Jibla Village

Jibla – Ibb Governorate, Yemen

Coordinates: 13.916691, 44.146923

Nearby Places

• Queen Arwa palace ruins 0.79 Km N (2°)
• Queen Arwa Mosque 0.83 Km N (352°)
• Al-Janad Mosque 27.52 Km S (175°)

Jibla is a town in south-western Yemen, ca. 8 kilometers south, south-west of Ibb. It is located at the elevation of around 2,200 meters, 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.

History

Following the death of Sulayhid dynasty ruler Ali al-Sulayhi (Isma’ili Shia) in 1067 CE, Arwa al-Sulayhi’s husband Ahmad became the ruler of Yemen, but he was unable to rule being paralyzed 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 to be in a better position to destroy Sa’id ibn Najar and thus avenge her father-in-law’s death. She managed to do so by luring him into a trap in 1088. She built a new palace at Jibla and transformed the old palace into a grand 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.

Rest your heart among the little hills, gaze upon its expanses, There the air is as clear as crystal, the water is pure, and night brings even greater happiness.

Note: Majority of Population belongs to Isma'ili Shia branch of Islam