[1] Unlike the consolidating tendencies of his two predecessors, he was a weak ruler who preferred the luxuries of palace life to government.
[2] He parcelled out the Idrisid realm to his relatives: his uncle Husayn received much land to the south of the capital, Fes; his great-uncle, al-Qasim, received the western half of Fes itself, along with the eastern frontier provinces of the Berber tribes of Luwata and Kutama; and another great-uncle, Dawud ibn Idris, who ruled the country of the Hawwara Berbers, also increased his domains.
[1] Yahya's reign in Fes appears to have been secure, as coins with his name are known, unlike his father.
[3] Nevertheless, Yahya's dissolute life soon led to scandal, which forced him to flee the palace into the Andalusian quarter of Fes, where he died in unclear circumstances.
[4] A powerful citizen of Fes, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Sahl al-Judhami, tried to seize power, but Yahya's widow called upon her father, Ali ibn Umar from the collateral Banu Umar branch of the Idrisids, for aid.