Al-Mukhtar al-Qasim

Al-Mukhtar al-Qasim (died 956) was an imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen who held or claimed power from 936 to 956.

An-Nasir's death ushered into a period of internal political turbulence among the Zaidis of highland Yemen.

His third son, al-Muntakhab al-Hasan, demanded the imamate, but the latter's elder brother, al-Mukhtar al-Qasim lodged counterclaims.

[1] Al-Muntakhab died in 936; however, a younger brother called al-Mansur Yahya is recognized by Zaidi historiography as the legitimate successor of an-Nasir after 934.

[2] In 956, al-Mukhtar al-Qasim, who ruled from his base in Sa'dah, was able to seize the important commercial and political centre San'a, which had hitherto mostly belonged to the rival Yu'firid Dynasty.