- Hashid
The Hashid tribal federation is the largest tribal federation in Yemen. Member tribes of the Hashid Confederation are found primarily in the mountains in the North and Northwest of the country. It was headed by Sheikh
Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar until his death on December 29, 2007.Ancient History
Hashid and
Bakil the sons of Jashim bin Jubran bin Nawf Bin Tuba'a bin Zayd bin Amro binHamdan , Bani Hamdan was already a well known tribe in the 1st century AD and it was mentioned in Sabean inscripts. Therefore Hashid andBakil (the brothers) must have lived in the BC era.In the 3rd century most ofHamdan [ [http://thearabhistory.com/qahtan] Hamdani tribes that remianed in Yemen] migrated to Syria.Hashid andBakil switched their alliance toHimyar .Converting to Islam
In the year 622, prophet
Mohammed sentKhaled Bin Al Walid to Yemen to call them to Islam. However, Khaled managed to push the Najrani and Tihami Yemenis into Islam but he didn't get a warm response from the Hamdani Yemenis of the highlands. So ProphetMohammed sent overAli bin Abi Talib and he was much more successful in converting the Hamdani Yemenis.After the death of prophet Mohammed the Hamdan tribe remained Muslim and neutral (didn't join in the wars vs other Yemeni tribes that backed of Islam).
After Ali, Power Vacuum in Yemen and the Imam Hadi
The
Hamdan tribe remained on the side ofAli , after the defeat of Ali and later his sons. The tribes remained on alliance to Ali but didn't oppose the Ummayads or ally themselves with the other Shias.At that time Yemen was experincing a great population movement forming the bulk of the Islamic Expansion mainly settling and Arabizing North Africa/
Spain . However, the majority of the Hamdan tribe remained in Yemen which later helped the Hashid/Bakil Hamdani tribes become the biggest local key player, benefiting from the departure of the bulk of the most powerful Nomadic Yemeni tribes of that time into North Africa/Spain in Wetsward movements that continued until the 13th century.By The 10th century the Imam al-Hadi Yahya bin al-Hussain bin al-Qasim (a scion of Imam al-Hasan (as), grandson of the Prophet) who, at Sa'da, in 893-7 C.E. arrived to the Northern Highlands on invitation from the Hamdan tribe and from that time till present day the
Zaidi moderate Shia teachings became dominant in north Yemen.Modern History
Imam Yahya's campaign to subject the country, and more specifically the tribes, to his control, led him to undertake massive campaigns against their influence and power; in fact, his efforts succeeded in permanently eliminating all but two of the ancient confederations (the
Bakil is the other one to survive).Many writers have referred to the Hashid and
Bakil confederations as the "two wings" of theZaidi imamate; in the sense that many of the tribes that belong to these confederations are and were strongly committed to Zaidi Islam, the imams were recognized - to a greater or lesser degree - as the heads of theZaidi community and could, therefore, count on a measure of support and loyalty. Not all the tribes, however, accepted the temporal and even legal role that the imams arrogated to themselves; consequently, many imams (Imam Yahya andImam Ahmad in the twentieth century included) complained bitterly about the tribes' inordinate political power.References
* Almsaodi, Abdulaziz. Modern history of Yemen
* [http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=153&language_id=1 Power and Interest News Report]Bibliography
*
Andrey Korotayev . "Ancient Yemen". Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19-922237-1
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