Al-Mansur al-Qasim (November 13, 1559 – February 19, 1620), with the cognomen ''al-Kabir'' (the Great), was an Imam of Yemen, who commenced the struggle to liberate Yemen from the Ottoman occupiers. He was the founder of a Zaidi kingdom that endured, under many vicissitudes, until 1970.

Proclamation of the imamate

Al-Qasim bin Muhammad was a fourteenth-generation descendant of the imam ad-Da'i Yusuf (d. 1012). His father supported the imam al-Mutahhar (d. 1572), who fought the encroaching Ottomans with partial success but who was finally defeated in 1569–1570. Al-Qasim was a religious teacher at the Dawud

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in San'a at a time when the Ottoman grip on Yemen was severely felt. The Turks promoted the

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

legal tradition of

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

, at the expense of the Zaydiyyah which dominated in the highlands of Yemen. One of al-Qasim's pupils suggested him to claim the Zaidi

imamate The term imamate or ''imamah'' (, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an ''imam'' or a Muslim theocratic state ruled by an ''imam''. Theology *Imamate in Shia doctrine, the doctrine of the leadership of the Muslim commu ...

, which he first declined. The suspicions of the Turks were however raised, and al-Qasim fled San'a, finally setting forth his claim ( da'wah) to the imamate in Hajur in the north-west in September 1597.

Theological position

In his theological thinking al-Mansur al-Qasim upheld the Shia foundations of Zaydiyyah by stressing the eighth-century Jarudi position to the

which considered the first two

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 ...

s as usurpers. He emphasized the differences between Zaydiyyah and the Mu'tazila school of theology, which laid stress on reason and rational thought, whereas some previous Yemeni imams had noted the similarities. He argued that the early imams had limited their prescriptions to what could be traced to reason, the unambiguous

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

text, and the generally accepted

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

. These imams, he argued, did not follow the Mu'tazila in their speculations and fantasies. Al-Mansur al-Qasim was also hostile to

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

, one reason being that the Sufi orders supported the Ottoman occupants. He branded the Sufis as heretics and likened them to Ismailites, traditional enemies of the Zaidis.

The struggle against the Ottoman Turks

Although supported by the Ahnumi tribesmen, al-Qasim's first years of struggle were difficult. Strong action by the Ottoman forces reduced the imam to despair by 1604. Then, however, the

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

of the important stronghold Hajjah in the western mountains chose to support al-Qasim. From this point the forces of the imamate held the initiative. In 1607 the Ottoman governor Sinan made an agreement with al-Qasim, where the latter was granted possession of the areas in the northern highlands which he had subdued. Infighting among the Turkish administrators in 1613 left the north of the country exposed to the forces of the imam, and the important city Sa'dah fell in 1617. Two years later a new truce was concluded that confirmed the expanded realm of al-Qasim. By this time he controlled the entire area between

Sana'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 ...

and Sa'dah. When he died in 1620, the city of San'a and the coastal region Tihamah were still in Ottoman hands. It was left to his son and successor al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad (r. 1620–1644) to expel them entirely. By this time the Yemenis possessed firearms which, together with the poor quality of local Ottoman soldiery and strong local discontent with taxation, ensured military successes against the occupiers. Although the Zaidi imamate is not strictly speaking hereditary, but depends on the qualifications and

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' is an honorific title of Hasanid and Husaynid lineage, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali, Hasan and Husayn ibn Ali, Husayn. The title may also refer ...

ancestry of the claimant, al-Mansur al-Qasim actually founded a dynasty, known after him as the Qasimids.R.B. Serjeant & R. Lewcock, pp. 73-74.

Proclamation of the imamate

Theological position

The struggle against the Ottoman Turks

See also

References

Further reading