Record Number: 33582
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'When we had looked over the crumbling edge, the population took us to their mosque, in whose ruin a wooden minbar with date carved upon it gave the presumable age of Sanahiye's prosperity. It belonged to the year AH 693 (1293 AD). The script was not completely clear and the schoolmaster came to help, an ancient man nearly blind and all grey to his sparse chisel beard and formless shirt, and the agate bead or Sawwama he wore round his neck against toothache. The population looked at him with affectionate veneration while he pronounced the words after me, pretending to read them himself: indeed, he was almost too blind to read anything at all, but doubtless knew enough of the Quran by heart to keep his flock in their appointed ways.'
Century:1900-1945
Date:Between 1 Nov 1937 and 24 Nov 1937
Country:Yemen
Timedaytime
Place:city: Sanahiye
county: Tarim
specific address: mosque
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:31 Jan 1893
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Travel writer
Religion:Christian
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:Yemen
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Koran
Genre:Other religious, Inscription from the Quran on the minbar, read aloud in Arabic
Form of Text:Unknown
Publication DetailsInscription on the wooden minbar, dated from 1293
Provenanceread in situ
in the ruined mosque of Sanahiye
Source Information:
Record ID:33582
Source:Freya Stark
Editor:n/a
Title:A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:1972
Vol:n/a
Page:23
Additional Comments:
Pagination is from the 2011 IB Tauris edition. The book was first published by John Murray in London in 1972.
Citation:
Freya Stark, A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen, (London, 1972), p. 23, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33582, accessed: 18 April 2024
Additional Comments:
Dame Freya Madeline Stark, Mrs Perowne, (31 January 1893 – 9 May 1993) was a British explorer and travel writer. Sanahiye is on the main road from Tarim to Seiyun in the Kathiri State of Seiyun, part of the British Aden Protectorate from 1869 until 1967.
