Jabal Usays Inscription: A Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscription From 528 CE
Islamic Awareness
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First Composed: 16th March 2005
Last Modified: 17th March 2005
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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:
The Jabal Usays Inscription: This is the only pre-Islamic Arabic inscription with historical content.
Date
528 CE.
Script
Arabic.
Comments
This is the only pre-Islamic Arabic inscription with historical content. It was found during German excavations in Jabal Usays, on the Syrian border, 105 km southeast of Damascus. It is dated 423 after Bosra, i.e., 423 plus 105 or 528 CE.
Location
Jabal Usays, Syria.
References
[1] A. Grohmann, Arabische Paläographie II: Das Schriftwesen. Die Lapidarschrift, 1971, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch - Historische Klasse: Denkschriften 94/2. Hermann Böhlaus Nachf.: Wein, pp. 15-16.
[2] Muhammad Abu al-Faraj al-‘Ushsh, "Kitabat ‘Arabiyya Ghayr Manshura Fi Jabal Usays", Al-Abhath, 1964, Volume 17, p. 302.
[3] B. Gruendler, The Development Of The Arabic Scripts: From The Nabatean Era To The First Islamic Century According To The Dated Texts, 1993, Harvard Semitic Series No. 43, Scholars Press: Atlanta (GA), p. 14.
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