Abdullah al-Wazir

Abdullah Al-Wazir
عبدالله الوزير
Al-Wazir after proclaiming himself as the Imam of Yemen, 1948
Imam of Yemen
In office
February 17, 1948 – March 13, 1948
Preceded byYahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din
Succeeded byAhmad bin Yahya
Personal details
Born1885
Bayt al-Sayyid, Bani Hushaysh, Yemen vilayet
Died(1948-04-08)April 8, 1948
(62-63 years old)
Military service
Allegiance Kingdom of Yemen
Battles/warsAl-Waziri coup

Abdullah bin Ahmed Al-Wazir (Arabic: عبدالله بن أحمد الوزير, 1885 - 8 April 1948) was a Yemeni coup leader and Islamic scholar.[1] He declared himself Imam during the Al-Waziri coup.[2] In the 1920s, he served as the commander of the Yemeni army and held the governorships of Dhamar and Al Hudaydah in the 1930s.[3] He was executed by beheading on April 8, 1948.

Biography

He was born in the village of Bayt al-Sayyid, Bani Hushaysh in 1885. After his studies, he went to Sana'a and received religious education as a student of the scholar Ali Hussein Sahnub. In 1934, he represented Imam Yahya while signing the Treaty of Taif with King Abdulaziz.

Al-Waziri Coup

Main article: Al-Waziri coup

The al-Waziri clan aimed to take power from the ruling dynasty. On February 17, 1948, tribesmen ambushed Imam Yahya's car near Sanaa, killing him, his grandson, and two soldiers; 50 bullets were found in the imam's body. The attack was led by Ali Nasser Al-Qardai from the Murad tribe, who had been imprisoned by the imam.[4][5] The al-Waziris then appointed al-Wazir as their imam, but his rule lasted only a few weeks.

After Yahya's assassination, his son, Ahmad bin Yahya, traveled through North Yemen to rally support and eventually became the new Imam of Yemen. He regained control of Sanaa with the help of tribesmen, but this led to the Sack of Sanaa, which lasted seven days and involved around 250,000 participants.[4] Ahmad then deposed and executed Abdullah al-Wazir by beheading on 8 April 1948.[6]

References

  1. ^ Von Bruck, Gabriele: Islam, Memory, and Morality in Yemen: Ruling Families in Transition. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2005. S. 261.
  2. ^ Douglas, J. Leigh: The Free Yemeni Movement 1935–1962. Beirut: The American University of Beirut. 1987. S. 22f., 50.
  3. ^ Anzi, Menashe und Karin Hünefeld: "Ṣanʿāʾ, Jerusalem and New York: Imām Yaḥyā Ḥamīd ad-Dīn (1869-1948) and Yemeni-Jewish Migration from Palestine to the United States". In: David Hollenberg et al. (Hg.): The Yemeni Manuscript Tradition. Leiden: Brill. 2015. S. 265f.
  4. ^ a b Mackintosh-Smith, Tim (2000). Yemen: The Unknown Arabia. New York: The Overlook Press. pp. 93–99.
  5. ^ Ali Al-Sakani, Casey Coombs (2020-10-22). "Marib: A Yemeni Government Stronghold Increasingly Vulnerable to Houthi Advances". Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  6. ^ Petersen J.E. Tribes and Politics in Yemen. Arabian Peninsula Background Note, No. APBN-007. Published on www.JEPeterson.net, December 2008. [1]