Arwa al-Sulayhi
Ahmad bin Sulayman was a fifth-generation descendant of the imam an-Nasir Ahmad (d. 934). His mother was Malikah binti Abdallah, an eight-generation descendant of the Zaidi founding figure al-Qasim ar-Rassi (d. 860). Since the violent death of al-Muhtasib al-Mujahid Hamzah in 1066, no new imam had been appointed in the Zaydiyyah community of the northern Yemeni highlands. The dominating political power in Yemen in the late 11th and early 12th centuries was the Ismailite Sulayhids, whose last important representative was Queen Arwa al-Sulayhi (d. 1137). Meanwhile, the Tihamah lowland was ruled by a Sunni dynasty in Zabid, the Najahids. The most important city in the highland, San'a was ruled by the Hatimid sultans. In the year after Queen Arwa's death, in 1138, Ahmad was acknowledged as imam under the title al-Mutawakkil Ahmad. His early base was in the far north, in Sa'dah, Najran and Jawf. He was considered a political and religious figure of genuine stature. In 1151 a large congregation gathered and spent eight days testing his qualifications for the imamate, including physical fitness, right descent, religious doctrinal learning, etc.