The Joint Meeting Parties came into existence in 2003 when Islah and theSocialist Party joined three other smaller parties to establish a joint opposition to the rulingGeneral People's Congress.[29] At the lastlegislativeelections on 27 April 2003, the party won 22.6% of the popular vote and 46 out of 301 seats.
As of late 2025, Islah had begun denying any formal affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.[30][31]
Al-Islah has been described as consisting of three components. The first is the political faction, Yemen'sMuslim Brotherhood, led by Mohammed Qahtan. The second is thetribal confederacy which was led by top tribal chiefAbdullah Al Ahmar until his death in 2007 at which time he was succeeded by his sonSadeq.[33] The third is theSalafi movement, led by the country's most prominent Sunni religious scholar,Abdul Majeed al-Zindani.[1][34]Muhammad Al-Yadomi succeeded Al Ahmar as the head of the party following his death on 28 December 2007.[32]
In the2003 parliamentary election, Al-Islah won 46 seats. As of 2010[update], 13 of Al-Islah'sparliament members were women, including human rights activist and Nobel laureateTawakel Karman,[35][36] who created the activist group Women Journalists Without Chains in 2005[37] and became the first Yemeni and Arab woman to win theNobel Peace Prize in 2011. On 5 February 2018, she was suspended from the party.[38]
The party was blacklisted by Saudi Arabia in March 2014 due to its ties to theMuslim Brotherhood.[32] Since the death of former KingAbdullah bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia has repaired relations with Al-Islah, due to their role in fighting theHouthis during theYemeni Civil War.[14] In December 2017, Islah leaders Al-Yidoumi and Al-Anisi met with the crown princes of Saudi Arabia andAbu Dhabi (part of the UAE) in the Saudi capitalRiyadh to discuss the Yemeni war.[12] Before that, the UAE had publicly opposed Al-Islah,[40] and it was later claimed that the UAE hired American mercenaries to assassinate people like Al-Islah leader Mayo.[41][42] In December 2018, it was reported that Islamist political parties like Al-Islah and jihadi militant groups likeAl-Qaeda andIslamic State (ISIS) were the main targets of the UAE, with theHouthis no longer being regarded as the greatest enemy of the UAE, and the Saudis being unable to do anything about it.[20]
^abStephen W. Day (2012).Regionalism and Rebellion in Yemen, A Troubled National Union. Cambridge University Press. p. 133.ISBN9781107606593.
^abAbdullah al-Munifi (2023)."Yemeni Islah Party.. Guard of values of the Republic, constancy of the state, and terms of politics".alislah-ye.net.Today, the Yemeni Islah Party believes that constructing a republican, federal, democratic Yemen, based on its national Arab-Islamic identity, is the responsibility of all Yemeni patriotic forces and the duty of fulfilling to the history of the fighters and martyrs of the Yemeni patriotic movement.
^"Rebels in Yemen abduct Sunni rivals amid Saudi airstrikes". 5 April 2015.Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved20 December 2018 – via The CBS News.Muslim Brotherhood's branch in Yemen and a traditional power player in Yemen, had declared its support for the Saudi-led coalition bombing campaign against the rebels and their allies.
^Nathan J. Brown; Amr Hamzawy (2010).Between Religion and Politics. Carnegie Endowment. p. 137.ISBN9780870032974.
^Daniel Brumberg; Dina Shehata (2009).Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World: Challenges for U.S. Engagement. US Institute of Peace Press. p. 431.ISBN9781601270207.
^Sheila Carapico (2007).Civil Society in Yemen: The Political Economy of Activism in Modern Arabia. Cambridge University Press. p. 143.ISBN9780521034821.
^Francesco Cavatorta (2012).Civil Society Activism under Authoritarian Rule: A Comparative Perspective. Routledge. p. 146.ISBN9781136207815.
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