Al-Hadi Sharaf ad-Din

Al-Hadi Sharaf ad-Din (1820 - June 8, 1890) was a claimant for the Zaidi imamate of Yemen in the years 1878-1890, acting in opposition to the Ottoman occupiers of the country. His period saw a tribal embryo of a state taking form in the highlands of Yemen, which would be strengthened by his successors as imams, and eventually usher into the expulsion of the Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century.

Sharaf ad-Din bin Muhammad bin Abd ar-Rahman was a 14th-generation descendant of a medieval imam, al-Mu'ayyad Yahya (d. 1346). He was born in Jeddah while his Yemeni parents performed the hajj, and received a thorough education in the Islamic sciences. The Ottoman Turks occupied San'a in 1872 and brought an end to the old Zaidi state which had existed since 1597. The Imam al-Mutawakkil al-Muhsin refused to submit. He tried to resist the Turkish troops with limited success until his death in 1878. After him, Sharaf ad-Din performed the da'wa (summoning, bid for authority) in Jabal Ahnun which was known as a stronghold for Sayyids and religious scholars. He was elevated to the imamate with the name al-Hadi Sharaf ad-Din. He vowed to continue the struggle and moved to the city Sa'dah north of San'a. In Sa'dah he reinforced religious laws and encouraged qadis to act as judges and administrators in the nearby tribal areas. A fortress was constructed near the city, which became the seat of the imam's government. In Zaidi historiography, his name is sometimes ignored since he did not belong to the Qasimid family that usually provided the imams. He had at least one rival for the imamate, al-Mansur Muhammad (1853–1890). However, competition between the rivals was confined to verbal arguments.

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