Al-Qaṣīm

Overview

Al-Qaṣīm is a fertile depression in central Najd, watered by Wādī al-Rummah, and long the most productive farmland of the interior. Its two towns, Buraydah and ʿUnayzah, sit close together and were rival commercial centres for centuries.

The name

The root q-ṣ-m relates to the *qaṣīma*, sandy ground bearing a particular kind of tree — a landscape description that became the region's name.

Reputation

The Qaṣīm towns were caravan hubs on the route between the Gulf, Iraq and the Ḥijāz, and produced a merchant class whose families settled across the Peninsula — one reason Qaṣīmī family names turn up far from the region.