Rasulid dynasty

The Rasulids (Arabic: بنو رسول‎‎, Banū Rasūl) were a SunniMuslim dynasty that ruled Yemen from 1229 to 1454.

The Rasulids descended from the eponymous Rasul (his real name is Muhammad ibn Harun), a Turkmen Oghuz chief. Later, they assumed an Arab lineage, claiming descent from the ancient Arabian tribe of the Ghassanids, claiming that their ancestors moved from Arabia to live among the Turks. Rasul came to Yemen around 1180 while serving as a messenger for an Abbasid caliph. His son Ali (d. 1217) was governor of Mecca for a time, and his grandson Umar bin Ali was the first sultan of the Rasulid dynasty.

Rasūl is Arabic for messenger (although in this context it does not carry the Islamic prophet significance); during their reign, however, the Rasulids claimed to be descendants of the legendary patriarch Qahtan.

The Kurdish Ayyubids had held power in most of Yemen since 1173. The last of the line, al-Malik al-Mas'ud, left Yemen for Syria in 1229 and entrusted governance to an ambitious member of his own mercenary force. This was Umar bin Ali who nominally acknowledged the Ayyubids of Egypt during his first years in power. However, he proclaimed himself ruler in his own right in 1235 after receiving a diploma of recognition from the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir. As sultan he was called al-Malik al-Mansur I. The regime was in a certain sense a direct continuation of Ayyubid rule, with power based on the control of military forces and Abbasid approval, rather than acquiescence from the local population. The coastal capital was established in Zabid. However, al-Malik al-Muzaffar fell victim to internal intrigues in 1249 when his own guards assassinated him at the instigation of his ambitious nephew Asad ad-Din. The throne was taken over by his son al-Malik al-Muzaffar Yusuf I (1249-1295), under whom the Yemeni kingdom reached its apogee. The new sultan confirmed Rasulid rule over the Tihama lowland and the southern highlands. San'a, one of the traditional centres of the Zaydiyya imams, was temporarily occupied, and the imams were defeated on several occasions. The cool mountainous city Ta'izz became the base of the dynasty together with Zabid. After the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols, al-Malik al-Muzaffar Yusuf appropriated the title of caliph.

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