'Handbook of Yemen' [‎27v] (59/190)

views, leaving Mahmud Nazim Bey (a civilian) to carry
on the negociations with the Imam, and administer the
Vilayet.
'Izzet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , however, obtained his desire at Stambul,
and on September 22, 1913, an Imperial Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). was read
publicly at San'a, proclaiming a mediatized status, or entente
with,^ the Imam " for the sake of peace among Mos
lems. The term of this firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). established that civil and
criminal law should be based no longer on the Turkish judi
cial code {Qanun) but on the old Islamic code or Sheria,
which should be administered by nominees of the Imam.
J he latter was to draw from the provincial Treasury a
substantial annual subsidy for himself and his vassal chiefs
(L.T. 1,000 per mensem for his own Civil List and L.T. 1,500,
in addition, for his vassals). Under this entente the
Imam has the religious and social control in the Kazas of
Hajur, Tawilah (Kaukeban), Doran, Hajjah, Yerim, and
Ibb , and he appoints and removes judges and magistrates,
subject to the veto of the Ottoman authority. Zeidi
districts pay no tithe, and no one is liable to punishment
for past acts of rebellion under the Imam's flag. Octroi
and transit duties were abolished. Actually, the only taxes
since levied (and these only when opposition has not been too
great) are {a) the tithes {hishur, in non-Zeidi districts) on
agricultural produce and stock, and (6) market dues (ten
per cent on all produce sold, one Turkish piastre for every
goat slaughtered and ten Turkish piastres for every bullock),
an (c) customs dues.^ Tribesmen, under the Imam, are
exempt rom all taxation, but give military service instead,
n called upon.
Imamate dates back to the establishment
of the Shi ah Rassite dynasty of A lids at Sa'dah in the early
tenth century ; but it only became more than a very local
power under the Imam Qasim in the seventeenth century.
It has great prestige m Yemen ; but the faith of the people
hoklprf 11 ' mdermi "f d h y the incompetence and venality of
holders of the office, and especially by the treacherous