The Flood of al-Arim (the Bursting of Maʾrib Dam)

The bursting of the Marib Dam in 450 or 451 CE, according to The Sealed Nectar's estimate. It was the great flood that the Qur'an mentions as the flood of al-Arim, a major event that led to the ruin of settlement and the scattering of peoples. ^{1 2}

After Yemen gained its independence from the first Abyssinian occupation in 378 CE, breaches began to appear in the Marib Dam, until the great flood came. ¹ The dam had begun to be built in the time of the mukarrib kings of Saba, and it has great importance in the history of Yemen. ^{3 1}

In the chapter on the peoples of the Arabs, the author states that the migration of most clans of Kahlan from Yemen took place shortly before the flood of al-Arim, when their trade failed. ⁴ He also states that the flood was a major event that led to the ruin of civilisation and the scattering of peoples. ¹

The Qur'an mentions the flood of al-Arim in Surat Saba (Saba 16). ¹

The dating is the author's estimate, drawn from Tafhim al-Qur'an and the history of the land of the Qur'an. He notes the wide disagreement among the sources in fixing the years. ⁵ The academic dating of the dam's collapses from inscriptions has not yet been added.