The Najahids: an Ethiopian dynasty in the Medieval Tihama (from the beginning of the 5th/11th to mid 6th/12th century)

This article examines the Najahid phenomenon, a dynasty of Ethiopian slaves that emerged on the political scene in Yemen at the end of the 4th/10th century, marked by the collapse of the Ziyadite state (whose capital was Zabid, in the Tihama( and the appearance of a multitude of autonomous powers, of which the most important was that of the Sulayhids. The history of the Najahids in known thanks to the book al-Mufid fi akhbar Zabid, written by the founder of the dynasty, Jayyash b. Najah, used by the Yemeni historian 'Umara in his al-Mufid fi akhbar Sana' wa Zabid. The recruitment of slave soldiers allowed the installation of a military power in Zabid whose command was vested in the qa'id, who bore the title of vizier as well. In this political model most likely inspired by models previously observed in Iraq and Egypt, regents, who bore the title of queen, and the preceptor slaves supervised and educated the young Najahide emirs. In this system based on a regular supply of black slaves, especially among three Ethiopianjin-s, the Dahlak archipelago seems to have played a central role beginning in the middle of the 4th/10th century. The similarity observed between the Najahid and Dahlak sovereigns strongly supports the hypothesis of power wielded by former Ethiopian slaves in the archipelago, based, here too, on the central function of the qa'id.