The Imams of Yemen and later also the Kings of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and political rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured under varying circumstances until the republican revolution in 1962, then the formal abolition of the monarchy in 1970. Zaidiyyah theology differed from Ismailis or Twelver Shi'ites by stressing the presence of an active and visible imam 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 historian Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) mentions the clan that usually provided the imams as the Banu Rassi or Rassids.[2] In the original Arab sources the term Rassids is otherwise hardly used; in Western literature it usually refers to the Imams of the medieval period, up to the 16th century. The Rassid branch that came to power with imam al-Mansur al-Qasim (r. 1597-1620) is known as Qasimids (Al al-Qasimi).
^Jane Hathaway, A Tale of Two Factions; Myth, Memory, and identity in Ottoman Egypt and Yemen. New York 2003, pp. 79-81.
^H.C. Kay, Yaman: Its early medieval history, London 1892, p. 185.
imam, but rather circulated among the various Rassid branches. Meanwhile, a multitude of smaller dynasties and families established themselves in the highlands...
from their capital of 7 centuries, Saada, had been changing over time. Rassiddynasty was established after an Ottoman invasion in the 16th century. After...
cadets of the RassidDynasty) Africa Aluoite Dynasty of Morocco (through Muhammad Nafs az zakiyah bin Abdullah al Kamal ) Idrisid Dynasty of West Africa...
Mutawakkilite Dynasty of Yemen (through Ibrahim al Jamr bin Al-Hassan al-Muthanna as cadets of the RassidDynasty) Africa 'Alawi dynasty of Morocco (through...
Jordan Rassiddynasty of Yemen Saadi dynasty of Morocco Senussid dynasty of Algeria and Libya Sulaymanids of Mecca, Jizan, and Yemen Sulaymanid dynasty of...
(through Ismail ibn Jafar) RassidDynasty of Yemen (through Ibrahim al Jamr bin Hassan al Muthanna) Mutawakkilite Dynasty of Yemen (through Ibrahim al...
the Rassiddynasty, the longest reigning dynasty in Yemen history (the dynasty's direct line was replaced by the collateral dynasty Qassem dynasty since...
ibn Ali, founded the Zaydī Imamate at Sa'dah in 893–897 CE, and the Rassiddynasty continued to rule over Yemen until the middle of the 20th century, when...
Hassan Hamid al-Din ibn Yahya (13 June 1908 – 13 June 2003) was a Yemeni royal and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom...
Sharifa Fatima (الشَّرِيفة فاطِمَة; d. during or after 1461; sharifa is an honorific, her proper name being Fatima bint al-Hassan) was a female Zaydi Sayyid...
The Abbasid dynasty (Arabic: بَنُو العَبَّاس, romanized: Banū al-ʿAbbās) or the Abbasids (Arabic: العَبَّاسيُّون, romanized: al-ʿAbbāsiyyūn) were an Arab...
The 'Alawi dynasty (Arabic: سلالة العلويين الفيلاليين, romanized: sulālat al-ʿalawiyyīn al-fīlāliyyīn) – also rendered in English as Alaouite, 'Alawid...
The Nasrid dynasty (Arabic: بنو نصر banū Naṣr or بنو الأحمر banū al-Aḥmar; Spanish: Nazarí) was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Emirate of Granada from...
Muslim Shafi'i scholar (b. 874) Al-Muntakhab al-Hasan, ruler of the RassidDynasty Andrew of Constantinople, Byzantine saint Gagik I of Vaspurakan, Armenian...
the first Zaydi imamate founded by Yahya and his successors of the Rassiddynasty survived in its core territories of Sa'ada and Najran until 1058, when...
and was a constant enemy of the Rassids - the Zaidi Shi'ite rulers of Yemen throughout its existence. The dynasty ended with Arwa al-Sulayhi affiliating...
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