Abu'l-Hawl (the Sphinx)

The Sphinx is a huge statue near the Great Pyramid at the Pyramids of Giza, in a low area to the east. Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari describes it as an eyewitness. ²

Only its head and neck show above the ground; it looks like the head of an Abyssinian monk wearing a hood. Its face has a red colouring that has lasted through the ages. ²

Al-Umari says that if it stood up, its height would not be less than twenty cubits. ²

It is said to be a talisman that keeps sand from the cultivated land, since it stands at the edge of the sand on the side of the farmland. This is a report attributed to al-Umari with the words "it is said". ²

An additional source is needed for the statue's history and its builder, and for what scholars have argued about it.