علي بن محمد الصليحي القائم باليمن

Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Sulayhi, the Qa'im of Yemen and founder of the Sulayhid state; his father was a qadi in Yemen, and the da'i 'Amir ibn 'Abdallah al-Rawahi won him over before he came of age and bequeathed him his books, so he mastered Isma'ili esoteric learning; for some fifteen years he led pilgrim caravans as a missionary until it was said he commanded all Yemen. ²

In 429 he climbed Jabal Maswar, Yemen's highest peak, with sixty men sworn to death, and twenty thousand who besieged them could not dislodge them; he preached secretly for al-Mustansir of Egypt until the latter authorised open preaching, whereupon he swept the country, took the fortresses and fixed his seat at San'a. In 473 he set out for hajj with two thousand horsemen; Sa'id al-Ahwal ibn Najah ambushed him near al-Mahjam, killed him, his brother and the Sulayhids with him, and raised his head on a darkened pole. ²