Al-Hadi Yahya 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 part of the Zaidi state in

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 ...

. He ruled from 1217 to 1239, partly in rivalry with a contender. Najm ad-Din Yahya bin Muhsin was a seventh-generation descendant of imam

al-Mukhtar al-Qasim Al-Mukhtar al-Qasim (died 956) was an imam of the Zaidiyyah, Zaidi state in Yemen who held or claimed power from 936 to 956. Al-Qasim bin Ahmad was the eldest son of the imam An-Nasir Ahmad (Zaidi imam), an-Nasir Ahmad, who died in 934. An-Nasir's ...

(d. 956). The old imam

al-Mansur Abdallah Al-Mansur Abdallah (February 24, 1166 – April 21, 1217) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who held the imamate from 1187 (or 1197) to 1217. Background Abdallah bin Hamzah was born in the village Ayshan in the territory of the Hamdan trib ...

died in 1217 in

Kawkaban Shibam Kawkaban () is a double town in Shibam Kawkaban District, Al Mahwit Governorate, Yemen, located 38 km west-northwest of Sanaa, the national capital. It consists of two distinct adjoining towns, Shibam () and Kawkaban (). Shibam is ...

after many years of inconclusive struggles against the

Ayyubids The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ori ...

, who established a sub-branch in Yemen in 1173. After the demise of al-Mansur, the loyalties of the Zaidi community were split. People in the traditional centre of the Zaidi polity,

Sa'dah Saada (), located in the northwest of Yemen, is the capital and largest city of the governorate bearing the same name, as well as the administrative seat of the eponymous district. The city lies in the Serat (Sarawat) mountains at an altitude o ...

, accepted Najm ad-Din Yahya as imam under the name al-Hadi Yahya. However, in the southern parts of the Zaidi land, the old imam's son Izz ad-Din Muhammad was set up as

an-Nasir Muhammad Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun (), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad (), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qalawun (1285–1341) was the ninth Mamluk sultan of the Bahri dynasty who ruled Egypt between 12 ...

. The latter died from a battle wound in 1226. Ayyubid rule in Yemen was replaced in 1229 by the

Rasulid Dynasty The Rasulids () or the Rasulid dynasty was a Sunni Yemeni dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin who ruled Yemen from 1229 to 1454. Origin The Rasulids take their name from a messenger under the Abbasids, Muhammad bin Harun, who was nicknamed "Rasu ...

(1229-1254). The first Rasulid Sultan, Nur ad-Din Umar I, seized several places in the highland, such as

San'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation o ...

Ta'izz Taiz () is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. As of 2023, the city has an estimated p ...

and

. In 1231 he concluded peace with the Zaidi community, and there were relatively few Zaidi-Rasulid clashes until 1248.''Enzyklopädie des Islam'', Vol. III. Leiden 1936, p. 1218. Al-Hadi Yahya died in 1239 and was buried in Saqayn. His death was followed by an interregnum of nine years until al-Mahdi Ahmad bin al-Husayn, from another branch of the

Rassids The Imams of Yemen and later also the Kings of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and political rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured ...

, was proclaimed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadi Zaydi imams of Yemen 1239 deaths Year of birth unknown 13th century in Yemen 13th-century Arab people Rassid dynasty 13th-century Zaydis

See also

References