His reign was turbulent, since fighting broke out with a rival called Abbas. They each held a part of San'a. In view of the civil strife, many ulema left for other cities. In 1852, finally, al-Hadi Ghalib had to leave San'a and the inhabitants chose a governor (wali), the shaykh Ahmad al-Haymi. According to the British political agent R.L. Playfair, he was once again acknowledged in name around 1858.[3] Governor al-Haymi was counted as his wazir.[4]
Nevertheless, when al-Hadi Ghalib tried to enter San'a in 1857/58, the gates were closed in his face. The imam and his followers besieged San'a, but governor al-Haymi thwarted his ambitions. In the following year, al-Haymi, increasingly impopular among the city dwellers, was forced to flee San'a. The city was subsequently governed by another wali, Muhsin Mu'id, in 1860-1872.[5] By the early 1870s Muhsin Mu'id expelled the current imam al-Mutawakkil al-Muhsin and once again elevated al-Hadi Ghalib to the dignity.
In the meantime, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 gave a new impetus to the Turks to take a steadier grip on Yemen, in order to counter British influence among the tribes of the region. The new imam and Muhsin Mu'id found reason to take on a welcoming attitude to the Turks, who marched into San'a in April 1872. With these events the Zaidi state founded in 1597 was terminated, although it arose again several decades later. Turkish administration was introduced and the impoverished imam was forbidden to mix with the chiefs.[6] He subsequently lived on a monthly salary provided by the Ottoman authorities, until his death in Al Rawdah, just to the north of San'a, in 1885.[7]