From there, traveling on camels, in a single night they reached the camp of their chief Refâʻa, which, as the text expressly says, was pitched on the border of the volcanic region of Lajla. All these camping places, including that of al-Hunejd as well as those of the followers of Islâm and of Refâʻa, could not have been more than sixty kilometers distant from each other or about three hundred and fifty kilometers from al-Medîna. We must locate them on the eastern border of Ḥarrat al-ʻAwêreẓ, which formed a part of Ḥarra Lajla. The volcanic territory of ar-Raǧla is nowhere mentioned among the camping places of the Ǧuḏâm tribe, for it is situated over two hundred kilometers to the north of the northernmost frontier of their territory. All oral tradition regards this raid as having been directed against the Ǧuḏâm in Ḥesma’, and Ḥarrat ar-Raǧla lies more than three hundred kilometers to the northeast of Ḥesma’, whereas Ḥarra Lajla borders on the region of Ḥesma’. In the volcanic territory of Ḥarra Lajla and to the east of it were encamped the Beni ʻUḏra, and it is conceivable that the Moslem band was led by a man of this tribe. According to Ibn Isḥâḳ the subjects of Refâʻa pitched their tents in the valley of Madân, which runs eastward from the volcanic territory; but in the whole of the volcanic territory of ar-Raǧla there is not a single valley extending toward the east. From all this it follows that the word ar-Raǧla was incorrectly inserted into the account of the expedition against the Ǧuḏâm. We are therefore concerned only with that part of the volcanic territory of Lajla which borders on Ḥesma’. It seems, however, that during the raid Zejd ibn Ḥâreta did not enter the actual region of Ḥesma’ and that his expedition has therefore been erroneously connected with that region.
Wellhausen explains the passage in al-Wâḳedi (op. cit., p. 235, note 5) by saying that Zejd arrived with five hundred warriors from al-Awlâǧ and at dawn attacked in ar-Raǧla the united tribes of the Ǧuḏâm, Ṛaṭafân, Wâjel, Salâmât, and Bahra’, who were all present when Refâʻa returned with the charter from the Prophet.—But the tribes of the Ṛaṭafân, Wâjel, Salâmât, and Bahra’ did not belong to the Ǧuḏâm, and it is not stated in the text that Zejd ibn Ḥâreṯa attacked them in Ḥarrat ar-Raǧla.
Caetani, Annali, Vol. 1, p. 627, also writes that Zejd, having passed al-Awlâǧ, surprised the Ǧuḏâm assembled at ar-Raǧla.—No Arabic author asserts that the Ǧuḏâm were assembled at ar-Raǧla.
Al-Hamdâni, Ṣifa (Müller), Vol. 1, p. 129, says that Ḥesma’ extends between the territories of the Fezâra and Ǧuḏâm tribes on the border of Syria and that the well-known camping place of Iram is situated there.—The encampments of the Fezâra were to the southeast of the region of Ḥesma’ and the territory of the Ǧuḏâm. As Iram, or the modern Ramm, is located in the region of Ḥesma’, the latter must have extended as far as the aš-Šera’ range, which, according to the natives, forms its northern and northeastern border even today.
In another passage (ibid., p. 179) al-Hamdâni refers to the settlement of az-Zihjawṭ on the Syrian border between the Ǧuḏâm and Kalb tribes, as well as to the valley of al-Ajm and the region of Ḥesma’.
In several manuscripts of Ḥassân ibn Ṯâbet’s Dîwân (Tunis, 1281 A. H.), p. 28, we read az-Zihjawṭ instead of al-Marrût, which is unknown to the Arabic geographers. In the ancient territory of the Ǧuḏâm, however,