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35-589: The Hamdan stemmed from the eponymous progenitor Awsala (nickname Hamdan) whose descent is traced back to the semi-legendary Kahlan . Their abode was, and still is, in northern Yemen, in the region north of Sanaa extending toward Marib and Najran to the east, Saada to the north and to the Red Sea coast to the west. In its most broad definition, the Hamdan group also includes the Hashid and Bakil groups, while in

70-646: A Qasimid side-branch which inaugurated the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen . For the next 44 years North Yemen was ruled by two powerful imams. Yahya bin Muhammad Hamid ad-Din and his son Ahmad bin Yahya created a kingdom there much as the kings of England and France had done centuries earlier. The two imams strengthened the state and secured its borders. They used the imamate to insulate Yemen and revitalize its Islamic culture and society at

105-420: A millenium, and as of 2018 numbered over a million members. Historically they have dominated northern Yemen, although sometimes at odds with each other. They became supporters of Yemeni Zaydism , being dubbed "the wings of the imamate", but exchanged their support for wide-ranging autonomy for themselves. The Hashid are divided into seven major tribes—al-Usaymat, Idhar, Kharif, Bani Suraym, Sanhan, and Hamdan—while

140-635: A presumably representative two-hundred-year period from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, there appear to have been more than twenty different candidates for the imamate, representing more than ten distinct clans. Eventually, the Europeans entered the Middle East , specifically the Portuguese and then others, in the effort to control the Red Sea trade. For the Zaydiyya imams, however,

175-410: A time when traditional societies around the world were declining under imperial rule. While Yemen under the two imams seemed almost frozen in time, a small but increasing number of Yemenis became aware of the contrast between an autocratic society they saw as stagnant and the political and economic modernization occurring in other parts of the world. This produced an important chain of events: the birth of

210-533: The Battle of Siffin in 657, they contributed some 12,000 men to Ali's army against his opponent Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan of Syria , and their leader, Sa'id ibn Qays al-Hamdani , played a prominent role in the battle. Other notable members in Kufa during the following period included Amir ibn Shahr and the poet A'sha Hamdan . The conversion of the Hamdan by Ali, and their subsequent close association with him, has led

245-601: The Kings of Yemen , were religiously consecrated leaders ( imams ) belonging to the Zaidi 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. Zaidi theology differs from Isma'ilism and Twelver Shi'ism by stressing

280-804: The Sulayhids . From the 12th century on, the Hamdanids began to shift towards acceptance of the Zaydi Imams of Yemen . Banu kharf They are from the Hamdan tribes and live in northern Yemen, specifically in the governorate of Amran, and they migrated to Muhammad in order to announce their Islam and their sheikh is a Mujahid Banu Kathiri from Hadramut in the East of Yemen where they established their own sultanate. Banu Al-Mashrouki settled in Lebanon producing well known Maronite influential families such as

315-743: The Tihamah (the low coastal plain) where the imams rarely gained influence. Among the better known of these are the Yu'firids (847–997), the Najahids (1021–1158), the Sulayhids (1047–1138), the Zuray'ids (1080–1174), and the Hatimids (1098–1174). It was during this period, when the Fatimid Caliphate was influential, that a portion of the population was converted to Isma'ilism . Beginning with

350-903: The Awwad, Massa'ad, Al-Sema'ani, Hasroun.[2] Banu Al Harith remained in Jabal Amil and were mainly Shia. A smaller group joined the Yemeni Druze and were eventually pushed by Kaysi Druze to Jabal Al Druze in Syria. Kahlan Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 543424181 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:34:37 GMT Imams of Yemen The Imams of Yemen , later also titled

385-570: The Hamdan to be historically close to Shi'a Islam , initially espousing Isma'ilism , and eventually becoming partisans of Zaydism . Today still in the same ancient tribal form in Yemen , Hashid and Bakil of Hamdan remain in the highlands of Upper Yemen living in Sana'a in the south to and including Sa'ada in the north, living in al-Jawf in the east to Hajjah in the west, including 'Amran in between. The two groups have existed for over

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420-659: The Muslim conquest of Iraq in the 630s. The Hamdan was mentioned in Sabaic inscriptions as qayls of Hashid , who later acquired control over a part of Bakil and finally gave their clan name to tribal confederations including Hashid and Bakil . At least a portion of the Hamdan sent a deputation, led by the poet Malik ibn Namat and the prince Abu Thawr Dhu'l-Mashar, to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 631 seeking an alliance with him. More Hamdani tribesmen submitted to Islam during

455-604: The Ottomans constituted the greater external threat. Ottoman expeditions managed to defeat the highland tribesmen in the mid decades of the sixteenth century. From the early seventeenth century al-Mansur al-Qasim , belonging to one of the Rassid branches (later known as the Qasimids or Yemeni Zaidi State ), raised the standard of rebellion. His son al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad managed to gather the entire Yemen under his authority, expel

490-573: The Saudi recognition of the republic, emigrated to London where he died in 1996. In June 1974 military officers led by Colonel Ibrahim al-Hamdi staged a bloodless coup, claiming that the government of Al-Iryani had become ineffective. The constitution was suspended, and executive power was vested in a command council, dominated by the military. Al-Hamdi chaired the council and attempted to strengthen and restructure politics in North Yemen. Al-Hamdi

525-531: The Tihamah. During most of this period, the dynasties and their rulers were primarily engaged in familial, regional, and occasionally sectarian disputes. Ironically, the Sunni Rasulids, who eventually concentrated their rule in southern Yemen for precisely that reason, were the dynasty under which the region experienced the greatest economic growth and political stability. For part of the medieval era

560-551: The Turks, and establish an independent political entity. For a time, the imams ruled a comprehensive territory, including South Yemen and areas even further to the east. Their economic base was strengthened by the coffee trade of the coastal entrepot Mocha . Unlike in the previous practice, the Qasimids or Yemeni Zaidi State ruled as a hereditary dynasty. The power of the Yemeni Zaidi State or Imamate declined in

595-513: The Zaydiyyah imams were eclipsed by the lowland dynasties, and for long periods there would be no imam at all (especially in 1066–1138 and 1171–1187). From the end of the thirteenth century the political fortunes of the Zaydiyya imams revived somewhat. They were able to hold their own against the Rasulids and Tahirids and sometimes expand their territory. Often however, and especially after 1436,

630-593: The basic guidelines for the religious as well as political characteristics of Yemeni Zaydism. Al-Hadi, however, was not able to consolidate his rule in all of Yemen. He could not even create an enduring state in the highlands, due to the strong localism persisting in the region. There were revolts as well as segments of the population that did not accept his and his successors' pretensions to religio-political rule. Although he did not succeed in establishing any permanent administrative infrastructure, al-Hadi's descendants, and other Alid clans who arrived in his company, became

665-452: The civil war. The meeting resulted in an agreement whereby both countries pledged to end their involvement and allow the people of North Yemen to choose their own government. Subsequent peace conferences were ineffectual, however, and fighting flared up again in 1966. By 1967 the war had reached a stalemate, and the republicans had split into opposing factions concerning relations with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In late 1967 Al-Sallal's government

700-741: The conquest of Yemen by the family of Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub (Saladin) in 1174, a series of dynasties exercised a modicum of control and administration in Yemen for roughly the next 400 years; these are, in chronological sequence, the Ayyubids , from 1174 to 1229; the Rasulids , from 1229 to 1454; the Tahirids , from 1454 to 1517; and the Mamluks , from 1517 to 1538, when the Ottoman Empire took

735-541: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially in the wake of the Wahhabi invasions after 1800. The territory controlled by the imams shrank successively after 1681, and the lucrative coffee trade declined with new producers in other parts of the world. The Qasimid state or Yemeni Zaidi State has been characterized as a "quasi-state" with an inherent tension between tribes and government, and between tribal culture and learned Islamic morality. The imams themselves adopted

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770-598: The expedition to the Yemen led by Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali in 631 or 632. Muhammad placed the Bakil tribesman as his deputy over the Hamdan. The tribe largely remained loyal to the early Muslim state during the Ridda wars which broke out following Muhammad's death in 632. The Hamdani soldiers who settled in Kufa during and after the Muslim conquest of Iraq became fervent supporters of Ali during his caliphate in 656–661, and his sons Hasan and Husayn after him. During

805-422: The first chapter in the history of North Yemen. Marked by the revolution that began it, this period witnessed a lengthy civil war between Yemeni republican forces, based in the cities and supported by Egypt, and the royalist supporters of the deposed imam, backed by Saudi Arabia and Jordan . In 1965 Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser met with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia to consider a possible settlement to

840-416: The imamate in turn, although it was not hereditary but rather elective among the descendants of Muhammad. From the eleventh to the early seventeenth centuries, however, the imams were usually not chosen from the sons of the former imam, but the title rather circulated among the various Rassid branches. Meanwhile, a multitude of smaller dynasties and families established themselves in the highlands, as well as in

875-482: The imamate was split between several contenders. Comparatively little is known about the medieval Zaydi imams and their efforts to establish themselves and develop some form of administration (including tax collection), or their success in promoting Zaydi goals during this period. From the available evidence, there was very little continuity and a great deal of competition among the Zaydi families and clans. For example, in

910-411: The local aristocracy of the northern highlands. It is from among them that the imams of Yemen were selected for the next one thousand years. The imams were usually chosen from the offspring of al-Qasim ar-Rassi and more specifically of al-Hadi, but on at least eight occasions they were picked from other lines descending from Muhammad's grandsons Hasan and Husain . Yemen throughout most of that period

945-576: The medieval imams are sometimes known as the Rassids . The first of the ruling line, his grandson al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya , was born in Medina . His fame as an intellectual as well as a leader of note, led to his invitation to Yemen. He was summoned to govern the highland tribes in 893 and again in 896–897. Al-Hadi introduced a multitude of policies and practices that evolved into the particular Yemenite Zaidiyyah brand. The efforts of al-Hadi eventually became

980-751: The more scattered and less organized Bakil into over fifteen major tribes. Banu Yam settled to the North of Bakil in Najran (today in Saudi Arabia). It also branched into the tribes: the 'Ujman plural of "AlAjmi" who inhabited eastern Saudi Arabia and the Arabic Gulf coast. The Hatim family, which led the Yam, established the Isma'ili Hamdanid dynasty at Sanaa at the turn of the 12th century, in rivalry to

1015-552: The most narrow it includes only a portion of Hashid that still uses the name "Hamdan" for itself. Until the present day, the Bakil branch dominates the eastern part of this territory, and the Hashid branch dominates the western part. Parts of the Hamdan migrated through different parts of the Islamic world, where they eventually became dispersed, though they formed a distinct community in the Arab garrison town of Kufa , established following

1050-541: The nationalist Free Yemeni Movement in the mid-1940s, an aborted 1948 revolution in which Imam Yahya was killed, a failed 1955 coup against Imam Ahmad, and finally, the 1962 revolution in which the recently enthroned imam Muhammad al-Badr was deposed by a group of nationalist officers and the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) was proclaimed under the leadership of Abdullah al-Sallal . The first five years of President Al-Sallal's rule, from 1962 to 1967, comprised

1085-466: 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. The imams based their legitimacy on descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad , mostly via al-Qasim ar-Rassi (d. 860). After him,

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1120-504: The style of Middle East monarchies, becoming increasingly distant figures. As a result, they eventually lost their charismatic and spiritual position among the tribes of Yemen. The imamate was further eclipsed by the second coming of the Turks to lowland Yemen in 1848, and to the highlands in 1872. However, the Ottoman troops were never able to entirely quell resistance against Ottoman rule. The occupants were eventually driven out by 1918, by

1155-502: Was assassinated in 1977, and his successor, former Chief of Staff Ahmed Hussein al-Ghashmi , was killed in June 1978. The lengthy tenure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh , who ruled North Yemen from 1978 until it merged with South Yemen in 1990, proved more stable. Saleh strengthened the political system, while an influx of foreign aid and the discovery of oil in North Yemen held out the prospect of economic expansion and development. There

1190-449: Was only rarely a unified political entity; in fact, what has included within its frontiers varied widely, and it has not been governed consistently or uniformly by any single set of rulers except for brief periods. It existed as a part of a number of different political systems/ruling dynasties between the ninth and sixteenth centuries, after which it became a part of the Ottoman Empire . After Imam al-Hadi's death in 911, his sons took over

1225-403: Was overthrown and he was replaced as president by Abdul Rahman al-Iryani . Fighting continued until 1970, when Saudi Arabia halted its aid to royalists and established diplomatic ties with North Yemen. Al-Iryani effected the long-sought truce between republican and royalist forces, and presided over the adoption of a democratic constitution in 1970. Imam Muhammad al-Badr , greatly disappointed by

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