Al-Mutawakkil Ahmad bin Sulayman

Al-Mutawakkil Ahmad bin Sulayman (1106–1171) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who revived the polity after a long interregnum, wielding power in 1138–1171.

Ahmad bin Sulayman was a fifth-generation descendant of the imam an-Nasir Ahmad (d. 934). His mother was Malikah binti Abdallah, an eight-generation descendant of the Zaidi founding figure al-Qasim ar-Rassi (d. 860). Since the violent death of al-Muhtasib al-Mujahid Hamzah in 1066, no new imam had been appointed in the Zaydiyyah community of the northern Yemeni highlands. The dominating political power in Yemen in the late 11th and early 12th centuries was the Ismailite Sulayhids, whose last important representative was Queen Arwa al-Sulayhi (d. 1137). Meanwhile, the Tihamah lowland was ruled by a Sunni dynasty in Zabid, the Najahids. The most important city in the highland, San'a was ruled by the Hatimid sultans. In the year after Queen Arwa's death, in 1138, Ahmad was acknowledged as imam under the title al-Mutawakkil Ahmad. His early base was in the far north, in Sa'dah, Najran and Jawf. He was considered a political and religious figure of genuine stature. In 1151 a large congregation gathered and spent eight days testing his qualifications for the imamate, including physical fitness, right descent, religious doctrinal learning, etc.

The new imam emphasized the unity of the Zaydiyyah brand of Islam, both within and outside Yemen. He was very keen to promote the Islamic learning cultivated among the Zaidi scholars in the Caspian area. A wealth of religious literature from that area was brought into Yemen on the imam's initiative. Al-Mutawakkil Ahmad acknowledged the Shi'ite branch of the Mu'tazila school of theology, which originated from Basra and Baghdad in the eight and ninth centuries and stressed reason and rational thought, as a close ally. On the other hand he severely criticized the Mutarrifiy and Husayniyya sects of Zaydiyyah for splitting the unity of the creed.

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