Factoid of the day

The destruction of the ancient Marib dam that fed the ancient kingdom of Yemen led to the downfall of that kingdom, and many local tribes migrating elsewhere which may have helped the spread of Islam.

The dam broke and was repaired in AD. 450 and again in 542, but in the latter part of the sixth century - AD. 570 according to early Muslim historians - the dam broke for the third and last time, the skill, and perhaps the will, to repair it having vanished.

Subsequently, as a result, many farmers of Marib began to migrate - some in whole tribes north to Syria, as their descendants relate to this day - while others joined the victorious armies of Islam and scattered to the four corners of the earth. The Koran itself refers to the collapse of the Marib Dam as a punishment on the Sabaeans for their ungratefulness to God.

more HERE.
-----------------

a new dam was constructed here in 1986...by those in the UAE who had originated in that area. And the UAE has a film about this dam HERE.