Muhammad al-Badr
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| Muhammad al Badr Arabic: محمد البدر | |
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Muhammad Al-Badr (15 February 1926 – 6 August 1996) (
Biography
Al-Badr was born in 1926 as oldest son of
Sayf al-Islam al-Badr (as Muhammad now became), not yet 20, was clearly able to patch up speedily any misunderstandings with his father, for in late 1949 he was appointed his deputy over
Al-Badr played a prominent role in quelling the revolt against his father, Imam Ahmad, in 1955 led by Ahmad's brother Sayf al-Islam Abdullah and afterwards was declared Crown Prince.
In that same year Ahmad bin Yahya
During the remaining period of Imam Ahmad's rule, Sayf al-Islam al-Badr held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and from 1958 he was also the Imam's deputy over Sana'a.
Like most young
An assassination attempt on the life of Imam Ahmad in March 1961 left the latter gravely crippled, so in October Sayf al-Islam al-Badr took over effective control of the government. On 19 September 1962 Ahmad died in his sleep, al-Badr was proclaimed Imam and King and took the title of al-Mansur.
A week later rebels shelled his residence,
Al-Badr escaped to the north of
Although the revolution had announced to the world that al-Badr had died beneath the rubble of his palace,[citation needed] he had in fact managed to escape unhurt and set out to the north. As he proceeded on his journey the tribes rallied round him pledging him their unconditional allegiance as Amir al-Mumineen ("Leader of the believers"). These tribes were Zaydi Shia for whom unstinted loyalty to an imam from the Ahl al-Bayt (the descendants of the Prophet) was a fundamental obligation of their religion.[citation needed] A few days later he held a press conference over the border in south-west Saudi Arabia. His uncle Sayf al-Islam al-Hasan, who had been abroad and had been proclaimed Imam at the news of al-Badr's alleged demise, immediately gave allegiance to him together with all the princes of the Hamid al-Din family.[citation needed] Soon the entire tribal confederation of Bakil along with most of Hashid who occupied the central and northern highlands of Yemen and who had been Zaydis for centuries joined enthusiastically the cause of the Imam and the princes to fight the revolutionary regime.
In 1970, despite the fact that territorially most of the Yemen remained under the control of al-Badr and the Hamid al-Din family,[citation needed] Saudi Arabia, which had been the principal opponent of the Sana'a regime,[citation needed] recognized the Yemen Arab Republic and other nations like the United Kingdom swiftly followed suit.[citation needed]
Stunned by Saudi Arabia's recognition of the republican regime which had been negotiated without any consultation with him whatsoever, al-Badr refused to stay any longer in Saudi Arabia and demanded that he be permitted to leave the kingdom immediately. He went to England, where he lived quietly in a modest house in Kent, only going abroad to visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and to call on relatives and friends in that part of the world.[citation needed]
He died in 1996 in London and was buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia.[2]
Honours
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (28 November 1957).[citation needed]
See also
- North Yemen Civil War
- Bruce Conde
Notes
- Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, between March 1969 and 1 December 1970
- ^ al-Badr did not formally abdicate until 1 December 1970, at which point Abdul Rahman al-Eryani was President of the Yemen Arab Republic
References
- Independent.co.uk. 14 August 1996. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
- Asharq Al Awsat. Retrieved 21 January 2024.