Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya
Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq | |
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Rassids | |
Father | al-Husayn ibn al-Qasim al-Rassi |
Yahya يحيى | |
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20th Zaydi Imam | |
In office 860–911 | |
Preceded by | Al-Qasim al-Rassi |
Succeeded by | Al-Murtada Muhammad |
Personal | |
Religion | Islam |
Abūʾl-Ḥusayn Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Qāsim ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥasanī (al-Rass/
Origin and family
According to the later
Yahya was born into a particularly prominent branch of the Hasanid line. His grandfather, al-Qasim al-Rassi, was one of the chief authorities of the
Yahya married his paternal first cousin, Fatima.[7] The couple had nine sons: Muhammad, Ahmad, al-Hasan, Yahya, Isma'il, al-Husayn, Abdallah, Ja'far, and Isa.[8] Both Muhammad and Ahmad would succeed their father as imams, and most of the imams of Yemen descend from Ahmad.[8] Of the 73 imams of Yemen who followed Yahya, 60 were his direct descendants, and six of the rest were descended from his brother, Abdallah, and his uncle, Muhammad.[9]
Early life
Already at a very young age, Yahya distinguished himself for his character and intelligence: he was strong, brave, and well versed in Islamic jurisprudence (
Like all Shi'a imams, Yahya was opposed to the Abbasid Caliphate, but was also well aware of the failure of all past attempts by Shi'a candidates to stage a successful military uprising against the Abbasids, most notably the
Between 884 and 889, Yahya and his family visited Tabaristan, then ruled by
Activity in Yemen
In 893/4, Yahya for the first time journeyed to the
Yahya's first attempt was cut short. He reached al-Sharafah, some distance from Sana'a, but was then forced to turn back due to indiscipline among his own men, and returned to al-Fara, southwest of Medina.
Al-Hadi quickly secured his control the environs of Sa'dah, which became his capital and base of operations.[15] Already in July 897, he was able to subjugate the Najran region, concluding a special treaty with the numerous local non-Muslim populace.[15] He then set his sights on Sana'a, whose governor, Abu'l-Atahiyah of the Tarif family, in 899 switched his support from the Yu'firids to him.[15][23] The prolonged and changeful struggle for control of Sana'a would dominate al-Hadi's reign, and highlight the limitations of his regime.[15][23] On 19 January 901, al-Hadi entered the city in person.[15] He struck coins and the khutbah was read in his name.[23] This was opposed by the Yu'firids, however, and Sana'a rapidly changed hands between him and the Yu'firid ruler Abd al-Qahir. By this time the imam suffered from poor health, and his tribal supporters were unreliable. Eventually he left the city to its fate in May 902, being carried back to Sa'dah in a litter.[15][23] A new expedition against Sana'a was undertaken in the next year but led to another defeat, in which al-Hadi's son Muhammad was captured by the Yu'firids.[15][23]
Al-Hadi was not the only Shi'a leader who had tried to propagate his doctrine in Yemen: already in 881, two missionaries of the rival
Al-Hadi's own campaign into the western coast, which likely took place in 905, was unsuccessful, but the local leaders opposed to Ibn al-Fadl invited al-Hadi to come to their aid, and in April 906, he again captured Sana'a.[15] This occupation also did not last long, as he quarreled with As'ad ibn Abi Yu'fir, and left the city in November of the same year, allowing the Isma'ilis to recapture Sana'a.[15] Al-Hadi's rule over northern Yemen was also constantly challenged by tribal rebellions, especially by the Banu'l-Harith tribe of Najran, who in 908 overthrew and killed their Zaydi governor. Al-Hadi, plagued by illness, was unable to restore his control over the province.[15] In 910, al-Hadi exploited Ibn al-Fadl's absence on campaign to the western coastal plain to once more occupy Sana'a on 7 April, but was forced to abandon it again on 23 June.[15]
Death
Al-Hadi died at Sa'dah on 18 August 911.[15] His tomb is adjacent to the al-Hadi mosque in Sa'dah, which is named after him and one of the oldest buildings of Islamic Yemen.[29] It has been a site of pilgrimage for Zaydi faithful since.[15] He was succeeded in his dignity by his son Muhammad.[30]
Legacy
Al-Hadi's reign was marked by instability: he could only rely on the loyalty of his own relatives, other Alids, and a small number of "Ṭabarīs", Zaydi followers from Tabaristan, who arrived in 898 and 902.[15] Although al-Hadi was not always a successful ruler, he made a lasting impression on the tribal groups in the Yemeni highland, successfully propagating the Zaydi ideology of Islam – it has actually been argued that it was the Zaydis who seriously introduced Islam in Yemen.[31] Personally, he had the strength, courage and religious knowledge that were a prerequisite for the imamate. He was believed to have fought 70 battles, and was reportedly so strong that he could obliterate the stamp on a coin with his fingers.[32]
Al-Hadi saw himself as the restorer of Muslim beliefs, as seen from quotations of his works: "I revived the
He took great care to collect taxes according to the religious scriptures, but also to avoid abuses and arbitrary tax harvesting.
Al-Hadi's religious teachings were in many respects strict, adhering to the school of his grandfather and Zayd bin Ali. He strove for a community where the imam, as the divinely designated leader, ensured the spiritual welfare of the people. For example, he expected women to be
See also
References
- ^ Eagle 1994, pp. 103–104.
- ^ Eagle 1994, pp. 103, 117.
- ^ a b Madelung 2004, p. 334.
- ^ Eagle 1994, pp. 104, 117.
- ^ a b c Eagle 1994, p. 104.
- ^ a b c Eagle 1994, p. 108.
- ^ Eagle 1994, pp. 104–105, 117.
- ^ a b Eagle 1994, p. 117.
- ^ Eagle 1994, pp. 114, 117.
- ^ Madelung 2004, pp. 334–335.
- ^ Eagle 1994, p. 107.
- ^ Eagle 1994, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Madelung 1971, p. 1166.
- ^ a b c Eagle 1994, p. 109.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Madelung 2004, p. 335.
- ^ a b Eagle 1994, p. 110.
- ^ Landau-Tasseron 2010, pp. 419–421.
- ^ a b Landau-Tasseron 2010, p. 424.
- ^ Landau-Tasseron 2010, p. 422.
- ^ a b Landau-Tasseron 2010, pp. 421, 424.
- ^ Eagle 1994, pp. 111, 114.
- ^ Eagle 1994, p. 111.
- ^ a b c d e Serjeant & Lewcock 1983, p. 56.
- ^ Halm 1991, pp. 42, 44, 55–56, 177.
- ^ Madelung 1991, pp. 438–439.
- ^ Halm 1991, p. 177.
- ^ Madelung 1991, p. 439.
- ^ Halm 1991, p. 176.
- ^ Digital Library, http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=8581 Archived 2012-12-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Serjeant & Lewcock 1983, p. 57.
- ^ Landau-Tasseron 1990, p. 257.
- ^ a b Landau-Tasseron 1990, p. 256.
- ^ H.C. Kay, Yaman; Its Early Medieval History. London 1892, p. 315; Robert W. Stookey 1978, p. 88.
- ^ Landau-Tasseron 2010, pp. 425–426.
- ^ Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. II. Leiden 1913–36, p. 1126.
- ^ Robert W. Stookey 1978, pp. 90–92.
Sources
- Eagle, A. B. D. R. (1994). "Al-Hādī Yahyā b. al-Husayn b. al-Qāsim (245–98/859–911): A Biographical Introduction and the Background and Significance of his Imamate". New Arabian Studies. 2: 103–122. ISSN 1351-4709.
- ISBN 978-3-406-35497-7.
- Kay, Henry Cassels, ed. (1892). Yaman: Its Early Mediæval History, by Najm ad-Din ʿOmāarah al-Ḥakami. Also the Abridged History of Its Dynasties by Ibn Khaldūn, and an Account of the Karmathians of Yaman by Abu ʿAbd Allah Baha ad-Din al-Janadi. London: Edward Arnold.
- Landau-Tasseron, Ella (1990). "Zaydī Imams as Restorers of Religion: Iḥyāʾ and Tajdīd in Zaydī Literature". S2CID 162385880.
- Landau-Tasseron, Ella (2010). "Arabia". In ISBN 978-0-521-83823-8.
- OCLC 495469525.
- ISBN 978-90-04-08112-3.
- ISBN 978-90-04-13974-9.
- Serjeant, R. B.; Lewcock, Ronald, eds. (1983). Ṣan'ā': an Arabian Islamic City. London: World of Islam Festival Trust. ISBN 0905035046.
- van Arendonk, Cornelis (1960) [1919]. Les débuts de l'imāmat zaidite au Yemen [The Beginnings of the Zaydi Imamate in the Yemen] (in French). Translated by Jacques Ryckmans. Leiden: E. J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-00715-4.