Shaadiya

Aside from being a lovely Arab girl's name, 'Shaadiya' means singing, and the 'singing sands of Saudi Arabia' are an example of the merging of the land of the Arab with it's people, by way of the singing (shaadiya) the dunes make on the desert lands. It is as if the sands themselves were singing praises to Allah by singing aloud.

While trudging through the Gobi Desert in the thirteenth century Marco Polo came across a music and mysterious music coming from the sands of the dunes.

He wrote that it was like "the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments and also of drums and the clash of arms."

In Arabic, these sands are also called 'screaming sands'.

According to scientists, the sands of the United Arab Emirates are amongst the most vocal of all the sands in the world. The reason for this is that the air itself is especially arid and the dunes are especially deep.

For this phenomenon to happen small avalanches of sand must occur as they fall down a steep side of the sand dune that faces away from the wind. From this a low sustained groan starts emitting from the sand particles. The sound is a cross between a low flying airplane and the booming Australian instrument called the didgeridoo.

Scientists are still studying the mechanics of what makes the sand dunes sing. The basic premise is that the millions of tumbling granules strike each other, causing the sound emissions. The mystery that remains is how these individual sounds link together and turn sands of the dunes into a giant loud speaker.

Perhaps the mystery is answered by seeing the sands as singing the praises to Allah?