Al-Mu'ayyad Yahya (October 15, 1270 – 1346) 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 of the imamate lasted from 1328 to 1346. Yahya bin Hamza was a member of the Zaidi elite, but not of the dynasty of the

Rassids The Imams of Yemen and later also the Kings of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and political rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured u ...

that usually provided imams. He was a 13th-generation descendant of imam

Ali ar-Ridha Ali ibn Musa al-Rida ( ar, عَلِيّ ٱبْن مُوسَىٰ ٱلرِّضَا, Alī ibn Mūsā al-Riḍā, 1 January 766 – 6 June 818), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Thānī, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the e ...

(d. 818). The old Yemeni imam

al-Mahdi Muhammad bin al-Mutahhar Al-Mahdi Muhammad bin al-Mutahhar (1275 - October 28, 1328) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled from 1301 to 1328. Zaidi victory over the Rasulids His father was the imam al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar bin Yahya who held the imamate in t ...

had conquered large highland territories from the

Rasulid Dynasty The Rasulids ( ar, بنو رسول, Banū Rasūl) were a Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty who ruled Yemen from 1229 to 1454. History Origin of the Rasulids The Rasulids took their name from al-Amin's nickname "Rasul". The Zaidiyyah, Zaidi Shi ...

, including the commercially and politically important city

San'a Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...

. After his demise in 1328, no less than four claimants for the imamate surfaced. Apart from Yahya, these included an-Nasir Ali bin Salah, Ahmad bin Ali al-Fathi, and the deceased imam's son al-Wathiq al-Mutahhar. Yahya emerged as the supreme figure and quickly secured San'a. With the city as his base, he waged war in the following years against

Taiyabi Tayyibi Isma'ilism is the only surviving sect of the Musta'li branch of Isma'ilism, the other being the extinct Hafizi branch. Followers of Tayyibi Isma'ilism are found in various Bohra communities: Dawoodi, Sulaymani, and Alavi. The Tayyibi ...

Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

groups of the Hamdan tribe in the Wadi Dahr. The Rasulids were in no position to take back their lost lands in the Yemeni highland, leaving the Zaidi positions unthreatened. The imam was a prominent scholar who authored ''Al-Intisar'', the most comprehensive

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, ...

law book, and ''Ad-Da'wa al-amma'', a work encouraging struggle for the true faith. It was popularly said that the number of pages he wrote were equal to the days he lived. Al-Mu'ayyad Yahya died in 1346 (or, in another account, 1349), and was buried in Dhamar. On his death, San'a was seized by two Zaidi brothers, Ibrahim bin Abdallah and Da'ud bin Abdallah, who ruled as

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

s and did not claim the imam title. Their family would control San'a until 1381.R.B. Serjeant & R. Lewcock, ''San'a'; An Arabian Islamic City''. London 1983, p. 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muayyad Yahya Zaydi imams of Yemen 1270 births 1346 deaths 14th century in Yemen 13th-century Arabs 14th-century Arabs Husaynids

See also

References