Al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya explained
Al-Mahdī Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā, or Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā Ibn al-Murtaḍā (Arabic: أحمد بن يحيى المرتضى) (1363/1374 – 1436), was a Muʿtazila scholar and imam of the Zaidī state in Yemen who briefly held the imamate in 1391–1392. He was an encyclopedist and a prolific writer on a range of subjects.
Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā was a 12th-generation descendant of the Zaidī imām ad-Da'i Yusuf (d. 1012). His full name was: al-Mahdī Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Murtaḍā ibn Aḥmad al-Jawad ibn al-Murtaḍā ibn al-Mufaḍḍal ibn al-Manṣūr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Alī ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Qāsim ibn al-Da'ī Yūsuf.
In 1391, when the elderly imām al-Nasir Muhammad Salah al-Din died, his sons were still minors. The qāḍī, ad-Dawwarī, took temporary administration of the Zaidī domains of highland Yemen, in their name. However, the Zaidi ulema assembled in the Jamal ad-Dīn Mosque in San'a and appointed Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā imām under the title 'al-Mahdī Aḥmad'. The appointment was not recognised by ad-Dawwani, who immediately appointed the deceased imām's son al-Mansur Ali bin Salah ad-Din. Al-Mahdī Aḥmad and his followers withdrew from San'a to Bayt Baws, and for one year the two imāms fought for supremacy. In 1392, al-Mahdī Aḥmad was captured by al-Manṣūr Alī's forces and imprisoned. In 1399, aided by prison guards, the ex-imām escaped to live in privacy until his death from plague in 1436.[1] Although al-Mahdī Aḥmad lacked the requisite administrative and military skills for the Zaydiyyah imamate, he produced a substantial body of writings on dogmatics, logic, poetry, grammar and law.[2]
His sister Dahma bint Yahya was also a scholar and poet. The famous Salafi scholar Muhammad Al-Shawkani wrote Al-Sayl al-jarrar, a denunciation of a text written by the Zaydi Imam Al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya.[3]
Works
- Kitāb al-Baḥr al-zahhār: al-jāmiʻ li-madhāhab ʻulamāʼ al-amṣār; a theological-legal encyclopedia
- Kitāb al-milal wa al-niḥal: min ajzāʼ Kitāb al-baḥr al-zakhār: al-jāmiʻ li-madhāhab ʻulamāʼ al-amṣār
- Ṭabaqāt al-Mu'tazilah
- Bāb dhikr al-Muʻtazilah: min Kitāb al-Munyah wa-al-amal fī sharḥ kitāb al-Milal wa-al-niḥal[4]
- Al-Mutazilah: being an extract from the Kitābu-l milal wa-n-niḥal[5] [6]
- Al-Kāshif li-dhawī al-ʻuqūl ʻan wujūh maʻānī al-kāfil bi-nayl al-suʼūl[7]
- Kitāb al-Munya wa-'l-amal fī sharḥ al-milāl wa-'n-niḥal[8]
- ʻUyūn al-Azhār fī fiqh al-aʼimmah al-aṭhār[9] [10]
See also
Notes and References
- Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. V. Leiden 1986, p. 1241.
- Carl Brockelmann, Geschicte der arabischen Litteratur, Vol I. Leiden 1943, pp. 238-40.
- https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29344/1/10731439.pdf A Critical Edition of Al-Hasir li Fawa'id al-Muqaddima li Tahir
- Book: Murtaḍā (Ibn al-). Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā. Bāb dhikr al-Muʻtazilah: min Kitāb al-Munyah wa-al-amal fī sharḥ kitāb al-Milal wa-al-niḥal. Walker Arnold, Sir . Thomas. Bayrūt. Dār Ṣādir. 1975. ar.
- Book: Murtaḍā (Ibn al-). Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā. Al-Mutazilah: being an extract from the Kitābu-l milal wa-n-niḥal. W Arnold. Thomas. Leipzig. Harrassowitz. 1902. 1. ar, en.
- Book: Murtaḍā (Ibn al-). Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā. Al-Mutazilah: being an extract from the Kitābu-l milal wa-n-niḥal. W Arnold. Thomas. Leipzig. Halle, Saale Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt Leipzig u.a.. 1902. ar, en.
- Book: Murtaḍā (Ibn al-). Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā. Murtaḍā (ibn al-) . Zayd al-Maḥaṭwarī Ḥasanī. al-Kāshif li-dhawī al-ʻuqūl ʻan wujūh maʻānī al-kāfil bi-nayl al-suʼūl. Ṣanʻāʼ. Maktabat Badr lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ. 2014. ar.
- Book: Murtaḍā (Ibn al-). Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā. Jawād Mashkūr . Muḥammad. Kitāb al-Munya wa-'l-amal fī sharḥ al-milāl wa-'n-niḥal . Beirut . 1979. ar .
- Book: Murtaḍā (Ibn al-). Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā. Ṣādiq (al-). Mūsā. ʻUyūn al-Azhār fī fiqh al-aʼimmah al-aṭhār. Bayrūt. Dār al-Kitāb al-Lubnānī. 1975. ar.
- Book: Murtaḍā (Ibn al-). Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā. Uyun al-azhar. Bayrut. Dar al-Kitab al-Lubnani. 1975. en.
