Islamic history of Yemen

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History of Yemen
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Ancient history Kingdom of Sheba Kingdom of Ḥaḑramawt Kingdom of Awsan Kingdom of Qatabān Kingdom of Ma'in Kingdom of Ḥimyar Kingdom of Aksum Sasanian rule
Islamic history Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Ziyadid dynasty Najahid dynasty Sulayhid dynasty Zurayids Mahdid state Ayyubid dynasty Rasulid dynasty Tahirid state
Modern history Ottoman eyalet Qasimid state Aden Protectorate Sultanate of Lahej Ottoman vilayet Mutawakkilite Kingdom North and South Yemen Yemeni unification 1994 Civil War Yemeni revolution Civil war (2014–present) COVID-19 pandemic Red Sea crisis
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Islam came to Yemen around 630 during Muhammad's lifetime and the rule of the Persian governor Badhan. Thereafter, Yemen was ruled as part of Arab-Islamic caliphates, and became a province in the Islamic empire.

Regimes affiliated to the Egyptian Fatimid caliphs occupied much of northern and southern Yemen throughout the 11th century, including the Sulayhids and Zurayids, but the country was rarely unified for any long period of time. Local control in the Middle Ages was exerted by a succession of families which included the Ziyadids (818–1018), the Najahids (1022–1158), the Egyptian Ayyubids (1174–1229) and the Turkoman Rasulids (1229–1454). The most long-lived, and for the future most important polity, was founded in 897 by Yayha bin Husayn bin Qasim ar-Rassi. They were the Zaydis of Sa'dah in the highlands of North Yemen, headed by imams of various Sayyid lineages. As ruling Imams of Yemen, they established a Shia theocratic political structure that survived with some intervals until 1962.

After the introduction of coffee in the 16th century the town of al-Mukha (Mocha), on the Red Sea coast, became the most important coffee port in the world. For a period after 1517, and again in the 19th century, Yemen was a nominal part of the Ottoman Empire, although on both occasions the Zaydi Imams contested the power of the Turks and eventually expelled them.