Najran
| Author: Laxman Burdak, IFS (R). |
Najran (Hindi: नजरान, Arabic: نجران Najrān), is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province. Najran is mentioned as Negrana by Pliny.[1].
Contents
Variants
- Arabic: نجران Najrān
- Negrana (Pliny.vi.32)
- Al-Ukhdūd
Jat clans
Origin of name
The Arabic term Najrān has at least two meanings. It means both the wooden frame on which a door opens and also 'thirsty'. Local tradition also has it that the land derived its name from the first man to settle in the area, Najran ibn Zaydan ibn Saba ibn Yahjub ibn Yarub ibn Qahtan.
People
Najranis are Muslims, with Shia, Ismaili forming the plurality of the religious adherents. Hanbali, Shafi'i, and Maliki Sunnis form the second-largest religious group in the city, while the Zaydi Shia form the smallest religious group.
Designated a new town, Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom; its population has risen from 47,500 in 1974 and 90,983 in 1992 to 246,880 in 2004. The population belongs mostly to the ancient tribe of Yām.
History
Najran was the Yemeni centre of cloth making and originally, the kiswah or the cloth of the Ka'aba was made there (the clothing of the Kaba first started by the Yemeni kings of Saba). There used to be a Jewish community at Najran, renowned for the garments they manufactured. According to Yemenite Jewish tradition, the Jews of Najran traced their origin to the Ten Tribes. Najran was also an important stopping place on the Incense Route.
The history of Najrān can be traced back to 4,000 years ago. It was once occupied by the Romans; in fact, it was the first Yemeni city to fall to the Romans on their way to the Yemeni kingdom of Saba'. Najrān's most prosperous trading time was during the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. In ancient times it was known as Al-Ukhdūd.
Early history
Similar to other ancient place names in Arabia, Najrān may have originally been the name of the whole oasis including all towns and villages. The old name of the ruins now known as "al-Ukhdūd", which may have been the central town, probably corresponds to Ramat.
According to Greek and Roman sources, Najrān was a focal point of the Incense Route. All routes that left ancient Yemen to the north or west had to meet at Najrān, where the routes branched into two general directions, the ones leading north through the Ḥijāz towards Egypt and the Levant and those leading to the northeast towards Gerrha near the Persian Gulf.[2]
Najrān was conquered around 685 BC by the Sabean Mukarrib (King) Karib'il Watar I King of Yemen. The later Sabean king Yithi'amar Bayin destroyed RagHmat around 510 BC. Najrān seems to have been under Minaean or Sabean rule at different times during the next centuries and after that, it was part of Yemen till 1937.
The Roman prefect of Egypt Aelius Gallus led a costly, arduous and ultimately unsuccessful expedition to conquer Arabia Felix and won a battle near Najrān in 25 BC. He occupied the city and used it as a base from which to attack the Sabaean capital at Ma'rib. According to Strabo,[3] who called it 'Negrana', Najrān was at this time the northernmost city of the realm of Saba'.
When the Ḥimyarites conquered the Sabeans in AD 280 they probably also took control of Najrān. Sometime during the 3rd century, the people of Najrān sided with the Abyssinians who sent a governor named Sqlmqlm" in inscriptions. The Ḥimyar King Ilsharah Yahdib crushed this rebellion.
The north Arabian Lakhmid king Imru’ al-Qays ibn 'Amqu attacked Najrān in AD 328. Under the influence of Axum, the Christians in Najrān thrived and started an alliance with Aksum again at the beginning of the 6th century.
The town of Najrān was already an important centre of arms manufacture during the lifetime of Muhammad. However, it was more famous for leather rather than iron.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[4] mentions Arabia .....Ælius Gallus60 , a member of the Equestrian order, is the sole person who has hitherto carried the Roman arms into these lands, for Caius Cæsar, the son61 of Augustus, only had a distant view of Arabia. In his expedition, Gallus destroyed the following towns, the names of which are not given by the authors who had written before his time, Negrana, Nestum, Nesca, Masugum, Caminacum, Labecia, and Mariva62 above- mentioned, six miles in circumference, as also Caripeta, the furthest point of his expedition.
60 An intimate friend of the geographer Strabo. He was prefect of Egypt during part of the reign of Augustus, and in the years B. C. 24 and 25. Many particulars have been given by Strabo of his expedition against Arabia, in which he completely failed. The heat of the sun, the badness of the water, and the want of the necessaries of life, destroyed the greater part of his army.
61 By adoption, as previously stated.
62 The town of the Calingii, mentioned above.
Jat History
Prof. Abdul Ali[5] mentions that yet another solid evidence of the Jats' active participation in the socio-political life of the Arabs is clear from the fact that they made their presence felt in the riddah (secession) wars triggered by the death of the Prophet in 632 AD, in which almost all Arabia broke off from the newly organized Muslim state and followed a number of local rulers and false prophets. As represented by Arab chroniclers, the Jats settled at Qatif and Hajar in Bahrain, sided with al-Hutam Bin Dubay'ah of the tribe of Qays Bin Tha' labah who had raised the banner of revolt by rallying around him the rebels of the tribe of Bakr Bin Wa'il and Other non-Muslims of that region.[6] It is said that the Banu Hanifah tribe of Yamamah, who had gathered under the banner of their leader derisively called in Arab history as Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab (musaylimah, the liar), offered the most stubborn resistance to Khalid Ibn al-Walid, the hero of the secession wars. About 40,000 fighting men under the command of Musaylimah were equipped with sharp Indian swords which were most probably provided by the Jats of Najran and Najd.[7]
External links
References
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 32
- ↑ Description in A. F. L. Beeston "Some Observations on Greek and Latin Data Relating to South Arabia" in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 42, No. 1 (1979), pp. 7–12
- ↑ Description in A. F. L. Beeston "Some Observations on Greek and Latin Data Relating to South Arabia" in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 42, No. 1 (1979), pp. 7–12;
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 32
- ↑ The Jats, Vol. 2: Socio-Political and Military Role of Jats in West Asia as Gleaned from Arabic Sources,pp.12-13
- ↑ Muhammad Bin Jarir al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Tabari, Vol. m, Cairo, 1962, p. 304.
- ↑ 'Arab wa Hind 'Ahd-e Risalat Men. Op. cif .. p. 70.
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