Ibn Hawshab

Ibn Hawshab was born near Kufa in southern Iraq.[1] His origin is unknown, although later Isma'ili tradition held that he was a descendant of Muslim ibn Aqil ibn Abi Talib (a nephew of Ali).[1] He was originally an adherent of Twelver Shi'ism, and was already a religious scholar when an Isma'ili agent (dā'ī)[lower-alpha 1] converted him to Isma'ilism.[1] Shortly after, according to his own account, he met the hidden imam. After his training was complete, he was sent by the imam to Yemen, along with the native Yemeni Ali ibn al-Fadl al-Jayshani.[1]

The two missionaries arrived in Yemen in late summer of 881. They went in different directions, Ibn Hawshab to the north, and Ali ibn al-Fadl to the south. After travelling through Sana'a and Janad, he stayed for a while in Aden, and finally settled in the village of Adan La'a, in the domains of the Yu'firids.[1] He began his public mission (daʿwa) in 883/4, proclaiming the imminent appearance of the messiah (mahdī),[1] who would overthrow the usurping Abbasids and destroy their capital Baghdad, restore the unity of the Muslims, conquer Constantinople, ensure the final triumph of Islam and establish a reign of peace and justice.[2]

Photo of Shibam (Kawkaban) today

As in other areas of the Abbasid Caliphate, this call soon attracted many followers, aided by the widespread millennialist expectations of the period, which coincided with a deep crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate (the Anarchy at Samarra, followed by the Zanj Rebellion), and with the dissatisfaction among many Twelver adherents with the political quietism of their leadership.[3][4] In Yemen too, the local Abbasid governors, the Yu'firids, were preoccupied with familial intrigues and tribal uprisings.[5] In 885/6, after repelling an attack by local Yu'firid troops, Ibn Hawshab and his followers captured the fortress of Abr Muharram near the Jabal Maswar mountains,[1] northwest of Sana'a.[6] From there, his forces took Bayt Fa'is at Jabal Tukhla, Jabal Tays, where he appointed Abu'l-Malahim as governor, as well as Bilad Shawir, Ayyan, and Humlan.[1] The fortress of Bayt Rayb on Jabal Maswar became the residence and main stronghold (dār al-hijra) of Ibn Hawshab.[1][7] His first attack on the Yu'firid capital Shibam failed, but he was soon able to capture it thanks to treason inside the walls, only to be forced to abandon it after a month.[8][9]

The exact dates of these operations are unknown, other than a general terminus ante quem of 903, but by 892/3 his position was firmly established, eventually earning him the honorific epithet (laqab) of Manṣūr al-Yaman ("the Conqueror of Yemen") or simply al-Manṣūr.[10] Notably, he sent his own dā'īs to other countries: his wife's cousin, al-Haytham, to Sindh; Abdallah ibn al-Abbas al-Shawiri to Egypt; Abu Zakariyya al-Tamami to Bahrayn; and others to Yamama and parts of India (most probably Gujarat).[10]

Ibn Hawshab's fellow missionary Ali ibn al-Fadl, acting independently,[10] had established himself further south, in the mountains close to his hometown of Jayshan. With the support of the local ruler of al-Mundhaykhira,[lower-alpha 2] he expanded his control over the highlands north of Aden.[9] When the Qarmatians split off from the Isma'ili daʿwa in 899, both Ibn Hawshab and Ibn al-Fadl remained loyal to the secret leadership in Salamiya, under the future founder of the Fatimid Caliphate, Abdallah al-Mahdi.[9] When the latter fled Salamiya in 905, he deliberated between going to Yemen or the Maghreb;[9] he chose the latter, perhaps, as Wilferd Madelung suggests, because of doubts about Ibn al-Fadl's loyalty.[10]

On 25 January 905, Ibn al-Fadl evicted his erstwhile ally from al-Mundhaykhira.[7] The two Isma'ili leaders now exploited the country's political division to expand their domains: in November 905, Ibn al-Fadl captured Sana'a, which allowed Ibn Hawshab to in turn seize Shibam.[9][10] With the exception of Sa'dah in the north, Zabid on the western coast, and Aden in the south, all of Yemen was now under Isma'ili control.[7] For the first time after coming to Yemen 25 years earlier, the two men met at Shibam.[9] Madelung writes that the meeting "was evidently uneasy", as Ibn Hawshab warned Ibn al-Fadl against overextending his forces, which the latter disregarded.[10] Of the two, Ibn al-Fadl was the most active in the following years, campaigning across the country;[12] but when he raided al-Bayad, Ibn Hawshab had to bail him out.[10]

Both Sana'a and Shibam were briefly lost to the Zaydi imam al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya in 906, but Shibam was recovered before the end of the year, and Sana'a in April 907.[10][13] In June/July 910, after the Zaydis once again occupied Sana'a and then withdrew, Ibn Hawshab's men briefly occupied the city, but could not hold it due to their small number.[10] Instead, the city fell to the Yu'firid As'ad ibn Ibrahim, before being taken again by Ibn al-Fadl in August 911.[10]

Gold dinar of Caliph al-Mahdi, minted at Kairouan in 912

At this point, Ibn al-Fadl publicly renounced allegiance to Abdallah al-Mahdi, who had revealed himself and established his state in Ifriqiya in the previous year.[10][13] The exact reason for Ibn al-Fadl's denunciation is not known; it may have been personal ambition, following his many successes,[6] or with disillusionment with al-Mahdi. Al-Mahdi evidently expected that the movement that had brought him to power in Ifriqiya would soon sweep eastwards to Egypt, where his forces would meet up with his Yemeni supporters. For this reason, he had sent to the Yemeni faithful a letter documenting his descent from Ja'far al-Sadiq; this letter caused much unease and dissension, for not only was the claimed genealogy patently false, but al-Mahdi took pains to clarify that he was not the expected messiah, but merely one imam in a line of imams that was to continue into the future, thereby sorely disappointing all millennialist expectations vested in his person.[14]

When Ibn Hawshab rebuffed his colleague's demands to join him and criticized his actions, Ibn al-Fadl marched against Ibn Hawshab. Shibam and Jabal Dhukhar were captured, and after a few battles, Ibn Hawshab was blockaded in the Jabal Maswar. After eight months of siege, in April 912, Ibn Hawshab sought terms, and handed over his son Ja'far as a hostage. Ja'far was returned after a year with a golden necklace as a gift.[10][15] Ibn Hawshab died on 31 December 914,[10][15] followed in October by Ibn al-Fadl. Both men were succeeded by their sons, but while Ibn al-Fadl's domain was soon destroyed by the Yu'firids, the northern community founded by Ibn Hawshab has survived to the present day.[15] Nevertheless, for over a century, until the rise of the Sulayhid dynasty, Isma'ilism remained mostly underground movement in Yemen, with few political patrons.[6][16]

Later Isma'ili tradition ascribed to him two early Isma'ili theological treatises, the Book of Righteousness and True Guidance (Kitāb al-Rushd wa’l-hidāya), which survives only in fragments, as well as the Book of the Sage and Disciple (Kitāb al-ʿĀlim wa’l-ghulām), more usually ascribed to his son Ja'far. The authenticity of both is uncertain.[10] The 12th-century Yemeni dā'ī Ibrahim al-Hamidi quotes in his work an epistle (risāla) attributed to Ibn Hawshab.[10]

• Shia Islam in Yemen

• Brett, Michael (2017). The Fatimid Empire. The Edinburgh History of the Islamic Empires. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-4076-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Daftary, Farhad (2007). The Ismāʿı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61636-2.
• Halm, Heinz (1991). Das Reich des Mahdi: Der Aufstieg der Fatimiden [The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids] (in German). Munich: C. H. Beck. ISBN 978-3-406-35497-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Landau-Tasseron, Ella (2010). "Arabia". In Robinson, Chase F. (ed.). The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 1: The Formation of the Islamic World, Sixth to Eleventh Centuries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 397–447. ISBN 978-0-521-83823-8.

• Madelung, Wilferd (1991). "Manṣūr al-Yaman". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VI: Mahk–Mid. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 438–439. ISBN 90-04-08112-7.