The Sulaymanids () were a

sharif Sharīf or Sherif (, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the fami ...

dynasty from the line of the Muhammad's grandson Hasan bin Ali which ruled around 1063–1174. Their centre of power lay in Jazan in currently Saudi Arabia, Southern Arabia back then since 1020 where they soon achieved a political and social status that enabled them to establish a strong Hereditary Monarchy before the arrival of the Ottoman Empire which destroyed them

Expulsion from Mecca

The chronology of the history of the dynasty is not very well established. Their name is derived from Sulayman bin Abdallah, the grandson of Musa al-Jawn bin Abd Allah al-Mahd, a fifth-generation descendant of the imam Hasan bin Ali. The clan lived in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

at the time when the

Sulayhid dynasty The Sulayhid dynasty () was an Ismaili Shi'ite Arab dynasty established in 1047 by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Sulayhi that ruled most of historical Yemen at its peak. The Sulayhids brought to Yemen peace and a prosperity unknown since Himyaritic ...

extended its influence in Yemen and into

Hijaz Hejaz is a historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al-Bahah. It is thus known as the "Western Province ...

to the north. In 1061 the last

amir Emir (; ' (), also transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremonial authority. The title has ...

of Mecca of the old Musawi line died. Now the Sulaymanid clan attempted to dominate the city by violent means. The following years were unsettled and the traditional gate-keepers of the

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

, the Shabi clan, appropriated all the gold and silver in the religious premises. The disturbances served as a pretext for King Ali as-Sulayhi to intervene. He performed the

hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

in 1063 with a large retinue and restored order in Mecca. The sharifs asked Ali as-Sulayhi to instal one of their kin as amir and then leave the holy city. The king appointed the sharif Abu Hashim Muhammad as lord in Mecca, starting the Hawashim line of sharifs in the city. However, the Sulaymanid headman Hamza bin Wahhas felt that his own line had been slighted. A conflict resulted and Hamza bin Wahhas was driven out of

in about 1063 or 1069. He then moved to Yemen and established a base in the northern part of the coastal lowland where the family ruled as

s. The era of the Sulaymanids thus overlapped with a number of Yemeni dynasties: the Sulayhids, Hamdanid sultans, Rassids,

Najahids The Najahid dynasty (; Banū Najāḥ) was a Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Abyssinian Mamluk, Mamluks that ruled parts of Yemen from 1022-1158 from its capital at Zabid, Zabīd. Najah would obtain the recognition of the Abbasid Caliphate, ...

Zurayids The Zurayid Dynasty (بنو زريع, Banū Zuraiʿ), were a Yamite Hamdani dynasty based in Yemen in the time between 1083 and 1174. The centre of its power was Aden. The Zurayids suffered the same fate as the Hamdanid sultans, the Sulaym ...

and Mahdids.

Defeat and revenge

The chronicles give relatively little information about the Sulaymanids and tend to mix them up with the Rassids of

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 ...

. It is established, however, that they held a certain authority in the northern Tihama and were involved in the affairs of the more powerful slave dynasty of the Najahids in

Zabid Zabid () (also spelled Zabīd, Zabeed and Zebid) is a town with an urban population of around 52,590 people, located on Yemen's western coastal plain. It is one of the oldest towns in Yemen, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Ho ...

. The Sulaymanid sharifs observed a vassal relation to the rulers of Zabid and paid 60,000 dinars per year in tribute. Hamza's son Yahya bin Hamza assisted the Najahid ruler Jayyash when the latter defeated the Sulayhid general Saba in 1077. In the next generation Ghanim bin Yahya involved in the internal politics of the

Zaydiyyah Zaydism () is a branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali's unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shi'ism, with the other two being Twelverism ...

polity of the northern highlands in 1117. In about 1132 or 1134 he meddled in a civil war between the Najahid ''wazir'' Surur and Muflih. He moved towards

with 1,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry and joined forces with Muflih but was defeated at al-Mahjam. Muflih died soon after the defeat, and the ''wazir'' of Ghanim managed to make peace with the court at Zabid. Some decades later the dynasty was attacked by a new and belligerent dynasty, the Mahdids, who had recently appropriated Zabid on the fall of the Najahids. The amir Wahhas bin Ghanim fell in battle against the Mahdid lord Abd an-Nabi in 1164. The Sulaymanid defeat was complete and their lands were acquired by the victor. The activities of the Mahdids in Yemen was one of the reasons for the

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

ruler

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

to dispatch an army against South Arabia under his brother Turan Shah. Wahhas bin Ghanim's brother Qasim, eager to exact revenge for the recent defeat, gladly allied with the Ayyubids and joined his remaining forces with them. The Ayyubid invasion was successful and led to the conquest of the most of Yemen in 1173–1174. With these events, however, the autonomous position of the Sulaymanids came to an end. Qasim died soon after the elimination of the Mahdids. Local Sulaymanid lords are mentioned in the chronicles later on as vassals under the Ayyubid dynasty. As late as 1556 the Sulaymanid sharifs held sway locally.

List of rulers

* Sulaimān Bin ʿAbd Allāh * Dāwūd Bin Sulaimān * ʿAbd Allāh Bin Dāwūd * ʿAbd ar-Rahmān Bin ʿAbd Allāh * Dāwūd Bin ʿAbd ar-Rahmān * Muḥammad Bin ʿAbd ar-Rahmān * Wahhās Bin Dāwūd * Hamza Bin Wahhās * ʿĪsā Bin Wahhās * ʿUlāiy Bin ʿĪsā

References

Literature

* {{Muslim dynasties in Arabian Peninsula 11th century in Yemen 12th century in Yemen Arab dynasties Arab slave owners Hasanid dynasties Islamic history of Yemen

Expulsion from Mecca

Defeat and revenge

List of rulers

See also

References

Literature