Ibrahim ibn al-Husayn ibn Abi'l-Su'ud al-Hamidi () was the second Tayyibi Isma'ili '' Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq'' 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 ...

from 1151 to his death in 1162.

Life

Ibrahim was a member of the Hamidi branch 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 ...

. According to the 12th-century Yemeni historian

Umara ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Yamani Umāra ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al-Yamanī ( ar, عمارة بن ابي الحسن اليمني) was a historian, jurist and poet of Yemen of great repute who was closely associated with the late Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. He was executed by order of S ...

, he was chosen as chief '' dāʿī'' 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 ...

already in 1132, but he was then replaced by the ruler of Aden, Saba ibn Abi'l-Su'ud ibn Zuray, possibly because Ibrahim espoused the

Tayyibi 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 ...

sect in the schism with the

Hafizi Hafizi Isma'ilism ( ar, حافظية, Ḥāfiẓiyya or , ) was a branch of Musta'li Isma'ilism that emerged as a result of a split in 1132. The Hafizis accepted the Fatimid caliph Abd al-Majid al-Hafiz li-Din Allah () and his successors as imams ...

s. Tayyibi sources mention none of this, however. In 1138 he was chosen as chief assistant (''maʾdhūn'') by the first Tayyibi ''Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq'',

Dhu'ayb ibn Musa Dhuʾayb ibn Mūsā al-Wādiʿī al-Hamdānī (; died 29 April 1151 CE in Hooth, Yemen) was the first '' dāʿī al-muṭlaq'', a position of spiritual authority in Tayyibi Isma'ili Islam. He was appointed to the position by Queen Arwa al-Sulayhi. ...

, and succeeded him upon his death in 1151, becoming thus the head of the Tayyibi community. He resided in

Sana'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 Gover ...

, under the protection of the city's ruler Hatim ibn Ahmad, who, although espousing the Hafizi sect, did not interfere with the Tayyibi missionary work. He chose Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Walid (died 1159) and then his own son Hatim as ''maʾdhūn'' and designated successor. On his death in July 1162, Hatim succeeded him; his descendants monopolized the office of ''Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq'' until 1209.

Theological works

As leader of the Tayyibi community, he introduced the ''Rasāʿil Ikhwān al-Safāʾ'' into Tayyibi literature, and in his own works incorporated many of the teachings of

Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani Hamid al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ahmad ibn Abdallah al-Kirmani (; CE) was an Isma'ili scholar. He was of Persian origin and was probably born in the province of Kirman. He seems to have spent the greater part of his life as a Fatimid ''da'i'' (missiona ...

. The resulting synthesis combined al-Kirmani's

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

with mythical elements, and formed the foundation of the peculiar Tayyibi system of

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...

exegesis ('' haqā'iq''). His major work was the ''Kitāb kanz al-walad'' ("Book of the Child’s Treasure"), which provided the basis for many future Tayyibi ''haqā'iq'' authors.

Grave

The burial site of Ibrahim was unknown for a long time. His grave located in Ghayl bani-Hammid, Yemen was successfully identified by

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 ...

on his visit to Yemen in 1961. His mausoleum was built in the year 2007.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibrahim ibn al-Husayn al-Hamidi Tayyibi da'is Yemeni Ismailis 1162 deaths Year of birth unknown Banu Hamdan 12th-century Arabs Ismaili theologians 12th century in Yemen 12th-century Ismailis 12th-century Islamic religious leaders