QMI-INS-036a · 88 AH
Inscription of Yazīd the Engraver (al-Naqqāsh)
نقش يزيد النقّاش
Syrian Ḥajj route, north-western Arabia (exact site not named in the publication)
- هذا ما شهد يزيد بأنه لا
- اله الا الله وحده وان
- محمد رسول
- الله وان الساعة اتية لا ريب
- فيها وان الله يبعث من
- في القبور حييت
- على ذلك ومت
- على ذلك وكتب يزيد
- النقاش في رمضان من سنة
- ثمان وثمانين
This is what Yazīd testified: that there is no god but God alone, and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of God, and that the Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it, and that God will raise up those in the graves. I lived by this and I died by this. And Yazīd the Engraver (al-Naqqāsh) wrote this in Ramaḍān of the year eighty-eight.
A long and carefully cut profession of faith, dated by month and year: Ramaḍān 88 AH (August–September 707 CE), in the caliphate of al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. It opens in the manner of a testimony, “this is what Yazīd testified” ( hādhā mā shahida yazīd ), and runs from the two parts of the shahādah to the Hour and the resurrection. The last clause (“the Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it, and God will raise up those in the graves”) follows Q 22:7 word for word. The writer then says that he lived by this belief and died by it ( ḥayītu ʿalā dhālika wa-mittu ʿalā dhālika ), a profession phrased as a testament.
The writer gives only his first name and his trade, al-naqqāsh , the engraver or carver, with no father, tribe or patron. Another early hand in this catalog that signs with an occupation is Qays the Scribe ( QMI-INS-004a ). The text is cut high on the rock, so high that the survey team could read it only with binoculars and a long-range camera. The lines are even and the letters well formed, which suits a man who carved for a living. The same year, 88 AH, is also recorded at Qāʿ al-Muʿtadil by the prayer of ʿAbdallāh ibn Saʿd ( QMI-INS-036 ). For other professions of faith dated by month and year, see QMI-INS-055v , QMI-INS-055i and QMI-INS-055aaa .
Source: Desert Team (Farīq al-Ṣaḥrā’), “Riḥlat shitāʾ 1445 H (3): nuqūsh wa-suyūl ʿalā darb al-ḥajj al-shāmī”, alsahra.org, 16 December 2023. Reading by ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Saʿīd; photography by the Desert Team.