46
473–571/1080–1175
Southern Yemen, with their capital at Aden
|
473/1080 |
al-‘Abbas b. al-Mukarram or al-Makram or al-Karam b. al-Dhi‘b and al-Mas‘ūd b. al-Mukarram, joint vassals of the Ṣulayhids |
|
477/1084 |
al-Mas‘ūd b. al-Mukarram and Zuray‘ b. al-‘Abbās, joint rulers |
|
504–32/1110–38 |
Confused period of rivalry between the two branches of the family, the sons of al-Mas‘ūd and the sons of Zuray*: rule at unspecified dates of Abu ‘l-Su‘ūd b. Zuray‘ and Abu ‘1-Ghārāt b. al-Mas‘ūd, ⊘ Saba‘ b. Abi ‘l-Su‘ūd and Muḥammad b. Abi ‘1-Ghārāt, and then ‘Alī b. Muḥammad |
|
c. 532/c. 1138 |
Saba‘ b. Abi ‘l-Su‘ūd, sole ruler in Aden, d. 533/1139 |
|
533/1139 |
‘Ali b. Saba‘, al-A‘azz (? al-Agharr) |
|
⊘ 534/1140 |
Muḥammad b. Saba‘, al-Mu‘azzam |
|
⊘ c. 548/c. 1153 |
‘Imrān b. Muḥammad, d. 561/1166 |
|
561/1166 |
Rule of ḥabashī viziers, including fawhar al-Mu‘azzami as regent for ‘Imraris young sons |
|
571/1175 |
Ayyūbid conquest of Aden |
The Zuray‘ids belonged to the Jusham branch of the Banū Yarn, and were, like the Ṣulayhids (see above, no. 45), partiṢans of the Ismā‘īliyya, acknowledging the overlordship of the Fāṭimids. Their fortunes came from the Ṣulayhid Aḥmad al-Mukarram‘s driving out the Banū Ma‘n from Aden and his then installing the two brothers al-‘ Abbās and al-Mas‘ūd as joint rulers there in return for their services to the Fātimid cause. They paid tribute to the Ṣulayhid queen, al-Sayyida Arwā, until, when she was distracted by internal problems after al-Mukarram Aḥmad‘s death in 484/1091, the two cousins Abu ‘1-Ghārāt and Zuray‘ (after whom the dynasty is usually named, though some Yemeni historians use the designation Banu ‘1-Karam for the family) threw off Ṣulayhid control. Henceforth, the Zuray ‘ids ruled over their principality around Aden as, in effect, an independent power, while still under the distant overlordship of the Fāṭimids.
The ensuing decades were, however, filled with dispute and civil warfare between the two branches of the family, the descendants of al-Mas‘ūd on one side and those of al-‘ Abbās and Zuray‘ on the other. The names of successive rulers are known, but not the exact dates when they exercised power. It was not until c. 532/c. 1138 that Saba‘ b. Abi ‘1-Su‘ūd b. Zuray‘ managed to impose a unified authority over the region of Aden, and this authority henceforth remained within his branch of the family. A marriage alliance with al-Sayyida Arwā brought to the Zuray‘ids various Ṣulayhid towns and fortresses, but when Tmrān, head of the dynasty and chief da‘i in Yemen, died, his young sons came under the tutelage of Abyssinian slave viziers. The Ayyūbids occupied Aden in 5 71 /1175 (see above, no. 30, 8) and effectively ended the independent power of the Zuray‘ids.
Lane-Poole, 97; Zambaur, 117; Album, 26.
H. C. Kay, Y aman: Its Early Mediaeval History, 158–61, 307–8, with a genealogical table at p. 307.
Ramzi J. Bikhazi, ‘Coins of al-Yaman 139–569 A.H/, 102ff.
G. R. Smith, The Ayyūbids and the Early Rasūlids in the Yemen, II, 63–7, with a genealogical table at p. 63.
idem, in W. Daum (ed.), Yemen: 3000 Years of Art and Civilisation in Arabia Felix, 133, 138, with a list at p. 138.