An Inscription From Ḥisma Plateau Dated 43 AH / 663-664 CE

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First Composed: 31st March 2018

Last Modified: 1st April 2018

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)

Figure (a) photo of original inscription, and (b) its transcription.

Date

43 AH / 663-664 CE.

Accession Number

Not available.

Size

Not available.

Script

Ḥijāzī.

Contents

The translation of the inscription is given below:

  1. I am Shurayh, mawla of Banī ʿUday bin Kʿab.
  2. I advise devotion to God and kinship. This was written in the year three and forty.

Comments

This is the fifth oldest dated inscription to come from Saudi Arabia. The earlier ones are dated from 23 AH (Muthallath, near Yanbu’), 24 AH (Qāʿ al-Muʿtadil), 29 AH (Wādī Khushayba), and 40 AH (Wādī 'l-Shamiya). This inscription mentions Banī ʿUday bin Kʿab which belong to the tribe of Quraysh.

Location

Hisma Plateau, Tabūk region, N. W. Saudi Arabia.

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References

[1] ʿAbd Allāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Saʿīd, Muḥammad Shadīq Khālid al-Bayṭār, Sʿad Sulaymān al-Saʿīd, Aḥmad, Muḥammad al-Dāmagh, Nuqūsh Ḥisma - Kitābāt Min Ṣadr al-Islām Shimāl Gharb Al-Mamlakah, 2018, Al-Majallah Al-Arabiyyah: Riyadh, p. 14.

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