QMI-INS-055v · 117 AH
Inscription of ʿUmar ibn Rabīʿah
نقش عمر بن ربيعة
Desert of al-Madīnah (Bādiyat al-Madīnah)
- كفر عمر بن ربيعة
- بالطغوت (بالطاغوت) وآمن
- بالله العظيم ا
- لكريم الروف (الرؤوف)
- الرحمن الرحيم و
- كتب في صفر سنة
- سبع عشرة وماية (ومائة)
ʿUmar ibn Rabīʿah has disbelieved in al-ṭāghūt and has believed in God, the Mighty, the Generous, the Kind, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And [this] was written in Ṣafar of the year one hundred and seventeen.
A profession of faith dated Ṣafar 117 AH (March–April 735 CE), in the caliphate of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. ʿUmar ibn Rabīʿah opens not with belief but with rejection: he “has disbelieved in al-ṭāghūt” — the false gods, or whatever is worshipped besides God — “and has believed in God”. The wording echoes the Qurʾān, “whoever disbelieves in al-ṭāghūt and believes in God has grasped the firmest handhold” (Q 2:256). Such an explicit renunciation is rare in the early inscriptions; the closest parallel in this catalog is the inscription of Wādī al-Gharra (no. 55g, 107 AH), whose writer refuses to obey Wadd and Hubal. The profession is followed by a string of five divine names — al-ʿAẓīm, al-Karīm, al-Raʾūf, al-Raḥmān, al-Raḥīm. The spelling is of its time: “al-ṭāghūt” is written without its long alif (الطغوت), “al-Raʾūf” without a seat for the hamzah (الروف), and “miʾah” as “māyah” (ماية); the writer divides “al-Karīm” (a-/l-Karīm) and “wa-kataba” (wa-/kataba) across the line ends.
Source: al-Mughadhdhawī, Muḥammad (@mohammed93athar). Photograph and reading posted on X (formerly Twitter), 9 August 2020.