Al-'Arid

In its wider sense al-'Arid is the long mountainous barrier of Tuwayq. In a narrower sense it is the central part of that barrier, the district between al-Kharj to the south and al-Mahmal to the north. It is bounded on the west by the western escarpment of Tuwayq and the district of al-Batin, and on the east by Wadi al-Sulayy, the escarpment of Jabal Hit and the land of al-'Arama, which separate it from al-Dahna'. ¹

Wadi Hanifa, formerly known as al-Ird, crosses the district from north-west to south-east. Its head lies below 'Aqabat al-Haysiyya, and it flows for about 160 km before emptying into al-Sahba' near al-Yamama in al-Kharj. The principal towns, all in or near the valley, are al-'Uyayna, birthplace of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab; al-Dhubayla, near which the battle of 'Aqraba' between Musaylima and Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him) is supposed to have been fought; al-Dir'iyya, the first capital of Al Sa'ud, whose ruins overlook the modern town; al-Riyad, the present capital of Al Sa'ud; Manfuha, presumed to lie near the home of the poet al-A'sha; and Hair Subay' (also called Hair al-'Aziza, after the section of Subay' dominant in the oasis). ¹

The Bedouin tribes roaming al-'Arid were Subay', al-Suhul and al-Kurayniyya, and many other tribesmen were drawn there by the capital. The townspeople were descended from Tamim, 'Anaza, al-Dawasir and others. Since the start of the reform preached by Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, al-'Arid has been the great stronghold of the faith, and its townsmen and nomads have been in the front rank of Al Sa'ud's campaigns. The reform began here in the twelfth/eighteenth century because the district had kept a tradition of Islamic learning, and it has since produced more than its share of honoured religious scholars. ¹