An-Nasir Ahmad (died 5 June 934) was the third
imam 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 ...
. Through his active leadership he confirmed and expanded the polity founded by his two predecessors.
Early years and succession
Ahmad bin Yahya was born in
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
(present-day
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
) as the son of the later 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 ...
and Fatimah bint Al-Hasan. In 897 he followed his father and his brother Muhammad to Yemen, where al-Hadi was acknowledged as the first imam of the
Zaydiyya branch of
Shi'a Islam 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 ...
. By 907 he was assisting his father as military commander. After a sojourn in Medina he returned to the Zaidi capital in Yemen,
Sa'dah
Saada ( ar, صَعْدَة, translit=Ṣaʿda), a city and ancient capital in the northwest of Yemen, is the capital and largest city of the province of the same name, and the county seat of the county of the same name. The city is located in the ...
, where he was chosen to succeed his brother
al-Murtada Muhammad in September 913. Al-Murtada had abdicated in 912 under somewhat unclear circumstances, and seemingly supported the appointment of Ahmad. The new imam took the honorific title an-Nasir Ahmad. He was considered an efficacious ruler; one of his adherents composed a panegyric text which described the imam as the one who strengthened Islam after it had become weak.
Fighting the Fatimids
The long reign of an-Nasir Ahmad was filled with struggles against the adherents of the
Fatimids, who also had a strong following in parts of Yemen. The imam gathered troops among the tribesmen of
Hamdan,
Najran and
Khawlan
Khawlan ( ar, خولان) is a sub-district located in Mudhaykhirah District, Ibb Governorate, Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the sou ...
to fight the Fatimid
da'i. In January 920 he met the
Ismailite leader Abd al-Hamid of Jabal Maswar in a three-days battle at Nughash outside
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 Govern ...
. Abd al-Hamid suffered a disastrous defeat which shattered the Ismailite influence in Yemen irrevocably. After a fairly successful rule, an-Nasir Ahmad died in 934 (or, according to other sources, in 927 or 937). He left six sons, called
al-Mukhtar al-Qasim, Isma'il,
al-Muntakhab al-Hasan, Ja'far.
al-Mansur Yahya
Al-Mansur Yahya (died 976) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen, 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. Eve ...
, and Ali. Three of these claimed the
imamate after him, and the Zaidi state entered a fairly obscure period.
[H.C. Kay, ''Yaman; Its Early Medieval History''. London 1892, p. 186.]
See also
*
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 ...
*
Imams of Yemen
The Imams of Yemen, later also titled the Kings of Yemen, were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and temporal-political rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their i ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasir Ahmad
Zaydi imams of Yemen
Rassid dynasty
9th-century births
934 deaths
Year of birth unknown
10th century in Yemen
10th-century Arabs