Al-Juḥfa

Al-Juhfah lies in the Hejaz, the western region of the Arabian Peninsula that faces the Red Sea and descends toward the interior from the mountains of Tihamah. The Hejaz covers most of western Saudi Arabia and includes Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al-Bahah. Jordan and the Gulf of Aqaba bound it to the north, Najd lies eastward, and South Arabia extends to the south. The name comes from a verb meaning “to separate,” because the region stands between Najd and Tihamah.

Its largest city is Jeddah, while Mecca and Medina are respectively the first and second holiest sites in Islam. Settlements benefited from regular access to water, becoming trading cities as early as the Bronze Age. With the domestication of the dromedary camel, long-distance trade carried incense, spices and other luxury goods from South Arabia toward the eastern Mediterranean through the Hejaz. Islamic tradition places Muhammad’s birth in Mecca and his migration from there to Medina.

The region became part of the early Muslim polity, then passed through the Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. Al-Juhfah belongs to this western corridor, where Red Sea contacts meet the inland routes and religious centres of Hejaz.