Al-Hadi Ghalib (1823 – September 30, 1885) was an
Imam of 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 ruled in 1851-1852, and made subsequent periodical claims to the
imamate up to the
Ottoman intervention in 1872.
Rivalry for the imamate
Ghalib bin Muhammad bin Yahya was the son of Imam
al-Mutawakkil Muhammad. When his father was imprisoned and murdered in 1849, Ghalib managed to escape. He took refuge with the Dhu Muhammad and Dhu Husayn tribes. In the following years a number of claimants to the position of imam appeared in the Yemeni highlands. In order to settle the uneasy matter a meeting was convened in 1851 at Al Rawdah, north of the capital
San'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 Govern ...
. The claimants agreed to accept whoever was appointed. Ghalib was one of those present, and was appointed under the name al-Hadi Ghalib. During his short imamate he entertained contacts with the Ottomans, who occupied the Yemeni lowlands (
Tihamah
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 m ...
). He took a submissive position vis-à-vis the
Porte
Porte may refer to:
*Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire
*Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy
*John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator
*Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...
.
Chaos and Ottoman takeover
His reign was turbulent, since fighting broke out with a rival called Abbas. They each held a part of San'a. In view of the civil strife, many
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
left for other cities. In 1852, finally, al-Hadi Ghalib had to leave San'a and the inhabitants chose a governor (''wali''), the
shaykh Ahmad al-Haymi. According to the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
political agent R.L. Playfair, he was once again acknowledged in name around 1858. Governor al-Haymi was counted as his
wazir.
Nevertheless, when al-Hadi Ghalib tried to enter San'a in 1857/58, the gates were closed in his face. The imam and his followers besieged San'a, but governor al-Haymi thwarted his ambitions. In the following year, al-Haymi, increasingly impopular among the city dwellers, was forced to flee San'a. The city was subsequently governed by another ''wali'', Muhsin Mu'id, in 1860-1872. By the early 1870s Muhsin Mu'id expelled the current imam
al-Mutawakkil al-Muhsin and once again elevated al-Hadi Ghalib to the dignity.
In the meantime, the opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869 gave a new impetus to the Turks to take a steadier grip on Yemen, in order to counter
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
influence among the tribes of the region. The new imam and Muhsin Mu'id found reason to take on a welcoming attitude to the Turks, who marched into San'a in April 1872. With these events the Zaidi state founded in 1597 was terminated, although it arose again several decades later. Turkish administration was introduced and the impoverished imam was forbidden to mix with the chiefs. He subsequently lived on a monthly salary provided by the Ottoman authorities, until his death in
Al Rawdah, just to the north of San'a, in 1885.
[Zaidi biographies, in http://www.al-aalam.com/personinfo.asp?pid=4236 (in Arabic).]
See also
*
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 ...
*
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 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadi Ghalib
Zaydi imams of Yemen
1823 births
1885 deaths
19th-century Arabs
19th-century Yemeni people