page_title: Ali ibn al-Fadl al-Jayshani
section_title: Mission to Yemen
hierarchical_section_title: Ali ibn al-Fadl al-Jayshani / Mission to Yemen
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Physische Positionskarte vom Jemen Quadratische Plattkarte, N-S-Streckung 104&#160;%. Geographische Begrenzung der Karte: N: 19.5° N S: 11.4° N W: 41.8° O O: 54.7° O English: Physical location map of Yemen Equirectangular projection, N/S stretching 104&#160;%. Geographic limits of the map: N: 19.5° N S: 11.4° N W: 41.8° E E: 54.7° E
context_page_description: ʿAlī ibn al-Faḍl al-Djayshānī was a senior Isma'ili missionary from Yemen. In cooperation with Ibn Hawshab, he established the Isma'ili creed in his home country and conquered much of it in the 890s and 900s in the name of the Isma'ili imam, Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah, who at the time was still in hiding. After the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya, and the public proclamation of al-Mahdi as caliph in 909, Ibn al-Fadl denounced al-Mahdi Billah. He declared himself to be the awaited mahdī and turned against his erstwhile colleague Ibn Hawshab, when the latter refused to follow him. Ibn al-Fadl's dominion collapsed swiftly after his death in October 915. In January 917, his stronghold of Mudhaykhira was seized by the Yu'firids, his children captured, and his two sons executed.
context_section_description: Ibn al-Fadl's conversion opened the prospect of extending the Isma'ili missionary mission (daʿwa) to Yemen. For this purpose, Ibn al-Fadl was teamed up with an older convert, the Kufan Ibn Hawshab. Setting off in late May or early June 881, the two men made for Kufa, where they joined the pilgrim caravans, whose multitudes, gathered from all corners of the Islamic world, allowed them to travel with anonymity. After completing the rituals of the pilgrimage at Mecca, the two men arrived in northern Yemen in August. 
  The Yemen was at the time a troubled province of the Abbasid empire. Caliphal authority had traditionally been weak and mostly limited to the capital, Sana'a, while in the rest of the country tribal conflicts, sometimes dating to pre-Islamic times, persisted. At the time of Ibn al-Fadl and Ibn Hawshab's arrival, the country was politically fragmented and only loosely under Abbasid suzerainty. Much of the interior was held by the Yu'firid dynasty, who as Sunnis recognized the Abbasids. After capturing Sana'a, their rule extended from Sa'ada in the north to al-Janad (northeast of Taiz) in the south and Hadramawt in the east. A rival dynasty, the Ziyadids, also nominally loyal to the Abbasids, held Zabid on the western coast and at times exercised significant control over wide portions of the interior of the country. The Manakhis family ruled the southern highlands around Taiz, while the northern parts of the country were in practice dominated by warring tribes owing allegiance to no-one. The lack of political unity, the remoteness of the province and its inaccessible terrain, along with deep-rooted Shi'a sympathies in the local population, made Yemen "manifestly fertile territory for any charismatic leader equipped with tenacity and political acumen to realise his ambitions".
  After travelling through Sana'a and al-Janad, Ibn Hawshab stayed for a while in Aden. At some point then or earlier, Ibn al-Fadl left his colleague, returning to his home region, where he began independently proselytizing in the mountains of Jebel Yafi'i. From his mountain strionghold, he began spreading his message in the surrounding areas. He soon secured the support of the ruler of Mudhaykhira. With his help, he led successful attacks on the emir of Lahj, who controlled the highlands north of Aden, while at the same time Ibn Hawshab created another Isma'ili stronghold to the north of the country, in the mountains northwest of Sana'a. Both men propagated the belief in the imminent coming of the mahdī, the messianic figure of Islamic eschatology, who according to legend would overthrow the usurping Abbasids and destroy their capital Baghdad, restore the unity of the Muslims, conquer Constantinople, ensure the final triumph of Islam and establish a reign of peace and justice. While the two Isma'ili dāʿīs expanded their influence, in 897, another Shi'a leader entered Yemen: al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, who established a Zaydi state based in Sa'ada with himself as imam.
  In the original Isma'ili doctrine, the expected mahdī was Muhammad ibn Isma'il. However, in 899, the Isma'ili daʿwa was split when the Qarmatians renounced the movement's secret leadership in Salamiya, when the future founder of the Fatimid Caliphate, Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah, dropped the notion of the return of Muhammad ibn Isma'il and proclaimed himself as the mahdī. Both Ibn Hawshab and Ibn al-Fadl remained loyal to al-Mahdi. Al-Mahdi was soon forced to flee Salamiya, and in 905, when he was in Egypt, he deliberated between moving on to Yemen or the Maghreb. In view of later events, Wilferd Madelung suggests that doubts about Ibn al-Fadl's loyalty may have played a role in his eventual decision to choose the Maghreb. Indeed, the Isma'ili chief dāʿī Firuz, who at Salamiya had been the at the chief proxy (bāb, "gate") for al-Mahdi, abandoned the latter at Egypt and joined Ibn al-Fadl.
  On 25 January 905, Ibn al-Fadl evicted his erstwhile ally from Mudhaykhira. The two Isma'ili leaders now exploited the country's political division to expand their domains: in November 905, Ibn al-F
caption: Main towns in Yemen in the 9th century
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