Hadhramaut, Hadhramout,
Hadramawt or Ḥaḍramūt (Arabic:
حضرموت
Ḥaḍramawt)
is the formerly independent
Qu'aiti state and sultanate encompassing a historical
region of the south
Arabian Peninsula along the
Gulf of Aden in the
Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from
Yemen to the borders of the
Dhofar region of
Oman. The name of the region is currently retained in
the smaller
Hadhramaut Governorate of the Republic of Yemen. The
people of Hadhramaut are called
Hadhramis and speak
Hadhrami Arabic.
---
---
History
The community was very old,
and, after the rise of
Islam and the expulsion of the
Hejazi Jews, the main centers of Jewish
population in Arabia in Hadhramaut and
in Aden. However, the Jews of Hadhramaut
were much more isolated than their counterparts
in
Aden, and the community only became known to
the outside world in the 1940s. The community
had distinctive religious traditions. Many of
the Hadhrami Jews converted to Islam, but after
the founding of the
State of Israel, the community made
Aliyah, and there are no more Hadhramaut
Jews in Yemen today. The Jews of Hadhramaut
lived in
Seiyun,
Tarim,
Al-Mukalla and
Al-Sheher. Among the well known Jewish
families of the region in Al-Sheher and Mukalla
are: Ben Haneen, Ben Haiem, Ben Yaze'a, Ben
Zaghio, Ben Ysra'ail and Ben Qatian. All of
these families converted to Islam in the time
period from 1509 until the 1990s. The Ben
Qattian family is famous in Hadhramaut as dagger
makers and gold smiths.
YEMEN:
