Najran
Najran | |
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City | |
UTC+3 | |
Area code | (+966) 17 |
Website | www |
Najran (
Najranis are Muslims, with
The Arabic term Najrān has at least two meanings: 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 Yahjub ibn Yarub ibn Qahtan ibn houd
Najran was a centre of cloth making and originally, the kiswah or the cloth of the
History
Early history
The history of Najrān can be traced back to 4,000 years ago. It was once occupied by the
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
The Roman prefect of Egypt
who called it 'Negrana',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
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.
Early Christian community
, Najran was the first place where Christianity took root in South Arabia. According to the contemporary sources, after seizing the throne of the Ḥimyarites, in ca. 518 or 523, Dhū Nuwās, a Jewish king,[4] attacked the Aksumite (mainly Christian) garrison at Zafar, capturing it and burning its churches. He then moved against Najrān, a Christian and Aksumite stronghold. After accepting the city's capitulation, he massacred those inhabitants who would not renounce Christianity. Estimates of the death toll from this event range up to 20,000 in some sources; a surviving letter (where he is called Dimnon) written by Simeon, the bishop of Beth Arsham in 524 AD, recounts Dhū Nuwās's persecution in Najrān (modern al-Ukhdūd in Saudi Arabia).[5] The massacre is also recounted in a celebratory manner in an inscription (Ja 1028) commissioned by one of the army commanders of Dhu Nuwas.[6]According to the Siyar of ash-Shaybani, the Christians of Najran made an agreement to pay Muhammad an annual tribute of 2,000 pieces of clothing, in return for which they were promised protection. The agreement was renewed under the caliphs Abū Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab.[7] In 641, however, the Christians of Najran were accused of usury and ordered to leave the city.[8] Under the reign of the Caliph ‘Umar, the Christian community of Najrān was deported to Mesopotamia, where they settled near Kufa in a place they called Najānīya. In the following period, Najran lost its importance.[9] According to the report of Ibn al-Mujavir, however, Jews and Christians still made up two thirds of the population of Najran in the 13th century.
Former Jewish community
Najrān had a Jewish community dating back to pre-Islamic times, historically affiliated with the Banu al-Harith, who were Yemenite Jews that had conquered the city and ruled until the Christian invasion of Yemen.[10] With the Saudi conquest of Najrān in 1934, persecution increased, and some 200 Jews of Najrān fled south to Aden between September and October 1949. The Saudi king ibn Saud demanded their return, but the Yemeni king Aḥmad bin Yaḥyá refused because these refugees were Yemenite Jews. After settling in the Ḥashid Camp (also called Mahane Geula) they were airlifted to Israel as part of the larger Operation Magic Carpet.[11]
Some groups of Najran Jews escaped to Cochin, as they had a very good relationship with the rulers of
Najran as part of Saudi Arabia
Najrān joined the newly announced Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1934 as a result of the efforts and struggles of Shaikh Jābir Abū Sāq, the leader of a large clan of the Yam tribe. Starting in 1924, the forces of the former Yemeni king launched several unsuccessful raids to annex Najrān to the Yemeni Kingdom. The king of Yemen performed some new maneuvers to strengthen his tie with some of the Najrān tribal leaders to counter the strong relations of the people of Najrān with Bin Saūd. Then in 1932, the forces of King Yahya of Yemen attacked Najrān with more than 50,000 troops, with many kinds of new weapons. Yām, as the dominant tribe in Najrān, along with some other loyalist Najranis, started strong resistance against the occupation forces. However, a strong segment of the tribal leaders in Najrān sided with the Yemenis and some became passive, waiting to take a side at the end of the crisis. Sheikh Jābir Abū Sāq, the head of Al Fatema clan of Yām at the time, managed to get quick support from King Abd al-Azīz Bin Saūd and was able to lead the Yām tribe and all of the Najrānī resistance fighting the Yemeni forces in all parts of Najrān and Bilād Yām. Later, in the spring of 1934, the army of Bin Saʻud under the command of Prince Saʻūd son of ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz carried out a massive campaign, surrounding Najrān from the north and northwest, and defeated the Yemeni army. Najrān became part of Saudi Arabia. In short, Najran has always been independent and ruled by its people (Yam) but they choose to be annexed to the New Kingdom. Indeed, there was a strong treaty between King ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz and the people from Najrān indicating conditions to be respected by both sides.
Issues with the Ismaili community
The
The confrontation at the Holiday Inn in Najran on April 23, 2000, marked a watershed in Ismaʻili relations with the central government. Three months earlier, police had closed all Tayyibi Ismaʻili mosques on a religious holiday. On April 23, after security forces and religious morality police arrested an Ismāʻīlī cleric, a large demonstration took place outside the Holiday Inn, where Governor Mishʻal resided. After the governor refused for hours to meet the petitioners, an exchange of fire between security forces and armed demonstrators left two Ismāʻīlīs dead and, according to some government accounts, killed one policeman as well. Believing their religious identity to be under attack, Ismāʻili men erected defences around Khushaywah, the seat of the Ismaʻili religious leader, Da'i al-Mutlaq, and the spiritual capital of Sulaymani Ismaʻilis, a community with followers in India and Pakistan as well as Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Khushaywah, which is an area of Najrān city, includes the Manṣūrah Mosque complex. The army surrounded the Ismaʻili positions and placed the city under its control. The standoff ended later the same day without further bloodshed.[14]
Archaeology
Najrān city is famous for its archeological significance. Old Najrān was surrounded by a circular wall,[
Geography
Topography
Najran enjoys three different geographic landscapes: oases, mountains, and the desert on its eastern side.
Climate
Najran has a
Climate data for Najran Domestic Airport (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 36.0 (96.8) |
38.4 (101.1) |
39.4 (102.9) |
40.0 (104.0) |
42.0 (107.6) |
43.0 (109.4) |
44.0 (111.2) |
43.0 (109.4) |
42.0 (107.6) |
38.0 (100.4) |
35.0 (95.0) |
36.0 (96.8) |
44.0 (111.2) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 26.2 (79.2) |
29.2 (84.6) |
32.0 (89.6) |
34.6 (94.3) |
37.5 (99.5) |
39.4 (102.9) |
39.8 (103.6) |
39.6 (103.3) |
37.3 (99.1) |
32.6 (90.7) |
28.7 (83.7) |
26.4 (79.5) |
33.6 (92.5) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 17.7 (63.9) |
20.7 (69.3) |
24.0 (75.2) |
27.0 (80.6) |
30.0 (86.0) |
31.9 (89.4) |
33.2 (91.8) |
32.6 (90.7) |
29.7 (85.5) |
24.7 (76.5) |
20.9 (69.6) |
18.0 (64.4) |
25.9 (78.6) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 9.2 (48.6) |
12.0 (53.6) |
15.8 (60.4) |
19.0 (66.2) |
21.7 (71.1) |
23.1 (73.6) |
25.7 (78.3) |
24.8 (76.6) |
21.0 (69.8) |
15.9 (60.6) |
12.7 (54.9) |
9.7 (49.5) |
17.5 (63.5) |
Record low °C (°F) | 1.0 (33.8) |
3.0 (37.4) |
4.0 (39.2) |
11.0 (51.8) |
14.5 (58.1) |
16.2 (61.2) |
17.0 (62.6) |
17.0 (62.6) |
15.0 (59.0) |
7.8 (46.0) |
3.5 (38.3) |
1.4 (34.5) |
1.0 (33.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 2.9 (0.11) |
0.9 (0.04) |
15.0 (0.59) |
20.1 (0.79) |
10.5 (0.41) |
3.0 (0.12) |
3.7 (0.15) |
10.7 (0.42) |
0.1 (0.00) |
4.7 (0.19) |
1.7 (0.07) |
0.5 (0.02) |
74.1 (2.92) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 9.5 |
Source: NOAA[16] |
Education
Colleges and universities
Najran is home to Najran University and Najran College of Technology.
Sports
Local football clubs
- Al-Okdod Club(Arabic: نادي الأخدود) founded in 1976
- Sharora Club (Arabic: نادي شرورة) founded in 1975
- Najran SC (Arabic: نادي نجران) founded in 1980
Sports centers
There are many sports centers and complexes within the city including:
- Khldiat Al-Janob Sport Center (Arabic: مركز الخالدية الرياضي )
- Prince Mishal Sport Center (Arabic: مركز الأمير مشعل )
- Najran Bowling Alley
Hospitals and medical care
- King Khalid Hospital
- Najran General Hospital
- Maternity & Children's Hospital Najran
- Najran Armed Forces Hospital
- General Psychiatric Hospital
- Al Zafer Hospital
- Al Hayah Hospital
- Al Qadi Specialty Hospital
- Al Shefa Medical Hospital
- International Medical Complex
- Al Masa dental center
Hotels
- Park Inn by Radisson Najran
- Happy Day Inn
- Hyatt Najran
- Holiday Inn
- Al-Okhdood
- Najran Crown
- Najran Hotel
- Ramada Hotel
- Snob hotel
- Gloria Inn
See also
Further reading
- Irfan Shahîd, The Martyrs of Najrân. New Documents, Brussels (1971).
- Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century, ISBN 0-88402-152-1.
- Hugh Goddard, A History of Christian-Muslim Relations, ISBN 0-7486-1009-X.
- Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach, Medieval Islamic Civilization, ISBN 0-415-96692-2.
- Mark A. Caudill, Twilight in the Kingdom, ISBN 0-275-99252-7.
- Andre Vauchez, Richard Barrie Dobson, Michael Lapidge, Adrian Walford, Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, ISBN 1-57958-282-6.
- Joel Thomas Walker, The Legend of ISBN 0-520-24578-4.
References
- ^ "Najran Governorate". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
- ^ 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; online at JSTOR
- ^ Strabo, Book XVI, Chapter 4, 22–24 The Geography of Strabo, published in Vol. VII of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1932; online at Lacus Curtius
- ^ "Historians back BBC over Jewish massacre claim | The Jewish Chronicle". Archived from the original on 2009-09-28.
- Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1999), pp. 78-84.
- ISBN 978-90-04-68712-7.
- ^ Majid Khadduri: The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybānī's Siyar. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press 1966. S. 278–280
- ^ Leone Caetani: Annali dell' Islam. Bd. IV. Milano 1911. S. 354–359
- ^ Hitti, Phillip. History of the Arabs from the Earliest Time to the Present. New York: Macmillan, 1951. p. 61
- ^ Gilbert, Martin, "In Ishmael's House", 2000, (p. 5)
- ^ Gilbert, Martin, "In Ishmael's House", 2000, (p. 271)
- ^ "The last family of Pardesi Jews in Madras « Madras Musings | We Care for Madras that is Chennai". 9 February 2018.
- ^ "The Ismāʻīlīs of Najrān. Second-class Saudi citizens" (PDF). Human Rights Watch. 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ "The Ismailis of Najran. Second-class Saudi citizens" (PDF). Human Rights Watch. 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ^ "Najran". nabataea.net.
- ^ "World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991-2020 — Najran". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
- This text is adapted from William Muir's public domain, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.
External links
- Travel through the province of Najran, Splendid Arabia: A travel site with photos and routes