Himyarite Republic (Alternate Arab World)

The Republic of Himyar (Arabic: جمهورية حمير) (Hebrew: הרפובליקה חמיר) or the Himyarite Republic, is a constitutional monarchy located in the Southern Arabian Peninsula, south of Yemen and located directly north of the Horn of Africa. Because its political system favors a monarchy, it is more often-referred to as the State of Himyar (Arabic: دولة حمير) (Hebrew: מדינת חימיר) and Southwest Yemen (Arabic: جنوب غرب اليمن) (Hebrew: מערב תימן) since many sources do not consider it a republic.

The Himyarite State is one of the only other Jewish states in the Middle East other than Israel, it is also an Arab state but many Muslim nations do not consider it an Arab state. It is also the only Arab state to designate Hebrew as an official language, and in doing so, has been expelled from the Arab League many times. First it was formed by pro-Zionists in Yemen who with Israel and the United Kingdom's support, ceded southwestern part of Yemen into sovereignty from the war-torn Yemen. The Yemeni and Egyptian forces, with Soviet help tried to take it back but failed during the Arab-Israeli Conflict with the formation of the First Himyarite State (1956-1967).

The Second Himyarite State (1967-present) was formed by opposites, by Anti-Zionists in Israel of Yemenite Jewish descent, who considered Yemen their homeland and overthrew the pro-Zionist government in Sana'a and adopted a form of Orthodox Judaism as the state religion of Himyar. They continued to resist Muslims though, and did not side with any of the other Arab nations or Israel. The Israel Defense Forces attempted to restore the pro-Zionist government of Himyar, but met much opposition and resistance and had to withdraw. Saudi Arabia also tried invading the country and re-establish Islam as the state religion and overthrow Mukrib Ali Baba-Yusuf.

Today, the Himyarite state is governed by a "Mukrib", which was an ancient South Arabian title for a monarch along with a "Mukriba" or a "queen" - rather than using the traditional Arabic titles "malik" or "malika". Both the mukrib and mukriba share power which has given Himyar a high respect from human-rights activists, pro-western politicians and others. Queen Ameera al-Taweel and King Al-Waleed bin Talal of the northern neighbor Saudi Arabia make frequent visits to Himyar.

Himyar today is predominantly inhabited by Yemenite Jews (who self-consider as Arabs), with some Christian and Muslim minorities. In order to be a "Mukriba", one has to profess in Judaism as their faith, in some instances Christians, Muslims are not allowed to be a mukriba.

Arabic is the national and official language, specifically the Yemeni dialect of Arabic and since it is a Jewish state by means of faith and to some-extent, politics, Hebrew is also an official language, mostly of education. It is spoken in a modified form known as Yemenite Hebrew, and is different from Modern Hebrew in Israel, mostly they retain the "-b" consanants rather than the "-v" (ex. Obadiah not Ovadia, Abraham not Avraham, Shabbat not Shavat) and contains many words from Yemeni Arabic and the ancient Himyarite language. Hebrew is spoken as a second language by about 25% of the country, mostly descendants of the Yemenite Jews from the Yeridas from Israel and educating governing classes and their families.