Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad was an Imam

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

 of Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

 (1620–1644) who belonged to the Qasimid family, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. He managed to expel the Ottoman Turks

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 entirely from the Yemenite lands, thus confirming an independent Zaidi

Zaidiyyah

Zaidiyya, or Zaidism is a Shi'a Muslim school of thought named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī. Followers of the Zaydi Islamic jurisprudence are called Zaydi Shi'a...

 state.

Succeeding to the imamate

Muhammad was the son of Imam al-Mansur al-Qasim

Al-Mansur al-Qasim

Al-Mansur al-Qasim , with the cognomen al-Kabir , was an Imam of Yemen, who commenced the struggle to liberate Yemen from the Ottoman occupiers...

 who restored the Zaidi imamate

Imamate

The word Imamate is an Arabic word with an English language suffix meaning leadership. Its use in theology is confined to Islam.-Theological usage:...

 and began the cumbersome process of conquering back Yemen from the Ottoman occupiers. When he took the reins of government from his father in 1620, much of the highland was in Zaidi hands, and there was an uneasy truce with the Turks. In 1622 the population in and around Sa'dah

Sa'dah

Sa`dah is the capital city of Saada Governorate in north-western Yemen. It is located at , at an elevation of about 1,800 meters. Known in antiquity as Karna, its population in 2004 was estimated at 51,870.- External links :*...

 in the north refused to pay taxes to the imam. Muhammad then sent his brother Saif al-Islam al-Hasan who put down the revolt. Al-Hasan, however, found means to win the confidence of the locals through reforms, and was appointed governor on behalf of the imam. Through this act of delegation of power to a relative, the power of the Qasimid family was confirmed in the north. In 1626, however, Muhammad decided to break with them. The tribes of northern Yemen responded enthusiastically to his call, and the rising scored victories against the Turks. Most of the lowland area of Tihamah

Tihamah

Tihamah or Tihama is a narrow coastal region of Arabia on the Red Sea. It is currently divided between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. In a broad sense, Tihamah refers to the entire coastline from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb Strait but it more often refers only to its southern half, starting...

 fell to the imam's forces, and San'a was besieged. The Ottoman difficulties were aggravated by the attacks of Shah Abbas the Great on Turkish positions in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

.

Expulsion of the Ottomans

In 1629 Imam al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad proposed a truce with the Ottomans, as he saw the need to rest his own forces. The governor Haydar Pasha agreed, and on 9 March 1629 he handed over the keys to San'a to the imam's son Ali. The Turks withdrew to the coast under the imam's protection, and another son, Yahya, was made governor (amil) of San'a. Another major city, Ta'izz

Ta'izz

Ta'izz , or Taiz, is a city in the Yemeni Highlands, near the famous Mocha port on the Red Sea, lying at an elevation of about 1,400 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Ta'izz Governorate...

, fell in the same year. In 1635 the Turks took to the offensive with an augmented force, but were defeated. Now they finally gave in, agreeing to surrender the lowland cities Zabid

Zabid

Zabid is a town with an urban population of around 23,000 persons on Yemen's western coastal plain. The town, named after Wadi Zabid, the wadi to its south, is one of the oldest towns in Yemen...

, and Mocha

Mocha

-Computing:* Mocha , a Java decompiler* JavaScript, an object-oriented scripting language originally distributed under the name Mocha* Mocha, a mock object framework for Ruby-Biology:...

, and Kamaran

Kamaran

Kamaran Island is the largest Yemen-controlled island in the Red Sea. The island is long and wide and is strategically located at the southern end of the Red Sea....

 Island. Thus the first period of Ottoman rule in Yemen was at an end.

Governance and personality

Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad spent most of his reign fighting the Ottomans, as well as bringing a degree of unity among the various tribal groups of Yemen. In this work he was assisted by his able brothers al-Hasan (d. 1639), al-Husayn (d. 1640) and Ahmad (d. 1650). He was also, however, a writer of note. Thirteen texts by his hand have been preserved, many of them legal opinions and interpretations that are based on Zaidi dogma. He declined to enforce some aspects of the shariah on society, since this could have aleniated his tribal supporters. At his death, al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad was succeeded by his brother al-Mutawakkil Isma'il

Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il

Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il was an Imam of Yemen who ruled the country in the years 1644-1676. He belonged to the Qasimid family, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. His rule saw the greatest territorial extension of the Yemeni state....

, though not without fraternal strife among contenders.