RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has discovered the Islamic inscription of the third caliph Hazrat Osman bin Affan, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The Heritage Authority in Saudi Arabia confirmed that an inscription dated to the 24th year of the Hijra (migration) was found by a group of people interested in antiquities and heritage within the confines of the ‘Olaya Palace’ archaeological site in Mecca.
The authority thanked Dr. Eid al-Yahya and his team, who pointed to the inscription. An expert in Islamic inscriptions, Muhammad al-Magdawi, participated in its initial reading, as he published a partial reading of the inscription via social media.
The inscription is considered one of the most important archaeological inscriptions, as its importance lies in the fact that it is a historical inscription documenting one of the important events at the beginning of Islamic history.
The authority explained that the archaeological studies – carried out by Dr. Nayef al-Qanur, Director of the Department of Conservation at the Heritage Authority – provide a reading of the inscription – after investigation and documentation. The name of the flag (Zuhair) is revealed by the mystery of the first line of the inscription. “I wrote to Zuhair – believe in God and at one time – Amar bin Affan in twenty four years.”
The inscription appears to be similar in content to the Zuhair inscription in the Al-Ula governorate, in which its author documented the time during which the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab died.
The Heritage Authority, in turn, is interested in studying the inscription as it is the third oldest dated rock document of Islamic inscriptions, after the Salama inscription at Yanbu al-Nakhal (23 AH) and the Zuhair inscription at al-Nakhal. According to the Ula Governorate (24 AH), “SPA”.
The Saudi Heritage Authority is continuing its efforts to survey archaeological sites for the current 2022 season to complete work on the archaeological sites in northwest Mecca.
