NAJAHID DYNASTY

Muslim dynasty of Ethiopian Mamluks (slaves) that ruled Yemen in the period 10221158 from its capital at Zabid. The Ziyadid kingdom at Zabid (8191018) had in its final years been controlled by Mamluk viziers, the last of whom divided Yemen between two slaves, Nafis and Najah. Nafis murdered the last Ziyadid ruler in 1018, and, after several years of bitter fighting and the death of Nafis, Najah emerged victorious and took control of Zabid early in 1022. Najah obtained the recognition of the 'Abbasid caliph and established his rule over the Tihamah (coastal lands), though the highlands, a stronghold of tribal chieftains, remained recalcitrant. Najah's murder c. 1060 threw the kingdom into chaos, allowing the Sulayhid ruler 'Ali to take Zabid, and reduced Najahid history to a series of intrigues. Two of Najah's sons, Sa'id and Jayyash, who had fled the capital, plotted to restore themselves to the Najahid throne and in 1081 killed 'Ali. Sa'id, supported by the large Ethiopian Mamluk population, easily secured control of Zabid. 'Ali's son al-Mukarram, however, heavily influenced by his mother, took Zabid c. 1083, forcing the Najahids to flee again. Sa'id regained power briefly (108688) but was finally murdered by al-Mukarram's wife as-Sayyidah. Jayyash, meanwhile, had fled to India. He returned in disguise and assumed power with little difficulty, restoring equilibrium to the Yemeni kingdom during his reign (1089c. 1106). After much family feuding over a successor to Jayyash, his grandson al-Mansur was installed in Zabid c. 1111 by the Sulayhids as their vassal. Mansur was poisoned in 1123 by his Mamluk vizier Mann Allah, who proceeded to fight off an attempted invasion by the Fatimids of Egypt and to reduce the Najahid ruler to a puppet figure. The Yemeni government passed from one Mamluk vizier to another after Mann Allah's murder in 1130, as rival factions struggled among themselves for primacy. The threat of 'Ali ibn Mahdi, a Kharijite (member of a puritanical and fanatical Islamic sect) who had murdered the vizier Surur in 1156, forced the Ethiopians to seek outside help from the Zaydi imam of San'a', Ahmad al-Mutawakkil, and to agree to recognize him as ruler of Zabid. The Ethiopians were, however, defeated, and 'Ali ibn Mahdi took the Najahid capital in 1159.