Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din

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Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din (or Imam Yahya) (1869–1948) became imam of the Zaydis in 1904 and king of Yemen in 1926. His name in full was H.M. Amir al-Mumenin al-Mutawakkil 'Ala Allah Rab ul-Alamin Imam Yahya bin al-Mansur Bi'llah Ahmad ud-Din Muhammad Hamid ud-Din, Imam and Commander of the Faithful, and King of the Yemen. He died during an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1948 and was succeeded by his son Imam Ahmad.

Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din was born into the Hamad ud-Din branch of the al-Qasimi dynasty. Upon the death of his father in 1904, Yahya became Imam, effectively ruler over the mountainous areas of the future North Yemen. However the Ottomans who made claim on the area didn't recognize his rule, with war as result. The war against the Ottomans came to an end in 1911, and his rule over North Yemen was recognized. Yahya became a loyal subject to the empire.

Following the end of World War I in 1918, the Ottomans lost control over North Yemen, and Yahya became the ruler of the new independent state.

There was another war, this time with the House of Saud (also Sa'ud), in 1934. Yahya's forces were badly defeated, but king Ibn Saud offered him peace without making territorial concessions.

In 1946 opposition to Yahya's regime became organized. Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din was shot to death in 1948, and was succeeded by his son Ahmad bin Yahya.

His Qurayshi descent and vast Canonical knowledge also meant he was proposed as a khalifa by the Islamic Scholar Mohammad Rashid Rida following the abolition of the Khalifate in Turky <see modern islamic political thought by hamid enayat> . This is only the 2nd time a shia imam has been proposed as a khalifa the 1st was the twelver imam Ali Rida who was elected by Khalifa Al Mamun in the 9th century

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