QMI-INS-055aka · 1st–2nd c. AH
Inscription of Nawfal ibn Qays: a prayer for travellers, al-ʿUlā
نقش نوفل بن قيس: دعاء لمن مر هذه الطريق، العلا
Pilgrim road, al-ʿUlā, Saudi Arabia
- اللهم اغفر لمن مر هذه الطريق
- من المؤمنين والمؤمنات
- واصحبهم في سفرهم
- وكتب نوفل بن قيس
- وهو يقرأ عليكم السلم (السلام) ورحمت (ورحمة) الله
O God, forgive whoever passes along this road of the believing men and the believing women, and accompany them on their journey. Nawfal ibn Qays wrote [this], and he greets you with peace and the mercy of God.
A five-line prayer on a sandstone face along the pilgrim road at al-ʿUlā, among other early Arabic texts. Its writer, Nawfal ibn Qays, prays not for himself but for every traveller who passes the spot: “O God, forgive whoever passes along this road of the believing men and the believing women, and accompany them on their journey.” He then signs his name and turns to the reader with a greeting, wa-huwa yaqraʾu ʿalaykum al-salām wa-raḥmat Allāh, “and he greets you with peace and the mercy of God”. The text is undated.
Source: Photographed and published by Saʿd ibn Muḥammad al-Tuwayjirī on X (@OfNajd), 10 January 2023, with the reading followed here.