Hamidah, Yemen

Hamidah حمدة
Village
Hamidah Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 15°49′57″N 43°57′59″E
Country	Yemen
Governorate	'Amran
District	Raydah
Elevation [1]	7,260 ft (2,213 m)
Time zone	UTC+3 (Yemen Standard Time)

Hamidah (Arabic: حمدة Ḥamidah), historically known as Hamudah, is a village and administrative sub-division ('uzlah) in Raydah District of 'Amran Governorate, Yemen.[1][2] It is located on a small plain that sticks out to the west of the al-Bawn from a point just north of Raydah.[2]

History

Hamidah is an ancient settlement, with its name mentioned in several old Himyaritic inscriptions. It is mentioned in several historical sources including the Iklil and the Sifat Jazirat al-Arab, both by al-Hamdani, the Ghayat al-amani of Yahya ibn al-Husayn, the Sirat al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq of al-Abbasi, the Kitab al-Simt of Muhammad ibn Hatim al-Yami al-Hamdani, and the Muʽjam ma'staʽjam of al-Bakri. Hamidah was not the site of any major historical events,[2] although it is mentioned in Jewish historical writings as a place where the Imam Al-Mahdi Ahmad ordered the destruction of a synagogue in the year 1678 of the Common Era.[3]

References

1. "Geonames.org. Ḩamidah". Retrieved 12 February 2021.
2. Wilson, Robert T.O. (1989). Gazetteer of Historical North-West Yemen. Germany: Georg Olms AG. p. 144. ISBN 9783487091952. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
3. In Tanḥum ben Joseph's al-Murshid al-kāfi (in manuscript form), p. 112 (Yosef Tobi's Private Collection), there is the following marginal note which reads: "The synagogue was destroyed here, [in] Ḥamidah, on Wednesday, the 17th day of the lunar month Teveth, in the year 1,989 [of the Seleucid Era] (=1678 CE), by order of al-Mahdi and Muhammad ben Ahmad."