A First Century BC Arabic Inscription In Musnad Script At Qaryat Al-Faw

A First Century BC Arabic Inscription In Musnad Script At Qaryat Al-Faw

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First Composed: 23rd June 2005
Last Modified: 23rd June 2005

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The Qaryat al-Faw Inscription: It is written in Arabic using the Musnad script.

Date
c. 1st century BC.
Script

http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/faw.html[12/11/2014 12:55:13 AM]

A First Century BC Arabic Inscription In Musnad Script At Qaryat Al-Faw

It is written in the musnad script. Musnad is an Arabic term denoting the ancient South Arabian script (i.e.,
Sabaic, Qatabanic, Hadaramitic, Minaic and Himyaritic).
Comments
At Qaryat al-Faw, the capital of Kinda and other Arab tribes, a certain Igl son of Hafam wrote the
dedicatory text for his brother's tomb in Arabic using the script of the nearby Sabaean kingdom. Although
the inscription is in "Old Arabic" (i.e., pre-Islamic Arabic), it was written in the musnad script. This is the
earliest known Arabic inscription written in the musnad script. The text uses the article l-, the *ban,
rather than *banaya, the fl form of the causative stem, and the preposition mn rather than bn.
Other scripts such as the Nabataean script was used to write Arabic, as seen in the En Avdat and the
Namarah inscriptions.
Contents
The inscription reads (after Beeston):
Igl son of Hafam constructed for his brother Rabibil son of Hafam the tomb: both for him
and for his child and his wife, and his children and their children's children and womenfolk,
free members of the folk Ghalwan. And he has placed it under the protection of (the gods)
Kahl and Lah and Athtar al-Shariq from anyone strong or weak, and anyone who would
attempt to sell or pledge it, for all time without any derogation, so long as the sky produces
rain or the earth herbage.
Location
Qaryat al-Faw, Saudi Arabia.

References
[1] A. R. Al-Ansary, Qaryat Al-Fau: A Portrait Of Pre-Islamic Civilisation In Saudi Arabia, 1982, University of
Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), p. 146.
[2] A. F. L. Beeston, "Nemara And Faw", Bulletin Of The School Of Oriental And African Studies, 1979, Volume 42,
pp. 1-6.
[3] M. C. A. Macdonald, "Reflections On The Linguistic Map Of Pre-Islamic Arabia", Arabian Archaeology And
Epigraphy, 2000, Volume 11, p. 50 and 61.
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The Arabic & Islamic Inscriptions

http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/faw.html[12/11/2014 12:55:13 AM]

A First Century BC Arabic Inscription In Musnad Script At Qaryat Al-Faw

http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Inscriptions/faw.html[12/11/2014 12:55:13 AM]