Wadi Bisha, the long valley running north from the Asir highlands into Najd, with palm gardens and villages along its bed; a halt on the inland road between Yemen and Mecca (by Tabala, Bisha, Turaba and Ta'if).
The tribal geographers place Khath'am, Shahran and Salul here; no ruler is named for 1200.
Who holds it
- Title
- not known
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No ruler recorded; the valley is placed in the country of Khath'am and Shahran by the tribal geographers.
Lord in 1200
Not known: the farming villages of Wadi Bisha among the Khath'am and Shahran
Council
Not recorded.
Communities
Tribal farmers and Bedouin of Khath'am and Shahran.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded.
Walls and castle
Not described for 1200.
Trade and crafts
Dates and grain; the caravan road between Yemen and Mecca.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Tenth-century tribal geography only.
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.