Jabal Dabub inscription

The inscription is two lines long. The editio princeps originally read:بسم الله الرحمن ارحمنا رب السموات ارزقنا من فضلك و آترنا مخّه سكمت ايامنا bs¹mlh | rḥmn | rḥmn | rb | s¹mwt r{z}{q}n | mfḍlk | wʾṯrn | mḫh | s²kmt ʾymnIn English: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 first dating of the text, based on reconstructing it as an Islamic Basmalah, led to it being dated to the mid-7th century. The revised reading lacks an Islamic Basmalah, rather it possesses an earlier stage in the evolution of the Basmalah, as well as a lack of use of standardized Arabic language from early Islamic inscriptions (including graffiti), indicating a date in the sixth century, or the early seventh century at the latest. An assessment of the script of the inscription (Late Sabaic) suggests it was written in the mid-6th century. == Interpretation and significance ==

The author may have been Jewish. Significantly, this inscription contains a pre-Islamic Arabian reference to the Basmala, invoking the monotheistic deity Rahmanan. 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 the final adjective al-raḥīm. 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. == See also ==