Al-Qarah Mountain (Saudi Arabia)

About

Al-Qarah Mountain or Jabal Al-Qārah, also known as Al-Shabaab Mountain, is a mesa of 75 metres (246 feet) in Al-Ahsa, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. This mountain counts as one of the most important natural sights in Al-Ahsa, and was registered in the UNESCO world heritage center's list in 2018, after the inclusion of Al-Ahsa Oasis. It is located 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) to the northeast of Al-Hofuf. Some of its caves, such as "Al-Nashab", have moderately steady temperatures throughout the year. The mountain is named after the village of Al-Qarah. It is also sometimes called "Al-Shaba'an", because it is situated among palm trees and rivers, and it has wild high caves which are cold in the summer. It is likely that the first inhabitants of Al-Qarah village were a pre-Islamic tribe who were skilled at archery. However, it appears from the site's landform that it was referred to as a "black, small, single, round and high mountain." Moreover, some historians and travelers stated in their books that the mountain was called "Al-Mushaqqar". However, in his book "Geographical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia - Eastern Province - Section Four", the historian Hamad Al-Jassir mentioned different opinions about the location of Al-Mushaqqar, with some having said that "Al-Mushaqqar" was in Al-Hijaz, in the valley of Eja'a, one of the Tae'a Mountains, or in a Bahraini fort, and the last one is most popular. While Abdul-Khaleq Al-Janbi confirmed that Al-Qarah was named by that, because its south is connected to a huge, strange shape, and a hill formation with caves of various sizes, there is also a big rock above it, and it is carved in an unusual way. In total, it has three heads, the first one is to south, and it looks like a woman's head. The second one is to the north, and looks like a man's head. The third one between them looks like a lion. This part of the mountain is called "Ra'as Al-Qarah", as mentioned by Arabic geographers. Al-Janbi said in his book that it was "a divine formation", which was not influenced by human activity. "Al-Mushaqqar" was also mentioned in the fourth section of "Mou'jam Ma Esta'ajam", a dictionary b

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