Muhannid

The Muhannids, or Banu Muhanna, were a Husaynid dynasty ruling Medina on and off from about 940 into the sixteenth century. As descendants of Muhammad through Ali and Husayn they professed Twelver Shiʿism. Ubayd Allah ibn Tahir seized power as Abbasid authority crumbled.

The sharifs generally accepted the overlordship of Egypt's rulers. Qasim ibn Muhanna, a confidant of Saladin, held Mecca for three days in 1176. From 1283 the Mamluks tightened their grip and installed a Sunni imam in the Prophet's Mosque. Cairo later claimed the right to appoint Medina's emir; Wudayy ibn Jammaz, head of a rival branch, ruled from 1336 to 1343, and the family was expelled temporarily from 1350 to 1357.

In the fifteenth century Medina was subordinated to the Sharif of Mecca. After the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, the emirate was absorbed into Ottoman administration of the holy cities.