The Sulaymani sharifs of the Mikhlaf, 1 January 1200

A Hasanid house of sharifs, expelled from Mecca in the eleventh century, made the northern Tihama their own, with Jazan as their centre from about 1020.

They paid tribute to the Najahids of Zabid, fought the Mahdids (who killed Wahhas ibn Ghanim in 1164 and took their lands) and welcomed the Ayyubids: Qasim ibn Ghanim joined Turanshah, and after the conquest of 1173-74 the sharifs became Ayyubid vassals while keeping local power, which they held until the sixteenth century. On 1 January 1200 they rule the coastal plain from about Harad northwards past Jazan to Baysh, under al-Mu'izz's overlordship; the head of the house that winter is not named in the sources reached. The Mikhlaf's name comes from Sulayman ibn Tarf al-Hakami, its tenth-century lord, or from the sharifs themselves (accounts differ).

Who rules

Name: Not pinned (the house of Ghanim ibn Yahya; Wahhas ibn Ghanim died 1164 and his brother Qasim soon after 1174)
Title: Sharif, head of the Sulaymani house
Since: Not pinned
Born: Not pinned
Family: Hasanid sharifs, descendants of Sulayman ibn Abd Allah, grandson of Musa al-Jawn; once rulers of Mecca (driven out about 1063 or 1069)
Confidence: low

English Wikipedia's list gives Isa ibn Wahhas and Ulayy ibn Isa after Qasim, without dates.

Overlord

The Ayyubid ruler of Yemen (al-Mu'izz Isma'il): the sharifs have been Ayyubid vassals since Qasim joined Turanshah in 1173-74.

What the realm holds

Jazan, their seat and harbour
The coastal plain and wadis of the Mikhlaf (Wadi Jazan, Wadi Sabya, Wadi Baysh, Wadi Damad)
The Farasan islands offshore (not pinned)

How it was acquired

Settled in the northern Tihama in the eleventh century; vassals of the Ayyubids since 1173-74.

Allies and rivals

Overlord: al-Mu'izz Isma'il. Neighbours: the hill tribes of Khawlan and the Sarat inland; the Asir tribes and the sharifs of Mecca to the north (hij map).

The realm that morning

Ayyubid vassals ruling the Mikhlaf on their own account; no record of revolt in 1199-1200.

Wealth

Dates, grain and cotton of the wadis; the coastal trade of Jazan; the pilgrim and caravan road from Yemen to Mecca along the Tihama.

Military

Their own kinsmen and the Tihama tribes; no figures or fortresses recorded for 1200.

Threats

Ayyubid demands
Raids from the hill tribes

Where the sources disagree

Nothing pins the head of the house or the extent of the Mikhlaf on 1 January 1200; the drawing follows the later customary limits (al-Sharja near the modern border to about Baysh).

Evidence: Their history to 1174 is known from Umara and Ibn Khaldun (through English Wikipedia); for 1200 only their vassal status is recorded.

On the map: Rough coastal block; the inland limit runs along the foot of the hills.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

History of Yemen, Umara al-Yamani (Umara ibn Ali al-Hakami) (1168 to 1174, at Cairo). The history of Yemen's dynasties to the eve of the Ayyubid conquest: the Ziyadids and Najahids of Zabid, the Sulayhids and their queen Arwa, the Zuray'ids of Aden, the Hamdanid sultans of San'a and the Mahdids of Zabid, with Umara's own career as a Yemeni envoy to Fatimid Cairo. Read online
History of the Observant Traveller (A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia), Ibn al-Mujawir (Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub) (about 1226 to 1232). A merchant-traveller's description of western and southern Arabia a generation after 1200: Mecca and the Hijaz ports, the Red Sea crossing, Zabid and the Tihama, Aden with its customs and tariffs, the Hadramawt coast, Dhofar and Oman, Socotra, and the opposite African shore at Zeila and the Dahlak islands. Read online

Sources and studies

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.