Zayd ibn Muhsin
Sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1631 to 1666

Zayd ibn Muḥsin ibn Ḥusayn ibn Ḥasan ibn Abī Numayy (Arabic: زيد بن محسن بن حسين بن حسن بن أبي نمي) was an Emir of Mecca from 29 August 1631 to 17 March 1632 and then from 24 June 1632 to 6 July 1666, and the ancestor of the Dhawu Zayd clan.
Early life
Zayd was born on Monday morning, 27 Sha‘ban 1016 AH (17 December 1607) near Bisha. He was the son of the Emir of Mecca Muhsin ibn Husayn and a slave woman named Quwwat al-Nufus. In 1628 he accompanied his father to Yemen after the latter was forced to surrender the Emirate to Ahmad ibn Abd al-Muttalib. Muhsin died in Sanaa in 1629. Zayd remained in Yemen until 1631, when he returned to Mecca to serve as co-Emir with Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Hasan.
Co-Emir of Mecca
On Friday, 1 Safar 1041 AH (29 August 1631), Abd Allah ibn Hasan (Zayd's great-uncle) handed over power to his son Muhammad and summoned Zayd from Yemen to be co-ruler. Zayd arrived at Mecca and took up his office in the second half of Safar (September 1631). Abd Allah continued to be mentioned alongside Muhammad and Zayd in the du‘a until his death on Friday night, 10 Jumada II (1–2 January 1632).
In Jumada I or Jumada II, Dilawar Agha arrived by sea to replace Mustafa Bey as governor of Jeddah.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Zayd ibn Muhsin” is sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1631 to 1666. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Zayd, Muhsin and Sharif, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1631 to 1666” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q50059131. The first chronological checks are 1631, 1632, 1666 and 1016.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Zayd ibn Muhsin”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Zayd ibn Muhsin primary sources, Zayd ibn Muhsin archive and Zayd research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Zayd ibn Muhsin”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Zayd ibn Muhsin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.