Page 22 - Arabian Studies (V)

12 Arabian Studies V
Al-Mibyat lies, as pointed out by the expedition,93 in an extensive
plain, at the spot where Wadi ’l-‘Ula widens out, joining certain
other valleys, and from where a road stems, leading to al-Wajh on
the Red Sea. A road also leads north-eastwards, separately from
the main route, which passes through al-‘Ula, and later rejoins the
main route at al-Hijr, and is that thought by Musil to have been
established by the Nabateans in order to supersede Dedan as the
main trading centre. If this is correct, which indeed seems to be the
case, we are led to ask if Qurh was established in this place in order
to derive benefit from the trading route?
We are not certain, but it is almost universally accepted and
agreed upon by the ancient Arab writers, that Qurh was one of the
Arabian markets during the period of the Jahiliyyah. No excava­
tion, however, has yet been undertaken on this site, nor have any
inscriptions so far been discovered among the ruins, which might
throw light on the commercial and political role which Qurh
played during the centuries just prior to the emergence of Islam.
Although we are not entirely without information relating to the
history of the north-west of the Peninsula, the period following the
fall of the Nabateans, in A.D. 106, until the rise of Islam has not
been documented.
Hence, excavation of the site might lead to our gaining a clearer
understanding of the north-west of the Peninsula, and perhaps other
cities of the Hijaz, especially as that Wadi ’l-Qura is considered by Ibn
al-Kalbi as being of six provincial capitals of Arabia in which music
developed, and which he calls the market-places of Arabia.w
At the present time, however, we have only Arabic sources to
work from, in which there is recorded certain information about
Wadi ’l-Qura; and some of the other Arabian towns, during the
period before Islam. I shall record here the information available
on Wadi ’l-Qura during this period, and perhaps this may be of
assistance to any future excavation work in the area.
Al-Bakrl quotes Ibn al-Kalbi about movements of population in
Wadi ’l-Qura, and he says that some of the tribes of Quda‘ah,
among whom was the tribe of ‘Udhrah, had settled in Wadi
’l-Qura, alongside the Jews who had inhabited the area before
them, following the fall of Thamud, and who discovered the
springs and cultivated the surrounding areas. An alliance was
formed between the Jews and the incoming ‘Udhrah, and the
former agreed to pay a yearly tribute of agricultural produce in
return for protection; protection, not only from other Arab tribes,
but also from the Ghassanid king, al-Nu‘man b. al-Harith,95 who
had designs on Wadi ’l-Qura. The Ghassanid presence was referred
to in a qasidah of the poet al-Nabighah al-Dhubyani: