Ḥūthīs (Houthis) in: Encyclopaedia Islamica (Brill)

 Ḥūthīs

Ḥūthīs (Houthis): Name of a Zaydi movement in Yemen, whose name is derived from the eponymous al-Ḥuthī family. The movement was founded in the early 2000s by Ḥusayn al-Ḥuthī and has been led by his half-brother ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ḥuthī since 2004. Arising out of the Yemeni Zaydi revival movement of the 1990s, the Ḥūthīs are deeply rooted in Northern Yemen’s Zaydi tradition, which it combines with doctrinal characteristics common to many modern Islamist movements. The Ḥuthī movement’s at times contradictory messages, particularly those concerning the contentious issues of the imamate and the role of the ahl al-bayt, stand exemplary for the sometimes vague and multidirectional doctrine of the movement. In political and ideological terms, the Ḥuthī movement pursues a long-term strategy to entrench its members in leading positions of the Yemeni state apparatus, which it tries to transform in accordance with its requirements and ideas.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-9831_isla_SIM_062041