Jibla, Yemen


Jiblā is a town in south-western Yemen, ca. south, south-west of Ibb. It is located at the elevation of around, near Jebal Attaker. 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.
Following the death of Sulayhid dynasty ruler Ali al-Sulayhi 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.

Rural life of villagers

As late as 1979, the women of Jibla would launder their clothes in large pools of water 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.