Ibb’s Grand Mosque: Heritage at Risk in Yemen’s Hinterland

Abstract

The Grand Mosque of Ibb, Yemen, also called the ʻUmar Caliph Mosque, is a critically endangered structure that has been a seat of the Shafiʽi school of Islamic jurisprudence since the twelfth century. From the sixteenth century through the present, this identity became marginalized due to the changing political conditions of Lower Yemen. The present state of the mosque testifies to multiple phases of neglect, and the destruction of a complex that served as both a house of worship and a university; collapses and modern interventions have obscured much of its earlier grandeur. This study analyses the Grand Mosque’s destruction and deterioration through its distinct historic periods. For the Grand Mosque’s most recent history, photographs and interviews conducted by geographer Mohamed Saleh Al-Haj, a local resident of Ibb, are presented in collaboration with art historian Lily Filson, a colleague in the United States. The necessity of this international scholarly teamwork underscores the difficulties and challenges of conservation and fieldwork in Ibb. The Grand Mosque faces imminent risk because of its central location within Yemen, a hinterland within Islamic architectural scholarship and the site of a civil war that has claimed irreplaceable monuments and a staggering human toll since 2014.