Ḥajar, al-

▪ mountains, Arabia

      mountain chain in northern Oman, paralleling the coast of the Gulf of Oman and stretching in an arc southeastward from the Musandam Peninsula almost to Raʾs (cape) al-Ḥadd on the extreme northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. From northwest to southeast, the al-Ḥajar (The Stone) range includes the Ruʾūs al-Jibāl overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, the al-Gharbī al-Ḥajar (Western Hajar), the vast massif of al-Jabal Al-Akhḍar (Green Mountain), the Jabal Nakhl, the ash-Sharqī al-Ḥajar (Eastern Hajar), and the Jabal Banī Jābir. This range, with its steeper slopes to seaward, reaches its greatest height at al-Jabal (mount) al-Akhḍar (10,089 feet [3,075 m]); its average elevation is about 4,000 feet (about 1,220 m). Al-Ḥajar is generally bleak except on al-Jabal al-Akhḍar, where greater rainfall permits the growth of some alfalfa, date palms, lime bushes, and fruit trees.

      Geologically the chain is mostly limestone and is drained by many wadis, such as Wādī al-Ḥawāsinah, Wādī Samāʾil, and Wādī al-ʿUdayy. There are many species of wildlife, including leopard and the Arabian tahr, a wild goat not found in the rest of the country. Bowl-like valleys are carved into the northern face of al-Ḥajar by northward-flowing wadis and contain tiny agricultural settlements connected with the coast by graded tracks. The inhabitants are predominantly Ibāḍī and were involved in the unsuccessful Jabal War of the 1950s against the Omani Sultanate.

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