Ri al-Zallalah inscription

The Rīʿ al-Zallālah inscription is a pre-Islamic Paleo-Arabic inscription, likely dating to the 6th century, located near Taif, in a narrow pass that connects this city to the al-Sayl al- Kabīr wadi.

History
The rock art the inscription is located on was first described by James Hamilton in 1845, although he did not include the inscriptions he saw in his publication. The inscription itself was only noticed with during the 1951–1952 Philby-Ryckmans-Lippens expedition by Adolf Grofmann, and, though he supplied a reading of the inscription, a copy was still not made. The Ṭāʾif- Mecca epigraphic survey led by Ahmad Al-Jallad and Hythem Sidky returned to the site in August 2021 and produced new photographs of the inscription, which was finally published with a new edition in 2022.

Content
The inscription reads : Transcription:

brk- [k]m rb-nʾ

ʾnʾ .rh

br sd

Arabic:

ىركم رىىا

اىا .ره

ىر سد

English:

may our Lord bless you

I am {Q}rh

son of Sd"

Interpretation and significance
The Ri al-Zallalah inscription contains two parts: an invocation wishing for blessings on the audience using the verb brk ("to bless"), and a signature by the author of the inscription. It also invokes the deity as rb (Rabb), "Lord", which, like the use of brk, represents standard monotheistic vocabulary seen in the pre-Islamic South Arabia from the fourth century onwards such as in the Jabal Dabub inscription and the Abd Shams inscription.

This inscription also contains the first example of a type of assimilation of short vowels known from Classical Arabic grammar.