Dhuʾayb ibn Mūsā al-Wādiʿī al-Hamdānī (; died 29 April 1151 CE in Hooth,

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 north and Oman to the northeast and ...

) was the first '' dāʿī al-muṭlaq'', a position of spiritual authority in Tayyibi

Isma'ili 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- ...

Islam. He was appointed to the position by Queen

Arwa al-Sulayhi ) , name = Arwā bint Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Mūsā Aṣ-Ṣulayḥī , other_names = ''As-Sayyidah Al-Ḥurrah'' () ''Al-Malikah Al-Ḥurrah'' ( ar, ٱلْمَلِكَة ٱلْحُرَّة or ...

Career

Dhu'ayb began his career as a member of the pro-

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...

Musta'li The Musta‘lī ( ar, مستعلي) are a branch of Isma'ilism named for their acceptance of al-Musta'li as the legitimate nineteenth Fatimid caliph and legitimate successor to his father, al-Mustansir Billah. In contrast, the Nizari—the other ...

'' daʿwa'' in

, and rose to become an assistant of the local chief missionary ('' dāʿī''), Yahya ibn Lamak. Shortly before his death in 1126, Ibn Lamak, after consulting the

Sulayhid The Sulayhid dynasty ( ar, بَنُو صُلَيْح, Banū Ṣulayḥ, lit=Children of Sulayh) was an Ismaili Shi'ite Arab dynasty established in 1047 by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Sulayhi that ruled most of historical Yemen at its peak. The Sulayh ...

queen

, chose him as his successor. In 1130, following the death of the Fatimid

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, serve ...

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah Abu Ali al-Mansur ibn al-Musta'li ( ar, أبو علي المنصور بن المستعلي, Abū ʿAlī al-Manṣūr ibn al-Mustaʿlī; 31 December 1096 – 7 October 1130), better known by his regnal name al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah ( ar, الآمر ...

, Musta'li Isma'ilism was split into the Hafizi and Tayyibi branches, with the former acknowledging the succession of al-Amir's cousin

al-Hafiz li-Din Allah Abūʾl-Maymūn ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Mustanṣir, better known by his regnal name as al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh ( ar, الحافظ لدين الله, , Keeper of God's Religion), was the eleventh Fatimid caliph, ruling over Eg ...

, and the latter the succession of al-Amir's infant son, al-Tayyib. In Yemen, the hitherto pro-Fatimid queen Arwa sided with the Tayyibis and broke off relations with

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, while the regional dynasties of the

Hamdanids The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern A ...

and the

Zurayids The Zurayids (بنو زريع, Banū Zuraiʿ), were a Yamite Hamdani dynasty based in Yemen in the time between 1083 and 1174. The centre of its power was Aden. The Zurayids suffered the same fate as the Hamdanid sultans, the Sulaymanids and ...

recognized al-Hafiz's claims. Until her death in 1138, Arwa effectively headed the new Tayyibi ''daʿwa'', and came to be regarded by the Tayyibis as ''

hujja A term used in Shi'i terminology, "hujja" means "proof mplied: proof of God" It is usually used to refer to a single individual in any given human era who represents God's "proof" to humanity.http://iranica.com/articles/hojjat. The hujja is ...

'', the living proof of the hidden (''satr'') imam al-Tayyib. With the support of Dhu'ayb and other ''dāʿī''s, the queen spent most of her final years in organizing the new sect. Sometime after 1132, she appointed Dhu'ayb as '' dāʿī al-muṭlaq'', thus making him the head of the ''daʿwa'' on behalf of the hidden imam. This was not an easy undertaking, as the other Yemeni rulers did not adopt Tayyibi Isma'ilism, and after Arwa's death, the Tayyibis were left without a strong patron. Nevertheless, precisely due to the establishment of an independent hierarchy, separate from both the Fatimids and the Sulayhids, the Tayyibi ''daʿwa'' managed to not only survive both regimes, but also spread in the region. As ''dāʿī'', Dhu'ayb managed to convert

al-Khattab ibn al-Hasan ibn Abi'l-Hifaz Al-Khattab ibn al-Hasan ibn Abi'l-Hifaz was a warrior, poet and theologian, who became Dhu'ayb ibn Musa's principal aide, and an important asset to the Sulayhid dynasty and Tayyibi Isma'ilism cause, until his murder by his nephews in a dispute over ...

, the chieftain of the al-Hajur clan of the

Banu Hamdan Banu Hamdan ( ar, بَنُو هَمْدَان; Musnad: 𐩠𐩣𐩵𐩬) is an ancient, large, and prominent Arab tribe in northern Yemen. Origins and location The Hamdan stemmed from the eponymous progenitor Awsala (nickname Hamdan) whose desc ...

tribe. A skilled warrior and notable poet and theologian, al-Khattab became Dhu'ayb's principal aide, and an important asset to the Sulayhid and Tayyibi cause, until his murder by his nephews in a dispute over control of al-Hajur in 1138. Al-Khattab was succeeded as chief assistant (''maʾdhūn'') by another Hamdanid,

Ibrahim ibn al-Husayn al-Hamidi Ibrahim ibn al-Husayn ibn Abi'l-Su'ud al-Hamidi () was the second Tayyibi Isma'ili '' Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq'' in Yemen from 1151 to his death in 1162. Life Ibrahim was a member of the Hamidi branch of the Banu Hamdan. According to the 12th-century ...

. When Dhu'ayb died in 1151, Ibrahim became the new ''dāʿī al-muṭlaq''.

Mosque

During his reign, Syedna Zoeb built a masjid in Huth. The masjid lay in ruins for decades and was repaired and restored by Syedna

Mohammed Burhanuddin Mohammed Burhanuddin (6 March 1915 – 17 January 2014) was the 52nd Dā'ī al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras. He led the community for 49 years in a period of social, economic, and educational prosperity; strengthened and re-institutionalized the fu ...

in 1986.

Burial

Syedna Zoeb is buried in

Huth, Yemen Huth ( ar, حوث ) is a town in 'Amran Governorate, Yemen, and the seat of Huth District. It is located on the route between Sanaa and Sa'dah, on a plateau to the north of the Bawn plains. Name and history According to the 10th-century writer ...

but his grave site is unknown.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dhu'ayb ibn Musa 1151 deaths Year of birth unknown 12th-century Arabs Tayyibi da'is Yemeni Ismailis Banu Hamdan 12th century in Yemen 12th-century Ismailis 12th-century Islamic religious leaders