QMI-PRE-002 · Pre-Islamic
Inscription of ʿAbd Shams b. al-Mughīrah
نقش عبد شمس بن المغيرة
Ḥismā Desert, Tabūk region, north-western Arabia
- بسمك اللهم أبا عبد شمس يستغفر ربه
In your name, O God: Abū ʿAbd Shams asks forgiveness from his Lord
The inscription opens with bismika Allāhumma, which the article identifies as the first Palaeo-Arabic inscription attested with an opening invocation that names God as Allāhumma. It differs from Ḥanẓalah’s inscription (QMI-PRE-001), which opens with bismika rabbanā. The article also counts it as the second Palaeo-Arabic inscription to call the Lord Rabb. The undated inscription of Abū Bakr (QMI-INS-000) also comes from the Ḥismā desert.
Source: Alhatlani, Abdullah Saad, and Ajab Mohammad Al-Otibi. “A Palaeo-Arabic Inscription from the Ḥismā Desert (Tabūk Region).” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 34, no. 3 (2023). DOI: 10.1111/aae.12235.