Historical Dictionary of Yemen by Schmitz Charles;Burrowes Robert D.;

Author:Schmitz, Charles;Burrowes, Robert D.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

IDRISIS AND SAYYID MUHAMMAD BIN ALI AL-IDRISI (السيد محمد بن علي الإدريسي)

IDRISIS AND SAYYID MUHAMMAD BIN ALI AL-IDRISI

The sayyid clan in Asir which, due to the collapse of Ottoman Turkish authority in Arabia and the political skill and energy of its leader, Sayyid Muhammad Ali al-Idrisi, was able to turn its vague spiritual overlordship into a rough approximation of an organized, independent state in Asir during the first quarter of the 20th century. The British tried to use al-Idrisi in their jostlings with both the Turks and Imam Yahya during World War I, encouraging him to extend his domain through tribal subsidies and calling the ephemeral results of his efforts, perhaps wishfully, “the Confederacy.” After the war, doubts about their ability to work with Imam Yahya led Britain to allow the Idrisis to take over the northern Tihama and al-Hudayda. The British realized that this was possible when Imam Yahya appeared to be too weak to secure the release of Colonel H. F. Jacob, a colonial officer, who was held for four months in 1919 by a Tihama tribe. Jacob had been on his way from just-occupied al-Hudayda to Sanaa to meet with Imam Yahya.

In 1920, the Idrisis occupied al-Hudayda, thereby making irreconcilable the conflict between the Idrisid state and the Yemeni imamate. With the death of the wily Sayyid Muhammad Ali in 1923, however, the Idrisid state collapsed under the weight of internal quarrels and armed fights, and Imam Yahya was able to occupy al-Hudayda and the Tihama up to Midi by early 1925. At the same time, the new and expansive Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupied much of the territory in Asir previously ruled by the Idrisis. This set the stage for the short Saudi–Yemeni War of 1934 that would result in the Taif Treaty and the start of the demarcation of the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, a process not completed until the year 2000.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.