The Mosque of Al-Motahir Bin Imam Sharafidin was built around 980 Hejra, which corresponds to roughly 1572 CE, during a period when the Zaydi imams exercised considerable authority across the Yemeni highlands. Al-Motahir Bin Imam Sharafidin was a significant figure in that tradition, and the mosque built in his name reflects the architectural vocabulary of highland Yemeni religious construction: thick stone walls, carved plasterwork on the interior surfaces, and a minaret that reads clearly against the sky from the approaches to the town.
The mosque is an active place of worship, not a monument. Visitors who wish to look inside should ask permission and observe the usual courtesies — remove shoes, avoid entering during prayer times, dress conservatively. The carved decoration inside is worth taking time over: the Zaydi tradition of mosque-building in Yemen developed its own distinct ornamental language, related to but distinct from the Ottoman and Mamluk styles that dominated elsewhere in the Islamic world at the same period. For a building that sees no tourist traffic, it is remarkably well-preserved.