Al-Mahdi Abdallah

Al-Mahdi Abdallah (1793 - 28 November 1835) was an Imam of Yemen who ruled from 1816 to 1835. He belonged to the Qasimid family, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, which dominated the Zaidi imamate of Yemen from 1597 to 1962.

Return of the Tihamah

Abdallah bin Ahmad was one of about twenty sons of Imam al-Mutawakkil Ahmad. After the death of his father in 1816, he successfully claimed the imamate, under the name al-Mahdi Abdallah. A British surgeon visited him in 1823 and described him as a tall, slender man of dark complexion, almost resembling an African. He was reputed to have an excitable nature and changed his ministers with great frequency. His government was portrayed as very weak. The imam had to pay large stipends to various tribes in order to prevent them from plundering the land. However, the local shaykhs grew more assertive over time, and demanded higher subsidies.^[1] This had become apparent when a crisis broke out in 1818, after al-Mahdi had mistreated errands from the Bakil tribe. As a consequence, the northern tribes entered San'a and plundered for 22 days. Only when al-Mahdi promised to pay 120,000 Riyals did they withdraw.^[2] The time when al-Mahdi Abdallah took over power was a turbulent one. The politico-religious Wahhabi movement had intervened in Yemen since 1803, and the area controlled by the imam had shrunk critically. Parts of the lowlands, Tihamah, stood under the chief of Abu Arish, Sharif Hamud, who took an independent position and sometimes supported the Wahhabi ruler. When Hamud died in 1818, he was succeeded by his son Ahmad. Ahmad allied with the Saudi family, leaders of the Wahhabi movement, in order to fight the Ottoman troops in Najd. However, the Ottoman troops were victorious and proceeded to invade Abu Arish. Ahmad was captured, and all his possessions in Yemen were handed back to al-Mahdi Abdallah. In spite of mutual distrust, an agreement between the imam and the Ottomans was effectuated, whereby the imam undertook to send coffee deliveries to the sultan's court. After 15 years, Tihamah was therefore once again in the hands of the Zaidi state.^[3]

British attack

The British of Bombay traded on the important seaport Mocha. In 1817 a British lieutenant was mistreated by the local population, and the British Indian authorities demanded satisfaction. The imam's governor in Mocha declined the demand, and a military action followed in 1820. After an initial setback, the British troops managed to breach the walls of Mocha and force an agreement. In the following year al-Mahdi Abdallah sent a firman to the British trading office in Mocha where he agreed to lower the duties of the port.^[4] During the 1820s, however, the British grew increasingly sceptical about their prospects in Mocha. They started to look for an alternative port, and found Aden to be an attractive alternative. Aden at this time was under the Sultanate of Lahej, thus outside of al-Mahdi Abdallah's territory.^[5] This eventually led to the British capture of Aden in 1839.

Türkce Bilmez and Egyptian intervention

The authority of al-Mahdi Abdallah in parts of Yemen was eroded by the appearance of a Circassian adventurer, Türkce Bilmez. Being a soldier serving under the Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha in Hijaz, he mutinied and gathered discontented Ottoman militaries. The mutineers marched into the Tihamah in 1832 and captured Mocha and Hudaydah, and the land in between. He concluded an alliance with a chief of Asir, Ali bin Mukhtar, whereby they were to support each other and share the revenues of the occupied territory. Al-Mahdi Abdallah had little resources to counter the intruders. With British endorsement, Muhammad Ali sent an Egyptian force to Yemen in 1833 to deal with the chaotic situation, which was highly detrimental to trade in the region. The Asiris fell out with Türkce Bilmez and besieged his forces in Mocha, which was blocked from the sea by the Egyptian fleet. Finally the city fell and was plundered by the Asiri tribesmen, while Türkce Bilmez was saved on a British ship.^[6] After these events, fighting broke out between the Egyptians and Asiris on Yemeni soil. The conflict continued for the next few years, until in 1837 Egyptian reinforcements secured the coastal cities and some of the interior. Al-Mahdi Abdallah, unable to contain the turmoil, considered giving up his country, or what remained of it, to Muhammad Ali, but this was plainly refused by his subjects.^[7] When he died in 1835, the Zaidi state was only a shadow of its former condition. Al-Mahdi Abdallah was succeeded by his son al-Mansur Ali II.

See also

• Imams of Yemen
• History of Yemen
• Wahhabism

References

Further reading

• R.B. Serjeant & R. Lewcock, San'a'; An Araban Islamic City. London 1983.
• Robert W. Stookey, Yemen; The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Boulder 1978.