Political Parties and Groups

In addition to Ansarallah, there are 4 more Sunni Islamist political

groups in Yemen:
1. Moslem Brotherhood represented by Al-Islah Party (or Yemeni
Congregation for Reform);
2. Salafu and Wahabi movements;
3. Ansar Al-Sharia represented by Al-Qaedah; and
4. Sufis.

Moslem Brotherhood: Yemeni military personnel and students who

had studied in Egypt brought the ideas of the Moslem Brotherhood back
to their country. As the biggest faction among Yemeni Islamic groups,
Moslem Brotherhood emerged in Northern Yemen in early 1960s.
Following the victory of the supporters of the republican system of
governance in Yemen, the Moslem Brotherhood played an important
role in formulating the Yemeni Constitution. They even referred to the
Constitution as their first achievement in the process of expanding their
influence in Yemen. During following decades, the Yemeni government
prepared the context for extensive activities of the Moslem Brotherhood
in the country in order to use Islamism as an instrument for tackling with
its socialist opponents. Through exercising their control over educational
and academic centers of Yemen, the Moslem Brotherhood ignored the
two traditional Moslem sects in the country, i.e. the Shafeiis and Zeidis
and acted as propaganda organs for Wahabism. Moslem Brotherhood
was the biggest force in political, social, educational, diplomatic,
economic, security, and media affairs of the country. Tribal leaders,
1

influential merchants, military commanders, and politicians were among

the major supporters of the Moslem Brotherhood.

Salaf and Wahabi movements: Yemeni salafis have extensive relations

with Saudi Arabia. Therefore, their opponents refer to them as Wahabis.
These salafi groups have some interactions with Jihadi forces, too.
Nevertheless, they have some differences with Jihadi factions. The
Salafi Movement of Yemen was initiated under the leadership of
Moqbel Ibn-e Hadi Al-Wadei in early 1980s. In the contemporary
society of Yemen, the Salafi Movement enjoys a distinct form of
tradition, dressing code, and social habits. They are explicitly expressing
their desire for getting distanced from the corrupt society and refuse to
participate in social gatherings, such as religious festivities, traditional
music festivals, etc. Generally speaking, the Salafi Movement can be
divided into three factions:
1. The faction close to Moqbel Ibn-e Hadi Al-Wadei, the founder of
radical salafism;
2. The Hikmat Association Movement, influenced by the movement
headed by Abdolrahman Ibn-e Abdolkhaleq Al-Yousef in Kuwait
and the Association of Islamic Heritage Revival of Kuwait; and
3. The Ehsan Association, influenced by Sheikh Mohammad Sarvs
tenets.
Al-Qaedah and Ansar Al-Sharia: Yemen has been one of the major
areas for the emergence of Al-Qaedah and Arab Afghans. It is actually
dated back to the period of Afghanistan occupation by the Soviet forces.
During that time, [Former Yemeni President] Ali Abdullah Saleh,
2

supported by the US, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, dispatched the Yemeni
youth to Afghanistan in order to battle against the Soviet forces.
Following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, they
remained in the country and established the Arab Afghans. Afterwards,
Taliban gained power in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many Taliban
members, like Bin Laden, were originally from Yemen. At the same
time, Yemen was an appropriate environment for the growth of such
movements, because the central government in Sana was weak and tribal
forces were actual players on the ground. Upon their return from
Afghanistan to Yemen, these forces concentrated their violent and
terrorist attacks on the Socialist Party of Yemen and its leaders. This led
to the civil war in Yemen in 1994. Extremism has greatly expanded in
Yemen during recent years. This phenomenon has multiple and complex
reasons the most important of which is poverty. Suppressive political
environment, foreign military intervention, social discrimination,
religious propaganda, and the existence of powerful local leaders are
considered as some other reasons for this state of affair in Yemen. AlQaedeh has rapidly extended its influence zone in Yemen since 2011.
Currently, the terrorist Ansar Al-Sharia group, which is a branch of AlQaedeh in Yemen and has recently expanded its interactions with ISIS,
is quite active.
Sufis: Sufis are disinterested in political Islam and are unwilling to
correlate religious and political affairs. They are mostly residing in the
former Southern Yemen, especially in the eastern province of
Hadhramaut. The former socialist regime in Southern Yemen was
suppressing the Sufis very severely. Therefore, many of the Sufi clerics
fled to Saudi Arabia and Northern Yemen. Toward the late 1990s, the
Sufi Movement was revived, which was mostly represented in the Dar
Al-Mostafa Institute in the historical city of Tarim in Hadhramaut
3

Province. For many years, the Sufis have informally played their roles in
the political affairs of Yemen. Even any of them have secretly
maintained their ideology. They remained loyal to the [former President]
Salehs regime and we can trace their influence on all political factions.
They are not interested in creating an independent and integrated
political party. Their participation in politics is based on personal
choices and is not affected by the threats made by other factions.