Tarim

Tarim is the religious capital of the Wadi Hadhramaut and is said to hold more mosques than any other town of its size, over three hundred in a place of modest population. The Al-Mihdhar mosque carries a mud-brick minaret of about fifty metres, the tallest earthen structure of its kind anywhere. Tarim was the centre from which Hadhrami scholars carried Islam to Indonesia and East Africa, and its Al-Ahqaf library holds thousands of manuscripts. Returning merchants built palaces here in a strange mix of Southeast Asian and classical styles. The town is quiet and its palaces stand along a few streets.