ʿAlī b. Abū l-Ghārāt (Sultan)

Description / Bio

One of two cousins who fractiously co-ruled Aden in the mid-12th century CE. Sultan ʿAlī controlled the al-Khaḍrāʾ castle. The cousins eventually went to war against each other at az-Zaʿāziʿ, and the conflict lasted some two years (approx. 1136-1138 CE). According to the chronicler ʿUmāra al-Ḥakami, on the same day Sultan Sabaʾ took az-Zaʿāziʿ, the castle fell to Sabaʾ's deputy Bilāl b. Jarīr, notably a freedman and Madmūn b. Hasān b. Bundār's frequent business partner. However, Sultan Sabaʾ died soon after his victory, and the power struggle continued between Sultan ʿAlī and Sultan Sabaʾ's son, Muḥammad.

Select bibliography

  1. Henry Cassels Kay, Yaman, its early mediæval history (E. Arnold, 1892).