Al-'Ara

Al-'Ara is a place on the southern shore of Yemen, west of Aden, in Subayhi territory, between Umayra and Sukayya (Khor Omeira). ¹

Ibn al-Mujawir, writing about 600/1200, makes it the starting point of several routes. Al-Sharji (d. 893/1488) still calls it the headquarters of the Banu Mushammir, 'a big village'. As the caravan trade diminished, it declined steadily. It still appears on von Maltzan's map, about two miles from the coast, but the name now survives only in Ras al-'Ara, the southernmost point of Arabia, the Promontorium Ammonii of the ancients. ¹