Last updated: April 17th, 2025 at 9:04 am · Est. Reading Time: < 1 minute
A mountainous range stretches the whole length of Arabia from north to south, just to the west of the Tihamah plains. This mountain range, the main mountain range in Arabia, becomes wider and higher as it extends south. Around Mecca, about midway down its length, this mountain chain has a break. Towards the north of this break is Hejaz, and towards the south is Asir (Asīr عسير). The southernmost peaks of this mountain chain in Asir rise to elevations of up to three thousand meters.
Asir is not that arid. It receives up to thirty cm of rainfall per year, mainly due to monsoons that come from October through March from the Indian Ocean.
Further reading
Paul Sanlaville, “Geographic Introduction” in Roads of Arabia, ed. ‘Ali ibn Ibrāhīm Ghabbān, Beatrice Andre-Salvini Francoise Demange, Carine Juvin and Marianne Cotty, (Paris: Louvre, 2010), 55 – 68.
Peter Vincent, Saudi Arabia: An Environmental Overview, London: Taylor & Francis, 2007.
William Bayne Fisher, The Middle East. A Physical, Social and Regional Geography, London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1952.
History of Islam, Geography and Climate of Pre-Islam Arabia, https://historyofislam.org/geography-and-climate/