Bayda

關於Bayda

Bayda or Elbeida, known as Beda Littoria under Italian colonial rule, is a commercial and industrial city in northern Cyrenaica, eastern Libya. With a population of 250,000 people, Bayda is the 4th-largest city in Libya after Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata. It is the capital city of the Jabal al Akhdar district.

Bayda's history stretches back to classical antiquity, when it was known as Balagrae. The 2,000-year-old ruins of the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene are located nearby in Shahat.

One of the greatest attractions in the city is the tomb of a famous companion (sahabah) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Ruwaifi bin Thabit al-Ansari. For that reason, the city was known as Sidi Rafaa after him. After the arrival of Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi in the area in the 19th century, and the construction of a white-painted zāwiyah (located on top of a high hill and clearly visible from a distance), the city was renamed az-Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ (الزاوية البيضاء, "the White Monastery"). Over time, the word zāwiyah was dropped and the city became known simply as (al-)Bayḍāʾ. The Senussi movement had dedicated...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.