Unaizah
Unaizah
محافظة عنيزة | |
|---|---|
Governorate | |
The internal ring road around Unaizah Mall | |
Location in Saudi Arabia | |
| Coordinates: 26°5′26″N 43°59′15″E / 26.09056°N 43.98750°E | |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Province | Al Qassim Province |
| Population (2022) | |
• Total | 184,600 |
| Time zone | UTC+03:00 (SAST) |
| Postal Code | 51911 |
| Area code | +966-16 |
| Website | um |
Unaizah (Arabic: عنيزة ʿUnaizah) or officially The Governorate of Unaizah (also spelled Onaizah, Onizah, or Unayzah; Arabic: محافظة عنيزة Muḥāfiẓat ʿUnaizah) is a Saudi Arabian city in the Al Qassim Province. It lies south of the province capital Buraydah and north of Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is the second largest city in Al-Qassim Province with a population of 184,600 (2022 census).
Historically, Unaizah was an important stopping point for Muslim pilgrims coming from Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and Persia (now Iran) on their way to Makkah. Many historians believe that Unaizah was inhabited hundreds of years before the spread of Islam, citing its reference in numerous poems from some of the most important poets of pre-Islamic Arabia such as Imru' al-Qais.