Souq Al Janabi (Dagger Market), Najran. December 2016
Souq al Janabi in Najran is unique in the Kingdom as being one of the last traditional markets dedicated to the production and sale of ceremonial daggers. The market was the ONLY place in Saudi Arabia where I saw only Saudis crafting objects and trading (there might have been a few foreign laborers, but not many). Perhaps this speaks to the importance of the ceremonial dagger in Saudi culture? I was refreshed to find a place that was so "Saudi". The market itself is apparently not that old (in its current location) only dating back to the 1980s; however, such traditional markets used to be all over Saudi Arabia and indeed the Middle East in pre-modern times. It was a rare privilege to see one of the last working ones.
Al Jambiya (dagger) is part of the Saudi national costume. For any important occasion, a man will where a thobe (robe), shmagh (headscarf) , egal (riding crop wrapped around the headscarf) , and a jambiya (dagger) strapped around the waist. The days of their functionality and every day use long gone, they are now pieces of art with scabbards and hilts made of precious materials, highly decorated and engraved. They are family heirlooms and passed down from father to son. In the rare case an old one goes up for auction, they can command prices into the hundreds of thousands of USDs.
I loved walking around the market with AQ. It was one of the high points of the journey to Najran [see: Journey to Najran]. AQ was also keenly excited and interested to see such an important part of Saudi culture being preserved in this kind of living museum. Since it was Friday, the market was not that active, but it was interesting nonetheless. It was the first place I also saw the traditional desert water bottles made out of goat or camel innards. They weren't pretty to look at, but before plastic and glass bottles, they made a lot of sense!
The Jambiya itself originated in the Hadhramaut region of Yemen which is a stone's throw from Najran regionally speaking. What is more fascinating is that this ceremonial dagger became associated with religion via Arab culture and thus spread throughout parts of the Islamic World. Where Islam went, the Jambiya often followed. The beautiful ceremonial "Kris" that I loved in Indonesia were the final - and one of the greatest manifestations of -Jambiya. At that market in Najran I viewed the starting point of an object whose end point I had seen in Java and Bali 30 years before. Fascinating stuff!
Dark music and mood, please. The scabbards are made of wood decorated with leather and/or metal. They are pieces of art in themselves. The best blades are made from wootz steel traditionally from Damascus. The hilts, however,..... are made of rhino horn (for top quality Jambiya) or elephant tusk (Second best, still prized). While we are quick to point our fingers at East Asia for the demise of some species for traditional medicine, let us not forget the Arabs have had a huge hand in the near extinction of the rhinoceros. And it is all for one reason - Jambiya.
It really is a privilege to see living representations of old culture while living or traveling abroad. I saw it often in Japan, in Indonesia, and in Europe. It was hard to track down in Saudi Arabia, but I finally found it there, too.