Mahmud al-Himyari of Mirbat

Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Himyari, lord of Mirbat, Zafar and the Hadhramaut coast. Ibn al-Athir says that he began with a ship he hired out at sea to merchants, then became vizier to the lord of Mirbat, and that he had generosity, courage and good conduct. ²

When the lord of Mirbat died, he took the city, and the people obeyed him for love of him. In 619 AH he laid waste Mirbat and Zafar, and built a new city on the coast near Mirbat, at a great sweet spring that he channelled to it. He put a wall and a ditch around it, and called it al-Ahmadiyya. He loved poetry and gave generously to poets. ²