Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:44:45.118Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A mosque attributed to ‘Umar b. al-Khaṭṭāb in Dūmat al-Jandal in Al-Jawf, Saudi Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Geoffrey King
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The al-Jawf oasis lies at the northern extremity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and although closer to ‘Ammān than to al-Riyāḍ, it is nevertheless reckoned by some to be a part of geographical Najd. Within the oasis is the settlement known as al-Jawf or Jawf 'Amīr, which is the ancient town of Dūmat al-Jandal, famous in early Islamic history. In the district, the town of al-Jawf is still referred to by the local people as Dūmat al-Jandal. Dūmat al-Jandal is no longer the main town of the area, having declined when Sakāka to the north-east became the seat of the amīrate. Today much of Dūmat al-Jandal appears to be deserted and the houses ruined, although it was clearly formerly a large settlement whose extensive farms and gardens are still cultivated (Plate I). The whole al-Jawf oasis and Wādī Sirḥān to the north are rich in pre-Islamic monuments and inscriptions which have been documented to some extent and standing on the acropolis of Dūmat al-Jandal is the largest of all these monuments, Qaṣr al-Mārid, dated to the 3rd century A.D., but with later additions (Plate II).

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 110 , Issue 2 , April 1978 , pp. 109 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

1 I visited the al-Jawf oasis in May 1975 and I wish to acknowledge the generous assistance and hospitality given to me by H.H. Amīr Sulṭān b. 'Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sudayrī, the son of the Governor, H.E. Amīr 'Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sudayrī. I also wish to thank Lieut.-Col. Colin Paddock for his considerable help to me during my visit.

2 Winnett, F. V. and Reed, W. L., Ancient records from North Arabia, Toronto, 1970.Google Scholar

3 A tomb was found recently on a rocky outcrop in the plain of Qārah, east of Dūmat al-Jandal, which was stone lined, correctly oriented for a Muslim tomb, and containing a skeleton said to have been 2.5 metres long. Locally, this skeleton is said to have belonged to a chief of the Banū Hilāl. Both the tomb and the skeleton were destroyed when a water-tank was built on the hill-top.

4 Now in the Archaeology Museum of the Faculty of Arts, University of al-Riyāḍ.

5 Seetzen, U. J., “Beyträge zur Geographie Arabiens”, Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beforderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde, XLVI, 11 1808, 387.Google Scholar

6 Hogarth, D. G., The penetration of Arabia, repr. Beirut, 1966, 157.Google Scholar

7 Wallin, G. A., “Narrative of a journey from Cairo to Medina and Mecca, by Suez, Arabá, Tawilá, al-Jauf, Jubbé, Háil, and Nejd in 1845”, JRGS, XXIV, 1854, 141.Google Scholar

8 Palgrave, W. G., Central and Eastern Arabia, London and Cambridge, 1865, I, 80–1.Google Scholar

9 Euting, J., Tagbuch einer Reise in Inner-Arabien, I, Leiden, 1896.Google Scholar

10 Musil, A., Arabia Deserta, New York, 1927.Google Scholar

11 Philby, H. St. J., “Jauf and the North Arabian desert”, G.J., LXII, No. 4, 10 1923, plate facing p. 253.Google Scholar

12 op.cit., 19.Google Scholar