An-Nasir Muhammad bin Yusuf (died August 8, 1488) was a contender for the Zaidi state in Yemen, whose term 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 ...

is counted from 1474 to 1488. Muhammad bin Yusuf was a descendant of the imam

al-Mahdi Ali Al-Mahdi Ali bin Mohammed (September 25, 1305 - 1372) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled in 1349–1372. Acquiring the Zaidi imamate The Yemeni imamate in the highlands was often contested by rival claimants in this era. Ali bin ...

(d. 1372) in the fifth generation. When the old imam

al-Mutawakkil al-Mutahhar Imam Al-Mutawakkil Ali al-Mutahhar () was a ruler of Yemen from Sana’a who reigned from 1436 to 1474. He belonged to the Qasimid family who were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, He ruled in the way of the Quran and the Sunnah and he left a nu ...

died in Dhamar in 1474, three claimants appeared on the scene. These included Muhammad bin Yusuf, who went from San'a to the mountainous stronghold Thula. From there he made his da'wa (call for the

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 ...

), spreading the message to San'a, Falala and other Zaidi areas. He took the honorific name an-Nasir Muhammad. His two rivals were

al-Mansur Muhammad Al-Mansur Muhammad could refer to the following people: *Al-Mansur Nasir al-Din Muhammad, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt (r. 1198–1200) *Al-Mansur I Muhammad, the Ayyubid emir of Hama (r. 1191–1219) *Al-Mansur II Muhammad, the Ayyubid emir of Ham ...

and

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 ...

, who belonged to other branches of the Rassids. One Zaidi faction, the Hamzite Sharifs, actually heeded his call and acknowledged him from April 1476 to October–November 1487. Nevertheless, the people of the traditional centre of the Zaydiyyah community, Sa'dah, refused to support him and instead proclaimed al-Hadi Izz ad-Din. An-Nasir Muhammad was considered to have the best doctrinal knowledge of his contemporaries, but luck was not on his side. Neither of the claimants was able to control the key city San'a, which was in the hands of a fourth imam,

al-Mu’ayyad Muhammad Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad (died February 25, 1503) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled in parts of the Yemeni highland including San'a in 1462–1503. Repulsing the Tahirides He was a son of the former imam al-Mansur an-Nasir who died w ...

, since 1464. An-Nasir Muhammad died after a fairly obscure tenure in 1488, and was buried in the dome in Thula.Imam Zaid bin Ali Cultural Foundation, (in Arabic).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasir Muhammad Bin Yusuf Zaydi imams of Yemen 1488 deaths Year of birth unknown 15th century in Yemen 15th-century Arabs

See also

References