Al-Hadi Ali (1345/46 – September 6, 1432) was a claimant to the Zaidi state in Yemen, who posed as

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

from 1393 to 1432 in rivalry with another prince. Ali bin al-Mu'ayyad was a fifth-generation descendant of the imam

al-Hadi Yahya Al-Hadi Yahya was an imam of part of the Zaidiyyah, Zaidi state in Yemen. He ruled from 1217 to 1239, partly in rivalry with a contender. Najm ad-Din Yahya bin Muhsin was a seventh-generation descendant of imam al-Mukhtar al-Qasim (d. 956). The old ...

(d. 1239). After the demise of imam an-Nasir Muhammad Salah ad-Din in 1391, a struggle broke out between his son al-Mansur Ali and another contender,

al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya Al-Mahdī Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā, or Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā Ibn al-Murtaḍā () (1363/1374 – 1436), was a Muʿtazila scholar and imam of the Zaidī state in Yemen who briefly held the imamate in 1391–1392. He was an encyclopedist and a prolifi ...

. Al-Mansur imprisoned his opponent in 1392, but was then challenged by Ali bin al-Mu'ayyad, who took the honorific (''laqab'') name al-Hadi Ali. During his almost 40 years long

imamate {{expand Arabic, date=April 2021 The term imamate or ''imamah'' ( ar, إمامة, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an ''imam'' or a state ruled by an ''imam''. Theology *Imamate, in Sunni doctrine the caliphate :* Naqshb ...

he was generally overshadowed by al-Mansur Ali, who was celebrated as a ''mujaddid bi-sayfihi'', a warlike restorer, and who died only in 1436. Nevertheless, al-Hadi Ali had a following and was counted by some as a mujaddidun. These are figures who, according to a hadith, will appear every century to restore

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. Al-Hadi Ali exchanged presents with the Rasulid king an-Nasir in 1410-11. It was an unusual show of respect between the Sunni and Zaidi rulers. The cooperation ended abruptly in 1417 when the Imam tried to occupy the fortress of al-Daram. However, the Rasulid army defeated his soldiers and drove them towards Wadi Juban, south of Ma'rib. Eventually peace was restored in 1421. Al-Hadi died in 1432, leaving ten sons, of whom al-Hasan (1401–1486) became a prominent scholar. Al-Hasan's son in turn,

al-Hadi Izz ad-din Al-Hadi Izz ad-Din (1441 - April 18, 1495) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen, who held the imamate in 1474–1495 in rivalry with other claimants. Izz ad-Din bin al-Hasan bin Ali was a grandson of the counter-imam al-Hadi Ali (d. 1432) an ...

, held the Zaidi imamate in 1474–1495.Madeleine Schneider, 'Deux études d'épigraphie arabe', ''Journal asiatique'' 275 1987, p. 234.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadi Ali Zaydi imams of Yemen 1340s births 1432 deaths 14th-century Arabs 15th-century Arabs

See also

References