'Handbook of Arabia. Vol. I. 1917' [‎163] (172/748)

RECENT HISTORY AND PRESENT POLITICS 163
claiming a ' mediatized status ' or with the Imam, ' for
the sake of peace between Moslems'. The terms 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, in Yemen, civil and criminal law should be no
longer based on the Turkish judicial code, or ' Qanun ', but on
the old Islamic code or 'Sheri'ah', and that this code should be
administered by nominees of the Imam, who drew a substantial
inEa annual subsidy for himself and his vassal chiefs (L.T. 1,000
liUfc mensem for his own Civil List and L.T. 1,500 in addition for his
vassal chiefs). Under this entente the Imam has the religious and
axati social control in all the Zeidi districts (i. e., roughly, the highlands
rtcis from the Asir border to that of the Aden hinterland, together with
ehijlk a part of the inner central Tihamah); and he appoints and removes
atrii judges and magistrates, subject to the veto of the Ottoman authority,
litens The Zeidi districts pay no tithe, and no one is liable to punishment
Mil for past acts of rebellion under the Imam's flag. ' Octroi' and
fasi transit duties have been abolished. Now the only taxes levied
viigtt (and these only when opposition is not too great) are the tithes
Steal {'ushur in non-Zeidi districts) on agricultural produce and stock ;
(b) market dues (10 % on all produce sold, 1 P.T. for every goat
slaughtered and 10 P.T. for every bullock); and (c) customs dues.
The tribesmen under the Imam are exempt from taxation, but
give military service instead if called upon.
The Imamate, which dates back to the establishment of the
. inl |]}, E ; Rassite dynasty at Sa'dah in the tenth century, but only became
511t yi more than a local power under the Imam Qasim in the seventeenth
Kjg century, has a great prestige in Yemen : but the faith of the people
has been much undermined by the incompetence and venality of
holders of the office, and the treacherous though abortive betrayal
of San'a in 1849 by the Imam Mohammed Yahya has not been
forgotten. The direct influence of the Imams is confined almost
; entirely to the Zeidist districts of Yemen. On the coast and in the
isyw highlands of the Aden hinterland, where the population is pre
dominantly Sunnite of the Shafei school, it goes for little or nothing.
The office is elective, like the Ibadhi Imamate in Oman ; but,
hy a ^ in practice, a son of the last Imam is usually, and a scion of the
mor 1 original Rassite stock is invariably, preferred. In recent elections
e® there has been a good deal of intrigue and substitution of one house
i for another. The Qasim family of Sheharah is at present in power,
For but other houses, e.g. the Hadi Lidin Allah and the Shehari, hold
Izzet ■ themselves equally entitled to it. Once elected, the Imam becomes
essentially a sacred personage, and, for some generations back, the
0. .holder of the title has lived more or less in seclusion, a mysterious
and ' being, little seen by the people, though, behind the veil, more than
iber ^