Abu Talib Yahya (951 - 1033) was an

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

of the

Zaydiyyah Zaydism () is a branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali's unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shi'ism, with the other two being Twelverism ...

sect in 1020–1033. Like his elder brother and predecessor al-Mu'ayyad Ahmad, Abu Talib Yahya was a prominent man of learning and a descendant of Imam Hasan bin Ali. He succeeded al-Mu'ayyad Ahmad in the imamate of the Zaidi territories in

Gilan Gilan Province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, in the northwest of the country and southwest of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is the city of Rasht. The province lies along the Caspian Sea, in Iran's Region 3, west of the province of ...

and Deylaman in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, formally as "

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

". At this time there were two major Zaidi territories, namely the area south of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

and the highlands of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. For many years after the death of imam al-Mahdi al-Husayn in 1013, no local imam was appointed in the Yemeni territory. In Zaidi

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

, al-Mu'ayyad Ahmad and Abu Talib Yahya are sometimes listed as such, although they never visited Yemen.List in Cornelis van Arendonk, ''Les débuts de l'imamat zaidite au Yemen''. Leiden 1960; Cesare Ansalsi, ''Il Yemen nella storia e nella leggenda''. Roma 1933, p. 134; http://www.hukam.net/family.php?fam=2.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Talib Yahya Zaydi imams of Yemen 951 births 1033 deaths 11th century in Iran Hasanids 10th-century Arab people 11th-century Arab people 11th-century caliphs 11th-century Zaydis

See also

References