Page 74 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 1,2

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36 SOCIAL SURVEY
must be of the Prophet's own seed, in \ > nlcr to possess those innate
supernatural qualities whieh their instinct for ineamationisin
demands in the leader of the faithful ; but they will admit that
circumstances have rendered, and may render, it necessary to ha\ c
To these they will accord obedience, but
Caliphs not of the seed,
not worship or the title Imam.
Though, therefore, they do not regard the successors of the
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Prophet"1prior to *Ali, as Imams, they accept them as Caliphs, thercir

agreeing with the Sunnis. The leaven of Shiism, however, which i.-
in their faith disposes them to take a mystic view of the sbvcrcigr
as, in some degree, an incarnation of the divine. 'The sovereign
for his part, influenced by this belief, is disposed to live as a sacro­
sanct being apart ‘from his people. The predecessor .of the ruling
Imam, for example, conducted all his campaigns of revolt by proxy
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i The prestige of the laminate revived with the rebellion pro
: claimed in 1891 in the name of Ya'nya Hamid ed-Dln, grand­
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: father!?) of the present Imam, Yahya [Mohammed. From th’al
date till 1912 the Imam was an independent rebel securely seatec
\ in the same region of northernmost Yemen in which the RassiL
dynasty had begun. Yahya Mohammed, fora short time in 1905
expelled the Turks from San‘a itself, and once more ruled all th<
highlands, except Menakhah town. Driven northwards again b}
Ahmed Feizi Pasha, he returned to the charge in 1910, but afte:
besieging SaiTa for three months was driven off. Thereafter th<
Turks pressed hiiii closely, and in 1912 (on representations made
it is said, by the Grand Sherif and the Sheikh Senussi) he agreec
to an arrangement in view of the jihad proclaimed against tin
Italians. He accepted a mediatized status with residence ii
Rheharah, a fortress two days north of ‘Amran, and a subsidy
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which has since been raised to £T30,000. Both Sheharah and hi
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capital, Khamir, were, however, garrisoned by the Turks.
Under the agreement he has the supreme administration of th
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SherTah or Sacred Law, according to Zeidist practice, in all Zcid
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districts of Yemen, and, subject to Ottoman approval, can appoin
. • ! and remove all magistrates in the said districts, including San'
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itself. His adherents were amnestied on condition of good behavioui
His degree of independence is below that of the Sherif, in that h
has not the collection of taxes, keeps no guard of his own, and ho
hardly any pecuniary resources beyond what his ‘protectors’ alkv
him; but on the other hand the”long local tradition of indeper
dence and his sacred character inspire a more bellicose peon)
than the Hejazis with a more ebullient and fanatical attaching
to him.

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