Jabal Ḍin, or Jabal Ẓin, is a distinct cone-shaped mountain in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. It is located at the northern end of the

Sanaa Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

plain, just east of the road from Sanaa to

'Amran ʿAmrān (; Old South Arabian: 𐩲𐩣𐩧𐩬 ''ʿmrn'') is a small city in western central Yemen. It is the capital of 'Amran Governorate, and was formerly part of Sana'a Governorate. It is located by road northwest of the Yemeni capital of S ...

. Of volcanic origin, it marks the high point between the Sanaa plain and the al-Bawn plain. Regarded as a sacred site since pre-Islamic times, Jabal Din points approximately to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

when viewed from Sanaa. Thus, according to tradition, the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

instructed that the people of Sanaa should use Jabal Din as the reference point for the

qibla The qibla () is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Great Mosque of Mecca, Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the salah. In Islam, the Kaaba is believed to ...

. There are pre-Islamic ruins at Jabal Din's summit, which are said to be the tomb of Qudam ibn Qadim. The mountain does not appear to have been fortified during the Islamic period.

References

Mountains of Yemen Geography of Yemen {{Asia-mountain-stub