“Like the Ark of Nuh”: Sayyids in the Leadership of the Huthi Movement

Abstract

The article examines the phenomenon of overrepresentation of sayyids (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad) in the Huthi movement in the 2000s. It is shown that though sayyids’ total share among the population of the northwestern Yemen was about 5 % they occupied most of the top positions in the movement and constituted about half of its military command. The trajectories of sayyid Abd al-Malik al-Huthi’s ascent to power and shaykh Abdullah al-Razzami’s descent from it are tracked down. It is demonstrated that such a prominent role of sayyids is consistent with a traditional local model of leadership, which can be traced back to the 1st millennium AD, and in which (quasi)state entities are managed either by tribesmen who have renounced their tribal identity, or by non-tribal sayyids. Other reasons of the overrepresentation of sayyids in the Movement’s leadership are considered: 1) family ties of some leaders with Hussayn al-Huthi; 2) authority and experience acquired by many of sayyids in the 1980s–1990s through active work undertaken in order to protect Zaydism from Salafi threat and state pressure; 3) reluctance of shaykhs who were affiliated with the government and/or received Saudi subsidies to support the anti-government and anti-Salafi sentiment of their fellow tribesmen, which prompted the latter to seek support from the sayyids. It is suggested that the presence of a large number of potential leaders of sayyid origin in the Huthi movement was one of the key factors that facilitated its transformation from a small group into a significant national actor in the 2000s.