It gained this name from the fact that part of the district is situated in a rawda which acts as a floodplain.

Lorimer's wrote an account of Al Sailiya in 1908 in his Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf.

He describes it as a "stage on the route from Hofuf to Dohah" and states that it lies 13 miles south-west from Doha.

There are roughly 27 warehouses with a combined storage space of around 1.6 million square feet.

[8] Al-Sailiya SC, a multi-sports club best known for its football team, has its headquarters in the district.