Al-Heda'a

Al-Heda'a is an art of light verse recited to delight camels and urge them onward through traditional oral expressions that enable herders to call their camels, gather them and communicate with them, and it is passed down by the people of the Arabian Peninsula from generation to generation. [1]

It is one of the traditional forms of oral expression associated with camels, known as camel Al-Heda'a, and it is usually performed when camels come to water, when they move out to pasture or while travelling from one place to another. [1] The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led the file for its inscription on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in cooperation with the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates. [2]

Al-Heda'a is a form of light verse recited to delight camels and urge them onward, and it rests on traditional oral expressions that gave it a practical function in the life of camel owners, enabling herders to call their camels, gather them and communicate with them. [1]

Al-Heda'a is performed when camels come to water, when they head out to pasture or while travelling from one place to another; it consists of short chants that help gather the camels, keep them moving and bring them back in order to their resting place, and its melody varies with the environment and the occasion. [1]

Accounts of the beginnings of Al-Heda'a relate that Mudar ibn Nizar ibn Ma'add was the first to chant to camels: after he fell from his camel and his hand was broken he cried out, and because his voice was fine the camels listened to him and pressed on in their journey, and from this the idea of using Al-Heda'a to call camels arose. [1]

Al-Heda'a is said to have begun with the tadwiya, a call to camels in a high voice using words such as hayd hayd, hi du hi du, dawh dawh, dih dih and dah dah, and this pattern is still in use today alongside rajaz, differing from one environment to another. [1]

Al-Heda'a has various occasions, among them the chant of departure and the chant of travel, the chant for watering camels known as al-'Awbal, and the chant of return known among the people as al-Hawbal, which is specific to gathering camels and driving them to their resting place or pasture. [1]

To these is added the chant of the saniya, sung to the camels that draw water from the well so that they stay brisk in their movement. [1] In Al-Qassim Region the saniya was bound up with an oral and artistic heritage of chants and Al-Heda'a recited by the workers while watering the camels and drawing water from the wells, and it became part of the popular memory attached to the craft. [5]

Among the most recent works to address the origin of Al-Heda'a is the diwan “Al-Rajaz wa al-Heda'a” by the researcher in popular heritage Ibrahim Al-Khaldi, which documented the long journey of Al-Heda'a in the history of Arabic literature, from its beginnings to the last era of Bedouin life. [1]

This study affirms the clear convergence of Al-Heda'a with the rajaz meter, a simple meter that allowed non-poets to chant Al-Heda'a until it became a unifying song of the Arabs. In the last era of Bedouin life, Al-Heda'a moved from its close association with camels to a distinctive relationship with horses, without its bond with the camel ever being severed. [1]

Al-Heda'a is counted among the most important folk arts of Al-Jawf Region, alongside the ardah, the samri, the hijini, the dahha, the song of climbing the palm, the song of the saniya, the rababa and the dabka. [9]

Camels have been linked with songs since ancient times, among them Al-Heda'a, whose melody differs from that of the chant of horses and the hijini. [6] This heritage intersects with other heritage elements on the platform, including the Saudi Ardah and the Dahha, in which the two rows of performers produce a sound resembling the rumbling of camels. [6][9]

Work on inscribing camel Al-Heda'a on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage began with documenting and inventorying the practices and skills associated with it: the team of the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society “Nahnu Turathuna” visited Jazan Region on 28 January 2020 to meet its practitioners among herders and camel owners. [3]

This effort continued through an agreement between the Camel Club and the “Turath” Society on 5 April 2021, aimed at inscribing camel Al-Heda'a within the intangible world heritage at UNESCO and planning to register more intangible heritage associated with camels. [4]

The Kingdom succeeded in inscribing the two elements “camel Al-Heda'a” and “Saudi Khawlani coffee” during the annual meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in the Kingdom of Morocco on 30 November 2022. [2] With this, the number of intangible cultural heritage elements inscribed for the Kingdom on the Representative List reached 11, among them the majlis, Arabic coffee, the Saudi Ardah, falconry, date palm cultivation, Al-Sadu weaving, Arabic calligraphy, camel Al-Heda'a and Saudi Khawlani coffee. [2]

The Ministry of Culture designated the year 2024 the “Year of the Camel”, regarding the camel as a cultural value and one of the pillars of preserving authentic national identity and authentic Arab heritage. [1]

The King Abdulaziz Foundation (Darah) organised the seminar “Camels in Popular Heritage and National Identity” on 26 December 2025, which addressed the longstanding link between camels and songs. [6] On 21 December 2025 the literary partner of the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, “Al-Maqha Al-Thaqafi”, in Al-Bahah Region organised the evening “Between the Ship of the Desert and the Ship of the Sea”, which addressed the concept of Al-Heda'a and the nahma and their meanings in Arab heritage. [7]

At the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, the competitions of the first rounds of the hajjij set off in its eighth edition over a distance of 18 kilometres, with 210 camels entered by 7 participants in the “Safr and Sha'l” categories, on 2 December 2023. [8]

Q: What is Al-Heda'a? A: An art of light verse recited to delight camels and urge them onward through traditional oral expressions that enable herders to call their camels, gather them and communicate with them. [1]

Q: Since when has Al-Heda'a been known? A: It has been known since the pre-Islamic era, and it is usually performed when camels come to water, move out to pasture or travel. [1]

Q: What are the occasions and types of Al-Heda'a? A: The chant of departure and the chant of travel, the chant of watering camels “al-'Awbal”, the chant of return “al-Hawbal”, and the chant of the saniya sung to the camels that draw water from the well. [1][5]

Q: What is the relationship of Al-Heda'a to the rajaz meter? A: Al-Heda'a clearly converges with the rajaz meter, a simple meter that allowed non-poets to chant Al-Heda'a until it became a unifying song of the Arabs. [1]

Q: Has camel Al-Heda'a been inscribed at UNESCO? A: Yes, it was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 30 November 2022 as part of a joint file led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates, bringing the number of the Kingdom's inscribed elements to 11. [2]