Rassid Zaydi imamate of Sa'da
بنو الرسي بصعدة
Banu al-Rassi, the Zaydi imams of Sa'da; from the line of al-Qasim al-Rassi ibn Ibrahim Tabataba — first to rise there was Yahya ibn al-Husayn al-Rassi, who summoned Sa'da to himself, took the laqab al-Hadi and was sworn as imam, a mujtahid in legal rulings whose fiqh Ibn Hazm saw and judged not far from the Sunni way; his son Muhammad al-Murtada's tenure faltered but his brother al-Nasir Ahmad's held, and the imamate ran unbroken in his sons until the Sulaymanids of Mecca, driven out by the Hawashim, seized Sa'da and ended the state there in the sixth century — though the Rassid claim lived on in their descendants past 700.
At a glance
- Era
- Abbasid Fragmentation · The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Overview
The Rassids, the Zaydi imams of Sa'da, descended from al-Qasim al-Rassi ibn Ibrahim Tabataba ibn Isma'il al-Dibaj. 1
The beginning
The first to rise there was Yahya ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Qasim al-Rassi. He called people to his allegiance at Sa'da and took the name al-Hadi, and he was given the oath there. Ibn Khaldun says that he was a jurist in legal rulings, and that Ibn Hazm reported an opinion of his on jurisprudence. 1
After him
His son Muhammad al-Murtada succeeded him, and his rule was unsettled. Then his brother al-Nasir Ahmad, whose rule became stable and passed to his sons. 1
The end
Their imamate in Sa'da continued without interruption until the Sulaymanids came from Mecca, when the Hawashim had expelled them, and they overcame them in Sa'da, and their state died out there in the sixth century AH. The imam of the House of al-Rassi remained among their descendants until after the seventh century AH. 1
Connections
- Founded by
- Yahya al-Hadi al-Rassi
People and things also explored
Sources
- Kitab al-Ibar of Ibn Khaldun, p.970-971
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Rassid Zaydi imamate of Sa'da”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/polity/rassid-dynasty/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.