Idris Imad al-Din
إدريس عماد الدين
Mausoleum of Idris Imad al-Din inShibam in 2011
Da'i al-Mutlaq
In office 1428–1468
Preceded by	Ali Shams al-Din II
Succeeded by	al-Hasan Badr al-Din II
Personal life
Born	1392 (1392) Shibam,Yemen
Died	10 June 1468(1468-06-10) (aged 75–76) Shibam,Yemen
Resting place	Shibam,Yemen
Parent	Al-Hasan Badr al-Din I (father)
Religious life
Religion	Shia Islam
Sect	Tayyibi Isma'ilism

Idris Imad al-Din ibn al-Hasan al-Qurashi (Arabic:إدريس عماد الدين بن الحسن القرشي,romanized: ʾIdrīs ʿImād al-Dīn ibn al-Ḥasan al-Qurashī; 1392 – 10 June 1468) was the 19thDa'i al-Mutlaq ofTayyibi Isma'ilis from 1428 to 1468. A major religious and political leader in 15th-centuryYemen, as well as a notable theologian, Idris was also an important medievalIsma'ili historian whose work is fundamental for the history of theFatimid Caliphate and the Isma'ili communities in Yemen.

Born in 1392 atShibam in northernYemen, Idris was descended from theBanu al-Walid al-Anf family, of theQuraysh tribe. The family had provided theTayyibi Isma'ili head missionaries (da'is) in Yemen reaching back to the early 13th century.^[1][2] The full title of these missionaries,Da'i al-Mutlaq (lit. 'absolute/unrestricted missionary') signified their position as thede facto leaders of the Tayyibi community in their capacity as vicegerents of thehiddenimam.^[1][3] This authority extended over not only Yemen, but the Tayyibi community in India as well.^[1] Idris' grandfatherAbdallah Fakhr al-Din was the sixteenthDa'i al-Mutlaq, followed by his fatheral-Hasan Badr al-Din I, and after his death in 1418 by his uncleAli Shams al-Din II, who died in 1428.^[1]

As a youth, Idris received a thorough education, and was active in the governance of the Tayyibi community. When his uncle died in 1428, he succeeded him as the nineteenthDa'i al-Mutlaq, a position he would hold throughout the remainder of his life.^[1] His first residence was the citadel ofHaraz.^[1] Like his predecessors, he was allied with theRasulids ofZabid against theZaydiimams ofSanaa. With the Rasulidal-Malik al-Zahir (r. 1428–1439) he repeatedly fought against the Zaydi imamal-Mansur Ali (r. 1391–1436), and recaptured numerous fortresses from Zaydi control.[4] When the Rasulids were replaced by theTahirids in 1454, Idris maintained friendly relations with the new rulers of Zabid, the Tahirid brothersAmir (r. 1454–1460) andAli (r. 1460–1479).[4] After adisastrous plague in 1436/7, which cost him several relatives, Idris returned to his native Shibam. TheSunni Bohra break off from theDawoodi Bohra during the leadership of Idris.^[1]

Idris paid particular attention to the missionary efforts in western India, and contributed to the success of Tayyibi missionaries inGujarat.^[4] According to the later Indian Tayyibi scholarsKhawj ibn Malak andShaykh Qutb, it was Idris who first planned to move the seat of the Tayyibi missionary movement from Yemen to India, although in the event this did not take place until a century after his death on 10 June 1468.^[1] His sons,al-Hasan Badr al-Din II, andal-Husayn Husam al-Din, and then his grandsons,Ali Shams al-Din III andMuhammad Izz al-Din I, succeeded him asDa'i al-Mutlaq. Muhammad Izz al-Din I, the 23rdDa'i al-Mutlaq, was the last of his line, and on his death the first Indian,Yusuf ibn Sulayman, was nominated as his successor.^[1][5]

The mausoleum of Idris in Shibam was reconstructed in 2010 by the 52ndDa'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra branch of Tayyibi Isma'ilism, and is a frequent pilgrimage destination for Bohra faithful from both Yemen and India.^[1]

• 
  Citadel of Idris, Shibam
• 
  Idris' reconstructed mausoleum in 2013
• 
  Tomb of Idris in 2011

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Alongside his religious and political duties, Idris was also a dedicated scholar and prolific writer. His books "would become foundational works of the Ṭayyibidaʿwa".^[1] His favourite writing spot, next to the lake Birkat Jawjab near Shibam, is still pointed out to visitors today.^[1] The 16th-century Tayyibi scholarHasan ibn Nuh ascribes eleven works to Idris. The modern historian Ayman Fuʾad Sayyid enumerates eleven whose authorship is certain, and three more where it is attributed to Idris, but doubtful.^[1]

His main work is the seven-volumeUyun al-akhbar ("Flowing springs of historical reports"), a history of Islam fromMuhammad, through the 21 Isma'ili Imams up to the end of theFatimid Caliphate, as well as the start of the Tayyibida'wa in Yemen under theSulayhid dynasty.^[1][6] In it, Idris made use of a large number of Isma'ili and non-Isma'ili sources, some of which do no longer survive.^[2] The only general history of Isma'ilism actually written by an Isma'ili author during the Middle Ages,^[6] this work has established him as the "most famous Isma'ili historian", according toFarhad Daftary,^[2] and provides a unique Isma'ili perspective on the history of the Fatimid Caliphate and its proxies in Yemen.^[1] Along with the work of his Egyptian contemporary,al-Maqrizi, theUyun al-akhbar is "arguably the most detailed source of Fatimid history".^[1]

TheUyun al-akhbar has been published in a number of critical editions:^[1][2]

• Volumes 4–6, edited by Mustafa Ghalib, Dar al-Andalus, Beirut 1975–1984
• Volume 5, focusing on the Fatimids, edited by Farhat Dashrawi, Tunis 1979 and again by Muhammad al-Ya'llawi, Dar al-Gharb al-Islami, Beirut 1985
• All seven volumes by Ahmad Chleilat, Mahmoud Fakhoury, Yousef S. Fattoum, Ma'moun Sagherji, and Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid, London and Damascus 2007–2010
• Excerpts from volumes 5 and 6 were translated into English by Shainool Jiwa inThe Founder of Cairo. The Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Muʿizz and his Era, I.B. Tauris, London and New York 2013
• Volume 7, with a summarized English translation, by Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid with Paul Walker and Maurice Pomerantz, asThe Fatimids and their successors in Yaman: The History of an Islamic Community, I.B. Tauris (in association with theInstitute of Ismaili Studies), London and New York 2002

TheUyun al-akhbar is complemented by two smaller works, the two-volumeNuzhat al-afkar ("A promenade for minds" or "The pleasure of the thoughts"), and its continuation, theRawdat al-akhbar ("A garden of historical reports/information"), which specifically focus on the Tayyibi community in Yemen from the collapse of theSulayhid dynasty to Idris' own day.^[1][2]

Among his theological works, theZahr al-Ma'ani ("Flowers of the meanings"), a treatise on Tayyibi esoteric doctrine (haqa'iq), stands out as the "high mark of Tayyibi writings" (Daftary).^[1][2] The metaphysical ideas of the 11th-centuryda'iHamid al-Din al-Kirmani provided particular inspiration to Idris.^[2] He also composed six shorter theological diatribes: one in question-and-answer format on theological questions; a theological exegesis of aspects connected to theIslamic calendar; a treatise on strictly keeping the full fast ofRamadan; arefutation of aZaydi theological treatise; a polemic treatise against an atheist referred to only as "The Camel"; and a refutation of the practice of some Indians of watching the moon to determine the start and end of Ramadan.^[1][2]

Finally, he was the author of adiwan, in which he emulated the Fatimid-era poetal-Mu'ayyad al-Shirazi. The subjects of his poems were mostly religious, offering praise to Muhammad,Ali and his family, the Isma'ili imams. Some deal with issues of doctrine, but others express his own spiritual beliefs.^[1]

• Daftary, Farhad (2007).The Ismāʿı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-61636-2.
• Daftary, Farhad (2015). "Idris 'Imad al-Din, Sayyid". In Leaman, Oliver (ed.).The Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic Philosophy. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 234–236.ISBN 978-1-4725-6944-8.
• Jiwa, Shainool (2013).The Founder of Cairo: The Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu'izz and his Era. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.ISBN 978-0-8577-2223-2.
• Qutbuddin, Tahera (2018)."Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn". In Fleet, Kate;Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John;Rowson, Everett (eds.).Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online.doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_32368.ISSN 1873-9830.
• Sayyid, Ayman Fuʾād; Walker, Paul E.; Pomerantz, Maurice A. (2002).The Fatimids and their Successors in Yaman: The History of an Islamic Community. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.ISBN 978-0-8577-1258-5.

• 1392 births
• 1468 deaths
• 15th-century Arabic-language poets
• 15th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world
• 15th-century monarchs in the Middle East
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• Banu al-Walid al-Anf
• 15th-century Yemeni people
• Ismaili theologians
• Tayyibi da'is
• History of Ismailism
• 15th-century Arab people
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• 15th-century Islamic religious leaders

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