An Inscription Mentioning The Ḥajj And Supplication For Paradise, 100 AH / 718-719 CE

Islamic Awareness

© Islamic Awareness, All Rights Reserved.

First Composed: 10th May 2015

Last Modified: 5th July 2021

submit to reddit

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:

  1. In the name of God.
  2. We are ʿAnzatul Azad
  3. Our Ḥajj in the year 100.
  4. 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.

Bookmark and Share


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.

The images above are reproduced from the stated sources under the provisions of the copyright law. This allows for the reproduction of portions of copyrighted material for non-commercial, educational purposes.

With the exception for those images which have passed into the public domain, the use of these images for commercial purposes is expressly prohibited without the consent of the copyright holder.

Back To The Arabic & Islamic Inscriptions