Author
Peter Harrigan
Peter Harrigan is a contributing editor and writer for Aramco World. As founder and editorial director of Medina Publishing, he has authored books on Riyadh and Diriyah. He is also commissioning editor for Arabian Publishing whose recent titles include Across Arabia: Three Weeks in 1937 by Geraldine Rendel.
Articles by this author
Hijrah: A Journey That Changed the World
History
Arts & Culture
Avoiding main roads due to threats to his life, in 622 CE the Prophet Muhammad and his followers escaped north from Makkah to Madinah by riding through the rugged western Arabian Peninsula along path whose precise contours have been traced only recently. Known as the Hijrah, or migration, their eight-day journey became the beginning of the Islamic calendar, and this spring, the exhibition "Hijrah: In the Footsteps of the Prophet," at Ithra in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, explored the journey itself and its memories-as-story to expand understandings of what the Hijrah has meant both for Muslims and the rest of a the world. "This is a story that addresses universal human themes," says co-curator Idries Trevathan.
Milestones to Makkah and Madinah
History
Arts & Culture
In 622 CE the Prophet Muhammad and his first followers rode some 450 kilometers from Makkah to Madinah along a segment of the caravan route that had long linked the Arabian Peninsula to North Africa and the Levant. In 2005 the discovery of an isolated monolith led to a 15-year archeological quest that has identified 55 similar and regularly spaced stones that appear to predate the ninth century CE. The discoveries are now helping locate with precision historic sites, thanks to the measure of distance between the milestones: 1,609 meters, give or take a few. Whether intact or broken; standing, fallen or partially buried, each stone is now being studied, and together they tell stories of history, faith and science.
Camels: The Magnificent Migration
History
Arts & Culture
Science & Nature
Beginning around 3,000 years ago, humans began domesticating camels in Asia and the Middle East. Adapted for the harshest of climates and traveling long distances, the camel's journey began 40 million years ago—all the way from North America.
2019 Gregorian-Hijri Calendar – Camel
Science & Nature
Herded, saddled, loaded by traders; cared for, sung about and even sung to—one-humped dromedaries prove extraordinary in deserts where the sun is hot; two-humped Bactrians rank no less in others where it is not. Let the rhythmic gaits of our calendar camels carry you along for the year.