Childhood
Saleh was born in the town of Bait el-Ahmar, in the Al Ahmar family of the small Sanhan tribe, a tribe whose territories lie some 20 kilometers southeast of the capital Sana'a (the Al Ahmar family of Sanhan is often falsely confounded with the same-named ruling family of the Hashid tribal confederacy, a confederacy to which the Sanhan tribe belongs). Saleh is a Zaydi Shia Muslim. He is a "non-Hashimi" Zaydi (not a direct descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's grandfather), and would not have been eligible to rule under the Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen that ruled the country until 1962.
Read more about this topic: Ali Abdullah Saleh
Famous quotes containing the word childhood:
“Among the most valuable but least appreciated experiences parenthood can provide are the opportunities it offers for exploring, reliving, and resolving one’s own childhood problems in the context of one’s relation to one’s child.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)
“Sensible people get the greater part of their own dying done during their own lifetime. A man at five and thirty should no more regret not having had a happier childhood than he should regret not having been born a prince of the blood.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“I long for scenes where man has never trod A place where woman never smiled or wept There to abide with my Creator God And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept, Untroubling and untroubled where I lie The grass below, above, the vaulted sky.”
—John Clare (1793–1864)