An Ismaili Shia Arab dynasty founded in 1047 by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Sulayhi, who unified most of Yemen and allied with the Cairo-based Fatimid Caliphate, bringing a prosperity to the region unmatched since Himyarite times; Queen Arwa al-Sulayhi, one of the few women to rule in her own right in the medieval Islamic world, later governed from Jibla.
The dynasty ended when Arwa al-Sulayhi's succession decision split allegiance toward Tayyibi Ismailism, separating it from the Hafizi Ismailism of the Fatimid-aligned Zurayid and Hamdanid successor dynasties; effective Sulayhid rule in Yemen ended in 1138.
Reference manual with a dedicated entry on the Sulayhids of Yemen; no dedicated modern monograph on the dynasty verifies on Open Library.