Al-Mansur Yahya (died 976) 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 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 ...

, whose tenure as imam is counted from 934 to 976. Yahya bin Ahmad was the fifth son of the imam an-Nasir Ahmad, and the grandson of the founder-imam

al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya Abūʾl-Ḥusayn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥasanī (al-Rass/Medina, 859 – Sa'dah, 18 August 911), better known by his honorific title of al-Hādī ilāʾl-Ḥaqq ( ar, الهادي الى الحق, , the Guide ...

. Even before the death of an-Nasir in 934, three of his sons quarreled bitterly among themselves. Although the Zaidi imamship was not strictly hereditary but depended on personal qualifications and descent from

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

, succession tended to take place within particular families descended from al-Qasim ar-Rassi (d. 860) and his grandson

(d. 911). Two sons of an-Nasir,

al-Muntakhab al-Hasan Al-Muntakhab al-Hasan (died 936) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen in the period 934–936. He was the fourth ruler of the Rassid Dynasty Al-Hasan bin Ahmad was the third of the six sons of imam an-Nasir Ahmad. An-Nasir Ahmad had been a po ...

(d. 936) and

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), contested the dignity. None of them is recognized as a right imam in later Zaidi chronicles. Their younger brother al-Mansur Yahya is, on the other hand, counted as imam from 934 to his death in 976. The internal dissension among the

Zaydiyyah Zaydism (''h'') is a unique branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali‘s unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. In contrast to other Shia Muslims of Twelver Shi'ism and Isma'ilism, Zaydis, ...

was accentuated by the behaviour of the tribal groups of the northern Yemeni highlands, which supported one side or the other according to their interests. Few details are otherwise known about al-Mansur Yahya, and the politics of highland Yemen were dominated by the rival

Yu'firid Dynasty The Yuʿfirids ( ar, بنو يعفر, Banū Yuʿfir) were an Islamic Hemyariite dynasty that held power in the highlands of Yemen from 847 to 997. The name of the family is often incorrectly rendered as "Yafurids". They nominally acknowledged the ...

. Personally he was remembered as a man of learning who conveyed much of the religious tradition of his father and grandfather. At his demise, the imam was succeeded by his son

ad-Da'i Yusuf Ad-Da'i Yusuf (died September 12, 1012) was an imam of the Zaidiyyah, Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled for two highly turbulent terms (977–999, 1002–1012). Struggles against Yu'firids and Ziyadids Yusuf bin Yahya was a son of the imam al-Mansur ...

.Robert W. Stookey, ''Yemen; The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic''. Boulder 1978, p. 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansur Yahya Zaydi imams of Yemen 976 deaths Year of birth unknown 10th century in Yemen Rassid dynasty 10th-century Arabs

See also

References