Editing History of Yemen (section)

=== The Zaydis and Ottomans ===
{{See also|Yemen Eyalet|Yemeni–Ottoman Conflicts|Yemeni Zaidi State}}[[File:Jemen1988-153 hg.jpg|thumb|[[al-Bakiriyya Mosque|Al Bakiriyya Ottoman Mosque]] in [[Sana'a]], was built in 1597]]
The Ottomans had two fundamental interests to safeguard in Yemen: The Islamic holy cities of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] and the trade route with India in spices and textiles, both of which were threatened and the latter virtually eclipsed by the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean and the [[Red Sea]] in the early part of the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=2 }}</ref> [[Hadım Suleiman Pasha]], the Ottoman governor of [[Eyalet of Egypt|Egypt]], was ordered to command a fleet of 90 ships to conquer Yemen. The country was in a state of incessant anarchy and discord as Hadım Suleiman Pasha described it by saying:<ref>{{cite book |author=Giancarlo Casale|title=The Ottoman Age of Exploration|url=https://archive.org/details/ottomanageexplor00casa|url-access=limited|year=2010 |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199798797 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ottomanageexplor00casa/page/n63 43] }}</ref>{{Blockquote|''Yemen is a land with no lord, an empty province. It would be not only possible but easy to capture, and should it be captured, it would be master of the lands of [[Indian subcontinent|India]] and send every year a great amount of gold and jewels to [[Constantinople]].''}}
[[File:Codice Casanatense Arabian Boduis.jpg|thumb|Arabian ''boduis'' farm couple, possibly Yemeni (''[[Códice Casanatense]]'', c. 1540)]]
Imam [[al-Mutawakkil Yahya Sharaf ad-Din]] ruled over the northern highlands including [[Sana'a]] while [[Aden]] was held by the last [[Tahirids (Yemen)|Tahiride]] Sultan 'Amir ibn Dauod. Hadım Suleiman Pasha stormed [[Aden]] in 1538, killing its ruler and extended Ottoman's authority to include [[Zabid]] in 1539 and eventually [[Tihama]] in its entirety.<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني|year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=88 |language=ar}}</ref> [[Zabid]] became the administrative headquarters of [[Yemen Eyalet]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=88 |language=ar}}</ref> The Ottoman governors did not exercise much control over the highlands; they held sway mainly in the southern coastal region, particularly around [[Zabid]], [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]] and [[Aden]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Jane Hathaway|title=A Tale of Two Factions: Myth, Memory, and Identity in Ottoman Egypt and Yemen|year=2012 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0791486108 |page=83 }}</ref> Out of 80,000 soldiers sent to Yemen from [[Lower Egypt|Egypt]] between 1539 – 1547, only 7,000 survived.<ref name="Robert W. Stookey 1978 134">{{cite book |author=Robert W. Stookey|title=Yemen: the politics of the Yemen Arab Republic|year=1978 |publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0891583009 |page=134 }}</ref> The Ottoman accountant-general in [[Eyalet of Egypt|Egypt]] remarks:<ref name="Robert W. Stookey 1978 134"/>{{Blockquote|''We have seen no foundry like Yemen for our soldiers. Each time we have sent an expeditionary force there, it has melted away like salt dissolved in water.''}}

The Ottoman sent yet another expeditionary force to [[Zabid]] in 1547 while Imam [[al-Mutawakkil Yahya Sharaf ad-Din]] was ruling the highlands independently. Imam al-Mutawakkil Yahya chose his son Ali to succeed him, a decision that infuriated his other son [[al-Mutahhar|al-Mutahhar ibn Yahya]].<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 95">{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=95 |language=ar}}</ref> [[Al-Mutahhar]] was lame and therefore not qualified for the Imamate.<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 95"/> He urged Oais Pasha, the Ottoman colonial governor in [[Zabid]], to attack his father.<ref>{{cite book |author1=R. B. Serjeant |author2=Ronald Lewcock |title=Sana: An Arabian Islamic City|year=1983 |publisher=World of Islam Festival Pub. Co |isbn= 0905035046 |page=70 }}</ref> Indeed, Ottoman troops supported by tribal forces loyal to Imam [[al-Mutahhar]] stormed [[Ta'izz]] and marched north toward [[Sana'a]] in August 1547. The Turks officially made Imam [[al-Mutahhar]] a [[Sanjak-bey]] with authority over [['Amran]]. Imam [[al-Mutahhar]] assassinated the Ottoman colonial governor and recaptured [[Sana'a]] but the Ottomans led by [[Özdemir Pasha]], forced [[al-Mutahhar]] to retreat to his fortress in [[Thula]]. [[Özdemir Pasha]] effectively put Yemen under Ottoman rule between 1552 and 1560. He garrisoned the main cities, built new fortresses  and rendered secure the main routes.<ref name="Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert 1994 333">{{cite book |author1=Halil İnalcık |author2=Donald Quataert |title=An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914|year=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn= 0521343151 |page=333 }}</ref> Özdemir died in [[Sana'a]] in 1561 to be succeeded by [[Mahmud Pasha (governor)|Mahmud Pasha]].

[[Mahmud Pasha (governor)|Mahmud Pasha]] was described by other Ottoman officials as corrupt and unscrupulous governor, he used his authority to take over a number of castles some of which belonged to the former [[Rasulid Dynasty|Rasulid Kings]].<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 95"/> [[Mahmud Pasha (governor)|Mahmud Pasha]] killed a [[Sunni]] scholar from [[Ibb]].<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 132">{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=132 |language=ar}}</ref> The Ottoman historian claimed that this incident was celebrated by the [[Zaidiyyah|Zaydi Shia]] community in the northern highlands.<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 132"/> Disregarding the delicate balance of power in Yemen by acting tactlessly, he alienated different groups within Yemeni society, causing them to forget their rivalries and unite against the Turks.<ref name="Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert 1994 333"/> [[Mahmud Pasha (governor)|Mahmud Pasha]] was displaced by Ridvan Pasha in 1564. By 1565, Yemen was split into two provinces: the highlands under the command of Ridvan Pasha and [[Tihama]] under Murad Pasha. Imam [[al-Mutahhar]] launched a propaganda campaign in which he claimed contact with prophet Muhammad in a dream advising him to wage [[jihad]] against the Ottomans.<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=134 |language=ar}}</ref> [[Al-Mutahhar]] led the tribes to capture [[Sana'a]] from Ridvan Pasha in 1567. When Murad tried to relieve [[Sana'a]], highland tribesmen ambushed his unit and slaughtered all of them.<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 180">{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=180 |language=ar}}</ref> Over 80 battles were fought, the last decisive encounter took place in [[Dhamar, Yemen|Dhamar]] around 1568 in which Murad Pasha was beheaded and had his head sent to [[al-Mutahhar]] in [[Sana'a]].<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 180"/><ref name="Abdul Ali 1996 103">{{cite book |author=Abdul Ali|title=Islamic Dynasties of the Arab East: State and Civilization During the Later Medieval Times|year=1996 |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd |isbn=8175330082|page=103 }}</ref> By 1568, only [[Zabid]] remained under the possession of the Turks.<ref name="Abdul Ali 1996 103"/>

[[File:Thula fortification2.jpg|thumbnail|Ruins of [[Thula]] fortress in [['Amran]], where [[al-Mutahhar|al-Mutahhar ibn Yaha]] barricaded himself against Ottoman attacks.]]
[[Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha]], the Ottoman governor of [[Ottoman Syria|Syria]], was ordered by [[Selim II]] to suppress the Yemeni rebels,<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 198">{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=198 |language=ar}}</ref> the Turkish army in [[Lower Egypt|Egypt]] was reluctant to go to Yemen however.<ref name="Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī 2002 198"/> [[Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha|Mustafa Pasha]] sent a letter with two Turkish [[Sergeant|shawishes]] hoping to persuade [[al-Mutahhar]] to give an apology and say that he did not promote any act of aggression against the Ottoman army, and claim that the '' ignorant Arabians '' according to the Turks, acted on their own.<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=200 |language=ar}}</ref> Imam [[al-Mutahhar]] refused the Ottoman offer. [[Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha|Mustafa Pasha]] sent an expeditionary force under the command of Uthman Pasha, the expeditionary force was defeated with great casualties.<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=208 |language=ar}}</ref> Sultan [[Selim II]] was infuriated by [[Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha|Mustafa's]] hesitation to go Yemen, he executed a number of [[sanjak-bey]]s in Egypt and ordered [[Sinan Pasha]] to lead the entire Turkish army in [[Lower Egypt|Egypt]] to reconquer Yemen.<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=210 |language=ar}}</ref> [[Sinan Pasha]] was a prominent Ottoman General of [[Albanians|Albanian]] origin.<ref name="Abdul Ali 1996 103"/> In 1570, he reconquered [[Aden]], [[Ta'izz]], and [[Ibb]], and he besieged [[Shibam Kawkaban District|Shibam Kawkaban]] for 7 months until a truce was reached.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Nancy Um|title=The merchant houses of Mocha: trade and architecture in an Indian Ocean port|year=2009|page=19|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0295989105}}</ref> Imam [[al-Mutahhar]] was pushed back but could not be entirely overcome.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert W. Stookey|year=1978|title=Yemen: the politics of the Yemen Arab Republic|page=141|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0891583009}}</ref> After [[al-Mutahhar]]'s demise in 1572, the Zaydi community was not united under an imam; the Turks took advantage of their disparity and conquered [[Sana'a]], [[Sa'dah]] and [[Najran]] in 1583.<ref name="Michel Tuchscherer">{{cite journal|url=http://cy.revues.org/11|title=Chronologie du Yémen (1506–1635)', Chroniques yémenites|author=Michel Tuchscherer|journal=Chroniques Yéménites |date=July 2000 |issue=8 |access-date=3 February 2014|archive-date=11 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211012908/http://cy.revues.org/11|url-status=live}}</ref> Imam [[An-Nasir al-Hasan bin Ali|al-Nasir Hassan]] was arrested in 1585 and exiled to [[Constantinople]], thereby putting an end to the Yemeni rebellion.<ref name="Abdul Ali 1996 103"/>

The [[Zaidiyyah|Zaydi]] tribesmen in the northern highlands, particularly those of [[Hashid]] and [[Bakil]], were a constant irritant to Turkish rule in [[Arabia]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Harold F. Jacob|year=2007|title=Kings of Arabia: The Rise and Set of the Turkish Sovranty in the Arabian Peninsula|page=70|publisher=Garnet & Ithaca Press|isbn=978-1859641989}}</ref> Justifying their presence in Yemen as a triumph for Islam, the Ottomans accused the [[Zaidiyyah|Zaydi]]s of being [[Kafir|infidels]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Nahrawālī|title=Lightning Over Yemen: A History of the Ottoman Campaign in Yemen, 1569–71|trans-title=البرق اليماني في الفتح العثماني |year=2002 |publisher=OI.B.Tauris |isbn=1860648363 |page=197 |language=ar}}</ref> Hassan Pasha was appointed governor of [[Yemen Eyalet|Yemen]], which enjoyed a period of relative peace from 1585 to 1597. Pupils of [[al-Mansur al-Qasim]] suggested that he claim the immamate and fight the Turks. He declined at first but was infuriated by the promotion of the [[Hanafi]] school of [[Fiqh|jurisprudence]] at the expense of [[Zaidiyyah|Zaydi Islam]]. He proclaimed the Imamate in September 1597, which was the same year the Ottoman authorities inaugurated [[al-Bakiriyya Mosque]].<ref name="Michel Tuchscherer"/> By 1608, Imam [[Al-Mansur al-Qasim|al-Mansur]] (the victorious) regained control over the highlands and signed a 10-year truce with the Ottomans.<ref>{{cite book|title=al-Ihsan fî dukhûl Mamlakat al-Yaman taht zill Adalat al-'Uthman|author='Abd al-Samad al-Mawza'i|trans-title=الإحسان في دخول مملكة اليمن تحت ظل عدالة آل عثمان|year=1986|pages=99–105|language=ar|publisher= New Generation Library}}</ref> When Imam al-Mansur al-Qasim died in 1620 his son [[Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad]] succeeded him and confirmed the truce with the Ottomans. In 1627, the Ottomans lost [[Aden]] and [[Lahej]]. 'Abdin Pasha was ordered to suppress the rebels but failed and had to retreat to [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]].<ref name="Michel Tuchscherer"/> After [[Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad]] expelled the Ottomans from [[Sana'a]] in 1628, only [[Zabid]] and [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]] remained under Ottoman possession. [[Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad]] captured [[Zabid]] in 1634 and allowed the Ottomans to leave [[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]] peacefully.<ref>{{cite book|author=Amira Maddah|year=1982|title=l-Uthmâniyyun wa-l-Imam al-Qasim b. Muhammad b. Ali fo-l-Yaman|trans-title=العثمانيون والإمام القاسم بن محمد في اليمن|page=839|language=ar}}</ref> The reasons behind [[Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad]]'s success were the tribes' possession of firearms and the fact that they were unified behind him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Musflafâ Sayyid Salim|year=1974|title=al-Fath al-'Uthmani al-Awwal li-l-Yaman|trans-title= الفتح العثماني الأول لليمن|page=357|language=ar}}</ref>
[[File:Zaydi_State_1675.jpg|thumb|left|Zaidi State under the rule of Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il (1675)]]
[[File:Mocha1692.jpg|thumb|[[Mocha, Yemen|Mocha]] was Yemen's busiest port in the 17th and 18th century.]]
In 1632, [[Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad]] sent an expeditionary force of 1000 men to conquer [[Mecca]].<ref name="Faulder">{{cite book|title=Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WJFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA75|volume=2|page = 75|year=1789|publisher=R. Faulder}}</ref> The army entered the city in triumph and killed its governor.<ref name="Faulder"/> The Ottomans were not ready to lose [[Mecca]] after Yemen, so they sent an army from [[Lower Egypt|Egypt]] to fight the Yemenites.<ref name="Faulder"/> Seeing that the Turkish army was too numerous to overcome, the Yemeni army retreated to a valley outside [[Mecca]].<ref name="R. Faulder">{{cite book|title=Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WJFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA75|volume=2|page = 76|year=1789|publisher=R. Faulder}}</ref> Ottoman troops attacked the Yemenis by hiding at the wells that supplied them with water. This plan proceeded successfully, causing the Yemenis over 200 casualties, most from thirst.<ref name="R. Faulder"/> The tribesmen eventually surrendered and returned to Yemen.<ref>{{cite book|title=Accounts and Extracts of the Manuscripts in the Library of the King of France|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WJFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA75|volume=2|page = 78|year=1789|publisher=R. Faulder}}</ref> [[Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad]] died in 1644. He was succeeded by [[Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il]], another son of [[al-Mansur al-Qasim]], who conquered Yemen in its entirety, from [[Asir]] in the north to [[Zafar, Yemen|Dhofar]] in the east.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kjetil Selvik |author2=Stig Stenslie |year=2011|title=Stability and Change in the Modern Middle East|page=90|publisher=I. B. Tauris|isbn=978-1848855892}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Anna Hestler |author2=Jo-Ann Spilling |year=2010|title=Yemen|page=23|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=978-0761448501}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Richard N. Schofield|year=1994|title=Territorial foundations of the Gulf states|page=90|publisher=UCL Press|isbn=1857281217}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Robert D. Burrowes|year=2010|title=Historical Dictionary of Yemen|page=295|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0810855281}}</ref> During his reign and that of his successor, [[Al-Mahdi Ahmad]] (1676–1681), the Imamate implemented some of the harshest discriminatory laws (Ar. ''ghiyar'') against the Jews of Yemen, which culminated in the [[Exile of Mawza|expulsion of all Jews]] to a hot and arid region in the [[Tihama]] coastal plain. The ''Qasimid'' state was the strongest [[Zaidiyyah|Zaydi]] state to ever exist.

During that period, Yemen was the sole Coffee producer in the world.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nelly Hanna|year=2005|title=Society and Economy in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean, 1600–1900: Essays in Honor of André Raymond|page=124|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=9774249372}}</ref> The country established diplomatic relations with the [[Safavid dynasty]] of [[Persia]], the Ottomans of [[Hejaz]], the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal Empire in India]] and Ethiopia. The emperor  [[Fasilides|Fasilides of Ethiopia]] sent three diplomatic missions to Yemen, but relations did not develop into a political alliance as [[Fasilides]] had hoped, due to the rise of powerful feudalists in the country.<ref>{{cite book|author=Roman Loimeier|year=2013|title=Muslim Societies in Africa: A Historical Anthropology|page=193|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0253007971}}</ref> In the first half of the 18th century, the Europeans broke Yemen's monopoly on coffee by smuggling out coffee trees and cultivating them in their own colonies in the East Indies, East Africa, the West Indies and Latin America.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marta Colburn|year=2002|title=The Republic of Yemen: Development Challenges in the 21st Century|page=15|publisher=CIIR|isbn=1852872497}}</ref> The imammate did not follow a cohesive mechanism for succession, and family quarrels and tribal insubordination led to the political decline of the Qasimi dynasty in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ari Ariel|year=2013|title=Jewish-Muslim Relations and Migration from Yemen to Palestine in the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries|page=24|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004265370}}</ref> In 1728 or 1731 the chief representative of [[Lahej]] declared himself an independent [[Sultan]] in defiance of the Qasimid Dynasty and conquered [[Aden]] thus establishing the [[Sultanate of Lahej]]. The rising power of the fervently Islamist [[Wahhabi]] movement on the Arabian Peninsula cost the Zaidi state its coastal possessions after 1803. The imam was able to regain them temporarily in 1818, but new intervention by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt in 1833 again wrested the coast from the ruler in Sana'a. After 1835 the imamate changed hands with great frequency and some imams were assassinated. After 1849 the Zaidi polity descended into chaos that lasted for decades.<ref>R.L. Playfair (1859), ''A History of Arabia Felix or Yemen''. Bombay; R.B. Serjeant & R. Lewcock (1983), ''San'a': An Araban Islamic City''. London.</ref>