Haddah

Village in Sanaa, Yemen

Haddah

حدة

Village

Haddah

Location in Yemen

Coordinates: 15°17′35″N 44°09′49″E﻿ / ﻿15.29294°N 44.16362°E﻿ / 15.29294; 44.16362[1]
Country|  Yemen
Governorate| Sanaa
District| Sanhan
Elevation

[1]

| 7,933 ft (2,418 m)
Time zone| UTC+3 (Yemen Standard Time)

Haddah (Arabic: حدة Ḥaddah) is an affluent suburb of Sanaa, Yemen,[2] located about 8 km southwest of central Sanaa in Sanhan District of Sanaa Governorate.[3][1] It has been described as "the Beverly Hills of Sanaa" — a first-world enclave in a third-world city, with its avenues lined by palatial mansions belonging to the country's rich and powerful.[4] Its buildings mostly tend to emulate the architecture of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.[4]

## History

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Since the time of al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, the first Imam of Yemen, Haddah was often used as a base of operations against Sanaa.[3] It was also frequently attacked from Sanaa.[3] An early mention in the Ghayat al-amani of Yahya ibn al-Husayn records that Haddah was the site of a minor battle in November or December of 901 CE (Dhu'l-Hijjah, 288 AH).[5] The battle was won by forces loyal to Imam al-Hadi.[5] The following year, al-Hadi sent a force, led by his son Abu'l-Qasim Muhammad and his own brother Abdullah, to Haddah and nearby Sana' (not the same as Sanaa).[5] They were attacked, but they were victorious and their attackers were routed.[5] Historical texts mention that Haddah's trees were cut down as punishment on multiple occasions.[3] One was in 1273 or 1274 CE (672 AH), when the Rasulid sultan al-Muzaffar Yusuf I razed Haddah and Sana' and cut down their trees.[5] Haddah still had many trees through the mid-20th century,[2] and was described in 1962 by Husayn ibn Ali al-Waysi as a favored picnic spot for Sana'nis,[5] but most of the trees were cut down in the 1980s as Haddah was built up into a suburb of Sanaa.[2]

## References

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1. ^ a b c "Geonames.org.  Ḩaddah". Retrieved 12 February 2021.
2. ^ a b c Dresch, Paul (2000). A history of modern Yemen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 167–8\. ISBN 9780521794824. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
3. ^ a b c d Wilson, Robert T.O. (1989). Gazetteer of Historical North-West Yemen. Germany: Georg Olms AG. p. 132\. ISBN 9783487091952. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
4. ^ a b Clark, Victoria (2010). Yemen: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes. Yale University Press. pp. 124, 182, 260–3\. ISBN 978-0-300-11701-1. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
5. ^ a b c d e f Eagle, A.B.D.R. (1990). Ghayat al-amani and the life and times of al-Hadi Yahya b. al-Husayn: an introduction, newly edited text and translation with detailed annotation. Durham University. pp. 148, 180–1, 183, 187. Retrieved 12 February 2021.