An-Nasir Muhammad bin Yusuf

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An-Nasir Muhammad bin Yusuf (died August 8, 1488) was a contender for the Zaidi state in Yemen, whose term as imam is counted from 1474 to 1488.

Muhammad bin Yusuf was a descendant of the imam al-Mahdi Ali (d. 1372) in the fifth generation. [1] When the old imam al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar died in Dhamar in 1474, three claimants appeared on the scene. These included Muhammad bin Yusuf, who went from San'a to the mountainous stronghold Thula. From there he made his da'wa (call for the imamate), spreading the message to San'a, Falala and other Zaidi areas. He took the honorific name an-Nasir Muhammad. His two rivals were al-Mansur Muhammad and al-Hadi Izz ad-Din, who belonged to other branches of the Rassids. One Zaidi faction, the Hamzite Sharifs, actually heeded his call and acknowledged him from April 1476 to October–November 1487. Nevertheless, the people of the traditional centre of the Zaydiyyah community, Sa'dah, refused to support him and instead proclaimed al-Hadi Izz ad-Din. [2] An-Nasir Muhammad was considered to have the best doctrinal knowledge of his contemporaries, but luck was not on his side. Neither of the claimants was able to control the key city San'a, which was in the hands of a fourth imam, al-Mu’ayyad Muhammad, since 1464. [3] An-Nasir Muhammad died after a fairly obscure tenure in 1488, and was buried in the dome in Thula. [4]

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Rassids

The Imams of Yemen and later the Kings of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and secular rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured under varying circumstances until the republican revolution in 1962. Zaidiyyah theology differed from Ismailis or Twelver Shi'ites by stressing the presence of an active and visible imam as leader. The imam was expected to be knowledgeable in religious sciences, 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" (da'wa), and there were not infrequently more than one claimant. The historian Ibn Khaldun mentions the clan that usually provided the imams as the Banu Rassi or Rassids. In the original Arab sources the term Rassids is otherwise hardly used; in Western literature it usually refers to the Imams of the medieval period, up to the 16th century. The Rassid branch that came to power with imam al-Mansur al-Qasim is known as Qasimids.

Imams of Yemen

The Imams of Yemen and later the Kings of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and secular rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured under varying circumstances until the republican revolution in 1962. Zaidiyyah theology differed from Isma'ili or Twelver Shi'ites 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" (da'wa), and there were not infrequently more than one claimant.

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References

  1. ↑ The line of descent is al-Mahdi Ali - al-Hasan - al-Murtada - Salah - Yusuf - an-Nasir Muhammad.
  2. ↑ Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid, Masadir ta'rikh al-Yaman fial 'asr al-islami. al Qahira 1974.
  3. ↑ Lein O. Schuman, Political History of the Yemen at the Beginning of the 16th Century. Groningen 1960, p. 52-3
  4. ↑ Imam Zaid bin Ali Cultural Foundation, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2011-01-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (in Arabic).
Preceded by
al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar 		Zaydi Imam of Yemen
1474–1488		Succeeded by
al-Hadi Izz ad-din
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