Country Yemen Local time Saturday 5:44 PM | Governorate Ibb Governorate | |
 | ||
Time zone Yemen Standard Time (UTC+3) Weather 21°C, Wind SE at 6 km/h, 38% Humidity | ||
Jibla (Arabic: جبلا) is a town in south-western Yemen, close to Ibb. It is located at around 13°55′00″N 44°09′00″E, at the elevation of around 2,200 meters. The town and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List due to its purported universal cultural value.
Map of Jiblah, Yemen
Following the death of Sulayhid dynasty ruler Ali al-Sulayhi in 1067, 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.
On December 30, 2002, a Muslim militant entered Jibla Baptist Hospital and shot and killed three Southern Baptist 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.