Rasulid dynasty, Muslim   dynastythatruled Yemen and Ḥaḍramawt (1229–1454) after the Ayyubids of Egypt abandoned the southern provinces of the Arabian Peninsula.
The family took its name from Muḥammad ibn Hārūn, who, as a messenger (Arabic rasūl) for an Abbasid caliph, was known by the epithet Rasūl. He was likely of Turkic origin, although the family claimed descent from Qaḥṭān, the legendary patriarch of the southern Arabs. His son ʿAlī was governor of Mecca under the last Ayyubid ruler of Yemen and succeeded him in the government of the whole country. ʿUmar I ibn ʿAlī (reigned 1229–50), Rasūl’s grandson, first established himself at Zabīd (Yemen) and then moved into the mountainous interior, making Sanaa the Rasulid capital. Though the Hejaz (west coast of Arabia) was a tributary of the Egyptian Mamluks from 1252, ʿUmar also ruled the holy city Mecca.