Qualla: Ta'if https://qualla.com/ta-if en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/8/ta-if-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: Ta'if https://qualla.com/ta-if Ta'if: Introduction https://qualla.com/ta-if/ Photo credit Muhammad Sobri, CC BY-SA 4.0. Three hundred million roses bloom here each spring. Not a poetic flourish, a production figure: Ta'if's nine hundred rose plantations collectively cultivate around three hundred million Damascus rose blooms annually, and the rose oil distilled from them ends up in perfume bottles from Givenchy and Jimmy Choo. The city's Arabic nickname, the City of Roses, is almost understatement. At 1,879 meters in the Hijaz Mountains, where the summer air is twenty degrees cooler than Mecca and the highways hairpin up through the cliffs of the Sarat range, Ta'if has been a place to escape the Arabian heat for longer than there has been an Arabian heat to escape.

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Image: Muhammad Sobri | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/8/ta-if-wk/sgu8-taif-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Ta'if: The Circled City https://qualla.com/ta-if/ Photo credit عباد ديرانية, CC BY-SA 3.0. Ta'if literally means circulated or encircled in Arabic. The name comes from a wall built around the town in pre-Islamic times, long before the seventh century CE. The city existed then, and it has existed since. There is no direct mention of Ta'if in the Quran, though Sura 43:31...

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Image: عباد ديرانية | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/8/ta-if-wk/sgu8-taif-the-circled-city.mp3 0:06 2 full Ta'if: From Ottomans to Ibn Saud https://qualla.com/ta-if/ Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. For several centuries, Ta'if was Ottoman, part of the Hejaz that came under Istanbul's rule after the Sharif of Mecca capitulated to Selim I in 1517. The Hashemite family, traditional rulers of Mecca, led the Arab Revolt against Ottoman control during World War I. In the 1920s, I...

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Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/8/ta-if-wk/sgu8-taif-from-ottomans-to-ibn-saud.mp3 0:06 3 full Ta'if: Highway 15 Into the Mountains https://qualla.com/ta-if/ Photo credit DEMIS Mapserver, पाटलिपुत्र, CC BY-SA 3.0. Given the mountainous geography, almost no highways cross Ta'if. The exception is Highway 15, which connects the city to Mecca. The drive from Mecca takes less than an hour, and the scenery along the route is famously dramatic: the road climbs through sheer rock faces, clings to ...

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Image: DEMIS Mapserver, पाटलिपुत्र | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/8/ta-if-wk/sgu8-taif-highway-15-into-the-mountains.mp3 0:06 4 full Ta'if: Roses and Grapes https://qualla.com/ta-if/ Photo credit عباد ديرانية, CC BY-SA 3.0. The rose economy is serious business. Every spring the city blooms with red and pink Damascus roses, and the distilled oil is of the highest grade in the perfume world. Some Cairo bazaar vendors claim their attar comes from Ta'if, but the claims are often dubious. Shiraz in Iran ...

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Image: عباد ديرانية | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/8/ta-if-wk/sgu8-taif-roses-and-grapes.mp3 0:06 5 full Ta'if: Where Saudis Go in Summer https://qualla.com/ta-if/ Photo credit KELANTAN JOTTINGS, CC BY 2.0. Ta'if is often called the best summer destination in Saudi Arabia, and among Saudis the claim is close to consensus. The population of 690,000 swells further in the hot months, when residents of Riyadh, Jeddah, and the Eastern Province come up for the climate. The nearby resort t...

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Image: KELANTAN JOTTINGS | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/u/8/ta-if-wk/sgu8-taif-where-saudis-go-in-summer.mp3 0:06 6 full