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Messiah of Bayhan, Bayhan, Yemen
Around 1500 AD in the town of Bayhan in southeastern Yemen, a self-proclaimed messiah recruited a band of militant followers.[i] Acting as an established political figure or king, the Messiah of Bayhan travelled across Yemen gathering support before his death at the hands of the sultan’s forces.[ii]
Description
Messiah of Bayhan:
Though little is known about the figure who came be known as the Messiah of Bayhan, two historical accounts, one Jewish and the other Islamic, mention him and his activities during the 15th century. The first, the work of the ‘enlightened’ Yemenite Jew Hayim b. Yahya Habshush, mentions the messiah figure in his History of the Jews of Yemen.[iii] Habshush describes him in the 1893 text as a “false messiah” living under the rule of ‘Amir ibn ‘Abd al-Wahab who governed the sultanate centered in Sana’a from 1488-1517.[iv][v] The sultan was the son of the first ruler of the Tahirid Dynasty which ruled Yemen from 1454-1517 before being replaced by the Mamluks of Egypt.[vi] Habshush writes that the messiah led a multitude of militant followers from Bayhan who were vanquished by the sultan, obliterating the Jews of the Hadhramaut who had followed the messiah and the movement itself.[vii]
The earlier text, that of sixteenth-century Ḥaḍramī historian Bā Faqīh al-Shiḥrī is contemptuous of the messiah figure and describes him as speaking slander against Islam and converting back to Judaism Yemenite Jews who had earlier converted to Islam.[viii] These Jews likely were, however, those who, as occurred on numerous occasions, converted to Islam to save their lives but then converted back to Judaism when safe.[ix] Another charge al-Shiḥrī levels against the Messiah of Bayhan is that of riding horses richly adorned with saddles of silver and gold.[x] This act is significant in that the Jews, as dhimmis (protected people under Islamic rule), were forbidden from riding horses under the covenant of Omar, a collection of anti-Jewish regulations in place in Yemen from the 7th to 19th century.[xi]
Messianism in Yemen:
Messianic movements were important in the lives of Yemenite Jews, and though they shared many similarities with the ideas of similar trends in Jewish communities around the world, messianism of the Jews of Yemen was unique in its persistence and its adoption of features of Muslim messianic movements.[xii] Because of the close proximity to Zaydis, members of a moderate branch of the Shi’a, in which most Yemenite Jews lived, they adopted certain Muslim eschatological traditions, for example the term “mahdī “for the messiah.[xiii]
Bayhan, Yemen
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Endnotes:
[i] Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman and Michael G. Wechsler, “Messianism,” October 1, 2010, accessed June 29, 2017, http://0-referenceworks.brillonline.com.luna.wellesley.edu/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/messianism-COM_0015170?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world&s.q=bayhan.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Harris Lenowitz, The Jewish Messiahs : From the Galilee to Crown Heights: From the Galilee to Crown Heights (Oxford University Press, USA, 1998).
[iv] Ibid.
[v] B. Z. Eraqi Klorman, The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Century: A Portrait of a Messianic Community (BRILL, 1993).
[vi] “Tahirids (Yemen),” Wikipedia, May 6, 2017, accessed June 30, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tahirids_(Yemen)&oldid=779022208.
[vii] Harris Lenowitz, The Jewish Messiahs : From the Galilee to Crown Heights: From the Galilee to Crown Heights (Oxford University Press, USA, 1998).
[viii] Ibid.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] B. Z. Eraqi Klorman, The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Century: A Portrait of a Messianic Community (BRILL, 1993).
[xi] Harris Lenowitz, The Jewish Messiahs : From the Galilee to Crown Heights: From the Galilee to Crown Heights (Oxford University Press, USA, 1998).
[xii] Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman and Michael G. Wechsler, “Messianism,” October 1, 2010, accessed June 29, 2017, http://0-referenceworks.brillonline.com.luna.wellesley.edu/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/messianism-COM_0015170?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world&s.q=bayhan.
[xiii] Ibid.
Bibliography:
“Beihan.” Wikipedia, March 13, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beihan&oldid=770057467.
“Hadhramaut.” Wikipedia, June 21, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hadhramaut&oldid=786762940.
Klorman, B. Z. Eraqi. The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Century: A Portrait of a Messianic Community. BRILL, 1993.
Klorman, Bat-Zion Eraqi, and Michael G. Wechsler. “Messianism,” October 1, 2010. http://0-referenceworks.brillonline.com.luna.wellesley.edu/entries/encyclopedia- of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/messianism-COM_0015170?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world&s.q=bayhan
Lenowitz, Harris. The Jewish Messiahs : From the Galilee to Crown Heights: From the Galilee to Crown Heights. Oxford University Press, USA, 1998.
“Sabbateans.” Wikipedia, June 21, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sabbateans&oldid=786762175.
“Tahirids (Yemen).” Wikipedia, May 6, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tahirids_(Yemen)&oldid=779022208.
Photo:
"Beihan in 1960s"
By العمري - http://alamree.net/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38221441