{"id":56497,"date":"2025-05-02T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T07:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/a-story-of-stone-how-jabal-al-qarah-shapes-the-soul-of-hofuf\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T07:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T07:05:00","slug":"a-story-of-stone-how-jabal-al-qarah-shapes-the-soul-of-hofuf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=56497","title":{"rendered":"A story of stone: How Jabal Al-Qarah shapes the soul of Hofuf\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n\tDAMMAM: Near Hofuf, at the edge of Al-Ahsa Oasis, where the palms thin out and the desert hushes before turning to stone, Jabal Al-Qarah rises. Low and wide, its sculpted sandstone flanks have been worn into curves and fissures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tI first saw the mountain just after dawn as the road, having coiled gently through date groves and irrigation canals, veers toward the open plain. In the distance, the mountain appeared \u2014 not dramatically, but deliberately. A long, earthen body stretching across the landscape, its folds catching light like the surface of an old parchment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis is not a mountain in the European sense,\u201d local historian Salman Al-Habib told me, his hand resting on the stone. \u201cIt\u2019s not for conquest. It\u2019s for shelter. For memory. It held the lives of our grandparents \u2014 sometimes literally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inside the caves. (Getty Images)\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tHe was referring to the caves that run deep into the heart of Jabal Al-Qarah. Stepping inside one, you feel the temperature drop immediately. It\u2019s very still, and the acoustics are strange. Sounds stretch and settle. \u201c\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThey say Judas Iscariot wandered in and was never seen again,\u201d Al-Habib said. \u201cOthers say a goddess lived here. The mountain listens. It holds everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe caves have served a multitude of purposes: storing grain, sheltering travelers, even childbirth. The temperature, remarkably constant year-round, made the mountain a natural refuge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBefore fans or air conditioning, this was how we survived,\u201d said Al-Habib. \u201cWe didn\u2019t fight the climate \u2014 we listened to the land.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tGeologist Dr. Layla Al-Shemmari echoed that sentiment. \u201cThe mountain is formed of calcareous sandstone and marl, deposited millions of years ago,\u201d she explained. \u201cIts structure naturally insulates, naturally ventilates. The people mirrored that in their homes \u2014 thick-walled, inward-facing, mudbrick construction pulled straight from the land.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tShe ran her hand along the cave wall, where moisture clung faintly even in the dry season. \u201cThe stone taught us architecture. It taught us how to live without taking too much.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBut perhaps the most unexpected moment came just outside the caves, at dusk. A minaret stood in the shadow of the mountain, its golden tiles catching the final light. Behind it, the rock face glowed a soft amber, every crack and crevice thrown into relief, like a thousand sleeping figures stacked into one colossal wall. The call to prayer began, and something uncanny happened: the rock didn\u2019t reflect the sound \u2014 it held it. The echo lingered, cradled by stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen I was young,\u201d Al-Habib said quietly, \u201cI believed the mountain was repeating the prayer. That it wanted to join in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A mosque near Jabal Al-Qarah. (Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tUNESCO\u2019s 2018 recognition of the Al-Ahsa Oasis \u2014 of which Jabal Al-Qarah is a vital part \u2014 has brought conservation efforts and guided tours. But many locals say the real work is remembering. Not preserving the mountain like a fossil, but allowing it to continue what it has always done: listening, absorbing, reminding, providing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIf these rocks could speak, they wouldn\u2019t lecture,\u201d Al-Habib said. \u201cThey\u2019d ask us why we stopped listening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd maybe that\u2019s what the mountain is doing: waiting, patiently, for silence to return, so that its stories, etched into sandstone and shade, might be heard again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/pictures\/May\/2050466\/2025\/3_-_a_mosque_near_jabal_al-qarah_-_getty.jpg\")