Al-Mahdi Ahmad bin Yahya

Al-Mahdī Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā, or Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā Ibn al-Murtaḍā (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[4]
  • Ṭabaqāt al-Mu’tazilah[5][6]
  • Bāb dhikr al-Muʻtazilah: min Kitāb al-Munyah wa-al-amal fī sharḥ kitāb al-Milal wa-al-niḥal[7]
  • Al-Mutazilah: being an extract from the Kitābu-l milal wa-n-niḥal[8][9]
  • Al-Kāshif li-dhawī al-ʻuqūl ʻan wujūh maʻānī al-kāfil bi-nayl al-suʼūl[10]
  • Kitāb al-Munya wa-'l-amal fī sharḥ al-milāl wa-'n-niḥal[11]
  • ʻUyūn al-Azhār fī fiqh al-aʼimmah al-aṭhār[12][13]
gollark: That's *partly* Python.
gollark: I'm sure I *could* overload them with some horrible hacks.
gollark: 'Tis more consistent.
gollark: So just use `!= None` and `== None`.
gollark: I suppose theoretically `is` could be more performant than `id(x) == id(y)`, but Python has NEVER cared about that.

See also

References
  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. V. Leiden 1986, p. 1241.
  2. Carl Brockelmann, Geschicte der arabischen Litteratur, Vol I. Leiden 1943, pp. 238-40.
  3. A Critical Edition of Al-Hasir li Fawa'id al-Muqaddima li Tahir, p.85-6.
  4. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā; Javād Mashkūr, Muḥammad, Kitāb al-milal wa al-niḥal : min ajzāʼ Kitāb al-baḥr al-zakhār: al-jāmiʻ li-madhāhab ʻulamāʼ al-amṣār, Arabic Collections Online (Organization) (in Arabic), Tabrīz: Columbia University LibrariesCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā (1961), Diwald-Wilzer, Susanna; Zwettler, Michael (eds.), "Ṭabaqāt al-Mu'tazilah (Die Klassen der Mu'taziliten)", Bibliotheca Islamica, Nasharāt al-Islāmīyah, Bayrūt: al-Maṭbaʻah al-Kāthūlīkīyah (in kommission bei Frantz Steiner Verlag), XXICS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  6. Vajda, G. (1963), "Susanna Diwald-Wilzer. Kitāb Tabaqāt al-Mu'tazila, Die Klassen der Mu'taziliten, von Ahmad Ibn Yahyā al-Murtadā", Revue de l'histoire des religions, 163 (no.2): 262–3
  7. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā (1975). Walker Arnold, Sir, Thomas (ed.). Bāb dhikr al-Muʻtazilah: min Kitāb al-Munyah wa-al-amal fī sharḥ kitāb al-Milal wa-al-niḥal (in Arabic). Bayrūt: Dār Ṣādir.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  8. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā (1902). W Arnold, Thomas (ed.). Al-Mutazilah: being an extract from the Kitābu-l milal wa-n-niḥal (in Arabic and English). 1. Leipzig: Harrassowitz.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  9. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā (1902). W Arnold, Thomas (ed.). Al-Mutazilah: being an extract from the Kitābu-l milal wa-n-niḥal (in Arabic and English). Leipzig: Halle, Saale Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt Leipzig u.a.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  10. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā; Murtaḍā (ibn al-), Zayd al-Maḥaṭwarī Ḥasanī (2014). al-Kāshif li-dhawī al-ʻuqūl ʻan wujūh maʻānī al-kāfil bi-nayl al-suʼūl (in Arabic). Ṣanʻāʼ: Maktabat Badr lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  11. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā; Jawād Mashkūr, Muḥammad (1979). Kitāb al-Munya wa-'l-amal fī sharḥ al-milāl wa-'n-niḥal (in Arabic). Beirut.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  12. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā; Ṣādiq (al-), Mūsā (1975). ʻUyūn al-Azhār fī fiqh al-aʼimmah al-aṭhār (in Arabic). Bayrūt: Dār al-Kitāb al-Lubnānī.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  13. Murtaḍā (Ibn al-), Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā (1975). Uyun al-azhar. Bayrut: Dar al-Kitab al-Lubnani.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Preceded by
al-Nasir Muhammad Salah al-Din		 Imam of Yemen
1391–1392		 Succeeded by
al-Mansur Ali bin Salah ad-Din
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