Origins In the 7th century some early Muslims expected
Ali to become the first
caliph of the
Rashidun Caliphate, successor to
Muhammad. After the ascension of
Abu Bakr, supporters of Ali (and future Shia) continued to believe only people from Muhammad's family qualify as rulers. They selected an imam from each generation of Muhammad's family. (The proto-Sunni, in contrast, recognized Abu Bakr as a
legitimate first caliph). The Zaydis emerged in reverence of
Zayd ibn Ali's
failed uprising against the
Umayyad caliph
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (). While a majority of the early Shia recognized Zayd's brother,
Muhammad al-Baqir, as the fifth leader, some considered Zayd as the fifth imam, and thus in the
8th century formed the Zaydi or "Fivers" offshoot of Islam. Since the earliest form of Zaydism was
Jaroudiah, Zaydi dynasty, ruling 788–985. Some Persian and Arab legends record that Zaydis fled to China from the Umayyads during the 8th century.
Zaydi empires in Iran Under
Hasan ibn Zayd, the Alavids established
a Zaydi state in
Daylam and
Tabaristan (northern Iran) in 864. It also expanded into
Sa'dah (
Yemen) around 893, under
al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, a descendant of Imam Hasan ibn Ali; Yahya thereby founded the
Rassid dynasty. The Zaydi state in Tabaristan lasted until the death of its leader at the hand of the Sunni
Samanids in 928. Roughly forty years later, the state was revived in Daylam and
Gilan (northwest Iran) and survived until 1126. Historically, there was a small community of Zaydi
Kurds between Iran and Iraq. After
Marzuban ibn Justan converted to
Islam in 805, the ancient family of Justan's became connected to the Zaydi Alids of the Daylam region. Thus the rulers of Daylam were also called the
Justanids (Persian: جستانیان). The
Buyid dynasty was initially Zaydi as were the
Banu Ukhaidhir rulers of al-Yamama in the 9th and 10th centuries. The leader of the Zaydi community took the title of
Caliph. As such, the ruler of Yemen was known as the Caliph. From the 12th to the 13th century, Zaydi communities acknowledged the
Imams of Yemen or rival Imams within Iran. The
Karkiya dynasty, or Kia dynasty, was a Zaydi Shia dynasty which ruled over
Bia pish (eastern
Gilan) from the 1370s to 1592. They claimed
Sasanian ancestry as well. The Zaydis on the
Caspian Sea were forcefully converted to
Twelver Shi'ism in the 16th century.
Outside Arabia and Iran The
Idrisid dynasty was a Zaydi dynasty centered around modern-day
Morocco which ruled from 788 to 974. It was named after its first leader
Idris I. The
Hammudid dynasty was a Zaydi dynasty in the 11th century in southern
Spain.
Evolution of the Zaydi Imamate in Yemen The Zaydis in Yemen had initially lived in the highlands and the northern territories, but the extent of their dominance away from their capital of seven centuries, Sa'dah, had been changing over time. The Rassid dynasty was re-established under
Al-Mansur al-Qasim after an
Ottoman invasion in the 16th century. After another conflict with the Ottomans, a new succession line was started in the 19th century by
Muhammad bin Yahya Hamid ad-Din. With minor interruptions, these two dynasties ruled in Yemen until the creation of the
Yemen Arab Republic in 1962. The Rassid state had been founded under
Jarudiyya thought; however, increasing interactions with
Hanafi and
Shafi'i schools of Sunni Islam led to a shift to Sulaimaniyyah thought, especially among the Hadawi sub-sect. While the rulers ostensibly conformed to Hadawi law (thus the "imamate"), the doctrines had to be modified to allow hereditary, as opposed to traditional merit-based, selection of imams. This transition did not happen abruptly, but through a long-lasting process from the fifteenth century onwards (termed "Traditionism" by
Bernard Haykel) that saw the gradual merging of Zaydi doctrine with elements of
Shafi'i Sunnism. By the mid-eighteenth century, the rulers of the
Qasimi Imamate had become dynastic, a more formal state
bureaucracy was established, and the traditional Zaydi notion of
khurūj (revolt against unjust rule) was deemed unacceptable. interior, excludes
Tihamah on the coast. The
Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, also known as North Yemen, existed between 1918 and 1962 in the northern part of what is now
Yemen. Its capital was
Sanaa until 1948, then
Taiz.
Yemeni Arab Republic era After the fall of the Zaydi Imamate in 1962 some Zaydi Shia in northern Yemen converted to Sunni Islam. The end of imam rule, with the new rulers in Yemen no longer conforming to the requirements of Zaydism, caused a number of Zaydi scholars to call for the restoration of the imamate. This contributed to the
North Yemen Civil War that lasted from 1962 to 1970. The national reconciliation of 1970 paused the fighting with traumatized Zaydis following three main routes: • joining the new political system (the religious
Party of Truth was created in 1990); • restoring the spiritual and cultural heritage of Zaydism by opening religious centers and encouraging the tribes to send their youth for education there; • preparing for the future fighting (
Houthi movement founder
Hussein al-Houthi was readying the militia). Throughout the Republican era, the position of
Saudi-backed
Salafis and other Sunni groups in Yemen steadily increased, as did the position of
Sheikhs who sometimes cooperated with these Salafi groups for pragmatic reasons. The Salafis reportedly pursued an aggressive "policy of provocation" towards the Zaydis who inhabited the surrounding area, often accusing them of
apostasy and sometimes even destroying their
cemeteries. The group has asserted that their actions are for the defence of their community from the government and discrimination, though the
Yemeni government in turn accused them of wishing to bring it down and institute religious law. On 21 September 2014, an agreement was signed in
Sanaa under
UN patronage essentially giving the Houthis
control of the government after a decade of conflict. Tribal militias then moved swiftly to consolidate their
position in the capital, with the group officially declaring direct control over the state on 6 February 2015. This outcome followed the
removal of Yemen's President
Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012 in the wake of protracted
Arab Spring protests. Saudi Arabia has exercised the predominant external influence in Yemen since the withdrawal of
Nasser's Egyptian expeditionary force marking the end of the bitter
North Yemen Civil War. There is a wide array of domestic opponents to Houthi rule in Yemen, ranging from the conservative Sunni
Islah Party to the secular post-socialist
Southern Movement to the
radical Islamists of
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and, since 2014, the
Islamic State – Yemen Province. ==Law==