Al-Mahdī Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā, or Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā Ibn al-Murtaḍā () (1363/1374 – 1436), was a Muʿtazila scholar and imam of the Zaidī 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 briefly held the imamate in 1391–1392. He was an encyclopedist and a prolific writer on a range of subjects. Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā was a 12th-generation descendant of the Zaidī imām

ad-Da'i Yusuf Ad-Da'i Yusuf (died September 12, 1012) was an imam of the Zaidiyyah, Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled for two highly turbulent terms (977–999, 1002–1012). Struggles against Yu'firids and Ziyadids Yusuf bin Yahya was a son of the imam al-Mansur ...

(d. 1012). His full name was: al-Mahdī Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Murtaḍā ibn Aḥmad al-Jawad ibn al-Murtaḍā ibn al-Mufaḍḍal ibn al-Manṣūr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Alī ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Qāsim ibn al-Da'ī Yūsuf. In 1391, when the elderly imām al-Nasir Muhammad Salah al-Din died, his sons were still minors. The

qāḍī A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...

, ad-Dawwarī, took temporary administration of the Zaidī domains of highland Yemen, in their name. However, the Zaidi

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 ...

assembled in the Jamal ad-Dīn Mosque in

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 ...

and appointed Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā imām under the title 'al-Mahdī Aḥmad'. The appointment was not recognised by ad-Dawwani, who immediately appointed the deceased imām's son

al-Mansur Ali bin Salah ad-Din Al-Mansur Ali bin Salah ad-Din (1373 – 14 February 1436) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled in 2 November 1391 – 14 February 1436, partly in rivalry with other claimants to the imamate. Contest over the imamate Ali bin Salah ad ...

. Al-Mahdī Aḥmad and his followers withdrew from San'a to Bayt Baws, and for one year the two imāms fought for supremacy. In 1392, al-Mahdī Aḥmad was captured by al-Manṣūr Alī's forces and imprisoned. In 1399, aided by prison guards, the ex-imām escaped to live in privacy until his death from

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

in 1436. Although al-Mahdī Aḥmad lacked the requisite administrative and military skills for 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, a ...

imamate, he produced a substantial body of writings on dogmatics,

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premise ...

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. His sister Dahma bint Yahya was also a scholar and poet. The famous Salafi scholar Muhammad

Al-Shawkani Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (1759–1834) was a prominent Yemeni Sunni Islamic scholar, jurist, theologian and reformer. Shawkani was one of the most influential proponents of Athari theology and is revered as one of their canonical scholars by S ...

wrote Al-Sayl al-jarrar, a denunciation of a text written by the Zaydi Imam Al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya.

Works

*''Kitāb al-Baḥr al-zahhār: al-jāmiʻ li-madhāhab ʻulamāʼ al-amṣār''; a theological-legal encyclopedia *''Kitāb al-milal wa al-niḥal: min ajzāʼ Kitāb al-baḥr al-zakhār: al-jāmiʻ li-madhāhab ʻulamāʼ al-amṣār'' *''Ṭabaqāt al-Mu'tazilah'' *''Bāb dhikr al-Muʻtazilah: min Kitāb al-Munyah wa-al-amal fī sharḥ kitāb al-Milal wa-al-niḥal'' *''Al-Mutazilah: being an extract from the Kitābu-l milal wa-n-niḥal'' *''Al-Kāshif li-dhawī al-ʻuqūl ʻan wujūh maʻānī al-kāfil bi-nayl al-suʼūl'' *''Kitāb al-Munya wa-'l-amal fī sharḥ al-milāl wa-'n-niḥal'' *''ʻUyūn al-Azhār fī fiqh al-aʼimmah al-aṭhār''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahdi Ahmad Bin Yahya 1363 births 1436 deaths 14th-century biographers 14th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world 14th-century religious leaders 14th-century Yemeni people 15th-century biographers 15th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world 15th-century Yemeni people Zaydi imams of Yemen Encyclopedists of the medieval Islamic world Year of birth uncertain 14th-century Arabs 15th-century Arabs

Works

See also

References