AL AKHIR
4
8 JUNE 2017 / 12 RAMADHAN-SHAWWAL 1438
The History & Lore
The Atlantis of the Sands The Al Quran is true. The archaeological findings of the City of Iram and the punishment of ‘Aad. World map
Source : google map
At the beginning of 1990, there appeared press-releases in the well-known newspapers of the world declaring “Fabled Lost Arabian city found”, “Arabian city of Legend found”, “The Atlantis of the Sands, Ubar”. What rendered this archaeological find more intriguing was the fact that this city was also referred to in the Qur’an. Many people who, since then, thought that ‘Ad recounted in the Qur’an were a legend or that their location could never be found, could not conceal their astonishThe trails in the pictures taken from the satellite. The final destination of these trails was a broad site understood to have once been a city. Finally, the location of the legendary city which had been subject of the stories told orally by the bedouins was discovered. After a short while, excavations began and remains of an old city started to be uncovered under the sands. Thus, this lost city was described as “the Atlantis of the Sands, Ubar”. Well, what was it that proved this city to be the city of the people of ‘Ad mentioned in the Qur’an? Right from the moment remains started to be unearthed, it was understood that this ruined city belonged to ‘Ad and of Iram’s pillars mentioned in the Qur’an, because among the structures unearthed were the towers particularly referred to in the Qur’an. A member of the research team leading the excavation, Dr. Zarins, said that since the towers were alleged to be the distinctive feature of Ubar, and since Iram was mentioned as having towers or pillars, this then was the strongest proof so far that the site they had unearthed was Iram, the city of ‘Ad described in the Qur’an.
ment at this discovery. The discovery of this city, which was only mentioned in oral stories of Bedouins, awoke great interest and curiosity. It was Nicholas Clapp, an amateur archaeologist, who found this legendary city mentioned in the Qur’an. Being an Arabophile and a winning documentary film maker, Clapp had come across a very interesting book during his research on Arabian history. This book was Arabia Felix written by the English researcher Bertram Thomas in
And the 'Ad, they were destroyed by a furious Wind, exceedingly violent and He made it rage against them seven nights and eight days in succession: so that thou could see the (whole) people lying prostrate in its (path), as they had been roots of hollow palm-trees tumbled down! Then seest thou any of them left surviving?
The City of Iram
1932. Arabia Felix was the Roman designation for the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which today includes Yemen and much of Oman. The Greeks called this area “Eudaimon Arabia” and medieval Arab scholars called it “Al-Yaman as-Saida”. The English researcher Thomas, described these “lucky” tribes at length and claimed that he found the traces of an ancient city founded by one of these tribes. This was the city known as “Ubar” by the bedouins. In one of the trips he made to the region, the
bedouins living in the desert had shown him well-worn tracks and stated that these tracks led toward the ancient city of Ubar. In the pictures, some caravan trails became visible which were difficult to identify with the naked eye, but could only be seen as a whole from the sky. Comparing these pictures with the old map he had to hand, Clapp finally reached the conclusion he was looking for: the trails in the old map corresponded with the trails in the pictures taken from the satellite.
The archeologist locate the city of Iram which is locate in the dessert in between Salalah and Al ghaydah.