Fatimids and their Successors in Yaman, The

The 'Uyun al-akhbar is the most complete text written by an Ismaili author on the history of the Ismaili community from its origins up to his own time in the 15th century. The seventh volume, edited here for the first time, together with a summary English translation, deals in particular with the period of the three Fatimid caliphs, al-Mustansir, al-Musta'li and al Amir, and then the Tayyibi Ismaili community in the Yemen. The author of this 15th century text, Idris 'Imad al-Din, who was himelf a leader of the Tayyibis, took a special interest in the commencement of the Ismaili movement in the Yemen under the Sulayhids, in the schism that split the Ismailis into two rival communities following the death of al-Mustansir in 1094, and the final rupture with Egypt after the murder of al-Amir in 1130. He also devotes a substantial portion of this volume to the history of the later Ismailis in the Yemen and the pivotal role of al-Sayyida al-Hurra, the famous Sulayhid 'queen', in establishing the Tayyibi Ismaili community of the Yemen independently of the Fatimid establishment in Egypt. exists.