Dhu Jibla

Jiblah ( ar, جِبْلَة) is a town in south-western Yemen, south, south-west of Ibb in the governorate of the same name. It is located at the elevation of around , near Jabal At-Taʿkar (). The town and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List due to its purported universal cultural value. The historical Palace of Queen Arwa is located in the town.

History

Following the assassination of the Sulayhid 'Ali ibn Muhammad in 1067 CE, Arwa al-Sulayhi's husband Ahmad became the '' de jure'' ruler of Yemen, but he was unable to rule, being paralysed and bedridden. He gave all of his power to Arwa, one of her first actions was to move the capital from Sana'a to Jibla, in order to be in a better position to destroy Sa'id ibn Najar, and thus avenge her father-in-law's death. This she managed to do by luring him into a trap in 1088. She built a new palace at Jibla, and transformed the old palace into a great mosque where she was eventually buried.Muhammad Zakaria (1998) ''مساجد اليمن''

Rural life of villagers

As late as 1979, the women of Jibla would launder their clothes in large pools formed by rivulets of natural spring water, which trickled down the slopes of ''Jebal Attaker''. Stepping stones of the brook were used in place of scrub-boards.

Infrastructure

Hospital(s)

Located here is the American Baptist Hospital. It is where Taher Qassim (a public health practitioner and founder of the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, who was born in the village of Al-Karaba) spent 3½ years in vocation.

On December 30, 2002, an Islamist militant entered Jibla Baptist Hospital, and shot and killed three Southern Baptist hospital workers. The day after the shootings, ownership of the hospital was transferred to the Yemeni government. The government assumed responsibility in 2003, and continued to employ Southern Baptist workers, until its closing in May 2007.

As with other areas in war-torn Yemen, Jiblah was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but its hospital lacked capabilities to test for the coronavirus, thus doctors there had to use other means to diagnose it. Yet according to two healthcare workers there, the hospital daily received almost 50 people with symptoms, and out of fear of reprisals, doctors did not inform relatives of deceased patients about them even being suspected to have contracted the virus.

Mosques

There are two historical mosques here:
* That of Queen Arwa
* Qubbat Bayt Az-Zum Mosque ( ar, مَسْجِد قُبَّة بَيْت ٱلْزُّوْم, Masjid Qubbat Bayt Az-Zūm), also known as ''Masjid Qubbat Ash-Shaykh Yaʿqūb Az-Zūm'' (), which was established in 921 A.H.

References

External links

Ministry of Information of Yemen

Travel Adventures

Yémen : Ibb, Jibla
( YouTube)

Yemen Jibla market


( Arabic)

Jabal At-Ta'kar

جبل التعكر - اعلى جبل في اليمن

جبل التعكر مدينة اب الخضراء

جبل التعكر في وسط اليمن وعلاقته بسطيح الكاهن

{{Yemeni cities

Populated places in Ibb Governorate