Agal (accessory)

An agal (عِقَال; also spelled iqal, egal, or igal) is an Arab men's clothing accessory. It is a black cord, worn doubled, used to keep a ghutrah (or keffiyeh) in place on the wearer's head. It is traditionally made of goat hair.

It is traditionally worn by Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Jordan, and parts of Palestine, and Syria (such as the Negev in Israel, Deir ez-Zor and Hauran in Syria, and Sinai and Sharqia in Egypt), and Ahwazi Arabs.

The use of the agal and ghutra is dated through antiquities including bas-reliefs and statues going back to ancient times. The agal is traced in Semitic and Middle Eastern civilizations and even in ancient Arabian kingdoms. In his book Iran in the Ancient East, the archaeologist and Iranologist Ernst Herzfeld, in referring to the Susa bas-reliefs, points to the ancient agal as unique headwear of Elamites that distinguished them from other nations.