Najran, the great oasis on the road from Yemen to the Hejaz and Najd, was disputed between the Zaydi imams and its own tribes from the ninth century.
Who held it on 1 January 1200 is not recorded in the sources reached: its tribes (Yam of Hamdan, the Banu al-Harith) are treated here as its masters. Ibn al-Mujawir reports that Jews and Christians still made up two-thirds of its people in the thirteenth century.
Who he is
- Name
- Not pinned (the Yam of Hamdan and the Banu al-Harith of Madhhij are the traditional powers)
- Title
- Chiefs of the oasis and its tribes
- Since
- Not pinned
- Born
- Not pinned
- Family
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No ruler of Najran for 1199-1200 found.
Overlord
None recorded; the Zaydi imams had long tried to rule it.
What it holds
- The oasis of Wadi Najran
Allies and rivals
Not pinned; the Hamdanid Banu Hatim were themselves of Yam.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing as far as known.
Wealth
Dates, grain and the caravan road.
Military
Tribal.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: No ruler recorded.
On the map: The oasis only; the tribes' range is the province Najran tribes.
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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.