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Zaydi Studies Series

The Zaydi Studies Series is commissioned and edited by Ekaterina (Kate) Pukhovaia, Leiden University, as part of the EMStaD YEMEN (Horizon-2020 MSCA) project: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/research-projects/humanities/emstad.

Blogs

Zaydī rebellion in the <i>Kitāb al-Futūḥ</i> of Ibn Aʿtham (fl. around 320/932): The case of Yaḥyā b. Zayd b. ʿAlī (d. 125/743)

Zaydī rebellion in the Kitāb al-Futūḥ of Ibn Aʿtham (fl. around 320/932): The case of Yaḥyā b. Zayd b. ʿAlī (d. 125/743)

Natalie Kontny-Wendt • August 30, 2023

On The Historical Potential of Zaydi Legal Sources

Najam Haider • June 16, 2023

“A stray bullet from the seventh century hit Yemen”: Anti-Zaydi polemics and the politics of genealogy in al-Ghobari’s <i> Al-Qabīlah al-Hāshimiyyah </i>

“A stray bullet from the seventh century hit Yemen”: Anti-Zaydi polemics and the politics of genealogy in al-Ghobari’s Al-Qabīlah al-Hāshimiyyah

Marieke Brandt • June 09, 2023

Zaydi fiqh and the Jews of Yemen

How can the study of Zaydi jurisprudence help us understand the relationship between Imam Yaḥyā Ḥamīd al-Dīn (r. 1904-1948) and the Jews of Yemen? What sources are available for study? What further questions does the focus on dhimma law raise regarding Zaydi law and political thought?

Kerstin Hünefeld • June 02, 2023

How an old Yemeni legal manual helped to decipher the South Arabian script

Manuscript copies of well-known works, especially notes in them and other traces of use, can reveal surprising details. On close inspection, the Zaydi manuscript presented here turns out to be one of the oldest copies of Kitāb al-Azhār, which also has an exciting history of provenance and reception.

Christoph Rauch • May 26, 2023

Al-Muʾayyad bi-llāh’s theological treatise, al-Tabṣira

Maher Jarrar • May 14, 2023

A Short History of Zaydi fiqh

What is Zaydi fiqh? How has it developed over time? How Shīʿi or Sunni is it? In this blog piece we want to share some thoughts on the development of Zaydi fiqh as a discipline central for the Zaydi community. We will also point out topics that still await to be researched.

Eirik Hovden and Ebrahim Mansoor • April 15, 2023

Muslim Champions of Free Will: The Zaydi Thirty Topics Tradition in Yemen

Which Muslim theologians were among the staunchest supporters of human free will and the absolute singularity of God? One answer to this question is the Zaydi Shīʿa of Yemen, whose rich theological traditions remain largely trapped in manuscripts in Yemen and Europe.

Scott Lucas • April 06, 2023

ʿAbbāsid Ideology and the Alleged Exchange of Letters between Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr and al-Nafs al-Zakiyya

Maher Jarrar • March 23, 2023