Historic mosques, kind peopleTown of Rada’a has much to offer [Archives:2004/791/Culture]

By Yemen Times Staff
Taiz Bureau
Rada'a was built by Amer Bin Abdulwahab in 910 A.H. as a great example of Islamic history and art.
It is not only the Fortress of Amiria and its mosques, it is a town endowed with vitality, love and forgiveness.
Rada'a is the town of hospitality, generosity and kind people. Naseem Hamid Kashmim, the world's famous boxer, was born in this town which is characterized by its natural, religious, historic, and environmental aspects.
Rada'a, the town where history and geography meet at a pain hill is like a sleeping bride with her possessions surrounding her. The viewer will be overwhelmed if he has a glance at the remains and ruins of the ancient civilization of this historic town.
In a state of extreme joy, the poet says describing the beauteous scene of the town of Rada'a:
When I saw the crescent and the face of lover,
I perceived two crescents similar to each other.
But I do not know which one of the two I lost;
Either the crescent of sky or the crescent of human.
The pastness of Shamar, Al-Mukarram and Amer Bin Abdulwahab and the presentness of the qualities of the locals are the two unparalleled features fixed in this city.
Rada'a enjoys industrial natives who constructed the homogenous colorful buildings with distinguished architecture. Historians describe it as the constructive county that is 150 km south east of Sana'a and is 2,100 meters above the sea level.
It was inhabited by the famous Yemeni King Shamar Yohar'ash and his dynasty and was decorated by Saba's King Karb Eel Watar in the 7th century BC. Ancient scriptures mentioned that Rada'a is a kind county with open air and the availability of fruits.
It was walled with a fence having four historic gates, two of which are still remaining up to date. They are Mugla gate to the south of the town and al-Hejiri gate in the northern west direction. The other two gates were demolished due to the extension of construction the town experiences.

Amiria Fortress
It is situated on the top of an entrenched rocky hill standing up on the face of the enemies. The Amiria Fortress reminds us of the reputed name Laila al-Amiria, whom Qais lamented and immortalized her in the poetical works.
Insane Qais made me in the same box and the same experience before the Amiria Fortress.
When I stood in front of its western gate to the down of the rocky hill I felt somehow guilty for not visiting it before. This gate is linked to a curved road, which is stretching over the hill to the higher fence of the fortress.
The road and the fence are linked in a point where a watch room is stationed with a considerate height to ensure the monitoring of the people coming in and out. Many other circled rooms are built over the fence around.
The height of the fortress and its fences prevent the visitor not only from reaching it but its heritage, remains and ruins dating back to the Hemieri era, confuse the vision. The fortress was constructed during the reign of Hemieri King Shamar Yohar'ash and was repaired in the reign of Amer Bin Abdulwahab, Ruler of Dhahiri State (1435-1538).

Amiria School
In the vicinity of the fortress, the vulnerable King Amer Bin Abdulwahab built the school of Amiria in 910 A.H. or 1504 A.D. Despite the passage of five centuries, the school still remains among the most beauteous attractions.
The inhabitants of the areas surrounding the school, as well, dare not transgress its precinct or demolish its fence.
The Amiria School is a three-storeyed building; its first floor is designed in the form of small rooms, separated from one another. These rooms were used as a hostel for students. The top floor was allocated for praying and was enriched with increasingly decorated domes as well as scriptures of Quranic verses on walls. The prayer place is connected to a spacious three-door yard.
The decorated domes and pillars built with marbles show the efforts and industry of the people inhabiting this county. My visit to such area coincided with that of a Dutch team holding the task of repairing the buildings with the fund of the government of Netherlands.

Amiria Mosque
The Amiria Fortress is surrounded by numerous mosques, which were built in different historical periods and with dissimilar sizes, the biggest of which is Abu Ali Al-Hadrami Mosque, known as the great mosque. It has many pillars and an uncovered yard in the center of the mosque; a common feature of the old mosques.
Al-Hadrami Mosque is also characterized by decorative drawings covering its front side. Al-Ba'adania School Mosque (another one in the neighborhood) dates back to the reign of Bani Rasoul State.
There are also Al-Baghdadia school and mosque, which were built by the wife of king Amer Bin Abdulwahab and Al-Awsaja Mosque which was built in the 11th century of Hegira. Afterwards, this mosque, which covers several historic scriptures, was expanded by the Mahdi Imam Mohammad Bin Ahmad.
Amiria Market
It is situated closer to the fortress and comprises trading shops with narrow doors and no remarkable height. Some of these shops were demolished and replaced by modern buildings while many others are still used for business works, particularly blacksmiths and coal sellers.
A town covered with plastic bags
Qat plantation is considered as one of the activities locals depend on as the main source of income. The availability of qat and marketing it exceeds the frontiers of Rada'a to pass into the neighboring provinces like Hadramout. It also passes through the borders of neighboring countries.
Qat, being the main source of income, created more job opportunities for people as they practice its related activities such as planting and marketing. Rada'a, as a result became a place for the unemployed either Yemenis or Somalis who fled their war-ravaged country.
In Rada'a, Qat is the primary source for financing the construction of buildings along with income the expatriates calculate. Nevertheless, very low sale rates of qat do not only spark worries among farmers but also among others who exercise other activities related to the marketing of qat.
As Rada'a county enjoys a plain area and experiences a steady increase in the number of buildings, government parties concerned with planning are supposed to propose ideal strategies for the construction of buildings to maintain the civilized and historic dimensions of the town. But now the viewer perceives not more than houses randomly built and no streets covered with tarmac.
Qat and the businesses connected with it converted the wonderful town into a qat market covered with plastic bags. The visitor, when touring Rada'a for the first times, will find himself in rubbish damp.
Lack of water
Rains scarcely fall on many areas around the town of Rada'a. The provision of underground water, as a consequence, is about to run out, meanwhile, the consumption rate of water horribly rise.
It has been made clear to the observer the provision of underground cisterns is drawing to a close and this in turn caused a great problem to the process of watering the plants and even for human beings to drink. Many solutions should be suggested to limit the worsening of the phenomenon, either in the daily use of water or in watering the plants.
At present, Rada'a is one of the areas famous for qat plantation and a large quantity of underground water is consumed for growing qat, which is steadily stretching across the area. With the rate of rainfall going down and the rate of everyday consumption of water raising high, an unprecedented human crisis is bound to occur.
Rada'a is in an urgent need for the various governmental institutions to turn intensive attention toward what is experienced there. Paradise of the past became a wasteland at the moment.
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