The Yuʿfirids ( ar, بنو يعفر, Banū Yuʿfir) were an Islamic Hemyariite dynasty that held power in the highlands of

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 s ...

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 ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

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 ...

s. Their centres were San'a and Shibam Kawkaban. The Yuʿfirids followed

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

Rise of the dynasty

At the time when the direct rule of the Abbasids over Yemen declined, the Yuʿfirids from Shibam Kawkaban began to expand their power base in the Yemeni highland. They are descended from D̲h̲ū Ḥiwāl tribe, which is a tribe from Shibam Kawkaban. The first attack on San'a in 841 failed miserably and the Abbasid governor received troops from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to 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 ( 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 ...

and

Ta'izz Taiz ( ar, تَعِزّ, Taʿizz) 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. With a popula ...

. San'a fell to their arms when the governor

Himyar ibn al-Harith Himyar ibn al-Harith ( ar, حمير بن الحارث) was the last governor of the Yemen for the Abbasid Caliphate, prior to the Yu'firid conquest of Sana'a in 847. Himyar was appointed to the Yemen by al-Mutawakkil Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ib ...

fled from Yemen. It became the headquarters of the new dynasty for a while.

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 the affairs of the 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 ( ar, حَضْرَمَوْتُ \ حَضْرَمُوتُ, Ḥaḍramawt / Ḥaḍramūt; Hadramautic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, ''Ḥḍrmt'') is a region in South Arabia, comprising eastern Yemen, parts of western Oman and southern Sau ...

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. The e ...

in the

Tihama Tihamah or Tihama ( ar, تِهَامَةُ ') refers to the Red Sea coastal plain of the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb. Etymology Tihāmat is the Proto-Semitic language's term for 'sea'. Tiamat (or Tehom, in mas ...

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, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...

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 that direction. 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 (''h'') is a unique branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali‘s unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. In contrast to other Shia Muslims of Twelver Shi'ism and Isma'ilism, Zaydis, ...

brand 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 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 ...

temporarily took over San'a in 901 but was later forced to leave the city. In the same period

Ibn Haushab Abu'l-Qāsim al-Ḥasan ibn Faraj ibn Ḥawshab ibn Zādān al-Najjār al-Kūfī ( ar, أبو القاسم الحسن ابن فرج بن حوشب زاذان النجار الكوفي ; died 31 December 914), better known simply as Ibn Ḥawshab, ...

and Ali bin al-Fadl al-Jayshani disseminated the creed of the

Fatimids 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 dyn ...

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

Qarmatians The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious-utopian socialist state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adh ...

although they were actually appointed as ''

da'i A da'i ( ar, داعي, dāʿī, inviter, caller, ) is generally someone who engages in Dawah, the act of inviting people to Islam. See also * Dawah Dawah ( ar, دعوة, lit=invitation, ) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace ...

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 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 who died in 934. An-Nasir's death ushered into a period of intern ...

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

. Next, a chief from

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 ...

called al-Asmar Yusuf set up 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 ''Khutbah'' ( ar, خطبة ''khuṭbah'', tr, hutbe) serves as the primary formal occasion for public preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic tradition ...

and instead adhered to the Egyptian

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 dyn ...

caliph. Abdallah died in 997 and was succeeded by his son As'ad (II). However, the authority of the Yuʿfirids in San'a now vanished and they had no significance anymore. The clan is occasionally mentioned in the 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 (c. 898-944), 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 Arabs 10th-century Arabs Sunni dynasties 9th century in Yemen 10th century in Yemen Himyarites Arab slave owners