An Islamic inscription dating back to the period of third Caliph Usman bin Affan has been discovered at a site belonging to the Makkah, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The Heritage Authority in Saudi Arabia confirmed on Thursday, that the inscription dated to the 24th year of the Hijrah (migration) was found by a group of people interested in antiquities and heritage within the boundaries of the ‘Olaya Palace’ archaeological site of Makkah.
The authority extended its thanks to Dr Eid Al-Yahya and his team, who indicated the inscription.
An expert on Islamic inscriptions, Muhammad Al-Magdawi, participated in its initial reading, as they published a partial reading of the inscription via social media.
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The inscription is considered one of the most important archaeological inscriptions, as its importance lies in the fact that it is a historical inscription documenting one of the important events at the beginning of Islamic history.
The authority explained that the archaeological studies conducted by Dr Nayef Al-Qanour, Director of the Protection Department at the Heritage Authority – provided a reading of the inscription, after examining and documenting it. The mystery of the first line of the inscription reveals the name of the flag (Zuhair). “I Zuhair believed – in God and wrote a time – Amr bin Affan in the year twenty-four.”
The inscription appears similar to the content of the Zuhair inscription in Al-Ula Governorate, in which its writer documented the time during which Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab died.
The Heritage Authority, in turn, is interested in studying the inscription because it is the third oldest dated rock document of Islamic inscriptions after the Salamah inscription in Yanbu al-Nakhl dated in the year (23 AH) and the Zuhair inscription in the Al-Ula governorate (24 AH), according to “SPA”.
The Saudi Heritage Authority is continuing its efforts to conduct a survey of archaeological sites for the current 2022 season, to complete work on archaeological sites in northwest Makkah.