Page 136 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

RECENT history and present politics 163

. a a ‘ mediatized status ’ or entente with the Imam, ‘ for
‘•Irtinmjb ^ peace between Moslems’. The terms of this Firman

^hTshed that, in Yemen, civil and criminal law should be no
< MtU r based on the Turkish judicial code, or ‘ Qanun ’, but on
longeid £siaixlic code or ‘Sheri‘ah’, and that this code should be
1 , ?n;stered by nominees of the Imam, who drew a substantial
a m|fli subsidy for himself and his vassal chiefs (L.T. 1,000 per
,inm for his own Civil List and L.T. 1,500 in addition for his
mensem
vassal chiefs). Under this entente the Imam has the religious and
social control in all the Zeidi districts (i.e., roughly, the highlands
from the Asir border to that of the Aden hinterland, together with
a part of the inner central Tihamah); and he'appoints and removes
judges and magistrates, subject to the veto of the Ottoman authority.
The Zeidi districts pay no tithe, and no one is liable to punishment
for past acts of rebellion under the Imam’s flag. ‘ Octroi ’ and
transit duties have been abolished. Now the only taxes levied
(and these only when opposition is not too great) are (a) the tithes
('ushur in non-Zeidi districts) on agricultural produce and stock ;
(6) market dues (10% on all. produce sold, 1 P.T. for every*goat
slaughtered and 10 P.T. for every bullock); and (c) customs dues.
■
The tribesmen under the Imam are exempt from taxation, but
give military service instead if called upon.

= The Imamate, which dates back to the establishment of the
Rassite dynasty at Sa‘dah in the tenth century, but only became
more than a local power under the Imam Qasim in the seventeenth
:
century, has a great prestige in Yemen : but the faith of the people
has been much undermined by the incompetence and venality of
holders of the office, and the treacherous though abortive betrayal
<>f San‘a in 1849 by the Imam Mohammed Yahya has not been
orgotten. The direct influence of the Imams is confined almost
h‘ hi ^ districts of Yemen. On the coast and in the
j'ghlands of the Aden hinterland, where the population is pre­

gnantly Sunnite of the Shafei school, it goes for little or nothing,
in n ° *8 e^ective» like the Ibadhi Imamate in Oman ; but,
"rieii p6’ a son the last Imam is usually, and a scion of the
tbereh sto°k is invariably, preferred. In recent elections
for fj8 °een a good deal of intrigue and substitution of one house

hilt nth 61l Qasim family of Sheharah is at present in power,
themself houses> e §- the Hadi Lidin AUah and the Shehari, hold
»*ssentianeS 6qually entitled to it. Once elected, the Imam becomes
holder of^th Sacred Pers°nage, and, for some generations back, the
lnumj bni e title tias lived more or less in seclusion, a mysterious ’ i
6 seen by the people, though, behind the veil, more than
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