 As a young activist, he was a mild Islamic nationalist, who, with other intellectuals from Hadhramaut and other parts of Yemen, was a pioneering activist in a moderate Islamic thought movement.But he preserved an independent position at the centre of the political spectrum.During the war of liberation of occupied South Yemen he was part of a broad coalition of activists who overthrew the Qu'aiti Sultanate in Hadhramaut on 17 September 1967.