Al-Hadi Ali (1345/46 – September 6, 1432) was a claimant to 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 ...
, who posed as
imam from 1393 to 1432 in rivalry with another prince.
Ali bin al-Mu'ayyad was a fifth-generation descendant of the imam
al-Hadi Yahya (d. 1239). After the demise of imam
an-Nasir Muhammad Salah ad-Din in 1391, a struggle broke out between his son
al-Mansur Ali
Al-Mansur Ali ( ar, المنصور على, ''epithet'': ''al-Malik al-Manṣūr Nūr ad-dīn ʾAlī ibn Aybak'', Arabic: ) (b. c. 1242, Cairo) was the second of the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt in the Turkic, or Bahri, line. Some historians, however, ...
and another contender,
al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya. Al-Mansur imprisoned his opponent in 1392, but was then challenged by Ali bin al-Mu'ayyad, who took the honorific (''laqab'') name al-Hadi Ali. During his almost 40 years long
imamate he was generally overshadowed by al-Mansur Ali, who was celebrated as a ''mujaddid bi-sayfihi'', a warlike restorer, and who died only in 1436. Nevertheless, al-Hadi Ali had a following and was counted by some as a
mujaddid
A ''mujaddid'' ( ar, مجدد), is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" ( ar, تجديد, translit=tajdid, label=none) to the religion. According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every ...
un. These are figures who, according to a
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
, will appear every century to restore
Islam.
Al-Hadi Ali exchanged presents with the
Rasulid
The Rasulids ( ar, بنو رسول, Banū Rasūl) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty who ruled Yemen from 1229 to 1454.
History
Origin of the Rasulids
The Rasulids took their name from al-Amin's nickname "Rasul". The Zaidi Shi'i Imams of Yemen we ...
king an-Nasir in 1410-11. It was an unusual show of respect between the Sunni and Zaidi rulers. The cooperation ended abruptly in 1417 when the Imam tried to occupy the fortress of al-Daram. However, the Rasulid army defeated his soldiers and drove them towards Wadi Juban, south of Ma'rib. Eventually peace was restored in 1421. Al-Hadi died in 1432, leaving ten sons, of whom al-Hasan (1401–1486) became a prominent scholar. Al-Hasan's son in turn,
al-Hadi Izz ad-din, held the Zaidi imamate in 1474–1495.
[Madeleine Schneider, 'Deux études d'épigraphie arabe', ''Journal asiatique'' 275 1987, p. 234.]
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 ...
*
History of Yemen
The history of Yemen describes the cultures, events, and peoples of what is one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Near East. Its relatively fertile land and adequate rainfall in a moister climate helped sustain a stable population, a ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadi Ali
Zaydi imams of Yemen
1340s births
1432 deaths
14th-century Arabs
15th-century Arabs