The Dimension of Protection (Dhimma) granted by Imam Yahya to the Jews of Yemen The dhimm?-status is an ambivalent and flexible issue. Even in the concrete case of Immm Yahyh (1869-1948) and his relationship with the Jews, accounts seem to be ambiguous: although he is mentioned as having destroyed synagogues when he first came to power in 1905, subsequently ordering forced conversion of Jewish orphans, Yemenite Jews generally remember him as a righteous ruler and their protector. But do these different accounts necessarily point to a contradictory, arbitrary behavior on the part of Im m YahyYa Or may his different attitudes portray two sides of the same system which is conclusive within a wider frame that looks beyond the bilateral relationship between the Imhm and the Jewse First, I shall focus on the question of whether the relationship between Imam Yahya and the Jews was determined by 'security' or by 'discrimination'. I outline an exemplary case study based on handwritten Arabic petition-documents composed by representatives of the Jewish community in San'a and answered by Imam Yahya during the 1930ies. Another source for investigating the micro-managed relationship between the Imam, deputies of his government and the Jews are the memories of the san'ani rabbi Salim b. Sa'id al-Jamal (later called Rabbi Gamliel) who worked as a mediator between Imam Yahya and the Jewish Community from the mid 1920ies until his emigration to Palestine in 1944. Asking how and why did the dhimma-relationship functioned, my focus will than shift to a deeper layer of the presented case study. By scrutinizing the particular interests of a wider range of 'actors', directly or indirectly involved in the concrete case, it will be possible to reveal some plausible explanations for Imam Yahya's seemingly "ambiguous" behaviour towards the Jews. It will be concluded that the relationship between Imam Yahya and the Jews was determined rather by security than by discrimination. Resulting from an actor-centered analysis of case studies, it must be retained that the dhimma-relationship went beyond being a bilateral relationship between the Jews and the Imam. It was a much wider 'social space' in which Muslims and Jews fought out political struggles, legal and religious tensions as well as personal arguments and court intrigues. An analysis of the "Space of Dhimma" will thus not only shed light on the Muslim-Jewish relationship, but entails a deeper understanding of Islamic statehood in Yemen and beyond.