The Mahdids ( ar, بني مهدي, Banī Mahdī) were a Himyarite dynasty in Yemen who briefly held power in the period between 1159 and 1174.

Conquest of the Tihama

Their name is derived from their first ruler Ali bin Mahdi who was born in Tihama. Ali bin Mahdi in his turn, traced his ancestry back to the ancient kings of Himyar. He was a religious and wide-travelled figure who performed the

hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

every year and met scholars from all over the Muslim world. In 1136–1142 Ali bin Mahdi propagated his religious ideas in the Tihama lowland which at that time was ruled by the Najahids of Zabid. The Najahid queen 'Alam was initially attracted by his teachings and even exempted him and his followers from paying the

kharaj Kharāj ( ar, خراج) is a type of individual Islamic tax on agricultural land and its produce, developed under Islamic law. With the first Muslim conquests in the 7th century, the ''kharaj'' initially denoted a lump-sum duty levied upon the ...

. Building up a power base, he gathered an army in 1143 and attacked his benefactors. He made efforts to conquer the town al-Kadrā north of Zabid. This, however, failed. Ali and his followers withdrew to the mountains but were allowed back to the Najahid realm in 1146 at the insistence of queen 'Alam. After the death of the queen in 1150 a devastating war flared up between the Mahdids and Najahids. Ali subsequently tried to reach his aims by means of intrigues, undermining the Najahid regime which at this time was dominated by

wazir Wazir often refers to: * Vizier or wazir, a high-ranking political advisor or minister Wazir may also refer to: Places * Wazirabad, a City in Punjab, Pakistan * Waziristan, a region in tribal belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan * Wazir Akbar K ...

s. His ambitions led to the murder of the leading Najahid figure Surūr al-Fātikī in 1156. The people of Zabid called in assistance from the

Zaidiyyah Zaydism (''h'') is a unique branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali‘s unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. In contrast to other Shia Muslims of Twelver Shi'ism and Isma'ilism, Zaydis, ...

imam

al-Mutawakkil Ahmad Al-Mutawakkil Ahmad (المتوكل أحمد) (26), (full name Ahmad bin Ali bin Abbas: أحمد بن علي بن عباس) September 1756 - 10 September 1816 was an