As a great empire, Himyar left an important mark on the consciousness of Arabs, and in particular that of the Umayyads, who were known for their passion of pre-Islamic Arab history. When the Umayyads came to power, they were considered, in the continuity of pre-Islamic Arab history, as the successors of the Kings of Himyar. According to Ibn Hisham, the glory of the Himyarite Kings was remembered as the “immediate predecessor and pattern of the Umayyads” (Dana Arnold, Finbarr Barry Flood, Gulru Necipoglu. A companion to Islamic Art and Architecture. p. 84).

This translatio imperii between Himyar and the Umayyad Caliphate can be seen in the Akhbar ‘Ubayd where Mu’awiya proclaims that Himyar’s rule was transferred to his dynasty, thus identifying himself as heir to the ancient Kingdoms of Saba and Himyar (Nuha N. N. Khoury. “The Dome of the Rock, the Kaʿba, and Ghumdan: Arab Myths and Umayyad Monuments”. p. 60-62. Brill).

This continuity can also be seen in the fact that Ghumdan, the residence of the ancient Kings of Saba and Himyar, inspired the Umayyad Caliphs and became part of the Umayyad aesthetic and consciousness. Expressing the Arab concept of “Mulk”, Ghumdan was considered as Arabia’s legitimate rulers and the prototype by which authors measured nobility and power in both architecture and kingship.

1. We also know that Mu’awiya developed a special interest in pre-Islamic Arab history and that his court historian, ‘Ubayd Ibn Sharyah Al-Jurhumi, was renowned for telling him of pre-Islamic Arab history.
2. Himyar and the Berbers of North Africa
3. One of the best-known theories about the origins of the Berbers is that they originated in Yemen and were related to Himyar. According to the tradition, a legendary prince of Himyar named Ifriqis b. Qays b. Sayfi is said to have conquered the Maghreb in ancient times, leaving behind Himyarite troops who later became the Sanhaja and the Kutama tribes (Sarah Bowen Savant, Helena de Felipe. Genealogy and Knowledge in Muslim Societies: Understanding the Past. p. 60-64).

Quoting Ibn Al-Kalbī, Al-Balādhūri even reports that this Himyarite King, Ifriqis, gave his name to Ifriqiya, present-day Tunisia (Rouighi, Ramzi. “The Berbers of the Arabs”, in Studia Islamica, Vol 106, Issue 1. p. 66. Brill).

This Himyarite origin, reported by several scholars, was even claimed by the Berbers themselves, notably several dynasties such as the Almoravids and the Zirids. The Sanhaja, the tribe of the Almoravids and Zirids, claimed to be descendants of the Arabs of Himyar who spoke Berber as a result of living among the Berbers and intermarrying with them (Amira K. Bennison. The Almoravid and Almohad Empires. p. 128).

For example, Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, leader of the Almoravid empire, claimed Himyarite origins and was considered a Himyarite by many authors and poets.

According to Ibn Khallikan, the Almoravids descended from Himyar Ibn Saba’ and the reason why they wore a veil was the modesty they felt about the honour of being Himyarite. Ibn Idhari and Ibn Al-Khatib also mentioned that the Almoravids were related to Himyar. Ibn Al-Khatib even called Yusuf “Al-Himyari”, literally “The Himyarite”.

Clearly, for Yusuf Ibn Tashfin and the Almoravids, claiming a Himyarite origin, and therefore linking themselves to the Arabs, was a question of legitimacy, especially after the conquest of al-Andalus, where there was a strong anti-Berber sentiment.

As for the Zirids, several sources mention their link to Himyar. The Zirids themselves claimed Himyarite origins: Buluggin Ibn Ziri, founder of the Zirid dynasty, called himself “Al-Himyari”.

1. Dynastic continuity between the Kings of Himyar and the Abbasids
2. One little-known fact is that the Abbasid dynasty shared blood with the Himyarite royal line, and this was due to one woman: Arwa bint Mansur Al-Himyari. Also known by her kunyah “Umm Musa”, Arwa was the famous principal wife of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur, the mother of Caliph Al-Mahdi and one of the first influential women of the Abbasid Caliphate. Originally from Al-Qayrawan (Kairouan), in Tunisia, she was the daughter of Mansur Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Dhi Sahm Ibn Abi Sarh, a descendant of Dhu Ru’ain, one of the Kings of Himyar (Al-Mas’udi. The Meadows of Gold. Ed. by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. p. 34).

Al-Mansur married Arwa before the Abbasid revolution and before becoming caliph, when he was still a subject of the Umayyad Caliphate. He and Arwa were married according to Kairouanese customs, which meant that he would not take another wife as long as Arwa was alive (Abdelwahab Bouhdiba, Muhammad Maʻruf Dawalibi. The Individual and Society in Islam. p. 445).

Arwa gave birth to two sons: Ja’far and Muhammad. Muhammad became the caliph Al-Mahdi, from whom all the other Abbasid caliphs descended. So, through him, all the other caliphs were also descendants of Arwa, and through her, they were descendants of the Kings of Himyar.

1. The Himyarites’ role in the Muslim Conquests
2. Many of the Himyarites had participated in the conquest of Syria and settled in the city of Homs, especially the tribes of Dhu Al-Kala’ and Dhu Asbah. The city quickly became the center of these tribes in Syria. Samayfa b. Nakur, a Himyarite prince of the Dhu Al-Kala’ tribe, played a major role in the conquest of Syria. Symbolically, in the Futuh Al-Sham he is even described as “King of Himyar”. In 657 he also supported the Umayyads and led the army of Homs at the battle of Siffin (Wilferd Madelung. Religious and Ethnic Movements in Medieval Islam. p. 142).

The Dhu Al-Kala’ tribe was known for its support of the Umayyad family. Several of their members fought with Mu’awiya at Siffin and gained great influence in Umayyad times. One of them, Khalid b. Ma’dan Al-Kala’i, was head of the police of Caliph Yazid (Al-Qadi, Wadad. “A Documentary Report on Umayyad Stipends Registers (Dīwān al-ʿAtaʾ) in Abū Zurʿa’s Tārīkh”, in Quaderni di Studi Arabi, Vol 4. p. 13).

As for the Dhu Asbah tribe, they also played a role in the conquest of Egypt. Most of the Asbahis settled there. Members of this tribe such as Ayyub b. Shurahbil Al-Sabbah and Nadr b. Yarim Al-Sabbah were governors of Egypt and Palestine (Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Al-Kindi. The Governors and Judges of Egypt. p. 12, 67, Ibn Al-Kalbi. Jamharat Al-Ansab. table 278).

Another example is Salih Ibn Mansur Al-Himyari, a Himyarite chief who participated in the conquest of the Maghreb. Salih’s descendants founded the Emirate of Nakur, in northern Morocco, known for its maritime dynamism and its close links with the Umayyads of Cordoba (Picard, Christophe. Sea of the Caliphs: The Mediterranean in the Medieval Islamic World. p. 247).

1. According to Ibn Khaldūn, Salih obtained the land of Nakur as an Iqta’ (land granted to army officials) from Caliph Al-Walid I. Salih unified the tribes of the region, converted them to Islam and ruled over them. His son, Sa’id, succeeded him and founded a new capital, also named Nakur.
2. Architectural Influence

Yemen contributed to such important features of Islamic civilization as civil engineering and the organization of urban life (The Unesco Courrier: A golden age of Arab Culture. p. 39).

The Himyarite Kings were known for building imposing castles and fortresses. This tradition very likely inspired the Umayyads in the construction of their palaces. In Damascus, the palace of Mu’awiya, known as Qubbat Al-Khadra, shows that, like the Himyarite palaces, the early Umayyad palaces continued the pre-Islamic Arabian tradition of tall palaces signifying the ruler’s power (Bloom, Blair. The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture, Vol III, p. 98).

The Himyarites also had an influence on Islamic urban planning principles. The positioning of institutions reflected an arrangement already evident in pre-Islamic Arabian cities such as Zafar, capital of Himyar (Amira K. Bennison. The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the ‘Abbasid Empire. p. 66, 67).

Traces of Himyar’s heritage can even be found in the Dome of the Rock, a monument that projected images of ancient dynastic shrines such as Ghumdan, the royal palace of the Himyarites. The inscriptions and representations within the Dome of the Rock clearly make references to the Arab past. The representations of crowns and jewels in the Dome’s mosaics have affinities with Arab imagery.

1. In Arab consciousness, crowns are associated with the Himyarite Kings and in the Kitāb Al-Tijān, a book telling the epic story of ancient South Arabian people, they are symbols of dynastic rule.
2. Himyar’s legendary swords
3. An important legacy of the Himyarite Kings was their swords, which became a source of fascination and covetousness among the Arabs. ‘Amr b. Ma’dikarib Al-Zubaydi, famous Yemeni warrior and champion of the Rashidun caliphate, is known to have owned several swords that belonged to the Himyarite kings, including the legendary Al-Samsamah. The Samsamah sword originally belonged to the Himyarite King Dhi Qayfan, of the Dhu Jadan family. According to the tradition, the sword was created by the people of ‘Ad and then passed down from generation to generation until it was adopted by the Kings of Himyar (Brannon Wheeler. Mecca and Eden: Ritual, Relics, and Territory in Islam. p. 42).

However, according to another tradition reported by the historian Nashwan Al-Himyari, Al-Samsamah was part of a set called “the Yur’ishi swords”, named after a Himyarite king (Harry T. Norris. ” ‘Amr b. Ma’dikarib al-Zubaydi, a misunderstood Arabian folk-hero”, in Oriente Moderno, Nuova serie, Anno 22 (83), Nr. 2, Studies on Arabic Epics. p. 531-532). What is sure is that Al-Samsamah belonged to the Himyarite Kings before ‘Amr.

Al-Samsamah was said to weigh at least six pounds and be made of iron from the Jabal Nuqm, near Sanaa. The sword was also decorated with gold, had a talismanic-like inscription on its blade, and a green-colored cross guard between its edges. A relic full of symbolism, Al-Samsamah passed through several hands, coming into the possession of Mu’awiya, then the Abbasid caliphs Al-Mahdi, Al-Hadi, Harun Al-Rashid, Al-Wathiq and Al-Mutawwakil (Al-Baladhuri. History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands. p. 136, Arnold T.W. “Al-Ṣamṣāma”. Encyclopaedia of Islam (1934). Vol 4. p. 139).

The Fatimids also showed an interest in Himyarite swords, notably the caliph Al-Mustansir Billah, who obtained a hundred of these swords from Ali Al-Sulayhi, the first Sulayhid sultan of Yemen. After his conquest of Sanaa, Ali Al-Sulayhi had discovered in the ruins of Ghumdan a hundred of ancient swords that once belonged to the Kings of Himyar. Each of these swords was engraved with the name of the king who had owned it (Ibn al-Zubayr. Book of Gifts and Rarities (Ed. by Ghādah Ḥijjāwī Qaddūmī). p. 194).

Himyar’s impact on the development of Arab-Islamic civilization shows the continuity between pre-Islamic and Islamic Arab history. It shows that Arabs did not come from a cultural void and that they were fully aware of it. Pre-Islamic Arabs made a lot of contributions to History and their heritage didn’t disappear after the rise of Islam, but on the contrary, Muslim Arabs were aware and proud of this heritage.