Islamic Himyarite dynasty in Yemen
The
Yu?firids
(
Arabic
:
??? ????
,
romanized
:
Ban? Yu?fir
) were an Islamic
Himyarite
dynasty that held power in the highlands of
Yemen
from 847 to 997.
[1]
The name of the family is often incorrectly rendered as "Yafurids". They nominally acknowledged the suzerainty of the
Abbasid
caliphs
. Their centres were
San'a
and
Shibam Kawkaban
. The Yu?firids followed
Sunni
Islam
.
Yufi'rid dynasty
??? ????
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Capital
|
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Common languages
|
|
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Religion
| Sunni Islam
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Government
| Emirate
|
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Emir
|
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|
? 847-872 (first)
| Yu'fir bin ?Abd ar-Ra?m?n al-?iw?l? al-?imy?r?
|
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? 963-997 (last)
| Abdallah bin Qahtan
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History
|
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? Established
| 847
|
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? Disestablished
| 997
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Currency
| Dinar
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Rise of the dynasty
[
edit
]
The Yu?firids from
Shibam Kawkaban
began to expand their power base in the Yemeni highland as the direct rule of the Abbasids over Yemen declined. They are descended from D?h?? ?iw?l tribe, which is a tribe from
Shibam Kawkaban
(in modern-day
Al Mahwit Governorate
, northwest of Sanaa).
[2]
The first attack on
San'a
in 841 failed miserably and the Abbasid governor received troops from
Iraq
for assistance. Nevertheless, the Yu?firids were able to successfully repel the counterattacks against their stronghold in Shibam. In 847 they conquered the area between
Sa'dah
and
Ta'izz
. San'a fell to their arms when the governor
Himyar ibn al-Harith
fled from Yemen, and for a while it became the headquarters of the new dynasty.
[3]
Internal feuds and temporary eclipse
[
edit
]
After a stable reign of 25 years, the founder of the dynasty, Yu'fir bin ?Abd ar-Ra?m?n al-?iw?l? al-?imy?r?, left affairs of state to his son Muhammad in 872. Muhammad preferred to use Shibam as the capital of his kingdom, rather than San'a. In 873 he received a diploma of confirmation from the Abbasid caliph.
[4]
Muhammad ruled over Sa'na, Janad and
Hadramawt
but paid formal deference to the
Ziyadid dynasty
in the
Tihama
lowland. A flood that inundated San'a in 876 served as the motive for Muhammad to undertake the pilgrimage to
Mecca
and henceforth devote his time to religion. The reins of government were given to his son Ibrahim, who murdered his father and uncle in the mosque of Shibam in 892 (or 882) to ensure that there would be no pretensions of power from them. The instigator of the murders was none but his own grandfather, the ex-ruler Yu'fir. Now, however, a series of revolts led to the expulsion of the Yu?firids from San'a. An Abbasid governor took charge of the city for a while, but after 895 conditions turned increasingly chaotic.
[
citation needed
]
Competition for San'a
[
edit
]
At the beginning of the tenth century there were struggles between the followers of the
Zaydiyyah
brand of Islam and other polities of the Yemeni highlands. The first Zaydi imam
al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya
temporarily took over San'a in 901 but was later forced to leave the city. In the same period
Ibn Haushab
and
Ali bin al-Fadl al-Jayshani
disseminated the creed of the
Fatimids
among the highland tribes and acquired a great following. The two leaders are usually referred to as
Qarmatians
although they were actually appointed as
da'is
(leaders) by the Fatimid ruler.
[5]
They were able to conquer San'a in 905 and limit the kingdom of the Yu?firids to Shibam Kawkaban. For long periods the Yufirid ruler Ab? ?ass?n As?ad bin Ibr?h?m had to stay in the
Jawf
region further to the north. San'a shifted hands with great frequency in this period; from 901 to 913 the city is said to have been conquered 20 times, surrendered through negotiation three times, and been unsuccessfully besieged five times.
[6]
Eventually the dynasty managed to defeat the followers of the Fatimids and win back San'a in 916.
Later history
[
edit
]
Ab? ?ass?n As?ad died in 944 and was, as it turned out, the last grand Yufirid leader. In the middle of the tenth century the decline of the dynasty set in, as the members of the family feuded with each other. The Zaydi imam
al-Mukhtar al-Qasim
managed to acquire San'a in 956 but was murdered in the same year by a
Hamdan
chief called Ibn al-Dahhak, who dominated politics until 963 and acknowledged the Ziyadids in
Zabid
. Next, a chief from
Khawlan
called al-Asmar Yusuf installed the prince Abdallah bin Qahtan on the throne. Abdallah had a long and turbulent reign and successfully attacked the Ziyadids in 989, investing and plundering Zabid. He then stopped mentioning the Abbasids in the
khutba
and instead adhered to the Egyptian
Fatimid
caliph. Abdallah died in 997 and was succeeded by his son As'ad (II). However, the authority of the Yu?firids in San'a had vanished and they had no significance anymore. The clan is occasionally mentioned in chronicles until as late as 1280.
[7]
List of rulers
[
edit
]
- Yu'fir bin Abd ar-Rahman (847?872)
- Muhammad bin Yu'fir (872-892 or 872?882), son
- Abd al-Qahir bin Ahmad bin Yu'fir (892), nephew
- Ibrahim bin Muhammad (892-898 or 882?886), son of Muhammad bin Yu'fir
- Reign of the
Qarmatians
in San'a (905-916)
- As'ad bin Ibrahim (
c.
898
-944), son of Ibrahim bin Muhammad
- Muhammad bin Ibrahim (944?956), brother
- Abdallah bin Qahtan (963?997), grandson
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
G. Rex Smith, "Politische Geschichte des islamischen Jemen bis zur ersten turkischen Invasion" in Werner Daum,
Jemen
, Frankfurt am Main, p. 137.
- ^
Smith, G. R. (2012-04-24).
"Yu?firids"
.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition
.
- ^
R.B. Serjeant & R. Lewcock,
San'a'; An Arabian Islamic City
, London 1983, p. 55.
- ^
G. Rex Smith, "Politische Geschichte des islamischen Jemen bis zur ersten turkischen Invasion" in Werner Daum,
Jemen
, Frankfurt am Main, p. 138.
- ^
R.B. Serjeant & R. Lewcock,
San'a'; An Arabian Islamic City
, London 1983, p. 56.
- ^
Enzyklopadie des Islam
, Vol. III, Leiden 1936, p. 155.
- ^
H.C. Kay,
Yaman: Its early medieval history
, London 1892, pp. 225-7.
Sources
[
edit
]