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Ṣalāḥ b. Aḥmad al-Aḥmadī al-Yāfiʿī (d. 1954) (also Laḥmadī) was a poet of Ḥaḍramī origin. Born in the village al-ʿAnīn, al-Aḥmadī emigrated to Hyderabad (Deccan) at a young age, visiting his homeland again in 1323/1905–6. His colloquial poetry (ḥumaynī) comments on social questions concerning the Ḥaḍramī migrants in India, many serving as soldiers in the armies of the Niẓām and private landowners. He is best known for a qaṣīda in which he criticised the conclusion of an advisory treaty between the Quʿayṭī sultanate in Ḥaḍramawt and the British in Aden in August …

Sayyid ʿAbdallāh b. Abī Bakr b. Sālim ʿAydīd (1195–1255/1781 or 1782–1839–40) was a member of a circle of reformers in early-nineteenth-century Ḥaḍramawt, headed by Ṭāhir b. al-Ḥusayn b. Ṭāhir and his brother ʿAbdallāh, who aimed at the establishment of stable political rule. ʿAydīd, a scholar and Ṣūfī who had travelled to Aden, Yemen, the Ḥijāz, and Muscat, left his native Tarīm in an act of protest against the tyranny of its rulers. In 1243/1827–8, he was chosen as wazīr and adviser to the short-lived polity founded by the Yāfiʿī leader ʿUmar b. ʿAbdallāh al-Muqayyaṣ. T…

Jidda is a port city on the Ḥijāzī coast of the Red Sea at 21° 29 N., 39° 11 E. The city lies near the northernmost point reachable by ocean-going sailing vessels from the Indian Ocean at the end of the northeast monsoon season, and this explains the port’s importance as a trade entrepôt (al-Idrīsī, 136; Facey). Most authors, such as al-Bakrī (d. 487/1094) and al-Hamdānī (d. c.333–4/945?), agree that the correct name is “Judda” (“coastline”), while others mention the designation “Jadda” (“grandm…