Round the oasis of Najran the Yam of Hamdan (the tribe of the Hamdanid sultans), the Wadi'a and the Banu al-Harith of Madhhij hold the wadis and the steppe towards the Rub' al-Khali and the Sarat.
Christians and Jews live among them (Ibn al-Mujawir). No chief is named for 1200.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not named
- Title
- Shaykhs
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
None recorded; the Zaydi imams have long claimed Najran.
What it holds
- Wadi Najran
- The steppe east towards the sands
- The wadis between Najran and Sa'da
How things stand that morning
Self-governing.
Customs
Customary law; oasis farming and camel herding.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: General.
On the map: Rough.
Primary sources for The Bedouin
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the Observant Traveller (A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia), Ibn al-Mujawir (Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub) (about 1226 to 1232). A merchant-traveller's description of western and southern Arabia a generation after 1200: Mecca and the Hijaz ports, the Red Sea crossing, Zabid and the Tihama, Aden with its customs and tariffs, the Hadramawt coast, Dhofar and Oman, Socotra, and the opposite African shore at Zeila and the Dahlak islands. Read online
Sources and studies
- 'Najran', English Wikipedia (citing Ibn al-Mujawir on the Jews and Christians of Najran)
- General tribal geography of Yemen (the classic source is al-Hamdani's tenth-century Sifat Jazirat al-Arab, not consulted directly here)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.