Page 87 - Arabian Studies (II)

The Powers and Mineral Concessions in the IdrisTImamate of ‘A sir 77

and fear of their further advance was one of the factors contributing to the
British occupation of Aden in 1839.
During tliis period a descendant of the Prophet, Sayyid Ahmad al-ldrfsl had
arrived in the area. He had left his native Morocco and settled in Mecca where he
had achieved a great reputation for piety and learning, numbering amongst his
disciples the founders of both the MfrghanT tarxqah of the Sudan and of the
Sanusiyah, into which latter family his own frequently inter-married. In the
early 1830s he undertook a missionary journey southwards and was induced to
settle in Sabya where he was welcomed as a spiritual leader and an impartial
mediator in tribal affairs. When he died in 1837, his tomb became a place of
pilgrimage and his son, Muhammad, and later his grandson ‘All, inherited his
position as leader and mediator.
The next three decades saw a struggle with another family of SharTfs settled
at Abu ‘Arish, in which the Idrfsfs gained the upper hand. However, in 1871,
profiting by the opening of the Suez Canal, the Ottomans returned to the
Yemen in force and succeeded in defeating the ‘Asms. They declared the area a
province of the Yemen and established a mutessarif at Abha.
Effective Ottoman rule extended little beyond the range of Turkish guns,
while the reputation of the Idrfsfs continued to grow. Tribesmen contributed to
their support and brought them their cases for judgement. The Turks grew
jealous and, in 1903, assembled a force to bring the Idrfsfs to heel but they did
not succeed in actually getting their troops into the field.
Towards the end of 1904 most of the Yemen and ‘Asfr rose against the Turks
and heavy fighting continued for much of the following year. Around this time
control of Idrfsf affairs passed into the hands of Sayyid ‘Alfs son, Muhammad
who was then about thirty. He was to turn a vague spiritual leadership into an
organised state, and he is the man who looms large in the following pages. (Eds.)

Introduction
In the first decade of the twentieth century Sayyid Muhammad
al-Idrisf began to oppose the Turkish occupation of ‘Asfr from $abya
near JTzan, and by the time of the outbreak of the First World War
considerable tracts of ‘Asfr had been cleared of foreign troops, thus
firmly establishing the IdrisT dynasty. Sayyid Muhammad was
assisted by his uncle Sayyid Mustafa who had spent many years in
Egypt. With the death of Sayyid Muhammad in 1923 the dynasty
faced many difficulties. His young son ‘AH succeed to the Imamate
but his misrule led to his overthrow in December 1925 by another
member of the family, Sayyid Hasan. Opposition to the IdrisT
Imamate came from Imam Yahya of the Yemen who was anxious to
assert his rule over IdrlsI-controlled country which his own ancestors
had ruled until the 1730s. Britain had during the World War allied
itself to the IdrisT, but in an attempt to come to terms with Imam
Yahya at the end of the War abandoned him. These events coupled