Zabid

Zabid (زَبِيد) (also spelled Zabīd, Zabeed and Zebid) is a town with an urban population of around 52,590 people, located on Yemen's western coastal plain. It is one of the oldest towns in Yemen, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. However, in 2000, the site was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Great Mosque of Zabid, also known as Al-Asha'ir Mosque, was built in 628 AD by Abu Musa Ashaari, one of the followers of Muhammad. The town was the capital of Yemen from the 13th to the 15th century. The town, named after Wadi Zabid, the wadi (or valley) to its south, is one of the oldest towns in Yemen. Abu Musa Ashaari, one of the Prophet Muhammad's companions, was originally from Zabid, and had the Great Mosque of the town built in 628 AD, during the Prophet's life. According to tradition, this was the fifth mosque built in the history of Islam. Another sahabi, or companion of the Prophet, Amru bin Ma'adi Yakrib, also hailed from Zabid and was from the House of Zubaid, an Arabian tribe named after this city. Zabid was the capital of Yemen from the 13th to the 15th century. It was known as a center of the Arab and Muslim world, especially for Islamic education, due in large part to its famed University of Zabid. It was the capital of the Ziyadid dynasty from 819 to 1018, and the Najahid dynasty from 1022 to 1158. In 1067, during the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Banu Najah clan under Sa'id Ibn Najah, the prince of Zabid, attacked the travel party of the Sulayhid sultan, Ali al-Sulayhi, and his wife Asma bint Shihab. They killed Ali and took Asma prisoner. She was sequestered in a secret prison in Zabid, and the severed head of her spouse was reportedly planted on a pole visible from her cell. After a year's imprisonment, she managed to get a message through to her son and daughter-in-law in Sanaa, and her son stormed Zabid and freed her. Ali ibn Mahdi al-Himyari, a native of the Yemeni highlands, founded the Mahdid dynasty in the Tihama region. Al-Himyari and his followers burned down several districts north of Zabid.