources afterwards):

• 1 “Then and Now” taken by myself
• 2 Failaka Island in the Postcards by Hasan Ashkanani
• 3, 4, 5, 6 Voice of the Oud by Jehan Rajab
• 7 Looking for Dilmun by Geoffrey Bibby
• 8, 9, 10 Failaka Island – The Ikaros of the Arabian Gulf by Jehan Rajab
• 11 The article The John Hopkins University Reconnaissance Expedition to the Arab-Iranian Gulf by Theresa Howard Carter
• 12 found on reddit
• 13 this article
• 14 this article
• 15 Mohammed Alkouh
• 16 Dana Al Rashid
• 17 Baghdad Sketches by Freya Stark