al-Ḥusayn al-Mahdī - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Jarrar, Maher
Leiden
Brill
(1,516 words)
Al-Mahdī li-Dīn Allāh al-Ḥusayn b. al-Qāsim al-ʿIyānī, known as al-Ḥusayn al-Mahdī (d. 404/1013), was a Zaydī Imām born in 378/988 (or 376/986) in Upper Yemen. He was the youngest son of Imām al-Qāsim al-ʿIyānī (d. 393/1003), of the offspring of al-Qāsim al-Rassī (d. 246/860). When his father died, al-Ḥusayn, the youngest of five brothers, was still a minor. For unknown reasons, his elder brother Jaʿfar (d. 450/1059), who had been entrusted with