Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad II (1634 – April 27, 1686) was an

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, se ...

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 north and Oman to the northeast an ...

who ruled from 1681 to 1686. He belonged to the

Qasimid 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 endu ...

family which descended from the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

, and dominated the Zaidi

imamate {{expand Arabic, date=April 2021 The term imamate or ''imamah'' ( ar, إمامة, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an ''imam'' or a state ruled by an ''imam''. Theology *Imamate, in Sunni doctrine the caliphate :* Naqshb ...

in 1597–1962. Muhammad was a son of the imam

al-Mutawakkil Isma'il Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il (c. 1610 – 15 August 1676) was an Imam of Yemen who ruled the country from 1644 until 1676. He was a son of Al-Mansur al-Qasim. His rule saw the biggest territorial expansion of the Zaidiyyah imamate in Greater Yemen. Ear ...

. When his cousin and predecessor

al-Mahdi Ahmad Al-Mahdi Ahmad (1633 – July 10, 1681) was an Imam of Yemen, who ruled in 1676–1681. He belonged to the Qasimid family that was descended from Muhammad. Struggle for the imamate Ahmad was a son of al-Hasan bin al-Qasim (d. 1639), a brot ...

died in 1681, a number of Qasimids laid claim to the imamate. Through the diplomatic efforts of the

Ulema In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

(religious scholars) the dispute was settled without bloodshed, and al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad II gained power. He first resided in

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 Gover ...

, but later moved to Dawran. During his short reign the territory of the Zaidi state founded by his grandfather began to shrink. The

Yafa Yafa () is an Arab tribe, geographical area, and district inhabited by the Yafa'i tribe in South Arabia, located in Lahij Governorate. It is one of the biggest tribes that descended from the ancient Himyarites. Today, most members of the tribe ...

tribesmen in the east expelled their governor and were henceforth lost to the Yemeni kingdom. Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad II was not a warlike leader, but rather an

ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

and deeply religious personality who was devoted to learning. The well-known scholar and writer

Muhammad ash-Shawkani Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (1759–1834) was a prominent Yemeni Sunni Islamic scholar, jurist, theologian and reformer. Shawkani was one of the most influential proponents of Athari theology and is revered as one of their canonical scholars by Sal ...

considered him one of the most righteous imams. He died in 1686 in Hamman Ali in the Anis region, possibly from poisoning. The deceased imam was buried in Jabal Dawran, at the side of his father. Seven contenders claimed the succession after him in a period of only three years; of these, al-Mahdi Muhammad finally gained power in 1689 after a violent struggle.David Solomon Sassoon (ed.), ''Ohel Dawid'' (vol. 2), Oxford University Press: London 1932, p. 969, s.v. דופי הזמן - Vicissitudes of Time - being a description of 17th and 18th century chronology written by a Yemenite Jew (Hebrew); a Microfilm of the manuscript is available at the National Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Givat Ram Campus), Manuscript Dept., Microfilm reel # F-9103, and where pp. 13-14 mention in great detail the struggles of al-Mahdi Muhammad (Hebrew)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muayyad Muhammad Ii Zaydi imams of Yemen 1634 births 1686 deaths 17th-century Arabs

See also

References