Over the past decades, a number of families in Raiymah have been famous in manuscripts and books, the most important of which is the "Al-Hittari" family in Bani Al-Dhubaibi, affiliated to the Al-Jabin District in the Raymah Governorate (Northwest of Yemen). The Hittari family has been known for writing the Qur'an and decorating mosques. Similarly, the Al-Bazzaz family and Bait Al-Qalaisi in the Al-Ja'afriah District, who left behind a large legacy of diverse manuscripts.
In Raiymah, mosques are decorated with ornaments, bound manuscripts, and the Qur’an scripts, which the “Al-Hittari” family had their distinctive marks on, as a result, mosques appear with very beautiful and artistic calligraphy, amazing colors, decorations and margins, as well as aging and durable binding of holy books of Qur'an.
Moreover, they also excelled in writing manuscripts in various sciences and fields, and they had a branch of their family in Aden who was famous for the manuscript trade.
These families have been mentioned by Orientalists as being well known of scholars, imams of mosques and poets who were famed in different periods of time. The researcher and journalist Ali Al-Dhubaibi reported to “Khuyut,” what the historian Haider Ali Naji said: “Sheikh Yassin Al-Qasim Al-Hittari, who was born in the village of Bani Hittar in Bani Al-Dhubaibi in the second half of the thirteenth century AH - and was one of the most prominent calligraphers who became popular in Raymah for writing and decorating manuscripts, including the Qur’anic copies that spread throughout the areas and districts of Raymah and beyond.
In the same context, Ahmed Al-Jabbari, a writer and historian in Raymah told "Khuyut" that Al-Hittari had carved and decorated the house of his grandfather, Judge Ahmed bin Ahmed Al-Jabari, in the village of Al-Akma in Bani Al-Dhubaibi, with beautiful and very elegant drawings and writings, which are still present in the house. He added that the Sheikh had written to his grandfather, Judge Ahmed al-Jabari, a copy of the Qur’an, which they still keep until today.
This copy of the handwritten Qur’an is considered one of the most beautiful copies written by Al-Hittari. It consists of 15 volumes of complete pieces, and includes the interpretation of Al-Jalalayn. It was also appended to Al-Suyuti’s Book of the Nasikh and Mansookh in the Qur’an with various fonts and multiple elegant and beautiful colors, according to Ahmed Al-Jabbari.
Al-Jabari describes Sheikh Yassin Al-Hittari as a first-class calligrapher and mosaic artist, with a unique talent for mixing colors and creating exquisite patterns of inscriptions.
Further, he was perfect in his writing of the verses and surahs that he used to write, as he usually starts this artistic work in the beginning of each surah of the Holy Qur’an with an exquisite combination that differed from the other.
Anonymous efforts
The family of Sheikh Yassin Al-Hittari fears the loss and extinction of the artworks he left behind, which represent a rich cultural heritage not only for the region, but for the whole country in general. That's because they do not have documents specifying the number of manuscripts he wrote and the locations of their distribution, in the absence of the role of the concerned authorities in the governorate in documenting such heritage and maintain it.
Moreover, Sheikh Yassin Al-Hittari’s work was not limited to writing the Holy Qur’an and manuscripts, rather, it expanded to writing documents and inscriptions on the ceilings of the mosques and old buildings. “Khuyut” found beautiful and elegant inscriptions, calligraphies and drawings during their field explorations, with which they decorated the ceilings of a number of different buildings in Raiymah.
For his part, Jamal Al-Haidari, Director of the Antiquities Office in Raiymah, told "Khuyut" that they do not have any information or statistics about the hand-books or ancient manuscripts found in Raiymah, whether written by Al-Hittari or others.
In his turn, the director of the Office of Antiquities and Manuscripts in the governorate, Hassan Al-Qalaisi, calls in an interview with "Khuyut", the competent organizations, those interested and those who own the ancient manuscripts, in Raiymah, to cooperate with them in order to highlight the such significant heritage that the governorate is rich in, and so that the authority can document these manuscripts and preserve them from disappearance and loss.
Fruitfulness and Outstanding works of art
Many of those figures whom “Khuyut” met, among the relatives of Sheikh Yassin Al-Hittari and those interested in his heritage in Raiymah, led by Abdul Rahman Yassin Al-Hittari, said that Sheikh Al-Hittari wrote nearly 360 copies of the Qur’an. However, many of those copies were distributed in separate parts of Raiymah and outside it, and many of them are still exists to the present day preserved by certain families and known mosques in Raiymah.
"Khuyut" was able to access nearly 30 copies of the old Qur'ans written by the calligraphy of Sheikh Al-Hittari, and it discovered manuscripts and other artworks of him, located inside and outside Raymah.
The researcher and journalist Ali Al-Dhubaibi asserts that this great artistic wealth is concentrated in the works of Sheikh Al-Hittari during the period in which he lived at the end of the Turkish rule in Yemen.
At that time, Raymah Governorate was one of the richest regions in Yemen, and therefore the Turks sought to seize it. This wealth was reflected in reality through what we observed today of plenty of these manuscripts, Quran copies, castles, and proved the role of wealthy social figures among the society.
Yassin Al-Hittari's work was not confined to Raymah only, as confirmed by Mohammad Ali Al-Hittari, a social figure in the governorate of Raymah, in his talk to "Khuyut", but spread outside it, as Sheikh Abdul Majeed Al-Raymi (Al-Hittari), a relative of the Yassin Al-Hittari family; While traveling in the Yemeni governorates, he obtained a copy of the Qur’an in the handwriting of Sheikh Yassin Al-Hittari in the Ghathaima area of Ammran governorate (north of Sana'a), and he also obtained another copy in the town of Al-Mansuriya in Al-Hodeidah Governorate (northwest of Yemen).
Sheikh Yassin's Hermitage
Sheikh Yassin Al-Hittari lived and moved between the various Yemeni provinces, transcribing the Qur’an, writing documents and manuscripts, and engraving mosques and houses. There is still a special room bearing his name to this day, in one of the (palaces) in the Al-Jaafariah District in Raymah, called “Yassin’s Hermitage.”
According to Abdu Al-Bari al-Qalaisi, a resident of Al-Ja'afriah district of Raymah and one of those interested in heritage, when the children of Sheikh Yahya Mohammad al-Nahari finished building Dar Al-Haym in the upper Bani Saeed area of Al-Ja'afriah district, in the year 1314 AH, they brought in the calligrapher Yassin Belqasim al-Hittari, and assigned him a private room on the fifth floor of the palace, where he worked on writing two copies of the Qur’an, and two copies of other religious and historical books.
Each copy of the Qur’an consists of 30 volumes, while each copy of the other books was written in six large volumes, and these manuscripts are still preserved to this day, which “Khuyut” had reviewed and obtained copies of those manuscripts.
Decoration and Ornamentation of mosques
Moreover, Sheikh Yassin Al-Hittari’s work was not limited to writing the Holy Qur’an and manuscripts, rather, it expanded to writing documents and inscriptions on the ceilings of the mosques and old buildings. “Khuyut” found beautiful and elegant inscriptions, calligraphies and drawings during their field explorations, with which they decorated the ceilings of a number of different buildings in Raiymah.
One of these old drawings were shown on the roof of the building of the Great Mosque in the “Al-Jabeen” province, whose construction dates back to the nineteenth century AD, and in which there is a library that includes a number of manuscripts, including a copy of the Qur’an written in the script of Sheikh Al-Hittari.
Historian Haider Ali Naji mentioned in his autobiographies that an archaeological mission headed by Ahmed Lutf Al-Atab visited the Al-Awar Mosque, in the mid-1980s, who was accompanying the mission at the time, and published its report in Al-Ekleel magazine, in fall 1987, in which it said: “"The mosque is in a square shape, and the most important thing that catches the eye is its wooden ceiling filled with beautiful plant decorations inlaid with gold water, and some other bright colors. The ceiling holds five rows of different shapes."
This suggests technical ingenuity and precision in the process of carving on wood, as there are plant formations inside each box that resemble a star or a flower, including the quadrilateral, the hexagonal, and the octagonal ones.
