The great oasis of Wadi Najran on the incense and pilgrim road north from Yemen.
The Zaydi imams tried to master it from the ninth century; its people converted to Shi'ism at an unknown date (perhaps from the tenth century). Ibn al-Mujawir reports that Jews and Christians still made up two-thirds of its people in the thirteenth century.
Who holds it
- Title
- Chiefs
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Lord in 1200
Not pinned: its tribes (Yam, the Banu al-Harith) as far as known; see Lords of Najran.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing as far as known.
Charter
None known: Yemeni towns had no charters; the ruler's governor (wali), the judge (qadi) and the market inspector (muhtasib) answered to the sultan or the imam.
Council
No sworn council; the notables, the qadi and the headman speak for the town. Names for 1199-1200 not pinned.
Communities
Arabs of Yam (Hamdan) and the Banu al-Harith; Jews and Christians (Ibn al-Mujawir).
Fairs and markets
Daily or weekly markets; no fair dates recorded for 1200.
Militia
Not recorded for 1199-1200.
Walls and castle
Not described for 1200.
Trade and crafts
Dates, grain, leather; caravan trade between Yemen, Najd and the Hejaz.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: General; the Christian population figure is a thirteenth-century report.
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)
- Ibn al-Mujawir, Tarikh al-Mustabsir (1220s), tr. G. R. Smith, A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia (Hakluyt Society, 2008): not reachable here; cited only where another source reports it
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.