Queen Arwa Mosque

The Great Mosque of Jibla, widely known as the Queen Arwa Mosque, is the principal sacred monument associated with Jibla’s period as a Sulayhid capital. The city lies on the northeastern slope of Mount At-Ta‘kar, about six kilometres southwest of Ibb. UNESCO’s 2025 Tentative List submission describes Jibla as an important Islamic and traditional city that served as the capital of the Sulayhid state during the tenth to twelfth centuries CE and was chosen by Queen Al-Hurra Sayyida bint Ahmad al-Sulayhi, commonly known as Queen Arwa, as the seat of her rule.

UNESCO specifically identifies the Great Mosque of Jibla as one of the major architectural works constructed during Queen Arwa’s reign. The mosque stands in the city centre and adjoins her mausoleum, making it both a congregational religious monument and a place closely tied to the memory of one of medieval Yemen’s most significant rulers.

The wider city preserves mosques, madrasas, shrines, bridges and waterworks alongside thousands of traditional stone tower houses. This entry does not assign an exact construction year or a precise burial date because the cited UNESCO page does not provide those details. It also does not claim a miracle or healing tradition.

The mosque’s significance is instead grounded in its documented Sulayhid context, its association with Queen Arwa and its continuing place within Jibla’s Islamic heritage.