Lamak ibn Malik

Lamak ibn Malik was from the Banu Hammad branch of the larger Banu Hamdan tribe. He was originally from Lihab in the Jabal Haraz region. This indirectly resulted in their survival of the general destruction of Isma'ili manuscripts by the Ayyubids when they conquered Egypt later. Lamak also brought an official Fatimid decree expressing support for al-Mukarram's succession. After his return to Yemen, Lamak became the "executive head" of the da‘wah in Yemen under al-Mukarram and then Arwa, although the Sulayhid rulers were at least nominally in charge. He was originally based at Sanaa and was later transferred to Dhu Jibla and Ibb. He was a trusted advisor to both Arwa and al-Mukarram and a steadfast supporter of Arwa (in contrast to Qadi Imran, who tried to rally the Banu Hamdan against her). The qadi Jarir ibn Yusuf was his assistant. Lamak's date of death is not known, although it must have been sometime before 1097/8 (491 AH) because his son Yahya appears to have become head of the Yemeni da‘wah at that point. == Legacy ==

Lamak is known in Tayyibi tradition as Qaḍi al-Quḍāt wa Hādī al-Hudāt and is considered a founding figure of the Tayyibi da‘wah. The later Tayyibi author Hasan ibn Nuh al-Bharushi even described him as a Dā‘ī Balāgh, a higher rank than the Dā‘ī al-Muṭlaq, which was the head of the da‘wah in Yemen. Hatim's fictionalization of Lamak's stay in Egypt was likely written with symbolic value, to show off Lamak's knowledge and wisdom, as acknowledged by the imam al-Mustansir himself. This is especially the case because this is al-Mustansir, the last Isma'ili imam before the Nizari-Musta'li split after his death. So the Yemeni da‘wah is portrayed with its legitimacy derived from al-Mustansir, whose religious authority was accepted by all Isma'ilis. Also symbolically important is that Lamak is depicted as sharing his knowledge with Arwa al-Sulayhi, who was herself the hujjah of Yemen and the official founder of the Tayyibi da‘wah after the Musta'lis split into the Tayyibis and Hafizis in the 1130s. == References ==