Al-Ula
Al-Hijr, also known as Hegra or Mada'in Salih, is the great rock-cut city in the desert north of al-Ula. Muslims identify the area with the people of Thamud,…
Al-Hijr, also known as Hegra or Mada'in Salih, is the great rock-cut city in the desert north of al-Ula. Muslims identify the area with the people of Thamud, to whom Nabi Salih was sent and who rejected his message. The monumental tombs seen today were carved by the Nabataeans around two thousand years ago, on land long associated with that earlier people. Nabi Muhammad ﷺ passed by on the march to Tabuk in 9 AH and urged his Companions to move through quickly and with humility rather than linger at a place of past punishment. Today Hegra is Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, with more than a hundred tombs, and it is visited on guided tours from al-Ula.