Wadi Zahr ( ar, وادي ظهر ), also spelled Wadi Dahr ( ar, وادي ضهر ), is a

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

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 just north 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 ...

on the western edge of the Sanaa plain. It is watered by a perennial stream whose source is the large

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

on the eastern slopes of

Jabal an-Nabi Shu'ayb ''Jabal An-Nabī Shuʿayb'' ( ar, جَبَل ٱلنَّبِي شُعَيْب, lit=Mountain of the Prophet Shuaib), also called ''Jabal Hadhur'' ( ar, جَبَل حَضُوْر, link=no, Jabal Ḥaḍūr), is a mountain of the Harazi subregion of ...

. The wadi proper begins near the village of Suq Bayt Naʽam and then flows eastward for about 7km through a steep-sided gorge before ending on the Sanaa plain. Wadi Zahr has fertile soil and was historically a strategic area with several forts. The main settlement in the area today is

Qaryat al-Qabil Qaryat al-Qabil ( ar, قرية القابل ), often called simply al-Qaryah, is a village in Bani al-Harith District of Amanat al-Asimah Governorate, Yemen. It is the largest settlement in the Wadi Zahr area. History The earliest known histori ...

Name

The 10th-century writer al-Hamdani consistently spells the wadi's name as ''Wādī Ḍahr'', and specifically states that "it is said Wādī Ḍahr, spelt with

ḍād (), is one of the six letters the Arabic alphabet added to the twenty-two inherited from the Phoenician alphabet (the others being , , , , ). In name and shape, it is a variant of . Its numerical value is 800 (see Abjad numerals). In Modern Stand ...

." He says that the wadi is named after one Ḍahr ibn Saʽd ibn ʽArīb, of the tribe of

Himyar The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) ( fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerit ...

. The spelling ''Ẓahr'', however, is more common.

History

Wadi Zahr is mentioned very frequently in historical sources from the medieval and early modern periods. Its significance came from both its strategic value and its agricultural production. It was a bastion of the

Isma'ilis Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...

of the

Banu Hamdan Banu Hamdan ( ar, بَنُو هَمْدَان; Musnad: 𐩠𐩣𐩵𐩬) is an ancient, large, and prominent Arab tribe in northern Yemen. Origins and location The Hamdan stemmed from the eponymous progenitor Awsala (nickname Hamdan) whose desce ...

tribe, who ruled the area.

Forts

Wadi Zahr is the site of several historic forts, including Fiddah, Ṭaybah, and Munif:

Fiddah

Jabal Fiddah is a steep-sided mountain on the south side of the wadi. Al-Hamdani described it as "a high rocky peak which is very precipitous and (therefore) beyong the reach of climbers." The main fort, built by the Hatimi sultan of Sanaa in 1184 (584 AH), was located below the summit, on the southern side of the mountain. At the top of the mountain was another fortification called al-ʽAnqā'. The fort of Fiddah remained in use until the downfall of the

Sharaf al-Din dynasty Sharaf may refer to: People * Sharaf (name), list of people with the name Places * Sharaf, Kermanshah, Iran * Sharaf, Lorestan, Iran * Sharaf, Yemen Other uses * Sharaf (Bedouin), an honor code among the Bedouin * ''Sharaf'' (magazine) (1882–1 ...

in the 16th century.

Ṭaybah

West of Fiddah, and also on the southern side of Wadi Zahr, is the fort of Ṭaybah, which is now in ruins. It was originally called ''Dawram'' (or ''Dūram'', the vocalization preferred by

Muhammad al-Akwa Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

), and under this name it appears in the ''

Iklil Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Hamdānī (279/280-333/334 A.H. / c. 893-945 A.D; ar, أبو محمد الحسن بن أحمد بن يعقوب الهمداني) was an Arab Muslim geographer, chemist, poet, grammarian, h ...

'' of al-Hamdani and the ''

Tarikh Sanʽa' ''Taʾrīkh'' is an Arabic word meaning "date, chronology, era", whence by extension "annals, history, historiography". It is also used in Persian, Urdu, Bengali and the Turkic languages. It is found in the title of many historical works. Prior to t ...

'' of

al-Razi Razi ( fa, رازی) or al-Razi ( ar, الرازی) is a name that was historically used to indicate a person coming from Ray, Iran. People It most commonly refers to: * Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865–925), influential physician, alchemist ...

. The first reference to the modern name ''Ṭaybah'' is in the year 1324 (724 AH), in the '' 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 ...

. It is then mentioned several more times in that text as a frequently contested stronghold.

Munif

The fortress of Munif (''Ḥiṣn Munīf''), now in ruins, is located on the north side of Wadi Zahr. Its first mention is in the year 1386 (788 AH), also in the ''Ghayat al-amani''.

References

{{Reflist Zahr Geography of Sanaa Governorate