Najran University is situated in Najran City, one of the oldest cities with a history filled with major events. Historians and geographers laud this region full of agricultural richness for its strategic location, the fertility of its land and the abundance of its ground water, which gave it a great deal of value amid other Arabian Peninsula areas. One might say that Najran gathers several topographic features, being an agricultural, mountainous and desert area all the while. Najran is also considered as one of the most ancient sites that date back to eras Before Christ with several remnants continuing to exist to date.

Where did Najran get its name from?
"Najran" appears in several historical chronicles and various books of Arab and foreign explorers without explaining the word, leaving it for previous accounts. Some narratives mention Najran as a piece of wood around which a door bolt turns, adding: "I closed the door with the "najran" until there was no creaking left in the door." The tale adds that Najran was named after Najran Bin Zaidan Bin Yarub Bin Qahtan, who was the first to dwell in it and build it. According to the story, Najran reached this place after seeing a vision that terrified him and left him wandering until he reached a valley in which he stayed and which was called after him. In other literature, Najran comes up in a poem verse that says: "I poured water in the Najran until the door was left without a creak."

The Bedouins in Najran had their own life, similarly to other dwellers of the desert across the Arabian Peninsula. They would seek pastures and any spots where the rainwater was collected taking along their herds comprising stags, sheep and especially goats, which are considered as their main source of living. Their owners sold their wool, ate their meat and drank their milk. As for the Najran city dwellers, their main task was agriculture and they devoted their whole life for it, plowing the land in the primitive ways, watering it in other old-fashioned methods, using the stags or cows in what was called the "Sawani" way. The crop would consist of dates, wheat, corn and barley used for human consumption as well as fodder to feed the livestock raised by the Najran residents in private barns. The economy was a simple barter, one where Bedouins would exchange wool, wood and oil for wheat, corn and dates.
 
The Location:
Najran is situated in the south eastern part of the Saudi Kingdom, i.e., the eastern sides of Al-Deera area that extends across the Middle Region up to the far south of the Arabian Peninsula, almost at the longitude line of 441/3 and latitude line of 171/2. The surface of Najran is around 36,500 Square Kilometers, a large part of it covered by the desert, affiliated under Sharora governorate, falling administratively under the region of Najran. The highlands in Najran range between 900 and 1800 meters above sea level. Najran area is surrounded by very high mountains from the north and the south decreasing in height as we go east until they merge in the Empty Quarter sands. Najran falls on a flat land, crossed at the center by Najran Valley that enters the area from the west to the east to flow into the Empty Quarter sands and what is known by "Ramlat Yam".
 
Climate:
The climate in Najran Region is somehow continental, with an average temperature ranging between 14.6 and 30.9 Centigrade degrees, and a very low rate of rain with an annual average of just 83 mm.