History
Syedna Hatim bin Ibrahim al-Hamidi was the third Da'i al-Mutlaq (Absolute Missionary) of the Taiyabi Musta‘li Bohra Islam. He was of the Banu Hamdan tribe of Yemen and succeeded his father, the 2nd Dai Sayedna Ibrahim, to the religious post.
Syedna Hatim was the first Dai to venture into the Yemeni political field after the era under the rule of the Sulayhid Queen Arwa al-Sulayhi and her political patronage. Zaydi-Shia imams began to wage war against the Ismaili-Shia., It is in this context that Syedna Hatim became interested in territorial acquisition and becoming military power as a security requisition for the Tayyibi Ismaili.
Banu Zuwahi, offered mountain-peak fortress of Kawkaban near San’aa to Syedna Hatim in 561/1166. San’aa was under the rule of Sultan Ali b. Hatim al-Yami of Hamdan tribe. Perceiving threat to his own sovereignty, Sultan Ali proceeded to lay siege to Kawkaban. A trusted associate of the Dai Ahmad al-Hibri betrayed him. Ahmad al-Hibri accepted a bribe from Sultan Ali, gave him vital information about the Dai’s arrangements, and persuaded others in Kawkaban to turn against him, and forced Hatim to left Kawkaban. He went to Lu’lu’a and Ray’an, two smaller fortresses some distance away. But Sultan Ali pursued him there with his troops and the Dai’s reluctance to cause further strife among the Hamdan qabila prompted him to relinquish his hopes for acquiring territories in the San’aa region. He decided to move to the mountainous Haraz region, where there had been Ismaili from the time of the first Sulayhid ruler. In the next few years a series of successful military expeditions gradually brought most of Haraz under the Dai’s control. The core of his army was the Ya’aabir qabila, and their chief Amir Sabaa b. Yusuf.
Followers were used to come to Hatim from all over Haraz and just below Hutaib was a cave known as Al-Kahf ul-N`eem where he used to preach them.
Syedna Hatim passed away on Saturday 16 Muharram 596/7 November 1199; his kunyat was Abu Tayye’, his laqab was Muhyiddin. H
Syedna Hatim’s tomb in Hutayb (in the
mountainous Haraz region of Yemen) is a passionately sought place of pilgrimage and is frequently visited by mumeneen today, from all over Yemen, from India, and from other places all over the world. Syedna Hatim had a long 39-year eventful and celebrated reign as Dai. For the people of Yemen and especially Haraz, their faith in the Tayyibi Dawat and the mohabbat of the Dai entrenched in their hearts is a legacy primarily of Syedna Hatim, whose presence is very much alive among them to this day.