Jiblah () is a town in the
Ibb Governorate of
Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
, south-west of the city of
Ibb. It is located at the elevation of around , near Jabal At-Ta'kar ().
The town and its surroundings were added to the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Tentative List due to its purported universal cultural value. By 2019
Jiblah University for medical and health science was established in the center of the town of Jiblah. 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
Arwa al-Sulayhi (), () was a long-reigning ruler of Yemen, firstly as the co-ruler of her first two husbands and then as sole ruler, from 1067 until her death in 1138. She was the last of the rulers of the Sulayhid dynasty, Sulayhid Dynasty and ...
's husband Ahmad became the ''
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...
'' 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.
On December 30, 2002, an Islamist militant entered Jibla Baptist Hospital and shot and killed three
Southern Baptist
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestantism in the United States, Pr ...
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.
Rural life
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
Health
An American Baptist Hospital was located in Jibla. On December 30, 2002, an Islamist militant entered the hospital, and shot and killed three
Southern Baptist
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestantism in the United States, Pr ...
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, Jibla was affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, but its hospital lacked capabilities to
test for the
coronavirus
Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...
, 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:
*
Queen Arwa Mosque
*
Qubbat az-Zum Mosque
References
External links
Travel Adventures
Yémen : Ibb, Jibla(
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
)
Yemen Jibla market(
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
)
*
ttps://jums.edu.ye/ Jiblah University for Medical Sciences
Jabal At-Ta'kar
جبل التعكر - اعلى جبل في اليمنجبل التعكر مدينة اب الخضراءجبل التعكر في وسط اليمن وعلاقته بسطيح الكاهن
{{Authority control
Populated places in Ibb Governorate
Jiblah District
Towns in Yemen