Jabal Dabub inscription

The Jabal Ḏabūb inscription (also known as Jabal Ḏabūb 1) is a South Arabian graffito inscription composed in a minuscule variant of the late Sabaic language and dates to the 6th century, notable for the appearance of a pre-Islamic variant of the Basmala. It was found on a rocky facade at the top of the eastern topside of mount Thaboob in the Dhale region of Yemen and first published in 2018 by M.A. Al-Hajj and A.A. Faqʿas.^[1]

Content

The inscription is two lines long. The editio princeps reads:^[2]

bs¹mlh | rḥmn | rḥmn | rb | s¹mwt r{z}{q}n | mfḍlk | wʾṯrn | mḫh | s²kmt ʾymn

And has been interpreted as follows:^[2]

بسم للاه الرحمن الرحيم ربه السمواته الرزاق ) الذيه( مفضلك ) أيها االنسان( والمردف نعمهه عليكه ) بأنه( أعطاك االيمانه بسم للاه الرحمن الرحيم ربه السمواته (أسألكه( الرزق من فضلك وأن تمنحه عقله ) قبلهه( قوة)حالوة( االيمان

And in English:^[2]

In the name of Allāh, the Raḥmān
have mercy upon us, O lord of the heavens
satisfy us by means of your favor
and grant us the essence of it at the end/gift of our days

Dating

The inscription is paleographically dated to the latest phase of South Arabian documentation, in the 6th century or early 7th century, but is considered pre-Islamic or paleo-Islamic given its lack of standardized Arabic phraseology known from early Islamic inscriptions, especially in the early Islamic graffiti.^[2]

Interpretation and significance

The author may have been Jewish.^[3] Significantly, this inscription contains a pre-Islamic Arabian reference to the Basmala, invoking the monotheistic deity Rahmanan.^[4] However, while this inscription is apparently the first attested case where "In the name of Allāh/God" is combined with "the Merciful," the Qur'anic form of the Basmalah contains a phraseological expansion into a tripartite form to include to include the final adjective al-raḥīm.^[2] It is possible that this expansion was made to facilitate the common Qur’anic rhyme ī/ū + m/n.^[5]

The request, "have mercy upon us, O lord of the heavens" resembles the biblical phrase "Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us" in Psalm 123:3. Likewise, the request to "grant us the essence of it at the end of our days" may also be a reference to another Psalmic passage, where the reader asks "So teach us to number our days, that we may obtain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). The particular phrasing of rabb al-samāwāt is also known from the Quran (rabbu s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍi, Q 19:65). In its use of both the terms "Allāh," which was the proper name of the one monotheistic God in pre-Islamic North Arabia, and "Rahmān," the proper name of the one South Arabian monotheistic God, this inscription may reflect a syncretism that resulted from an alliance between multiple Arabian tribes to symbolize their political unity.^[2]

Alongside the ʿAbd- Shams inscription and the Ri al-Zallalah inscription, the Jabal Dabub inscription implies that the use of the term rabb was widely used by Arabian monotheists.^[6]

References

^ Al-Hajj, M.A.; Faqʿas, A.A. (2018). "Naqš Jabal Ḏabūb: Naqš Jadīd bi-Ḫaṭṭ al-Zabūr al-Yamānī fī l-istiʿānah bil-lāh wa-taqwī-hi lil-ʾīmān". Al-ʿIbar lil-Dirāsāt al-Tārīḫiyyah wal-ʾāṯāriyyah. 2: 12–43.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2022). "A pre-Islamic basmala: reflections on its first epigraphic attestation and its original significance". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 52: 1–28.
^ Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and his followers in context: the religious map of late antique Arabia. Islamic history and civilization. Leiden Boston: Brill. p. 315. ISBN 978-90-04-68712-7.
^ Grasso, Valentina A. (2023). Pre-islamic Arabia: societies, politics, cults and identities during late antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-009-25296-6.
^ Sinai, Nicolai (2023). Key terms of the Qur'an: a critical dictionary. Princeton (N.J.): Princeton university press. pp. 131–132. ISBN 978-0-691-24131-9.
^ Al‐Jallad, Ahmad; Sidky, Hythem (2022). "A Paleo‐Arabic inscription on a route north of Ṭāʾif". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 33 (1): 202–215. doi:10.1111/aae.12203. ISSN 0905-7196.