1. G.R Smith: The Ayyübids and early Rasulids in the Yemen (569-694/1173-1195), Gibb Memorial Series, London, l, 1974, II,1978. The first volume contains the critical edition of the standard original source on this period, namely al-Amir Badr al-Din Muhammad b. Hàtim al-Hamdani, (d. ca. 700/1300) Kitab al-Simt al-ghôli al-thaman fi akhbâr al-Muluk al-Ghuzz bi-'l-Yaman. Volume II is an historical and textual study.

2. M. Bates; The Ayyübids in Yemen: 1174-1118, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Chicago, 1971, in the press.

3. Muhammad 'Abd al-'Al Ahmad: Al-Ayyübiyyun fi 'l-Yaman, Cairo, 1980. The various sources used include one major Tayyibi Fàtimid work of the Yaman, namely, Idris 'Imàd aI-Din's Nuzhat al-afzar (referred to below in note 6). The text of Ibn Hàtim' s Simt is also appended to the work with notes and an introduction.

4. 'Umarab al-Hakami (d. 569/1173); Ta'rikh al-Yaman, in H.C. Kay's Yaman, London, 1892, 130.

5. G.R. Smith; op. cit., II, 41-47.

6. Da'i Idris 'Imàd al-Din al-Anf al-Qurashi (d. 832/1428): Nuzhat al-afkar, 2 vols. (mss. In my possession), I, 123.

7. A. Hamdani: 'The Dâ'i Hàtim b. Ibràhim al-Hamidi (d. 596/1199) and his book Tuhfal al-qulüb, Oriens, XXIII/XXIV, Leiden, 1970-71 (issued in 1974), 258-300.

8.Idem.

9. See art. 'Haraz' in Encyclopaedia of Islam (II).

10. The hierarchy of the Fatimîd Da'wah and the position of the Da’I Mutlaq in it has been studied by me in the ‘The Evolution of the organization structure of the Fatimid Da’wah, Arabian Studies, III, 1976, 85-114.

11. These three sections are reproduced in the work of the Indian Da'i Hasan b. Nuh (d.939/1532): Kuab al-Azhar (p.70 seq. of the Ms. Of Lokhandwala collection) and were copied by S.M. Stern in ‘The Succession of the Fatimid Imam al-Amir, the claim of the later Fatimids to the Imamate and the rise of Tayyibi Isma’ilism, Oriens, IV, Leiden, 1951-193-255, appendix II, 233-243. Although the Arabic text has been cited by Stern, its contents have not been analysed.

12. This book was written after the death of Da’i Hatim’s deputy in San’a, Muhammad b. Tahir al-Harithi, in 584/1188. It was probably written much later, i.e. shortly before Da’i Hatim’s death in 569/1199, because it serves the purpose of fixing the appointment (nass) of his own son ‘Ali as next Mutlaq.

13. Idris: Nuzhah, I, 91-106. cf. W. Madelung: Hamidi, E.I. (II).

14. See I.K. Poonawala: Bibliography of Ismaili Literature, Malibu, 1977, 155-56.

15. Idris: Nuzhah I, 91-106.

16. Poonawala: op. cit., 156-161.

17. Idris: Nuzhah, I, 114-119; Poonawala; op. cit. 160.

18. Al-Malik al-Ashraf 'Umar(d. 696/1296), the Rasüli prince of Ta'izz: Turfat al-ashab fi marifat al-ansab ed. K.W. Zettersteen, Damascus, 1949, 131.

19. 'Umàrah in Kay's Yaman, 54-56.

20. Idris: Nuzhah, I, 110-123; Poonawala: op. Cit., 162-63.

21. Ibn Samurah (d. 586/1189): Tabaqat fuqaha al-Yaman. ed. Fu'àd Sayyid, Cairo. 1957, 235.

22. 'Umarah, in Kay's Yaman, 130.

23. Ba Makhramah (d. 947/1540): Ta'rikh Thaghr 'Adan, in O. Lôfgren: Aden im Mitelalter, Leiden. 1946,52.

24. For more information on the 'Imràn family see my article cited in note 7 above.

25. Al-Malik al-Ashraf: Turfah. 127-128.

26.'Umarah, in Kay's Yaman, 131.

27. The 'ahd or mithâq is an old Fatimid institution, even before the establishment of the Fàtimid Caliphate. See Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa, Beirut, 1957, IV, 186-188; also the Dà'i Ja'far b. Mansür al-Yaman: Kitab al-Kashf .ed, R. Strothman, Bombay, 1952, 1.

28. See H. Hamdani: al-Sulayhiyyun, Cairo, 1955, 106, 116-120, 128, 130-31, 143, 154-55. 161, 266,312 and 315.

29. The exact nature and purpose of bara'ah has to be understood historically. The Da'wah had been an organisation with a collective leadership. There were many da'is, headed by a Chief Dà'i (Dà'i Mutlaq). These dà'is were allotted various sectors and had their subordinate officers, called ma'dhun and mukasir, to carry on the duties of administering the community. If any subordinate officer was not performing his duties properly, his permission (fash) to practice was withdrawn and the Mu’minun (the community) were asked not to obey his directions if he continued to persist in giving them. This exclusion from office of a subordinate officer was called barô'ah. Bara'ah was, thus, never applied to the rank and file of the community. In fact, it was their disavowal of an officer who was not (performing his duties properly. Even such an officer did not lose his membership of the community; he only lost his office.

30. Idris. Nuzhah, I , 91-106, cf. A. Hamdani: 'Da'i Hatim etc.', Oriens, XXIII/XXIV, 280-81, 287-296.

31. Yahya b al-Husayn b. al-Qâsam b. Muhammad b. 'Ali (J. 1/0011689): Ghayat al-amani fi akhbar al-qutr al-Yamani, Cairo, 1968, I, 341; Ibn Hatim: Simt, I , 41-42.

32. Idris Imad al-Din: Uyun al-akhbar, VII, in Stern: ‘Succession’, 251; Ibn Hatim: Simt, 36-40.

33. Ba Makhramah in Lofgren: Aden im Muttelalter, II, 19-20; also Yahya: Ghayat al-amani, I, 340 seq., Ibn Wasil (d.697-1297): Muffarij al-Kurub, III, 136-137, has the most hostile report about the Ayyubid al-Mu’izz. According to him, the Sultan had not only adopted the Batini madhhab but had become so insane that he ate human flesh! In view of the contradictory reports of the Simt and Nuzhah on the one hand, and the Ghavah being only a passing one, we can take Ibn Wasil’s melodramatic story with a large pinch of salt! What is possible is that Ibn Wasil would have felt a great sense of frustration and outrage at the collaboration that existed between al-Malik al-Mu’izz and the Tayyibi Da’wah.

34. Ibn Hatim: Simt, I, 71-72.

35. This is discussed in my paper on ‘Al-Hamdani (d.350/961) at the outset of the domination of the Hamdan over Yaman’ to be printed in the Proceedings of the Hamdani Symposium held at the University of San’a, 17-25 October, 1981.