Al-Mahdi Muhammad bin al-Mutahhar (1275 - October 28, 1328) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled from 1301 to 1328.
The father of al-Mahdi Muhammad was the Imam al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar bin Yahya, who held the imamate of Zaidiyyah in the late 13th century with varying success. After al-Mutawakkil's death in Hajjah in 1298, al-Mahdi Muhammad claimed the succession, although the imamate was not strictly speaking hereditary. His term as imam is counted from either 1298 or 1301. When he acceded, the Sunni Muslim Rasulid Dynasty was still in a strong position, and dominated most of Yemen, including San'a. By and by, however, the imam was able to expand his territory in the highland. The population in the Sheref district suffered from Rasulid maladministration. In 1311, they heeded the summons of the imam, who started a military campaign against the oppressors. A major battle was fought in Yemen on 26 December 1311 where the troops of the Rasulid Sultan al-Mu'ayyad Da'udsultan were crushed. The Rasulid defeat resulted in a ceasefire agreement, which was transformed into a ten years peace in October 1312. Upper Sheref and a number of other places were acknowledged as belonging to al-Mahdi Muhammad, who furthermore received 3,000 ducats per year from the sultan's treasury. [1]
After five years, Sultan al-Mu'ayyad Da'ud broke the peace. The ensuing fighting was grim; houses and productive trees were destroyed and the heads of the fallen were taken. [2] In 1322, the year after al-Mu'ayyad Da'ud's death, the imam attacked San'a in full force. The Rasulid officials in the city had to sue for peace. When the governor of the city died in 1323, the local administration fell into confusion. Al-Mahdi Muhammad seized the opportunity and took over the city. The year was a turning-point. From this time, the Rasulids lost their grip on the north of Yemen, and mainly wielded power in the Tihamah coastland. The imam held sway over San'a and the highland until his death in Dhamarmar in 1328. He was brought to San'a where he was buried in the Great Mosque. [3] His death was followed by new dissention in the Zaidi community.
The Tahirids were an Arab Muslim dynasty that ruled Yemen from 1454 to 1517. They succeeded the Rasulid Dynasty and were themselves replaced by the Mamluks of Egypt after only 63 years in power.
The Imams of Yemen, later also titled the Kings of Yemen, were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and temporal-political rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured under varying circumstances until the end of the North Yemen Civil War in 1970, following the republican revolution in 1962. Zaidiyyah theology differs from Isma'ilism and Twelver Shi’ism by stressing the presence of an active and visible imam as leader. The imam was expected to be knowledgeable in religious scholarship, and to prove himself a worthy headman of the community, even in battle if this was necessary. A claimant of the imamate would proclaim a "call" (dawah), and there were not infrequently more than one claimant.
Al-Mu'ayyad Abbas was an Imam of Yemen who ruled briefly in 1850. He belonged to the Qasimi family, descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who dominated the Zaidi imamate of Yemen between 1597 and 1962. Abbas bin Abd ar-Rahman was a scholar who descended from Imam al-Mutawakkil Isma'il in the sixth generation. He was a disciple of the renowned Yemeni scholar Muhammad ash-Shawkani. After the abortive Ottoman intervention in highland Yemen in 1849, the remains of the Zaidi state became the prey of political rivalries. The current imam al-Mansur Ali II was an alcoholic and commanded little respect; tribal groups rebelled, and the court in San'a was dominated by the oppressive minister al-Misri. Certain Sayyids and qadis in San'a defected to Sa'dah far to the north, where al-Mansur Ahmad bin Hashim posed as imam. Al-Mansur Ahmad besieged San'a in 1850. However, the elite of San'a chose Abbas as their imam, under the name al-Mu'ayyad Abbas. The new imam appointed Muhammad ash-Shawkani's son Ahmad as his qadi. His soldiers and emirs held out for a while against the attackers in the qasr (fortress) of the city. Finally he had to surrender to al-Mansur Ahmad and was imprisoned. The victor, however, could only maintain his position in San'a for three months before he was forced to flee to the Arhab tribe. In the following year 1851, the contenders for the Zaidi imamate agreed to appoint al-Hadi Ghalib. Al-Mu'ayyad Abbas withdrew to a life of scholarship and teaching until his demise in 1880.
Al-Mutawakkil al-Muhsin was an Imam who claimed the Zaidi state of Yemen in 1855–1878, in rivalry with several other contenders and with the invading Turks. His highly contested reign saw the temporary end of the independent Yemeni state.
Al-Mahdi Ali bin Mohammed was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled in 1349–1372.
Al-Wathiq al-Mutahhar was an imam of the Zaidi state of Yemen, who was also a poet. A native of As Sudah, he was the son of the powerful imam al-Mahdi Muhammad bin al-Mutahhar who died in 1328. After the death of al-Mahdi, no less than four would-be imams tried to assert their authority over the Zaidi community. One of them was al-Wathiq al-Mutahhar, who made his proclamation in 1330 from Haidah, south of San'a. However, he quickly had to yield to the strongest claimant, al-Mu'ayyad Yahya. Al-Mu'ayyad held the imamate to his death in 1346 or 1349. Although he was not really a mujtahid, al-Wathiq briefly succeeded al-Mu'ayyad Yahya in 1349, and seized San'a. Again, however, he was rapidly forced to step down by a stronger candidate, al-Mahdi Ali. After this, he withdrew to teaching and literary activities, and in San'a he would die. His gravestone, in the Great Mosque of San'a, is dated in 781 AH (1379/80). Other texts mention the year 802 AH (1399) for his demise. The biography of al-Wathiq al-Mutahhar was written by his cousin an-Nasir bin Ali bin al-Mutahhar. The imam himself is credited with a number of writings. These include a diwan with many poems in younger literary form, and praise poems about Sultan al-Malik al-Afdal. In fact, he is one of the earliest known authors of the vernacular humayni poetry.
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Imam Al-Mutawakkil Ali al-Mutahhar was a ruler of Yemen from Sana’a who reigned from 1436 to 1474. He belonged to the Qasimid family who were descendants Muhammad, He ruled by the Quran and the Sunnah and he left a number of writings on Hadith including poetry praising Mohammad.
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Al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar bin Yahya was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen whose imamate lasted from 1276 to 1298.
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