, but there was no guarantee that any ruler could uniformly guarantee the autonomy and safety of a minority without status.
In 1676 an imam ordered that the Jews be forbidden to engage in public prayer, and that all synagogues were to be destroyed. This was followed in 1678 by a decree expelling all Jews from San'a, the capitol. In the twentieth century, imam Yahya, who ruled Yemen from 1904 until his assassination in 1948, largely let the Jews retain their religious autonomy as long as they would adhere to their laws with the same vigor that the Muslims practiced Islam. As Lewis points out, "Yemenite Jews today often praise him and tell stories of his intercessions and his seriousness in applying Islamic law." In exchange for looking the other way, however, the imam re
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