[2] The Zaidi community of the northern highland had not been able to appoint a new imam after the demise of al-Mutawakkil Ahmad bin Sulayman in 1171.
Although acknowledged by several men of standing, his attempt to gain power over the Zaidi community was a failure, and he withdrew to Jawf.
By this time, the main external threat against the Zaidis was the Sunni Muslim Ayyubid Dynasty, which had invaded Yemen from its base in Egypt in 1173.
The important highland city San'a was, for most of the time, in the hands of the Hatimid Sultan Ali bin Hatim, whose attitude to the Ayyubids alternated between submission and resistance.
In September or October 1197, the month after Tughtakin's death, Abdallah made his second bid for the imamate, and this time he was successful.
Al-Mansur Abdallah took a strict stance on religious matters, expelling unchaste women and pouring fermented drinks on the ground.
However, a Kurdish emir, Haku bin Muhammad, and the Mamluk Shams al-Khawass, subsequently fell away from the Ayyubids and joined the Zaidi camp.
Al-Mansur's nephews settled in the northern highland, adjacent to Asir, where they pursued their own secular policy, allying with the Zaidi imams, the Sulaymanid Sharifs, and the Rassids according to opportunities.