Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/28

 1538 that this portion of Arabia passed from their hands into those of the Turkish people under Suleiman the Magnificent. In A.D. 1630 the Imam once more got possession of the whole of South Arabia, including Aden and the Hadramaut, and retained possession for a considerable number of years, as in the beginning of the eighteenth century a French traveller tells us that Aden was in the hands of Imam al Mahdi. After that, however, the Imam's territory became more and more circumscribed till at last, in A.D. 1872, the Turks got possession of Sana, the capital of the Yemen, and drove the Imam into exile.

Making Sa'adah his headquarters, Yahyeli Hamed ed-Deen, whose ancestors, as I have shown, were once rulers of the greater part of South Arabia, raised the standard of revolt against the Turks, and because he belonged to the Koraish tribe (of whom Mohammed is reported to have said that the Imam was always to come so long as there were two persons belonging to it in the world, one to rule and the other to serve) thousands flocked to his standard, calling him the real Imam and Amir ul Mumineen. At once he marched on Sana and taking the place by storm, proclaimed himself the Imam and struck coinage bearing this title, and sent messengers to the surrounding tribes warning them to obey his rule. Soon, however, the Turks drafted a large army into the Yemen and re-taking Sana once more, drove the Imam northwards, scattering his followers and forcing him to come to terms. But though subdued, the Imam has never owned the Turkish sway; and as his followers believe that it is their duty to listen to and approve of all the Imam's orders, whether they like them or not, and declare that if in any way they cause dissent to spring up in their midst, they will die like the heathen, and on the day of judgment will appear before God without proof of their faith; he can always bring an army into the field when he sends out word that he intends to do so, and this all the more readily because it is well-known that no Imam will taste the sweets of heaven, nor enjoy the perfumes of its gardens who does not make his people's good the first care of every day.