Zaydiyya: Difference between revisions

=The Revolutionary Current=

Among Zaydi religious authorities and scholars, there was a current inclined to the Jarudi Zaydis, who were close to the Imamiyya in matters of theology and jurisprudence. This current insisted on imamate as a fundamental Zaydi principle and preserved the revolutionary attitude of the Zaydiyya. Emphasizing on the principle of enjoining the good and prohibiting the evil, they maintained that uprising against an unjust ruler is an obligation. This group regarded the approach of the conservative current as insufficient, so they established a new educational institution, called Muntada l-Shabab al-Muminin (Association of Believing Youths), to train and educate Zaydi youths, which later expanded and changed its name to Tanzim al-Shabab al-Mu'minin (Organization of Believing Youth). The spiritual leader of this organization was Badr al-Din al-Houthi and its political founder and theoretician was al-Husayn al-Houthi.

This revolutionary current was close to the Iranian revolution in terms of its intellectual and political tendencies. Al-Husayn al-Houthi was influenced by Imam Khomeini, and would regard the latter's system of government and anti-imperialist attitude as a good model for an Islamic state.

The revolutionary current used to be active mostly in intellectual and cultural spheres from 1997 until 2002. However, when the US attacked Afghanistan and Iraq, the cooperation of the Yemeni government with the US government and the Amarican presence in Yemen increased. As a result, the revolutionary current expanded its political activities, and al-Houthi increasingly criticized the US and Israel.

As a result, the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president of the time, who had given several warnings regarding the political activities of al-Husayn al-Houthi, started to arrest the supporters of the revolutionary current and then in 2004 use military force to suppress them.  The revolutionary current, which came to be known as the Houthis, resisted and defended itself.

The Yemeni government killed al-Husayn al-Houthi, but this did not put an end to its conflict with Houthis; rather, the conflict continued until 2010 in Northern Yemen, and many people from both sides were killed or displaced. The mercilessness of the Yemeni army in killing civilians and the continuation of the discrimination of the Yemeni government against Zaydis led to increasing popularity of Houthis among Zaydi youths, who more and more joined them. After al-Husayn al-Houthi and the demise of Badr al-Din al-Houthi, Abd al-Malik al-Houthi became the leader of the revolutionary current.

Since 2013, the Houthi current changed its name to Harakat Ansar Allah (Ansar Allah Movement) and gained greater popularity among Yemeni tribes and people. Ansar Allah Movement started a revolution against Yemeni government in 2014, whose president was Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, because of the government's corruption, despotism, and failure to fulfill people's demands.

Demoting the belief in the designation of Imam Ali (a) as the successor of the Prophet (s), this Zaydi current has interpreted hadith al-Ghadir as calling people to love Imam Ali (s). They question the authenticity of the Prophetic hadith "The Imams are from Quraysh," and regard it as an Umayyad invention. They believe that the Imam has to be elected by the people, and his being a descendant of Lady Fatima (a) is only an idea emphasized by al-Qasim al-Rassi (d. 246 AH) and not a fundamental principle. Al Wazir's idea of government is very close to Western democracy.

This current includes those Zaydis who believe that their traditional teachings on politics and society is insufficient. The supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh and many of the Republicans belong to this current. The most important political party of the secular current is General People's Congress.