An Inscription Mentioning The Ḥajj And Supplication For Paradise, 100 AH / 718-719 CE
Islamic Awareness
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First Composed: 10th May 2015
Last Modified: 5th July 2021
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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:
(a)
(b)
Figure (a) trace of original inscription, and (b) its transcription.
Date
100 AH / 718-719 CE.
Size
100 cm x 50 cm.
Script
Kufic script.
Contents
The translation of the inscription is given below. The Arabic part is in italics:
- In the name of God.
- We are ʿAnzatul Azad
- Our Ḥajj in the year 100.
- We ask God for Paradise as our abode.
Comments
Found on the Ḥajj route from Syria, this inscription is interesting because it mentions the name of the tribe ʿAnzatul Azad rather than that of a particular person. In addition, the inscription refers to the pilgrims marching on the road for the Ḥajj.[1] On the same route there are two other Ḥajj inscriptions dated 91 AH / 710 CE and 97 AH / 715-716 CE – the latter commemorates the Ḥajj of Umayyad Caliph Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.
The earliest mention of the Ḥajj comes from an inscription dated 82 AH / 701-702 CE on the Darb Zubayda pilgrimage route. There is also a near contemporaneous papyrus dated 86-99 AH / 705-717 CE which also mentions the Ḥajj and as an exhortation from the amīr al-muʾminīn to the people encouraging its performance. Sijpesteijn is perhaps unaware that al-Kilabi has published two near contemporaneous inscriptions from 91 AH / 710 CE and 100 AH / 719 CE that mentions the Ḥajj as well.
Location
Abū Ṭāqah, Saudi Arabia.
References
[1] H. B. A. H. Al-Kilabi, Al-Nuqūsh Al-Islāmīyah ʿala Ṭarīq al-Ḥajj al-Shāmī bi-Shamāl Gharb al-Mamlakah al-ʿArabīyah al-Saʿūdīyah, 2009, Maktabat al-Malik Fahd al-Waṭanīyah: Ar-Riyāḍ, 2009, pp. 72-73.
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