Al-Islah (Yemen)

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Yemeni Congregation for Reform
التجمع اليمني للإصلاح
ChairpersonMohammed al-Yadoumi
Deputy ChairpersonAbdul Wahab al-Ansi
Founders
Founded13 September 1990
(35 years, 292 days)
HeadquartersSanaa
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing
ReligionSunni Islam (Salafism)[1]
International affiliationMuslim Brotherhood (alleged, denied)
Colours  Blue
House of Representatives
44 / 301
Party flag
Website
alislah-ye.net
Al-Islah militia
ميليشيا الإصلاح
Founded1990
Dates active1990-present
Active regionsYemen
StatusActive
SizeUnknown
WarsYemeni Civil War (2015-present)

The Yemeni Congregation for Reform, frequently called al-Islah (pronounced [alʔisˤlaːħ]; Arabic: التجمع اليمني للإصلاح, romanized: at-Tajammu’u al-Yamanī lil-Iṣlāḥ), is a Yemeni Islamist movement established in 1990 by Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, with Ali Saleh's blessing.[14][15] Islah is more of a loose coalition of tribal and religious elements than a political party.[16] Its origins are in the Islamic Front, a Muslim Brotherhood affiliated militia supported by Saudi Arabia to combat the Marxist National Democratic Front during the Cold War.[7][8]

The Islamic Front regrouped after the unification of Yemen in 1990 under the banner of the Islah Party with considerable financial backing from Saudi Arabia.[7] It has been identified as a client of Saudi Arabia,[17][18] and since the civil war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has forged even closer relations with the group.[19]

The Joint Meeting Parties came into existence in 2003 when Islah and the Socialist Party joined three other smaller parties to establish a joint opposition to the ruling General People's Congress.[20] At the last legislative elections on 27 April 2003, the party won 22.6% of the popular vote and 46 out of 301 seats.

While Islah was nominally affiliated with Muslim Brotherhood network, in practice, it was ideologically dominated by the pro-Saudi Wahhabi trend.[21] Islah has also denied any formal affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.[22][23]

Foundation

The party was created on 13 September 1990 in Sana'a, Yemen, by the tribal sheikh Abdullah Al Ahmar.[24]

General structure, leadership

Al-Islah has been described as consisting of three components. The first is the political faction, Yemen's Muslim Brotherhood, led by Mohammed Qahtan. The second is the tribal confederacy which was led by top tribal chief Abdullah Al Ahmar until his death in 2007 at which time he was succeeded by his son Sadeq.[25] The third was the Wahhabi faction associated with Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, which operated a network of educational institutions.[1][26] Muhammad Al-Yadomi succeeded Al Ahmar as the head of the party following his death on 28 December 2007.[24] From the outset, the Muslim Brotherhood-linked faction's remained distinct from both al-Zindani’s Wahhabi current and the tribal base associated with al-Ahmar. While Muslim Brotherhood supporters viewed Islah as a platform to advance their political goals, they differed significantly from Zindani's Wahhabi ideology and were neither part of his network nor integrated into Ahmar’s tribal constituency.[27]

The Islah party has denied allegations of links to the Muslim Brotherhood organization and has issued official statements on multiple occassions - in 2013, 2016, 2018, and 2025 - distancing itself from the Muslim Brotherhood organization.[28] At an event organized by the British think tank Chatham House in December 2025, Abdul Razzaq al-Hijri, head of the parliamentary bloc of the Yemeni Islah Party, denied allegations linking the party to the Muslim Brotherhood. He described the party as a civil political organization with Yemeni roots and orientation, founded by individuals from diverse segments of Yemeni society under the leadership of Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar, citing earlier party literature. Al-Hijri further stated that the party's position regarding its non-affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood had previously been expressed by the chairman of its Supreme Authority in a 1995 interview with As-Safir newspaper and by its Secretary-General in an interview with Al Jazeera during the 1990s.[29]

In the 2003 parliamentary election, Al-Islah won 46 seats. As of 2010, 13 of Al-Islah's parliament members were women, including human rights activist and Nobel laureate Tawakel Karman,[30][31] who created the activist group Women Journalists Without Chains in 2005[32] and became the first Yemeni and Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. On 5 February 2018, she was suspended from the party.[33]

As of 2014 the party was the second biggest political party after the General People's Congress (GPC).[24]

Publications

The party has two major media outlets, Al Sahwa, an Arabic daily newspaper, and Suhail TV.[34] The latter is owned by Hamid al-Ahmar, a relative of the party's founder.[34]

Relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE

Since its party platform was dominated by the pro-Saudi Wahhabi trend, al-Islah movement's ideology differed considerably from that of other Muslim Brotherhood branches. It's leaders have regularly praised Saudi monarchs and are supportive of Saudi state policies. Schools and colleges operated by the Islah movement have been financially supported by Saudis; and photos of Saudi kings are often raised in its party rallies.[35]

The party was blacklisted by Saudi Arabia in March 2014 due to its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.[24] Since the death of former King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia has repaired relations with Al-Islah, due to their role in fighting the Houthis during the Yemeni Civil War.[19] In December 2017, Islah leaders Al-Yidoumi and Al-Anisi met with the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi (part of the UAE) in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the Yemeni war.[36]

Before that, the UAE had publicly opposed Al-Islah,[37] and it was later claimed that the UAE hired American mercenaries to assassinate people like Al-Islah leader Mayo.[38][39] In December 2018, it was reported that Islamist political parties like Al-Islah and jihadi militant groups like Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) were the main targets of the UAE, with the Houthis no longer being regarded as the greatest enemy of the UAE, and the Saudis being unable to do anything about it.[40]

Electoral history

House of Representatives elections

Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position
1993 Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar 382,545 17.14%
62 / 301
 Increase 62 Increase 2nd
1997 637,728 23.4%
53 / 301
 Decrease 9 Steady 2nd
2003 1,333,394 22.55%
46 / 301
 Decrease 7 Steady 2nd

See also

References

  1. "Yemen: The Tribal Islamists". 2015. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. Sarah Phillips (2008). Yemen's Democracy Experiment in Regional Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 52. ISBN 9780230616486.
  3. Stephen W. Day (2012). Regionalism and Rebellion in Yemen: A Troubled National Union. Cambridge University Press. p. 134. ISBN 9781107379909.
  4. Islamic fundamentalism in Yemen. Westview Press. 1996. p. 218. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
  5. Zabad, Ibrahim (2017). Middle Eastern Minorities: The Impact of the Arab Spring. 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-472-47441-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. Lansford, Tom (20 March 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. p. 1603. ISBN 978-1483386263. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  7. Sarah Phillips (2008). Yemen's Democracy Experiment in Regional Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 138. ISBN 9780230616486.
  8. Stephen W. Day (2012). Regionalism and Rebellion in Yemen, A Troubled National Union. Cambridge University Press. p. 133. ISBN 9781107606593.
  9. Abdullah al-Munifi (2023). "Yemeni Islah Party. Guard of values of the Republic, constancy of the state, and terms of politics". موقع التجمع اليمني للإصلاح. Today, the Yemeni Islah Party believes that constructing a republican, federal, democratic Yemen, based on its national Arab-Islamic identity, is the responsibility of all Yemeni patriotic forces and the duty of fulfilling to the history of the fighters and martyrs of the Yemeni patriotic movement.
  10. "Yemeni Sheikh of Hate". National Review. Archived from the original on 31 October 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  11. "Yemen crisis: Why is there a war?". BBC News. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  12. "How Sunni-Shia Sectarianism is Poisoning Yemen". Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  13. [10][11][12]
  14. "قيادي بالإصلاح: صنعاء لم تسقط بل سُلمت للحوثيين". www.aljazeera.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  15. Nathan J. Brown; Amr Hamzawy (2010). Between Religion and Politics. Carnegie Endowment. p. 137. ISBN 9780870032974.
  16. Daniel Brumberg; Dina Shehata (2009). Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World: Challenges for U.S. Engagement. US Institute of Peace Press. p. 431. ISBN 9781601270207.
  17. Letta Tayler (2011). "Yemen's Hijacked Revolution". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  18. Sheila Carapico (2007). Civil Society in Yemen: The Political Economy of Activism in Modern Arabia. Cambridge University Press. p. 143. ISBN 9780521034821.
  19. "Saudi Arabia's Problematic Allies against the Houthis". The Cairo Review of Global Affairs. 14 February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  20. Francesco Cavatorta (2012). Civil Society Activism under Authoritarian Rule: A Comparative Perspective. Routledge. p. 146. ISBN 9781136207815.
  21. Zabad, Ibrahim (2017). Middle Eastern Minorities: The Impact of the Arab Spring. 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-472-47441-4. In principle, Islah belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood international; in reality, the Wahhabi/Salafist trend within Islah has become hegemonic. Islah's beliefs considerably stray from those normally espoused by the MB. Its leaders, for example, frequently praise Saudi kings but fail to denounce aggressive Saudi policies towards their mother organization. Pictures of Saudi monarchs are regularly raised in some Islah demonstrations.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. "Houthis Escalate Confrontation with Israel as Yemen's Islah Distances Itself from Muslim Brotherhood". YemenOnline. 14 September 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  23. Jacinto, Leela (2 January 2026). "Yemen is back from the brink, but frenemies Saudi Arabia and UAE have much to negotiate". France24. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  24. Ali Ibrahim Al Moshki (13 March 2014). "Saudi Arabia blacklists Yemeni groups". Yemen Times. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  25. "Ruling party defies Al-Ahmar family, threatens unity of Hashid tribe". Elaf. 17 November 2009. Archived from the original on 5 April 2011.
  26. Yemen: An Election Realignment Archived 7 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine STRATFOR, 20 September 2006
  27. Campbell, Leslie. "Yemen: The Tribal Islamists". The Wilson Center. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Islah provided a comfortable home for the Brotherhood, even though the Muslim Brothers differed significantly from both Zindani and Ahmar. The Brothers were not Zindani acolytes, nor did they share his ultraconservative Wahhabi leanings. And the Brothers did not have steadfast tribal allegiances to Ahmar.
  28. Abdulmoghni, Mohammed (7 December 2025). "The US Trajectory for Designating Muslim Brotherhood Affiliates as Terrorist Organisations: Where Does Al-Islah Party Stand?". YGCS. Archived from the original on 19 January 2026.
  29. "Al-Hijri: Islah Party is a cohesive civil party and is part of the battle to restore the state". 17 December 2025.
  30. "New protests erupt in Yemen". Al Jazeera. 29 January 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  31. "The United States & Yemen – Destroying Lives in the Name of National Security". Brecht Forum. 2010. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  32. Al-Sakkaf, Nadia (17 June 2010). "Renowned activist and press freedom advocate Tawakul Karman to the Yemen Times: "A day will come when all human rights violators pay for what they did to Yemen"". Women Journalists Without Chains. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  33. "Yemen Islamist party suspends membership of Nobel laureate Karman". Reuters. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  34. "Government Raids Suhail TV Station and Newspaper". Yemen Post. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  35. Zabad, Ibrahim (2017). Middle Eastern Minorities: The Impact of the Arab Spring. 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-472-47441-4. Islah's beliefs considerably stray from those normally espoused by the MB. Its leaders, for example, frequently praise Saudi kings but fail to denounce aggressive Saudi policies towards their mother organization. Pictures of Saudi monarchs are regularly raised in some Islah demonstrations. Saudis finance Islah-led schools and colleges; notably, many Islah-inclined academics easily find employment in Saudi universities.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  36. "Saudi and UAE leaders meet Yemen Islah party chairman". alarabiya.net. 17 December 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  37. "Saudi-Emirati overture on Yemen deepens Houthi isolation". arabiafoundation.org. 15 December 2017. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  38. "Abbas rival 'hired Israeli mercenary to assassinate UAE's enemies in Yemen'". timesofisrael.com. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  39. Roston, Aram (16 October 2018). "A Middle East Monarchy Hired American Ex-Soldiers To Kill Its Political Enemies. This Could Be The Future Of War". Buzzfeed News. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  40. "Yemen on the brink: how the UAE is profiting from the chaos of civil war". The Guardian. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.