The Mehri share, with their regional neighbours on the island of Socotra and in Dhofar, cultural traditions like a modern South Arabian language, and frankincense agriculture.

Prior to embracing Islam, Al-Mahra was a vassal state of the Achaemenid Empire and had been subjected to Persian control for many years.

When Muhammad died in the year 632 CE, many Arab tribes, including the Mehri, interpreted his death as the end of Islam, and they abandoned the religion by either reverting to paganism or following certain individuals who claimed prophethood.

A Muslim army under the command of Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl was sent to Al-Mahra to face the Mehri who had turned their back on Islam like many Arab tribes.

The Muslim army was too weak to confront the Mehri tribe in battle, and this situation forced Ikrimah to engage in political activity rather than initiating war in Mahra.

The Ridda War in Al-Mahra ended quickly as the newly formed alliance subdued the Bani Shakhrah faction without bloodshed.

The Mehri tribe's achievements have been well-documented by historian Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam[12] in his book titled The History of the Conquests of Egypt and North Africa and Spain.

Several centuries later, another Mehri man called Abu Bekr Mohammed Ibn Ammar Al-Mahri Ash-shilbi, who was a politician from modern day Silves, Portugal, became a prime minister of the Taifa of Seville in Islamic Iberia,[15] and served King Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad who was member of Muslim Dynasties of Spain.

Abu Bekr was highly competent as prime minister, but later he crowned himself king of the annexed Taifa of Murcia and led a failed rebellion against the Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain.

In year 1084, Abu Bekr Mohammed Ibn Ammar Al-Mahri Ash-shilbi was caught and executed by the forces of the Kingdom of Seville.

Determined to break the stalemate, Sultan Malik Amir bin Tahir led a great expedition across the desert coast from Aden to Mahra.

[18] The city of Shihr was once more brought under the control of the Ba Dujana clan in 1478, when it was taken by their young leader, Sa'd bin Faris.

The Kathiri sultan, Jafar bin 'Amr, took advantage of the situation to support the Zwedi faction, ensuring the downfall of the Ba Dujana hegemony.

After a disastrous defeat at Tabala, on the outskirts of Shihr, the Ba Dujana permanently lost control of the city and were isolated in the interior.

They were replaced by the Zwedi and Afrari families of Qishn and Socotra, who, in sacrificing Shihr to the Kathiri state, managed to solidify the core Mahra domain as it would remain, more or less, until the present day.

[21] In 1507, a Portuguese fleet commanded by Tristão da Cunha and Afonso de Albuquerque landed on Socotra and, after a bloody battle, seized the main fortress at Suq.

[23] In 1545, the Kathiri sultan Badr bin Tuwayriq amassed an army and, with support from the Ottoman Turks, conquered Qishn.

The Portuguese, who were competing with the Ottomans for control of trade routes in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, bombarded Qishn and returned it to the Mahris.

[24] In 1835 negotiations were undertaken through Commander Haines with the Sultan, Amr bin Saad Tawari, for the purchase of the island, and in anticipation of their success a detachment of European and Indian troops was sent to take possession.

[24] In 1886 he accepted a Protectorate Treaty, and bound himself to abstain from all dealings with foreign powers without the previous sanction of the British Government.

At the same time he undertook to give immediate notice to the Resident at Aden or other British officer of any attempt by any other power to interfere with Socotra and its dependencies.

[24] In 1888 a similar Protectorate Treaty was concluded with Sultan Ali bin Abdulla, as head of the Mahri tribe, and his annual stipend was increased by 120 dollars.

The Advisory Treaties caused resentment against British rule and the spread of Arab Nationalism in Al-Mahra and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.

During the 1960s the British sustained losses against various Egypt-sponsored guerrilla forces and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY).

In 1967, the Al-Mahra sultanate was absorbed by the Marxist People's Republic of South Yemen which itself was an entity heavily sponsored by the Soviets.