Al-Mukhtar al-Qasim (died 956) 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 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 internal political turbulence among the Zaidis of highland Yemen. His third son
al-Muntakhab al-Hasan demanded the
imamate, but the latter's elder brother al-Mukhtar al-Qasim lodged counterclaims. Al-Muntakhab died in 936. However, a younger brother called
al-Mansur Yahya
Al-Mansur Yahya (died 976) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen, whose tenure as imam is counted from 934 to 976.
Yahya bin Ahmad was the fifth son of the imam an-Nasir Ahmad, and the grandson of the founder-imam al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya. Eve ...
is recognized by Zaidi
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
as the legitimate successor of an-Nasir after 934; he was supported by the majority of the Zaidis after al-Muntakhab's death. In 956, al-Mukhtar al-Qasim, who ruled from his base in
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 ...
, was able to seize the important commercial and political centre
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 ...
, which had hitherto mostly belonged to the rival
Yu'firid Dynasty
The Yuʿfirids ( ar, بنو يعفر, Banū Yuʿfir) were an Islamic Hemyariite dynasty that held power in the highlands of Yemen from 847 to 997. The name of the family is often incorrectly rendered as "Yafurids". They nominally acknowledged the ...
. However, before the year was over, al-Mukhtar was murdered by a powerful lord from
Hamdan, Muhammad bin ad-Dahhak. With his death, San'a temporarily reverted to the Yafurids.
[H.C. Kay, ''Yaman; Its Early Medieval History''. London 1892, p. 226.]
See also
*
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:Mukhtar
Zaydi imams of Yemen
10th century in Yemen
Rassid dynasty
10th-century Arabs