Rayʽan ( ) is a village in

Hamdan District Hamdan District () is a Districts of Yemen, district of the Sana'a Governorate, Yemen. , the district had a population of 85,370 inhabitants. It is named after the ancient Yemeni tribe of Banu Hamdan, Hamdan. Populated places (incomplete list) * ...

Sanaa Governorate Sanaa ( '), also spelled San'a or Sana, is a governorate of Yemen. Its capital is Sanaa, which is also the national capital. However, the city of Sanaa is not part of the governorate but instead forms the separate governorate of Amanat Al-Asema ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. It is located a short distance from the head of the Wadi Dahr near Bayt Naʽam, so that all the water coming down to the wadi from

Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb ''Jabal An-Nabī Shuʿayb'' (), also called Jabal Hadhur (), is a mountain of the Harazi subregion of the Sarawat, located in Bani Matar District, Sanaa Governorate, Yemen. It is the highest mountain in the country and the Arabian Peninsula. ...

passes through a steep, narrow valley, just north of Rayʽan.

History

There was once a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

in the valley north of Rayʽan, until it was destroyed by an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

in 245 A.H. (859 C.E.). The dam's exact purpose is unclear, but Robert T.O. Wilson suggested that it "may have helped to control floodwaters which would otherwise pass unchecked into Wadi Dahr." Such a flood happened in 1974. From the

Rasulid The Rasulids () or the Rasulid dynasty was a Sunni Yemenis, Yemeni dynasty of Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic origin who ruled Yemen from 1229 to 1454. Origin The Rasulids take their name from a messenger under the Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasids, Muh ...

period onward, Rayʽan was frequently used as a military encampment.

References

{{Reflist Villages in Sanaa Governorate Hamdan District