Bayt al-Faqih

Bayt al-Faqīh or Beit al-Faqih (archaic Betelfaguy;[1] Arabic: بيت الفـــقية‎ Bayt al-Faqīh, 'House of the Jurist') is a city in Al Hudaydah Governorate in Yemen. It is located on the pilgrimage and trade route across the Tihamah plain between Al Hudaydah and Ta'izz. It is 50 km south of Al Hudaydah and 150 km southwest of the Yemeni capital of San‘a’ and lies at an altitude of 122 m. Its population was 28,773 in the 1994 census and estimated at 41,652 in 2005.

Bayt al-Faqīh بيت الفـــقية
Market of Bayt al-Faqih
Bayt al-Faqīh Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 14°30′58″N 43°10′28″E
Country	Yemen
Governorate	Al Hudaydah Governorate
Time zone	UTC+3 (Yemen Standard Time)

Ibn Battuta visited the grave of the individual for whom the city is named after, the celebrated jurist Ahmad b. Musa b. Ali Ujail (1212-1291).[2]

A Zaranig man

Although today most of the population of Bayt al-Faqih work the weaving or jewelry industries, the city was historically known as the source of coffee exported through the port of Mocha. The Qasimi Zaydi imams established it as a centralized coffee emporium for this purpose in the mid-seventeenth century; at its peak it attracted many merchants from Jidda, Basra, and elsewhere.[3] The town's Friday souk (market) is a remnant of the town's once-thriving coffee trade.

References

1. Wild, Antony (2005). Coffee: A Dark History. W. W. Norton. p. 105. ISBN 0-393-06071-3. Retrieved 2010-06-21. Coffee: a dark history.
2. Battutah, Ibn (2002). The Travels of Ibn Battutah. London: Picador. pp. 84–85, 306. ISBN 9780330418799.
3. Um, Nancy (2017). Shipped but Not Sold: Material Culture and the Social Protocols of Trade during Yemen's Age of Coffee. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 9780824866402.

External links

• "Hodeidah" with information on Bayt Al-Faqih at Yemen Old Splendour Tours