Fath al-Bari reaches Yemen, 901

In the year 901 a copy of the book "Fath al-Bari, a commentary on al-Bukhari" by the hadith master Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani reached the city of Zabid, carried from the Holy City of Mecca. It was the first time this book entered the lands of Yemen. The sultan of Yemen, Amir ibn Abd al-Wahhab, had sent someone to buy it, and it was purchased for a large sum ¹. The episode shows how quickly the works of Ibn Hajar, which he had completed less than fifty years earlier, spread, and how highly the book was valued: rulers in Yemen were sending for it and spending large sums to obtain it.