Al Ajnab

Al-Ajnab (Arabic: حلة الأجناب, lit. 'the foreigners' settlement') was a settlement and a douar within the city walls in the erstwhile fortress-city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, located in the northeastern corner of the walled town.[1][2] It was situated east of Masmak Fortress, at the entrance of Bab al-Thumairi. The ruins of the settlement today include most of Souq al-Suweigah in the ad-Dirah neighborhood and its name was derived from al-ājānib (Arabic: الأَجانِب), the Arabic word for outsiders as most of its residents where foreigners who were given accommodation as guests or advisors of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud,[3] such as John Philby and Muhammad Asad.[4][5]

Al-Ajnab الأجناب
Neighbourhood
Al-Ajnab, 1974
Coordinates: 24°37′54″N 46°42′52″E
Country	Saudi Arabia
City	Riyadh
Region	Old Riyadh
Language
• Official	Arabic

The settlement shared close proximity with the Duhairah settlement from the east and al-Gadimah settlement[6][7] from the south and following the dismantling of the city walls and subsequent expansion and modernization of Riyadh in the 1970s, the settlement evolved into Souq al-Suweigah and assumed most of its current form during the Qasr Al-Hukm District Development Project between 1983 and 1992.

The settlement once hosted a garage that belonged to the future monarch of Saudi Arabia, Saud bin Abdulaziz and also hosted the residence of Princess Noura bint Abdul Rahman al-Saud, elder sister and adviser of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud and the eldest daughter of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal al-Saud, the last emir of the Second Saudi State.