The Yuʿfirids () were an Islamic

Himyar Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to class ...

ite dynasty that held power in the highlands of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

from 847 to 997. The name of the family is often incorrectly rendered as "Yafurids". They nominally acknowledged the suzerainty of the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

s. Their centres were

San'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation o ...

and

Shibam Kawkaban Shibam Kawkaban () is a Twin cities, double town in Shibam Kawkaban District, Al Mahwit Governorate, Yemen, located 38 km west-northwest of Sanaa, the national capital. It consists of two distinct adjoining towns, Shibam () and Kawkaban () ...

. The Yuʿfirids followed

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Rise of the dynasty

The Yuʿfirids from

began to expand their power base in the Yemeni highland as the direct rule of the Abbasids over Yemen declined. They are descended from D̲h̲ū Ḥiwāl tribe, which is a tribe from

(in modern-day

Al Mahwit Governorate Al Mahwit ( ') is one of the governorates of Yemen. Geography Adjacent governorates * Hajjah Governorate (north) * Al Hudaydah Governorate (west) * Sanaa Governorate (south, east) * 'Amran Governorate (northeast) Districts Al Mahwit Governo ...

, northwest of Sanaa). The first attack on

in 841 failed miserably and the Abbasid governor received troops from

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

for assistance. Nevertheless, the Yuʿfirids were able to successfully repel the counterattacks against their stronghold in Shibam. In 847 they conquered the area between

Sa'dah Saada (), located in the northwest of Yemen, is the capital and largest city of the governorate bearing the same name, as well as the administrative seat of the eponymous district. The city lies in the Serat (Sarawat) mountains at an altitude o ...

and

Ta'izz Taiz () is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. As of 2023, the city has an estimated p ...

. San'a fell to their arms when the governor Himyar ibn al-Harith fled from Yemen, and for a while it became the headquarters of the new dynasty.

Internal feuds and temporary eclipse

After a stable reign of 25 years, the founder of the dynasty, Yu'fir bin ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān al-Ḥiwālī al-Ḥimyārī, left affairs of state to his son Muhammad in 872. Muhammad preferred to use Shibam as the capital of his kingdom, rather than San'a. In 873 he received a diploma of confirmation from the Abbasid caliph. Muhammad ruled over Sa'na, Janad and

Hadramawt Hadhramaut ( ; ) is a geographic region in the South Arabia, southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which includes the Yemeni Governorates of Yemen, governorates of Hadhramaut, Shabwah Governorate, Shabwah and Al Mahrah Governorate, Mahrah, D ...

but paid formal deference to the

Ziyadid dynasty The Ziyadid dynasty () was a Muslim dynasty that ruled western Yemen from 819 until 1018 from the capital city of Zabid. It was the first dynastic regime to wield power over the Yemeni lowland after the introduction of Islam in about 630. Est ...

in the Tihama lowland. A flood that inundated San'a in 876 served as the motive for Muhammad to undertake the pilgrimage to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and henceforth devote his time to religion. The reins of government were given to his son Ibrahim, who murdered his father and uncle in the mosque of Shibam in 892 (or 882) to ensure that there would be no pretensions of power from them. The instigator of the murders was none but his own grandfather, the ex-ruler Yu'fir. Now, however, a series of revolts led to the expulsion of the Yuʿfirids from San'a. An Abbasid governor took charge of the city for a while, but after 895 conditions turned increasingly chaotic.

Competition for San'a

At the beginning of the tenth century there were struggles between the followers of the

Zaydiyyah Zaydism () is a branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali's unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shi'ism, with the other two being Twelverism ...

branch of Islam and other polities of the Yemeni highlands. The first Zaydi imam

al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya Abūʾl-Ḥusayn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā al-Ḥasanī (al-Rass/Medina, 859 – Sa'dah, 18 August 911), better known by his honorific title of al-Hādī ilāʾl-Ḥaqq (), was a religious and politi ...

temporarily took over San'a in 901 but was later forced to leave the city. In the same period Ibn Haushab and Ali bin al-Fadl al-Jayshani disseminated the creed of the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

among the highland tribes and acquired a great following. The two leaders are usually referred to as

Qarmatians The Qarmatians (; ) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in Al-Ahsa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adhered to a syncretic branch of Sevener Ismaili ...

although they were actually appointed as ''

da'i A da'i (, ) is generally someone who engages in Dawah, the act of inviting people to Islam. See also * Dawah * Da'i al-Mutlaq, 'the absolute (unrestricted) missionary' * Hujja * List of converts to Islam The following is a list of notabl ...

s'' (leaders) by the Fatimid ruler. They were able to conquer San'a in 905 and limit the kingdom of the Yuʿfirids to Shibam Kawkaban. For long periods the Yufirid ruler Abū Ḥassān Asʿad bin Ibrāhīm had to stay in the Jawf region further to the north. San'a shifted hands with great frequency in this period; from 901 to 913 the city is said to have been conquered 20 times, surrendered through negotiation three times, and been unsuccessfully besieged five times. Eventually the dynasty managed to defeat the followers of the Fatimids and win back San'a in 916.

Later history

Abū Ḥassān Asʿad died in 944 and was, as it turned out, the last grand Yufirid leader. In the middle of the tenth century the decline of the dynasty set in, as the members of the family feuded with each other. The Zaydi imam

al-Mukhtar al-Qasim Al-Mukhtar al-Qasim (died 956) was an imam of the Zaidiyyah, Zaidi state in Yemen who held or claimed power from 936 to 956. Al-Qasim bin Ahmad was the eldest son of the imam An-Nasir Ahmad (Zaidi imam), an-Nasir Ahmad, who died in 934. An-Nasir's ...

managed to acquire San'a in 956 but was murdered in the same year by a Hamdan chief called Ibn al-Dahhak, who dominated politics until 963 and acknowledged the Ziyadids in

Zabid Zabid () (also spelled Zabīd, Zabeed and Zebid) is a town with an urban population of around 52,590 people, located on Yemen's western coastal plain. It is one of the oldest towns in Yemen, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Ho ...

. Next, a chief from

Khawlan Khawlan (, ) is an ancient Tribes of Yemen#Himyar, Himyarite Arab tribe that archeologists view as one of the old tribes of Yemen that were contemporary to the kingdoms of Sabaeans, Saba and Minaeans, Ma'in. There are two tribes in Yemen with the ...

called al-Asmar Yusuf installed the prince Abdallah bin Qahtan on the throne. Abdallah had a long and turbulent reign and successfully attacked the Ziyadids in 989, investing and plundering Zabid. He then stopped mentioning the Abbasids in the khutba and instead adhered to the Egyptian

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

caliph. Abdallah died in 997 and was succeeded by his son As'ad (II). However, the authority of the Yuʿfirids in San'a had vanished and they had no significance anymore. The clan is occasionally mentioned in chronicles until as late as 1280.H.C. Kay, ''Yaman: Its early medieval history'', London 1892, pp. 225-7.

List of rulers

*Yu'fir bin Abd ar-Rahman (847–872) *Muhammad bin Yu'fir (872-892 or 872–882), son *Abd al-Qahir bin Ahmad bin Yu'fir (892), nephew *Ibrahim bin Muhammad (892-898 or 882–886), son of Muhammad bin Yu'fir *''Reign of the

in San'a (905-916)'' *As'ad bin Ibrahim (-944), son of Ibrahim bin Muhammad *Muhammad bin Ibrahim (944–956), brother *Abdallah bin Qahtan (963–997), grandson

References

Sources

* * {{Muslim dynasties in Arabian Peninsula Islamic history of Yemen Arab dynasties Yemen under the Abbasid Caliphate 9th-century Arab people 10th-century Arab people Sunni dynasties 9th century in Yemen 10th century in Yemen Himyarites 9th century in the Abbasid Caliphate