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 Ptolemy, Geography, VI, 7: 27, records on the northwestern border of Arabia Felix a settlement Madiama, which I identify with Madian.

Eusebius, Onomasticon (Klostermann), p. 124, notes that Madiam, a town called after one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah, is situated beyond Arabia in the south, in the desert of the Saracens to the east of the Red Sea. Eusebius and Jerome (see op. cit., p. 125) locate the city of Madian beyond the border of the province of Arabia, the fixed southern frontier of which would correspond approximately with the northern border of Arabia Felix and the southern foot of the aš-Šera’ range.

According to the Ḳorân, 11: 85; 22: 43; 29:35 f.; 50: 13, the preacher Šuʻejb came to the inhabitants of Madjan or the inhabitants of the woods (ahl al-ajka), and rebuked them for their idolatry and for various social shortcomings. As they would not listen to him, they were struck by a sudden blow, so that they all fell dead in their houses.

Some traditions say (aṭ-Ṭabari, Ta’rîḫ, [ De Goeje ], Ser. 1, p. 458) that Moses departed from Egypt to Madjan, a distance of nine night, encampments, or, as it was said, about as far as from al-Kûfa to al-Baṣra. Having no food, he lived on the leaves of perennials and journeyed barefooted, so that he reached Madjan with lacerated feet.

Ibn Hišâm, Sîra, (Wüstenfeld), Vol. 1, p. 994, records that after the expedition against the Ǧuḏâm in Ḥesma, Zejd ibn Ḥâreṯa, at the order of Mohammed, made an inroad in the direction of Madjan and returned with numerous prisoners from the harbor situated on the inhabited shore.—The account does not state whether Zejd reached the city of Madjan; but, since reference is made to the harbor in connection with Madjan, we must suppose that Zejd gained possession of the harbor of that place, though, it is true, the latter was situated nearly forty-three kilometers from the city, perhaps near the mouth of the al-Ḳijâl valley. The shore of the Gulf of al-ʻAḳaba is much nearer, scarcely twenty-five kilometers distant from the city, but the journey thither is difficult whether by land or sea. The sea passage is dangerous on account of the rocks restricting access from the Red Sea into the gulf, in which there is neither safe landing place nor anchorage. Ptolemy, Geography, VI, 7: 2, refers to the harbor of Madian south of the city of Madian and thus beyond the Gulf of al-ʻAḳaba.

Ibn Ḫordâḏbeh, Masâlik (De Goeje), p. 129, and Ibn Roste, Aʻlâḳ (De Goeje), p. 177, mention among the districts belonging to the city of al-Medîna the areas of al-Furʻ, Ḏu-l-Marwa, Wâdi al-Ḳura’, Madjan, and Ḫajbar.

At the time of al-Jaʻḳûbi (Buldân [De Goeje], p. 341) there were living in the ancient town of Madjan people of various tribes, who cultivated gardens and date palms irrigated by numerous wells and streams with fairly good water.

Al-Hamdâni, Ṣifa (Müller), p. 129, refers to Madjan in the territory of the Ǧuḏâm tribe.

Al-Muḳaddasi, Aḥsan (De Goeje), p. 155, does not reckon Madjan among the districts of al-Medîna but assigns it to the Syrian district of aš-Šera’ with the principal city of Ṣoṛar, to which belong also Moab, ar-Rabba, Maʻân, Tebûk, Aḏruḥ, Wajla (Ajla). Elsewhere (ibid., p. 178) he states that Madjan actually forms the borderland of the Ḥeǧâz, as all