QMI-INS-055d · 108 AH
Inscription of al-Haytham ibn Ziyād
نقش الهيثم بن زياد
Shasʿā, Najrān region
- بسم الله
- ترحم الله على الهيثم بن زياد
- وغفر له آمين رب العلمين (العالمين)
- وكتب في رجب من سنة ثمن (ثمان)
- ومئة
In the name of God. May God have mercy upon al-Haytham ibn Ziyād and forgive him. Amen, Lord of the worlds. And [this] was written in Rajab of the year one hundred and eight.
A prayer for mercy and forgiveness for al-Haytham ibn Ziyād, dated by month and year: Rajab 108 AH (November 726 CE), in the caliphate of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. The writer does not name himself. The spelling keeps the habits of the period: both “al-ʿālamīn” and “thamān” are written without the long alif. The closing words “rabb al-ʿālamīn” are squeezed above the end of the third line, as if added once the line was already full. A second prayer for al-Haytham, asking forgiveness for him and for “whoever asks forgiveness of his Lord”, is dated Ramaḍān of the same year (QMI-INS-055da).
Source: Ibn Ḥuraysh, Muḥammad (Najran Tours). Photograph and reading posted on X (formerly Twitter), 28 May 2019.