The Idle Well and the Lofty Palace
البئر المعطّلة والقصر المشيد
The paired ruins of proverb — the forsaken well and the high-built palace — which al-Umari places near al-Fajj in the eastern reaches of Yemen, today's Empty Quarter 1.
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At a glance
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
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Overview
The abandoned well and the lofty palace: two remains that are joined in a well-known proverb. Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari reports that they are near the present-day mountain pass in the east of Yemen. 1
Location
He explains this as the Empty Quarter in the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula. 1
An additional source is needed: the text of the proverb and its context.
Sources
- Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar — al-Umari (1924 printing), p. 232
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “The Idle Well and the Lofty Palace”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/place/al-bir-al-muattala-wal-qasr-al-mashid/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-16.