Al-Muhtasib al-Mujahid Hamzah (died 2 November 1067) 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 from 1060 to 1067. Hamzah was the son of the imam Abu Hashim al-Hasan, and assisted his father when he proclaimed his

da'wa Dawah ( ar, دعوة, lit=invitation, ) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. The plural is ''da‘wāt'' (دَعْوات) or ''da‘awāt'' (دَعَوات). Etymology The English term ''Dawah'' derives from the Arabic ...

(call for the imamate) in 1031. After the death of imam

Abu'l-Fath an-Nasir ad-Dailami Abu'l-Fath an-Nasir ad-Dailami (died 1053) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who ruled from c. 1038 to 1053. Genealogy # Imam Ali al-Murtada # Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba # Zayd # al-Hasan # Ali # Abdullah # Ahmad # Abdullah # Muhammad # Is ...

in 1053 at the battle of Najd-al-Jah, no new imam appeared for some time. Much of Yemen was dominated by the powerful

Sulayhid The Sulayhid dynasty ( ar, بَنُو صُلَيْح, Banū Ṣulayḥ, lit=Children of Sulayh) was an Ismaili Shi'ite Arab dynasty established in 1047 by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Sulayhi that ruled most of historical Yemen at its peak. The Sulayh ...

king Ali as-Sulayhi, who ruled

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 the land south of it by 1063. In the northern highland, the Zaidis attempted to stall the Sulayhid advance. Hamzah became imam in 1060, being known by the title al-Muhtasib al-Mujahid Hamzah. The title

muhtasib A muḥtasib ( ar, محتسب, from the root ''ḥisbah'', or "accountability"Sami Zubaida (2005), Law and Power in the Islamic World, , pages 58-60) was "a holder of the office of al-hisbah in classical Islamic administrations", according to Ox ...

meant that he was only imam in the sense of protector of the community, but was not entitled to lead the public prayers or pass legal sentences. His chance seemed to come in 1067, when Ali as-Sulayhi was assaulted and killed by the Najahid ruler Sa'id bin Najah from

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 ...

. Al-Muhtasib al-Mujahid Hamzah immediately grabbed the opportunity and attacked San'a with 500 cavalry and 15,000

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

, mainly tribesmen of Hamdan. The attack was however met by the loyal Sulayhid commander Amir az-Zawahi. When the imam and his followers had reached al-Malwa, the Sulayhid forces gave battle on 2 November 1067. The imam was defeated and killed together with one of his sons. A Zaidi clan, the Hamzite Sharifs, was descended from him. His demise was followed by an extended period of 72 years when no Zaidi imam was appointed.H.C. Kay, ''Yaman; Its Early Medieval History''. London 1892, p. 229.

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