Summary

For al-Hamdani the Hijaz is "what screens between Yemen and al-Sham" — in the Yemenis' division of Arabia one of its named belts alongside Yemen, al-Sham, Najd, Tihama, the Sarat, the 'Arud, 'Iraq and Shahr ¹. It faces Najd: what rises east of the Sarat mountains is Najd, and what slopes down west of them is Tihama and the Hijaz ².

In the Arabs' poetry and landmarks

The Arabs spoke of the Hijaz, al-Jals, Tihama and Najd in abundant verse; among its landmarks al-Hamdani notes "the heart of the Hijaz" guarded by Hudhayl, Dhat Irq which stands as the boundary between Tihama, Najd and the Hijaz, and — among the mountains on the right of the road from Mecca to Medina — al-'Arj, Qudus, Ara, al-Ash'ar and al-Ajrad ³ ¹.

For young visitors

The Hijaz is the western strip of Arabia which — as the geographer al-Hamdani put it — lies between Yemen and Syria; it holds Mecca and Medina and faces the highlands of Najd.

Research notes

Text from the extracted edition of Sifat Jazirat al-Arab on the harvest drive (geography/hamdani-sifat-1884), pp. 32-33 and 87-88; the fuller inventory of the Hijaz's landmarks and waters awaits review of the book's following sections.

Hejaz

At a glance

Summary

In the Arabs' poetry and landmarks

Research notes

Sources

Place