The flood of the 'Arim

The Flood of al-Arim was the flood that struck the people of Saba' in Ma'rib after their dam collapsed. Al-Mas'udi, in "The Meadows of Gold", relates its story and that of the dam. ¹

Al-Mas'udi says that the dam was a farsakh by a farsakh, and that Luqman the Great, of 'Ad, built it. The water came out of a sluice of hard stone and iron, with thirty round openings through which it flowed to its channels until it watered the gardens. ¹

The base of the sluice weakened over the years, so the water overcame the dam and the buildings and took possession of the homes and gardens. He says that al-Arim was the embankment that had been made as a barrier between their estates and the flood, and that a mouse breached it. ¹

Al-Mas'udi relates that the people of Ma'rib used to worship the sun, and God sent them messengers. He then says that their lands became fertile afterwards and their buildings spread to Palestine and Syria, and then they scattered. ²

The date of the event is not recorded in the data and needs an additional source.