Rasulid dynasty, Muslimdynasty that ruledYemen andḤaḍramawt (1229–1454) after theAyyubids ofEgypt abandoned the southern provinces of theArabian Peninsula.

The family took its name from Muḥammad ibn Hārūn, who, as a messenger (Arabicrasūl) for anAbbasid caliph, was known by theepithetRasūl. He was likely ofTurkic origin, although the family claimed descent from Qaḥṭān, the legendary patriarch of the southernArabs. His son ʿAlī was governor ofMecca under the last Ayyubid ruler of Yemen and succeeded him in the government of the whole country.ʿUmar I ibn ʿAlī (reigned 1229–50), Rasūl’s grandson, first established himself atZabīd (Yemen) and then moved into the mountainous interior, makingSanaa the Rasulid capital. Though theHejaz (west coast of Arabia) was a tributary of the EgyptianMamluks from 1252, ʿUmar also ruled the holy city Mecca.

For the next two centuries Yemen was an important and prosperous Muslim state; the Rasulid ruler assumed the title ofcaliph in 1258. Political and trade relations were maintained withChina,India, andSri Lanka, and the opening of the port ofAden encouraged a livelyinternational trade. Disturbances in Mecca about the middle of the 14th century, however, offered the Mamluks an opportunity to intervene in Rasulid affairs.Aḥmad ibn Ismāʿīl (reigned 1400–24) regained temporary control and offeredMamluk trade in theRed Sea keen competition, but, soon after his death, internal unrest, revolts of enslaved people, and the plague hastened the fall of thedynasty. Yemen then passed into the hands of theTahirid dynasty until theOttoman conquest of the 16th century.