Al-Hadi Yahya was an

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 ...

of part of the Zaidi state in

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. 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 Al-Mukhtar al-Qasim (died 956) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen, who held or claimed power from 936 to 956. Al-Qasim bin Ahmad was the eldest son of the imam an-Nasir Ahmad who died in 934. An-Nasir's death ushered into a period of inter ...

(d. 956). The old imam al-Mansur Abdallah died in 1217 in Kawkaban after many years of inconclusive struggles against the Ayyubids, who established a sub-branch in Yemen in 1173. After the demise of al-Mansur, the loyalties of the Zaidi community were split. People in the traditional centre of the Zaidi polity, Sa'dah, accepted Najm ad-Din Yahya as imam under the name al-Hadi Yahya. However, in the southern parts of the Zaidi land, the old imam's son Izz ad-Din Muhammad was set up as an-Nasir Muhammad. The latter died from a battle wound in 1226. Ayyubid rule in Yemen was replaced in 1229 by the Rasulid Dynasty (1229-1254). The first Rasulid Sultan, Nur ad-Din Umar I, seized several places in the highland, such as San'a, Ta'izz and Kawkaban. In 1231 he concluded peace with the Zaidi community, and there were relatively few Zaidi-Rasulid clashes until 1248.''Enzyklopädie des Islam'', Vol. III. Leiden 1936, p. 1218. Al-Hadi Yahya died in 1239 and was buried in Saqayn. His death was followed by an interregnum of nine years until

al-Mahdi Ahmad bin al-Husayn Al-Mahdi Ahmad bin al-Husayn (1216-1258) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled in the period 1248–1258. He was considered by some a sacred figure on account of his violent end in battle. Assumption of the imamate Ahmad bin al-Husayn ...

, from another branch of the Rassids, was proclaimed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadi Zaydi imams of Yemen 1239 deaths Year of birth unknown 13th century in Yemen 13th-century Arabs Rassid dynasty

See also

References