Overview & visitor information
The Madinah region is rich in Islamic inscriptions carved on rock faces and is among the Kingdom’s richest regions in Islamic writing. Islamic sites also contain tombstone inscriptions providing important information about people who lived in the region. Their texts reveal occupations, titles, professions, crafts and the places and tribes to which they belonged. Such stones have been found in Al Rabadhah, Al Farsh and within Madinah. Dozens of Islamic inscriptions have been found across the region, notably Al Hinakiyyah, Wadi Al Suwaydirah, Bi’r Al Saybiyyah, Al Uwaynah, Wadi Al Khanq, Al Rabadhah, Al Mahd, Al Suwayriqiyyah, Al Haradiyyah in Khaybar, Rawawah south of Madinah, Al Furaysh, Al Wuqayhah, Al Khadra (30 kilometres south of Al Akhal), and the rock faces of Wadi Al Ula and Wadi Al Mu’tadil. At scattered sites, travellers and residents left rock-carved texts containing names, notable persons, traditional supplications and Quranic passages, some bearing dates.
Rawawah, 50 kilometres south of the Noble Prophet’s Mosque on the Hijrah road, is one of the most important archaeological sites and richest in inscriptions. It is a complete library of Islamic inscriptions, generally dating from the first Hijri century to the middle of the third. Some of the named people trace their lineage to the Rightly Guided Caliph Omar bin Al Khattab, may God be pleased with him.
