Al Kharid is ruled by the Emir, although the vast majority of the work has been taken over by Chancellor Hassan since the Emir's son was kidnapped. The city is independent from both Misthalin, or any government in the Kharidian desert. Al Kharid was built in the last years of the Fourth Age, by settlers from Misthalin crossing the newly-constructed bridge over the River Lum. The dominant religion of Al Kharid is the Menaphite Pantheon.
In the early Fifth Age, Al Kharid was one party of a bloody war with Menaphos, the one half of the capital city of the Desert. Some 50 or 60 years ago, the Emir and the Pharaoh of the Menaphites established a peace pact to protect the prosperity and wealth of both cities. The Pharaoh planned to reopen Menaphos to public, but this was prevented by the Goddess of Destruction, Amascut, who unleashed a hazardous plague on the neighbouring city Sophanem, leaving the Hetian pharaoh no choice but to close the city and put Sophanem in quarantine, leaving many Sophanites trapped in Menaphos. Menaphos became heavily guarded, under the command of Coenus, even so when Sophanem was freed after Contact!. Al Kharid had much involvement in these developments, since Kharidian agents were trapped in Menaphos. Maisa, sent by spymaster Osman, and an adventurer tried to find a way through a very dangerous tunnel system under the cities to escape Menaphos, but a huge chasm and a giant scarab prevented this, the latter being the reason for the death of agent Kaleef. After the quarantine was lifted, Maisa had already escaped the city by pretending to have died of the plague, after which her body was dumped into Sophanem to be embalmed.
Al Kharid contains the closest bank to a range and furnace in non-membersRuneScape, as well as two reasonably close net and bait Fishing spots. Al Kharid also plays home to a tanner named Ellis.
The Al Kharid palace is the residence of The Emir and the seat of government for the emirate of Al Kharid. Hassan, the Emir's chancellor, is present in the palace's throne room and features in the Prince Ali Rescue quest. Osman, the emirate's spy master, is found just outside the palace along the eastern section of the northern hedge. He features in the Prince Ali Rescue and Contact! quests and will also given Thieving experience in exchange for Sq'irk juice obtained in the Sorceress's Garden activity.
Many Al-Kharid warriors are inside the palace and can be trained on and pickpocketed.
Bank
The Al Kharid bank
Al Kharid's bank is to the south-west of the city (See banks). The bank is populated largely by craftsmen, smiths and chefs due to the proximity of the tanner, range and furnace to the bank. In the free worlds, the bank used to be often crowded with players buying and selling cowhides, but it also could get crowded in members worlds too. The introduction of the Grand Exchange has eliminated the selling and buying of cowhides almost completely.
Players are also able to ask about the Dragon scimitar, however Zeke will reply by making several puns relating to the Monkey Madness quest, which is required for players to be able to wield a dragon scimitar.
The Kebab shop is located directly north of the bank, in the house with a range. Players may purchase a kebab from Karim, the kebab salesman, for 1 coin each.
Gem trader
The Gem trader is located to the north of the Al Kharid township and to the south-east of the Lumbridge gate.
The silk trader, located to the north of the Al Kharid palace, provides a quick and simple method for newer members to gain money quickly. If the player is prepared to click through a lengthy dialogue, they can buy silk cheaply (3 coins) which may then be sold for a profit at any general store excluding the general store in Al Kharid. (Note: It is possible for players to lower the purchase price of the silk by refusing the original offer by the silk trader and instead settling for a price of 2 coins).
Ali Morisanne is found east of the gem trader to the north-east of the city near the blue star quest icon . He sells various items, and once The Feud is completed, he will open various other shops if you set up merchanting opportunities for him.
Talk to him (there is no Trade option) and select the "Ya, I'll get to it soon." option. When he asks "...Unless you want to make a small purchase from me first?", select Ok.
The Al Kharid mining site is also known as the Scorpion Mine, due to the abundance of these pests. This is a fairly good mine for it has rocks containing tin, copper, silver, iron, gold, coal, mithril, adamant, is usually quite busy. Coal is generally the most sought after ore here. Players will try to mine it before the other players do so. Beware of scorpions (combat level 14), they can do considerable damage to players with a low combat level.
There is a furnace north of the bank. It is the fourth closest furnace to a bank in all of RuneScape, the only closer ones being the Port Phasmatys furnace, which requires ecto-tokens or completion of the Ghosts Ahoy quest for use and requires a Ghostspeak amulet otherwise banking will be slow, the Shilo Village furnace, which requires completion of the Shilo Village quest, and the Edgeville furnace.
A range is found in a house north of the palace, but it is rarely used due to distance from bank.
Desert strykewyrm (level 130) - East of the palace, jump over the stile to reach the area they wander. They could only be fought if you have 77 Slayer and have them assigned as your slayer assignment.
Gallery
The northern entrance to the city.
The path to the town of Al Kharid.
The town center, with a lodestone and the palace entrance.
Part of the lively market of Al Kharid.
Concept art.
Concept art.
Concept art.
Trivia
The toll gate before It's graphical update, note the border guards' original look.
The furnace in Al Kharid is the closest furnace to a bank for non-members.
According to the map of DeviousMUD, Al Kharid was to be called "Al Karid".
In the god letters, it was stated that Mehkmets lived in the area around the Second or Third Age.
Despite its Middle Eastern-sounding name, the phrase "Al-Kharid" does not actually mean anything in any language. If one takes it apart, the prefix "al-" equates to the article "the" in Arabic; "Kharid", however, has no meaning in Arabic, but in Persian it could translate to "purchase" (as a noun). This is likely an attempt to create a pseudo-Arabic sounding word reflecting Al Kharid's commercial nature.
There is a glitch that when you walk past a certain point near the edge of the path just outside Al Kharid bank, your character will turn around and walk in the other direction, and you will be unable to walk through this point. This glitch has not been fixed.
There is a glitch where if you went to where the checkpoint was from the Gielinor Games marathon while in a world where the Morytania marathon used to take place and hover the mouse to where it was,you can right click it and an examine option would appear.