Related Research Articles
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.
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.
Al-Mansur al-Qasim, with the cognomen al-Kabir, was an Imam of Yemen, who commenced the struggle to liberate Yemen from the Ottoman occupiers. He was the founder of a Zaidi kingdom that endured, under many vicissitudes, until 1962.
Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad was an Imam of Yemen (1620–1644), son of Al-Mansur al-Qasim. He managed to expel the Ottoman Turks entirely from the Yemenite lands, thus confirming an independent Zaidi state.
Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il was an Imam of Yemen who ruled the country from 1644 until 1676. He was a son of Al-Mansur al-Qasim. His rule saw the biggest territorial expansion of the Zaidiyyah imamate in Greater Yemen.
Al-Mahdi Ahmad was an Imam of Yemen, who ruled in 1676–1681. He belonged to the Qasimid family that was descended from Muhammad.
Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad II was an Imam of Yemen who ruled from 1681 to 1686. He belonged to the Qasimid family which descended from the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and dominated the Zaidi imamate in 1597–1962. Muhammad was a son of the imam al-Mutawakkil Isma'il. When his cousin and predecessor al-Mahdi Ahmad died in 1681, a number of Qasimids laid claim to the imamate. Through the diplomatic efforts of the Ulema the dispute was settled without bloodshed, and al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad II gained power. He first resided in San'a, but later moved to Dawran. During his short reign the territory of the Zaidi state founded by his grandfather began to shrink. The Yafa tribesmen in the east expelled their governor and were henceforth lost to the Yemeni kingdom.
Al-Mahdi Muhammad bin Ahmed, also known as Ṣāḥib al-Mawāhib, was an Imam of Yemen who ruled in 1689–1718. He belonged to the Qasimid family that was descended from the Islamic prophet Muhammad and dominated the Zaidi imamate in 1597–1962.
Al-Mutawakkil al-Qasim was an Imam of Yemen who ruled in 1716–1727. He belonged to the Qasimid family, that was descended from Muhammad and dominated the Zaidi imamate of Yemen in 1597–1962.
Al-Mansur Ali I was an Imam of Yemen who ruled in 1775–1809. He belonged to the Qasimid family, descended from the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, which dominated the Zaidi imamate in 1597–1962.
Al-Mutawakkil Ahmad (26), September 1756 - 10 September 1816 was an Imam of Yemen who ruled in 1809-1816. He belonged to the Qasimid family, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, which dominated the Zaidi imamate of Yemen from 1597 to 1962.
Al-Mansur Ali II (1812–1871) was an Imam of Yemen who reigned in the capital San'a during four brief terms. He belonged to the Qasimid family, descended from the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, which dominated the Zaidi imamate of Yemen from 1597 to 1962.
An-Nasir Abdallah was an Imam of Yemen who ruled in 1837-1840. He was a member of the Qasimid family, descendants of Muhammad, which dominated the Zaidi imamate of Yemen from 1597 to 1962.
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-Hadi Sharaf ad-Din was a claimant for the Zaidi imamate of Yemen in the years 1878–1890, acting in opposition to the Ottoman occupiers of the country. His period saw a tribal embryo of a state taking form in the highlands of Yemen, which would be strengthened by his successors as imams, and eventually usher into the expulsion of the Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century.
Al-Mansur Ahmad was a Zaydiyya imam who claimed the rulership over Yemen in the years 1849–1853. His strife-ridden career spelt the end of the Zaydi Imamate of Yemen as a coherent force.
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 of the Prophet Muhammad, He ruled in the way of the Quran and the Sunnah and he left a number of writings on Hadith including praise poetry for the Islamic prophet Mohammad.
Al-Mansur Muhammad was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled in 1475-1504, in rivalry with other claimants for the imamate.
Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled in parts of the Yemeni highland including San'a in 1462-1503.
The Yemeni Zaidi State, also known as the Zaidi Immamate and the Qasimid State, was a Zaidi-ruled independent state in Greater Yemen region, which was founded by al-Mansur al-Qasim in 1597 and absorbed much of the Ottoman Yemen Eyalet by 1628 and completely expelled the Ottomans from Yemen by 1638. The Zaidi state continued to exist into 18th and 19th century, but gradually fractured into separate small states. The most notable of those states was the Sultanate of Lahej; most of those states were submitted by the Ottomans and incorporated into the restored Ottoman province of Yemen Eyalet in 1849.
References
- ↑ R.W. Stookey, Yemen; The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Boulder 1978, p. 144. The filiation is al-Mutawakkil Isma'il - Ahmad - al-Qasim -al-Husayn - Muhammad - Abd ar-Rahman - Abbas.
- ↑ Vincent Steven Wilhite, Guerilla War, Counterinsurgency, and State Formation in Ottoman Yemen, PhD Thesis, Ohio State Universityb2003, p. 98.
- ↑ R.B. Serjeant & R. Lewcock, San'a'; An Arabian Islamic City. London 1983. p. 90.
- ↑ Caesar E. Farah, The Sultan's Yemen; Nineteenth-Century Challenges to Ottoman Rule. London 2002, p. 58.
- ↑ Zaidi biographies, in http://www.al-aalam.com/personinfo.asp?pid=426 Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic).
| Preceded by al-Mansur Ali II | Zaydi Imam of Yemen 1850 | Succeeded by al-Mansur Ahmad |