ABSTRACT
The Tihama or coastal plain running from Asir to Abyan is familiar to everyone for its torrid climate, humid yet nearly rainless weather, its fertile soils and its drab topography. The Sulaihid state was founded above all on the vestiges of the Himyarite feudalistic social system. The rapid demise of the Fatimids, especially in the Southern Highlands around their capital of Dhu Jibla and their citadel atop J. Ta‘kar, was primarily the result of the proselytisation of a then newly introduced sect, the Shafi’i school of sunni Islam. In the Western Mountains, especially the half of this zone lying to the north of Wadi La‘a, just the opposite process seems to have occurred; the norms of tribalism and tribal identity have weakened and the people of this region have become less and less loyal and committed to the Zaidis or their tribal partners from Hamdan.
