Sunday, December 12, 2010

Muhammad Badr: A Noble Defender of Zaidism

On 19 September 1962 Imam Ahmad died, Muhammad al-Badr was proclaimed Imam, but a week later rebels shelled his residence in Sana'a and set up a republic. Abdullah as-Sallal, whom al-Badr had appointed commander of the royal guard, led the coup, and declared himself president of the Yemen Arab Republic.
Badr is quoted as saying: "Now I'm getting my reward for befriending Nasser. We were brothers, but when I refused to become his stooge, he used Sallal against me.”
Mohamed was a diplomat; his policy was to keep officers as prisoners for exchange, and to allow soldiers to go in return for their arms. He promised amnesty to all non-royalists once the Egyptians were withdrawn. He also promised a new form of government: "a constitutionally democratic system" ruled by a "national assembly elected by the people of Yemen" if his side was victorious.
In February, 1967, Nasser vowed to "stay in Yemen 20 years if necessary", while Prince Hussein bin Ahmed said "We are prepared to fight for 50 years to keep Nasser out, just as we did the Ottoman Turks."
As well as aerial bombardent, Egypt resorted to gas attacks. The gas attacks stopped for three weeks after the Six-Day War of June, which was lost because Egypt had sent too many troops to Yemen, but resumed on July, against all parts of royalist Yemen.[82] Casualty estimates vary, and an assumption, considered conservative, is that the mustard and phosgene-filled aerial bombs caused approximately 1,500 fatalities and 1,500 injuries.
In later peace negotiations involving Egypt, Badr said: "It is essential that the conflict which has devastated our beloved country be brought to an end by peaceful negotiations between the Yemeni people themselves."[63] In another reconciliation attempt, Badr promised to send his troops to fight with Egypt against Israel, should Nasser live up to a truce brokered by the Saudis.[85]However, Sallal kept frustrating the peace efforts. One of Sallal’s deputies resigned, saying "It is obvious that Sallal and his cronies are more interested in war than peace".
In 1970, despite the fact that territorially most of the Yemen remained under the control of al-Badr and the Hamid al-Din family, Saudi Arabia, which had been the principal opponent of the Sana'a regime, recognized the Yemen Arab Republic and other nations like the United Kingdom swiftly followed suit.
For Zaidis, the War signaled the end of the 1,000 year Zaidi Imamate of Yemen. Today’s Zaidis propose that Muhammad Badr’s dream of a "a constitutionally democratic system" ruled by a "national assembly elected by the people of Yemen" will one day be realized, instead of the corrupt presidency currently led by Abdullah Saleh, which has continued to wage war on the Zaidi tribes of North Yemen, and encourages the Saud-backed Wahhabists to attack the Zaidis in their own region.


  1. I hope the Monarchy will have a comeback in Yemen.

  2. I must admit, when there was a referendum in Australia to see if the people wanted to switch to a republic, I voted to stay with the monarchy (and so did most Australians) because we have a peaceful, democratic society here and we don't want to tamper with it.
    On the other hand, I understand that in the "ideal" Zaidi political system, potential Imams are supposed to compete for the top job according to a set of criteria, rather than automatically inheriting the job from a parent.

  3. I think we should look at Muhammad al Badr with caution. It is a fact that he originally took money from Nasser to overthrow his own father, the Imam. This money was in the region of £E25,000 and £Sterling 50,000. And although the coup itself never materialised, he accepted weapons and explosives which arrived in Yemen 'under the guise of explosives for use of Chinese road-making in Yemen'. (Gaury, G. 'Faisel: King of Saudi Arabia' p92)

    As such, I would say he is anything but a 'noble defender' of Zaidism.

    His American confidant was also shown to be a 'royalist pretender' with delusions of grandeur.(wikipedia, Bruce Conde). Again, hardly someone to write home about.

  4. I don't have access to the Gaury book, but I think the struggle to preserve the 1,000 year Imamate in Yemen was a noble cause, and I think any convert who achieved the level of General in such a cause actually achieved something grand.I'm not in a position to evaluate what different historians may have said about their integrity; it would be interesting to hear from a Zaidi historian what their view is about these events