| Rassid dynasty | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Parent house | Hasanids |
| Country |  Kingdom of Yemen |
| Founded | 897; 1128 years ago (897) |
| Founder | Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya |
| Current head | Ageel bin al-Badr |
| Final ruler | Muhammad al-Badr |
| Titles | |
| Deposition | 26 September 1962 (abdicated 1 December 1970) |
TheImams of Yemen and later also the Kings of Yemen werereligiouslyconsecrated leaders belonging to theZaidiyyah branch ofShia Islam. They established a blend of religious andpolitical rule in parts ofYemen from 897. Theirimamate endured under varying circumstances until therepublican revolution in 1962, then the formal abolition of the monarchy in 1970.Zaidiyyah theology differed fromIsmailis orTwelver Shi'ites by stressing the presence of an active and visibleimam as leader. The imam was expected to be knowledgeable in religious sciences, and to prove himself a worthy headman of the community, even in battle if this was necessary. A claimant of the imamate would proclaim a "call" (da'wa), and there were not infrequently more than one claimant.[1] The historianIbn Khaldun (d. 1406) mentions the clan that usually provided the imams as the Banu Rassi orRassids (Arabic:الرسيين).[2] In the originalArab sources the term Rassids is otherwise hardly used; in Western literature it usually refers to the Imams of themedieval period, up to the 16th century. The Rassid branch that came to power with imamal-Mansur al-Qasim (r. 1597-1620) is known asQasimids (Al al-Qasimi).
The imams based their legitimacy on descent from the Islamic prophetMuhammad, mostly via the prominent Zaydiyya theologianal-Qasim al-Rassi (d. 860) - his cognomen refers to ar-Rass, a property in the vicinity ofMecca that he owned.[3] After him, the medieval imams are sometimes known as Rassids. The first of the ruling line, his grandsonal-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, was born inMedina. His fame as an intellectual as well as a leader of note, led to his invitation to Yemen. He was summoned to govern the highland tribes in 893 and again in 896-97. Al-Hadi introduced a multitude of policies and practices that evolved into the particular YemeniZaidiShia brand. The efforts of al-Hadi eventually became the basic guidelines for the religious as well as political characteristics of Yemeni Zaydism. Al-Hadi, however, was not able to consolidate his rule in all of Yemen. He could not even create an enduring state in the highlands, due to the strong localism persisting in the region. There were revolts as well as segments of the population that did not accept his and his successors' pretensions to religio-political rule.[4]
Although he did not succeed in establishing any permanent administrative infrastructure, al-Hadi's descendants became the local aristocracy of the northern highlands, and it is from among them that most of the imams of Yemen were selected for the next one thousand years. Occasionally the imams were drawn from other lines descending from Muhammad.[5]
Yemen throughout most of that period was only rarely a unified political entity; in fact, what was included within its frontiers varied widely, and it has not been governed consistently or uniformly by any single set of rulers except for brief periods. It existed as a part of a number of different political systems/ruling dynasties between the ninth and sixteenth centuries, after which it became a part of theOttoman Empire.
After Imam al-Hadi's death in 911, his sons took over the imamate in turn, although it was not hereditary but rather elective among the descendants of Muhammad. From the 11th to the early 17th centuries, however, the imams were usually not chosen from the sons of the former imam, but rather circulated among the various Rassid branches. Meanwhile, a multitude of smaller dynasties and families established themselves in the highlands, as well as inTihama (the low coastal plain) where the imams rarely ruled. Among the better known of these are theYu'firids (in San'a and Shibam, 847-997), theSulayhids (in the southern highlands, 1047-1138), theZuray'ids (in Aden, 1080-1174), and theHatimids (in San'a, 1098-1174).[6] It was during this period, when theFatimid state was influential, that a portion of the population was converted toIsma'iliShiʿism.
Beginning with the conquest of Yemen by the family ofSalah al-Din ibn Ayyub (Saladin) in 1174, a series of dynasties exercised a modicum of control and administration in Yemen for roughly the next 400 years; these are, in chronological sequence, theAyyubids, from 1173/74 to 1229; theRasulids, from 1229 to 1454; theTahirids, from 1454 to 1517; and theMamluks, from 1517 to 1538, when theOttoman Empire took the Yemeni Tihama.[7]
During most of this period, the dynasties and their rulers were primarily engaged in familial, regional, and occasionally sectarian disputes. Ironically, theSunniRasulids, who eventually concentrated their rule in southern Yemen for precisely that reason, were the dynasty under which the region experienced the greatest economic growth and political stability.[8]
For part of the medieval era the Zaydiyyah imams were eclipsed by the lowland dynasties, and for long periods there would be no imam at all (especially in 1066-1138 and 1171-1187). From the end of the thirteenth century the political fortunes of the Zaydiyya imams revived somewhat. They were able to hold their own against the Rasulids and Tahirids and sometimes expand their territory. Often, however, and especially after 1436, the imamate was split between several contenders.
Comparatively little is known about the medieval Zaydi imams and their efforts to establish themselves and develop some form of administration (including tax collection), or their success in promoting Zaydi goals during this period. From the available evidence, there was very little continuity and a great deal of competition among the Zaydi families and clans. For example, in a presumably representative two-hundred-year period from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, there appear to have been more than twenty different candidates for the imamate, representing more than ten distinct clans.
Eventually the Europeans entered theMiddle East, specifically thePortuguese and then others, in the effort to control theRed Sea trade. For the Zaydiyya imams, however, the Ottomans constituted the greater external threat. Ottoman expeditions managed to defeat the highland tribesmen in the mid decades of the sixteenth century. From the early 17th centuryal-Mansur al-Qasim, belonging to one the Rassid branches (later known as the Qasimids), raised the standard of rebellion. His sonal-Mu'ayyad Muhammad managed to gather the entire Yemen under his authority, expel the Turks, and establish an independent political entity. For a time, the imams ruled a comprehensive territory, includingSouth Yemen and areas even further to the east. Their economic base was strengthened by the coffee trade of the coastal entrepotMocha. Unlike in the previous practice, the Qasimids ruled as a hereditary dynasty.
The power of theimamate declined in the 18th and 19th century. The territory controlled by the imams shrank after the late 17th century, and the lucrative coffee trade declined with new producers in other parts of the world.Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il expanded the Qasimid state to it' greatest extent. The Qasimid state has been characterized as a "quasi-state" with an inherent tension between tribes and government, and between tribal culture and learned Islamic morality. The imams themselves adopted the style of Middle East monarchies, becoming increasingly distant figures. As a result, they eventually lost their charismatic and spiritual position among the tribes of Yemen.[9] The imamate was further eclipsed by the second coming of the Turks to lowland Yemen in 1848, and to the highlands in 1872. However, the Ottoman troops were never able to entirely quell resistance against Turkish rule. The occupants were eventually driven out by 1918, by aQasimid side-branch which inaugurated theMutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen.
For the next 44 yearsNorth Yemen was ruled by two powerful imams.al-Mutawakkil Yahya Muhammad Hamid ad-Din and his sonAhmad bin Yahya created a kingdom there much as the kings of England and France had done centuries earlier. The two imams strengthened the state and secured its borders. They used the imamate to insulate Yemen and revitalize its Islamic culture and society at a time when traditional societies around the world were declining under imperial rule. While Yemen under the two imams seemed almost frozen in time, a small but increasing number of Yemenis became aware of the contrast between an autocratic society they saw as stagnant and the political and economic modernization occurring in other parts of the world. This produced an important chain of events: the birth of the nationalistFree Yemeni Movement in the mid-1940s, an aborted1948 revolution in which Imam Yahya was killed, a failed1955 coup against Imam Ahmad, and finally, the 1962 takeover in which imamMuhammad al-Badr was deposed by a group of Egyptian supported and financed Sunni officers and theYemen Arab Republic (YAR) was proclaimed under the leadership ofAbdullah al-Sallal.[10]
The first five years of President Al-Sallal's rule, from 1962 to 1967, comprised the first chapter in the history of North Yemen. Marked by the revolution that began it, this period witnessed a lengthy civil war between Yemeni republican forces, based in the cities and supported by Egypt, and the royalist supporters of the deposed imam, backed bySaudi Arabia andJordan. In 1965 Egyptian presidentGamal Abdel Nasser met with KingFaisal of Saudi Arabia to consider a possible settlement to the civil war. The meeting resulted in an agreement whereby both countries pledged to end their involvement and allow the people of North Yemen to choose their own government. Subsequent peace conferences were ineffectual, however, and fighting flared up again in 1966.[11]
By 1967 the war had reached a stalemate, and the republicans had split into opposing factions concerning relations with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In late 1967 Al-Sallal’s government was overthrown and he was replaced as president byAbdul Rahman al-Iryani. Fighting continued until 1970, when Saudi Arabia halted its aid to royalists and established diplomatic ties with North Yemen. Al-Iryani effected the long-sought truce between republican and royalist forces, and presided over the adoption of a democratic constitution in 1970. The last ruling Rassid descendantMuhammad al-Badr, greatly disappointed by the Saudi recognition of the republic, emigrated toLondon where he died in 1996.[12]
In June 1974 military officers led by ColonelIbrahim al-Hamdi staged abloodless coup, claiming that the government of Al-Iryani had become ineffective. The constitution was suspended, and executive power was vested in acommand council, dominated by the military. Al-Hamdi chaired the council and attempted to strengthen and restructure politics in North Yemen. Al-Hamdi was assassinated in 1977, and his successor, former Chief of StaffAhmed Hussein al-Ghashmi, was killed in June 1978.[13] The lengthy tenure of PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh, who ruled North Yemen from 1978 until it merged withSouth Yemen in 1990, proved more stable. Saleh strengthened the political system, while an influx of foreign aid and the discovery of oil in North Yemen held out the prospect of economic expansion and development.[14]