Sana’a, Yemen
“I took leave to continue my journey to the city of Sana’a. It is the former capital of the country of al-Yaman, a large and well-constructed city, built with bricks and plaster, with many trees and fruits, and with a temperate climate and good water. It is a curious thing that the rain in the lands of India, al-Yaman and Abyssinia falls during the period of summer heat, and mostly during the afternoon of every day in that season, so that travelers make haste when the sun begins to decline to avoid being caught by the rain and the womenfolk retire to their dwellings because those rains are heavy downpours. The whole city of Sana’a is paved and when the rain falls it washes and cleans all the streets. The cathedral mosque of Sana’a is one of the finest of Mosques and contains the grave of one of the prophets.”
The old City of Sana'a. I did not get into the Great Mosque. I tried, but there is currently a minor drama going on in Yemen; the first is an ongoing dispute between the government and the al-Houthi tribe in Sa’ada in the north, which has incurred several fatalities on both sides but mainly on the tribal side, the other is a trial in the capital involving ‘the bearded ones’ as the extremists are euphemistically called, and the government’s determination that they are not going to get a further hold in the country than whatever it is they already have. So, for now the mosque was off-limits.
The Great Mosque in Sana’a is said to have been built during the time of the Prophet in 627AD. It is the oldest Mosque in Yemen or then again, perhaps not. The Mosque of al-Janad just outside of Ta’izz vies for the honor. When the mosque was undergoing restoration in 1972, a series of manuscripts were found which inadvertently gave rise to considerable controversy. Among the papers appeared to be very early versions of the Koran which apppeared to have been ‘written over'. Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God given to Mohammed via the Angel Gabriel and is therefore inviolate. However it is generally accepted that the Koran was not compiled until after the Prophet's death, and that it was under the third Caliph, Othman, that the first copies were complied in the current form. During his reign in 651, Othman decreed that the Quran reciters must stick to one version, allowing no variants - the find in Sana'a raised the question of the existence of variants in the written version also. Because of the controversial nature of the subject, it is understandable that many people wish the subject would disappear - Muslim scholars would have to be brave to tackle it especially given the times in which we live, while Western scholars have often been accused of bias in the interpretation of their work in Islamic fields. Renovation at the mosque has begun again and earlier this year the Yemen Observer http://www.yobserver.com announced another find of old manuscripts including semi-completed copies of early Korans. The Mosque was constructed on the private property of the Sassanian governor of Sana’a, Bathan, who was an early convert to Islam thus it is perhaps not surprising that a collection of very early Islamic writings would be found here buried in multiple restorations of the mosque over the years. Sana’a is a ‘hijrah’ city - an ancient Arabian custom whereby fighting is forbidden within its walls, tribal disputes are settled and sanctuary is given. Guns are forbidden in Sana’a and if you sit for any length of time at the checkpoint south-east of the city, you will see carloads of tribesmen bound for Sana’a jump out of the car with their AK47’s, hand them over to the man in charge of the lock-up and dash back into the car again. You also see men coming from Sana’a run to the lock-up brandishing a piece of paper with which to retrieve their guns. It all works on the honor system which works in a country where the vast majority of the people still adhere to the unwritten ‘honor’ code. 
Signs such as this are located throughout the country especially near the larger cities. The Old City of Sana’a is magical. Deservedly a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1986, walking its streets is to take a step back into the past; tall, stone-built multi-storey towerhouses line twisting, narrow alleys, their windows outlined with white gypsum in fluid arabesques and swirls. Another unique decorative element is the traditional half-moon qamariyya window of pale alabaster, which filters light gently through the houses in the day, or in colored glass which glow like colored lanterns at night, giving Old Sana’a the look of a veritable Sheherazadian wonderland. 
A typical colored glass half moon qamariyya window found all over Yemen. As befits a medieval town, Sana’a was walled. Recently a large section of its walls have been rebuilt in the traditional style of zabur or dried, tamped mud with three meter thick bases tapering inwards at the top. Bab Yemen, despite renovation, gives a good indication of what the city would have looked like not so many years ago. 
Local architecture in the Old City Sana’a has a modern side too of course and this part is changing rapidly. Cars grind to a halt in gridlock as they do in every other city in the world in the early 21st century - too many for the streets, while motorbikes careen wildly by. Trendy biker lads, who decorate their machines with large sheepskins covering the entire upper part of the bike, park in groups at strategic places and sit back astride them to survey the scene. Wraparound dark glasses and dark chiselled features make of them Sanani versions of James Dean or Marlon Brando (in his early years). The Sana’a version of things is a bit different in one respect however - the women are covered from head to toe. 
The sitarah worn by country women in the city and the distinctive tie-dyed face covering.
