town in Qinā muḥāfaẓah (governorate), on the west bank of the Nile, in Upper Egypt, on or near the site of the ancient town of Chenoboskion. It is a market town for the surrounding agricultural region, and it has a sugar refinery; an aluminum plant complex opened in 1975.

Ancient sites in the vicinity include the town of Hiw (Diospolis Parva) to the south and Al-Qaṣr waʿṣ Sayyād on the eastern bank, site of Old Kingdom tombs and an important Coptic settlement. There in 1945 were found the Najʿ Ḥammādī (Nag Hammadi) papyri, a collection of 13 codices of Gnostic scriptures and commentaries written in the 2nd or 3rd century (though the codices themselves are 4th-century copies). The Cairo–Aswān railway serves the town and crosses the Nile to the eastern bank over a swing bridge. Pop. (1996) 34,239.