Al-Murtada Muhammad (891? - 1 May 922) was the second

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 Zaidi state 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 ...

, who ruled from 911 to 912 and was a respected religious scholar.

Youth

Muhammad bin Yahya was a

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 ...

who was born in Hijaz. The year of birth was allegedly 891, although it may actually have been earlier than that. He followed his father

al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya Abūʾl-Ḥusayn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm Ṭabāṭabā al-Ḥasanī (al-Rass/Medina, 859 – Sa'dah, 18 August 911), better known by his honorific title of al-Hādī ilāʾl-Ḥaqq (), was a religious and politi ...

to Yemen in 897, where the latter was acknowledged as imam by the tribal groups of the northern highland, conforming to the Zaydiyya version of

Shi'a Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor ( caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community ( imam). However, his right is understoo ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. During the following years, Muhammad assisted his father in various political and military affairs. He also made a name as a religious authority and a poet. In June 903, he was taken captive by the Yu'firids, political rivals in the Yemeni highland. He spent several months in a prison before he was released. After 906 he was several times confronted with the aggressive

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

lord Ali bin al-Fadl.

Reign and abdication

After the death of al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya in 911, Muhammad was chosen to succeed him. As imam, he took the name al-Murtada Muhammad. However, the new imam felt frustrated about the moral laxity of the Yemeni population, who were slow to change their old habits. After a brief reign he abdicated in the month of Dhu al-Qadah, probably in July 912. He appears to have supported the succession of his brother an-Nasir Ahmad to the

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 ...

. He withdrew to a life of scholarship and contemplation and died in

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 ...

, the centre of Zaydiyya rule, in May 922. As a diligent scholar and poet, he wrote several works, in particular about Zaidi rites.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murtada Zaydi imams of Yemen 10th century in Yemen Rassid dynasty 10th-century Arab people 10th-century Zaydis