Mount Uhud
— — the mountain the Prophet said loves us.
Not only on a wall.
“A long red granite ridge five kilometres north of Medina, rising to about 1,077 metres above the plain. The Battle of Uhud was fought at its foot in the third year of the Islamic calendar. The cemetery of the seventy martyrs sits below it still, walled and quiet. Pilgrims stop here on the way out of the city. The hadith, that Uhud is a mountain that loves us and we love it, is the line everyone leaves with.
Mount Uhud, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Jabal Uhud is a granite massif about five kilometres north of central Medina, rising to roughly 1,077 metres above the surrounding Hejazi plain. The ridge runs east to west for around seven kilometres and its red and dark rock gives the range its name. It marks the northern edge of the Medina valley and is one of the first features pilgrims see leaving the Prophet's Mosque by the northern roads. Modern Medina has grown to its foot but the ridge itself is undeveloped and reads, from the city, much as it has for centuries.
The Battle of Uhud was fought at the foot of the mountain in Shawwal of the third year of the Islamic calendar, which corresponds to March of 625 CE in the Gregorian count. Seventy companions of the Prophet were killed and are buried in the walled cemetery at the base, including Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's uncle. The site is visited continually through the year, with a marked rise around the Hajj season and Ramadan when pilgrims pass through Medina on the way to Mecca.
The mountain itself is largely empty above the cemetery and the small viewing platforms at its base. Climbing the summit ridge is restricted, and the lower slopes draw few casual visitors. The light here is desert light, high contrast and hot in the middle of the day, softening to a deep red against the granite late in the afternoon. Pilgrims come for a few minutes, read the marker, and go back to the city. The mountain holds the quiet that has always been there.