Madhbah ( ar, مذبح ), also called Madinat al-Layl or "the city of the night", is a suburb of

Sanaa Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, located in the Bani al-Harith District of

Amanat al-Asimah Governorate Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Govern ...

History

The first known mention of Madhbah in historical sources is in 799 AH (1397 CE), in '' Ghayat al-amani'' of

Yahya ibn al-Husayn Yahya may refer to: * Yahya (name), a common Arabic male given name * Yahya (Zaragoza), 11th-century ruler of Zaragoza * John the Baptist in Islam, also known as Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā See also * Tepe Yahya Tapeh Yahya () is an archaeological ...

, where its name is spelled ''Mudhayyaḥ''. The text describes Madhbah as a "well-known place to the west of the city of

", and relates an anecdote of a local shepherd finding a corpse in a cave there while he was pasturing his sheep. The development of Madhbah as a suburb of Sanaa dates to 1991. Recent immigrants from the countryside, who came from various parts of the country but knew each other from having worked together in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, set up an informal shantytown on the sides of two steep hillsides that had been military land. This happened during the night, hence the nickname "Madinat al-Layl", or "the city of the night". The government initially tried to bulldoze the settlement, but after a process of negotiation with the residents it acquiesced and ended up installing water and sanitation services. By 2008, Madhbah was described as a thriving suburb of Sanaa, with economic activities including

warehousing A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, tow ...

, automotive services, and construction materials, and extensive investment from both the government and private

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

References

{{Reflist Villages in Sanaa Governorate