Ali was born in 1885 in
Al-Rahaba district,
Marib Governorate (then under
Ottoman rule). He received no formal education. Instead, he hired a private teacher. In 1925, he succeeded his father as chief of Murad tribes. Al-Qardai opposed
Imam Yahya and criticized his rule using poetry. After Imam failed to buy his loyalty and influence his tribes, he sent a military campaign to arrest him in 1929. Tribes led by Ali resisted the campaign, but he and his brother Ahmed were imprisoned two years later. His brother was sentenced to death, and he was imprisoned until he escaped in 1936. In 1940, he joined the
Free Yemeni Movement that planned the
Alwaziri coup. He was tasked with assassinating
Imam Yahya. On 17 February 1948, Al-Qardai shot and killed the Imam in an ambush outside of
Sana'a. The coup failed and was quelled by the son of Imam Yahya,
Ahmed bin Yahya. Al-Qardai was arrested in
Khawlan. He was beheaded and his head was hung for two months at the gate of Sana'a. == References ==