Al-Badr was born in 1926 or 1929 During the remaining period of Imam Ahmad's rule, Sayf al-Islam al-Badr held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and from 1958 he was also the Imam's deputy over Sanaa. Like most young
Arab leaders of his generation, Al-Badr had been a great admirer of the
Egyptian President
Gamal Abdel Nasser. So in 1959 while he was in charge of Yemen for a few months during Imam Ahmad's absence in Italy for medical treatment, he arranged for Egyptian experts to come and help modernize Yemen in all fields, including the military. His father annulled these upon his return. An assassination attempt on the life of Imam Ahmad in March 1961 left the latter gravely crippled, so in October Sayf al-Islam al-Badr took over effective control of the government. On 19 September 1962 Ahmad died in his sleep, al-Badr was proclaimed Imam and King and took the title of al-Mansur. A week later rebels shelled his residence,
Dar al-Bashair, in the Bir al-Azab district of Sanaa whence on September 26, 1962,
Abdullah as-Sallal, whom al-Badr had appointed commander of the royal guard, staged a coup, and declared himself president of the
Yemen Arab Republic. Al-Badr escaped to the north of
North Yemen, and rallied tribes that supported him in opposition to Sallal. Fighting erupted between the two groups, starting the
North Yemen Civil War. Al-Badr started getting support from
Saudi Arabia, while the
republicans received support from
Egypt. Although the revolution had announced to the world that al-Badr had died beneath the rubble of his palace, he had in fact managed to escape unhurt and set out to the north. As he proceeded on his journey the tribes rallied round him pledging him their unconditional allegiance as Amir al-Mumineen ("Leader of the believers"). These tribes were Zaydi Shia for whom unstinted loyalty to an imam from the
Ahl al-Bayt (the descendants of the Prophet) was a fundamental obligation of their religion.
Saudi Arabia, which had been the principal opponent of the Sanaa regime, recognized the
Yemen Arab Republic and other nations like the
United Kingdom swiftly followed suit. Stunned by
Saudi Arabia's recognition of the republican regime which had been negotiated without any consultation with him whatsoever, al-Badr refused to stay any longer in
Saudi Arabia and demanded that he be permitted to leave the kingdom immediately. He went to
England, where he lived quietly in a modest
house in
Kent, only going abroad to visit the holy cities of
Mecca and
Medina and to call on relatives and friends in that part of the world. He died in 1996 in
London and was buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia. ==See also==