A Look at Intellectual and Literary Life in Yemen in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

The ijtihad and renewal movement in Yemen was characterized with the emergence of diligent scholars who exceeded the argument that asserted that ''the path of ijtihad had run its course'' for juristic scholars and intellectuals hijri th6/1111 AD), by early Ghazaly (d.505 H.-following the time of lmam Alcentury, as well as the scholar and philosopher lbn Rushd [Averroes] (d. 595 H /1195 AD(.

To this end, the great Arab intellectual scholar and historian Abdulrahman Ibn khaldoon (1332-1406AD) states:''…that conventionalism (traditionalism) had curbad at the countries [metropolises] with these four; Malik Ibn Anas, Mohammad Ibn Idris Al-Shafie, Abu Hanefa. And so conventionalists taught other

Teachings, and people closed the pathways of discord…''(Almuqadima; 20/210, pub. Dr. Chabouh, Tunis 2007) Nevertheless, diligent scholars from among Yemen's Zaydi intellectuals went beyond the confinements of their sect, some of whom were influenced by the opinions of Almutazala. Among such scholars were lbn Al-Ameer (d. 121 H/1798 AD), Lbn Al-Murtadha (d. 840 H/1416 AD), as well as Alhasan Al-Jallal, Al-Miqbali and other prominent scholars, faqihs, writers, and poets. Among the last of these, and renowned in both the Arab and Islamic world, was the authoritative scholar Mohammad ibn Ali Al-Shawkani (d. 1250 H/ 1834 AD); an outstanding renewal Faqih, historian and poet as well as such others of the 13th hijri century/ 19th century AD.

Furthermore, hijar alelim, as they were known and which were scholarly centers spread out all around the country, bared undeniable significance in the graduation of scholars and juristic academics some of whom attained praiseworthy roles.

Moreover, it remains well known that this school concerned with renewal or revival in Yemen had no direct bearing to the 'modern Arab renaissance movement' which coincided with the early period of Mohammad Ali pasha (1805-1848 AD) in Egypt and the Alsham region.