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diff --git a/old/63391-0.txt b/old/63391-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 90782c5..0000000 --- a/old/63391-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10171 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of the Fatimid Khalifate, by -De Lacy O'Leary - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: A Short History of the Fatimid Khalifate - -Author: De Lacy O'Leary - -Release Date: October 6, 2020 [EBook #63391] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT HISTORY--FATIMID KHALIFATE *** - - - - -Produced by Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: The original printing of this book had numerous -errors, including basic mistakes like misnumbering the chapters, and -the occasional transposition of lines of text. Efforts have been made -to fix these but it is possible some may remain. - - - - - -TRUBNER’S ORIENTAL SERIES - - - - -_TRUBNER’S ORIENTAL SERIES_ - -POPULAR RE-ISSUE AT A UNIFORM PRICE - -_Demy 8vo, dark green cloth, gilt._ - - -ALBERUNI: =India=. An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, -Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws, and Astrology of India, -about A.D. 1030. BY DR. EDWARD C. SACHAU. - -ARNOLD (Sir E.): =Indian Poetry and Indian Idylls=. Containing ‘The -Indian Song of Songs,’ from the Sanskrit of the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva; -Two Books from the ‘Iliad of India’ (Mahabharata); ‘Proverbial Wisdom,’ -from the Shlokas of the Hitopadesa, and other Oriental Poems. - -BARTH (Dr. A.): =The Religions of India=. Authorised Translation by REV. -J. WOOD. - -BIGANDET (B. P.): =Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese=; -With Annotations, the Ways to Neibban, and Notice on the Phongyies or -Burmese Monks. - -BEAL (Prof. S.): =Life of Hiuen-Tsiang=. By the Shamans HWUI LI and -YEN-TSUNG. With a Preface containing an Account of the Works of I-Tsing. - -BEAL (Prof. S.): =Si-Yu-Ki=: Buddhist Records of the Western World. -Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen-Tsiang. - -BOULTING (Dr. W.): =Four Pilgrims=: I., Hiuen Tsiang; II., Sæwulf; III., -Mohammed ibn abd Allah; IV., Ludovico Varthema of Bologna. - -COWELL (Prof. E. B.): =Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha=; or, Review of the -Different Systems of Hindu Philosophy. BY MADHAVA ACHARYA. Translated by -Prof. E. B. COWELL, M.A., and Prof. A. E. GOUGH, M.A. - -DOWSON (Prof. J.): =Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, -Geography, History, and Literature=. - -EDKINS (Dr. J.): =Chinese Buddhism=: A Volume of Sketches, Historical, -and Critical. New and Revised Edition. - -ROCKHILL (W. W.): =The Life of the Buddha and the Early History of his -Order=. Derived from Tibetan works in the Bkahhgyur and Bstan-hgyur. -Followed by notices on the early history of Tibet and Khoten. - -HAUG (Dr. M.): =Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of -the Parsis=. - -WEBER (Dr. A.): =History of Indian Literature=. Translated by JOHN MANN, -M.A., and THEODORE ZACHARIAE, Ph.D. Fourth Edition. - -O’LEARY (De Lacy): =Arabic Thought and its Place in History=. - -_Other Volumes to follow._ - -LONDON - -KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. - - - - - A SHORT HISTORY OF THE - FATIMID KHALIFATE - - BY - DE LACY O’LEARY, D.D. - _Lecturer in Aramaic and Syriac, Bristol University - Author of “Arabic Thought and its Place in History”_ - - LONDON: - KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. - NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. - 1923 - - Printed in Great Britain by - John Roberts Press Limited, London. - - - - -INTRODUCTORY NOTE - - -The following pages present a brief outline of the history of the Fatimid -Khalifs who were ruling in Egypt at the time of the First and Second -Crusades. Too often the student of European history gleans his knowledge -of the oriental powers with which the West was brought into contact by -the Crusades from western Christian writers, who do not fairly or truly -describe those powers, and do not set forth clearly the strong and weak -points which are so important in interpreting the actual forces with -which the Crusaders were brought into contact. These pages are drawn -from the Arabic and Persian historians so as to present a picture which, -though inaccurate in some points, nevertheless shows the other side not -perceived by the historians who wrote the narrative of the Crusades from -a western standpoint. Directly, therefore, they supplement the western -history, but are still more important in their indirect bearing as an -effort has been made to show the rise and development of the Fatimid -Khalifate and sect as a rival to the orthodox Abbasid Khalifate of -Baghdad, which is most essential to the right understanding of the world -into which the Crusaders penetrated, whilst at the same time it shows a -curious and important phase of Muslim tendencies which are not without a -bearing on the later history of Islam. The present essay does not claim -to be an original study in a field hitherto unexplored, but simply aims -at bringing together in an accessible form material which will be of -service to the student of mediaeval western history and to those who are -interested in the development of Islam, and to do so with such comments -as will enable it to be co-ordinated with contemporary European history. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I THE SHIʿITES OR SCHISMATICS OF ISLAM 1 - - II THE ISMAʿILIAN SECT 12 - - III THE QARMATIANS 39 - - IV THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FATIMIDS IN NORTH AFRICA 51 - - V THE FATIMID KHALIFS OF KAIRAWAN 74 - - VI THE SECOND FATIMID KHALIF, AL-QAʾIM 88 - - VII THE THIRD FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MANSUR 91 - - VIII THE FOURTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MOʿIZZ 93 - - IX THE FIFTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-ʿAZIZ 115 - - X THE SIXTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-HAKIM 123 - - XI THE SEVENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AZ-ZAHIR 189 - - XII THE EIGHTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MUSTANSIR 193 - - XIII THE NINTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MUSTALI 211 - - XIV THE TENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-AMIR 218 - - XV THE ELEVENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-HAFIZ 222 - - XVI THE TWELFTH FATIMID KHALIF, AZ-ZAFIR 227 - - XVII THE THIRTEENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-FAʿIZ 233 - - XVIII THE FOURTEENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-ʿADID 235 - - XIX THE FATIMID KHALIFATE IN ITS RELATION TO GENERAL HISTORY 246 - - XX THE LATER HISTORY OF THE ISMAʿILIAN SECT 257 - - BIBLIOGRAPHY 262 - - INDEX 266 - - - - -I - -THE SHIʿITES OR SCHISMATICS OF ISLAM - - -Islam appears first on the page of history as a purely Arab religion: -indeed it is perfectly clear that the Prophet Mohammed, whilst intending -it to be the one and only religion of the whole Arab race, did not -contemplate its extension to foreign communities. “Throughout the land -there shall be no second creed” was the Prophet’s message from his -death-bed, and this was the guiding principle in the policy of the early -Khalifs. The Prophet died in A.H. 11, and within the next ten years the -Arabs, united under the leadership of his successors, extended their rule -over Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia. To a large extent it was -merely an accident that this rapid expansion of Arab rule was associated -with the rise of Islam. The expanding movement had already commenced -before the Prophet’s ministry, and was due to purely secular causes to -the age long tendency of the Arabs,—as of every race at a similar stage -of economic and social development,—to over-spread and plunder the -cultured territories in their vicinity. The Arabs were nomadic dwellers -in a comparatively unproductive area, and had been gradually pressed back -into that area by the development of settled communities of cultivators -in the better irrigated land upon its borders. These settled communities -evolved an intensive agriculture, and thus achieved great wealth and an -advanced state of civilization which was a perpetual temptation to the -ruder nomads who, able to move over great distances with considerable -rapidity, were always inclined to make plundering incursions into the -territories of the prosperous agricultural and city states near at hand. -The only restraint on these incursions was the military power of the -settled communities which always had as its first task the raising of a -barrier against the wild men of the desert: whenever the dyke gave way, -the flood poured out. In the seventh century A.D. the restraining powers -were the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Persia, and both of these, -almost simultaneously, showed a sudden military collapse from which, in -the natural course of events they would, no doubt, have recovered after a -short interval; but the Arabs poured in at this moment of weakness, just -as the Teutonic and other groups of central Europe had broken through the -barriers of the western half of the Roman Empire; and at that moment, -in the course of their incursion, they received a new coherence by the -rise of the religion of Islam and, by the racial unity thus artificially -produced, became more formidable. - -In their outspread over Egypt and Western Asia the Arabs adopted the -policy, partly deduced from the Qurʾan and partly based on the tradition -of the first Khalif’s conduct in Arabia, of uncompromising warfare -against all “polytheists,”—the creed of Islam was a pure unitarianism, -and could contemplate no toleration of polytheism,—but of accommodation -with those possessed of the divine revelation, even in the imperfect and -corrupt form known to Christians and Jews. These “People of the Book” -were not pressed to embrace Islam, but might remain as tribute-paying -subjects of the Muslim rulers, with their own rights very fully secured. -In all the conquered lands the progress of the Muslim religion was -very gradual, and in all of them Christian and Jewish communities have -maintained an independent continuous existence to the present day. Yet -for all this there were very many conversions to the religion of the -ruling race, and these were so numerous that within the first century of -the Hijra the Arabs themselves were in a numerical minority in the Church -of Islam. The alien converts, socially and intellectually developed in -the culture of the Hellenistic world or of semi-Hellenistic Persia, -were very far in advance of the ruling Arabs who were little better -than half savages at the commencement of their career of conquest: -and the unexpected inclusion of this more cultured element acted as a -leaven in the Islamic community, and forced it to a rapid and somewhat -violent evolution. It is wonderful that Islam had sufficient vigour -and elasticity to be able to absorb such fresh elements and phases of -thought, but that elasticity had its limits, and at a very early date -sects began to form whose members the orthodox felt themselves unable to -recognise as fellow Muslims. - -These early sects which were generally regarded as heretical were, in -most cases, reproductions of older pre-Islamic Persian and Mesopotamian -religious systems, with a thin veneer of Muslim doctrine, and, in the -second century of the Hijra, when they became most prominent, they were -strongly tinctured with Hellenistic philosophical speculations which -had already exercised a potent influence in Mesopotamia and Persia. In -theory these sects were “legitimist” in their adherence to the principle -of hereditary descent. Orthodox Islam accepted as a constitutional -principle the leadership of an elected _khalif_ or “successor,” a natural -development of the tribal chieftainship familiar to the pre-Islamic -Arabs. Amongst them the chief was elected in a tribal council, in -which great weight was given to the tried warriors and aged men of -experience, but in which all had a voice, and choice was made on what -we should describe as democratic lines, and this remained the practice -in the earlier age of Islam. Such a constitutional theory was no great -novelty to those who had lived under the Roman Empire, but was entirely -repugnant to those educated in Persian ideas, and who had learned to -regard the kingship as hereditary in the sense that the semi-divine -kingly soul passed by transmigration at the death of one sovereign to -the body of his divinely appointed successor. This had been the Persian -belief with regard to the Sasanid kings, and the Persians fully accepted -Yazdegird, the last of these, as a re-incarnation of the princes of -the semi-mythical Kayani dynasty to which they attributed their racial -origin and their culture. Yazdegird died in A.H. 31 (= A.D. 652), and his -death terminated the male line of the Persian royal family, but it was -generally believed that his daughter, Shahr-banu, was married to Husayn, -the son of the fourth Khalif ʿAli, so that in his descendants by this -Persian princess the claims of Islam and of the ancient Persian deified -kings were combined. Historically the evidence for this marriage seems -to be questionable, but it is commonly accepted as an article of faith by -the Persian Shiʿites. - -At a quite early date the house of ʿAli began to receive the devoted -adherence of the Persian converts. That ʿAli himself had been prominent -as a champion of the rights of alien converts to equality in the -brotherhood of Islam, and still more his harsh treatment by Muʿawiya, the -founder of the ʿUmayyad dynasty, caused his name to serve as a rallying -point for all those who were disaffected towards the official Khalifate. -It is now the general Shiʿite belief that ʿAli, the cousin and son-in-law -of the Prophet, was his chief companion and chosen successor, the three -preceding Khalifs being no more than usurpers who had kept him out of -his just rights, and whose wrong doing he had borne with exemplary -patience. ʿAli himself does not seem to have taken so pronounced a -view, but he certainly regarded himself as injured by his exclusion -from the Khalifate. It is not true to say with Muir (_Caliphate_, p. -301), that the idea of a divine Imamate or “leadership” was entirely the -invention of later times because, as early as A.H. 32, in the reign of -ʿUthman, the Jewish convert ʿAbdu b. Saba of Yemen,—a district which had -been conquered by the Persian king Nushirwan, and settled by Persians -for nearly a century before the coming of Islam, and so thoroughly -impregnated with Persian ideas,—preached the divine right of ʿAli. This -view he maintained afterwards when ʿAli was Khalif, in spite of ʿAli’s -own disapproval, and at ʿAli’s murder in A.H. 40, he reiterated it in a -more pronounced form: the martyred Khalif’s soul, he said, was in the -clouds, his voice was heard in the thunder, his presence was revealed -in the lightning: in due course he would descend to earth again, and -meanwhile his spirit, a divine emanation, was passed on by re-birth to -the imams his successors. - -Certainly the tragedy of Kerbela, which centred in the pathetic -sufferings and death of ʿAli’s son, Husayn, as he was on his way to -claim the Khalifate, produced a tremendous wave of pro-ʿAlid feeling: -indeed a popular martyr was the one thing needed to raise devotion to -the house of ʿAli to the level of an emotional religion, though many, -no doubt, supported the ʿAlid claims simply because they formed the -most convenient pretext for opposing the official Khalifate, and yet -remaining outwardly within the fold of Islam. - -After the death of Husayn there were three different lines of ʿAlids -which competed for the allegiance of the legitimist faction, those -descended from (i.) Hasan, and (ii.) Husayn, the two sons of ʿAli by his -wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, and both therefore representing -the next of kin to the Prophet who left no son, and (iii.) the house -of Muhammad, the son of ʿAli, by another wife known as the Hanifite. -Of these three we may disregard the descendants of (i.) Hasan, who -ultimately migrated to Maghrab (Morocco), and became the progenitors -of the Idrisid dynasty and of the Sharifs of Morocco: they formed a -very moderate branch of the Shiʿite faction, adopted many practices of -the orthodox or Sunni party, and had no part in the peculiarly Persian -developments of the Asiatic Shiʿites. The first ʿAlid faction to become -prominent was (iii.) the partisans of Muhammad, the son of the Hanifite, -who were formed into a society by Kaysan, a freedman of ʿAli, for the -purpose of avenging Hasan and Husayn. They recognised a succession of -four Imams or valid commanders, ʿAli, Hasan, Husayn, and Muhammad, the -son of the Hanifite, and maintained that, at Husayn’s death, Muhammad -became _de jure_ the Khalif and the divinely appointed head of the Church -of Islam. Muhammad himself entirely disowned these partisans, but that -was a detail to which they paid no attention. At Muhammad’s death in A.H. -81 this party, “the Kaysanites” as they were called, recognised his son -Abu Hashim as the fifth Imam until A.H. 98, when he died childless after -bequeathing his claims to Muhammad b. ʿAli b. ʿAbdullah (d. A.H. 126), -who was not of the house of ʿAli at all, and who became the founder of -the ʿAbbasid dynasty which obtained the Khalifate in A.H. 132. It was -under Abu Hashim that the party, now changed in name from Kaysanites to -Hashimites, became an admirably organised conspiracy which contributed -more than anything else to the overthrow of the ʿUmayyad Khalifs. -Throughout the Muslim dominions there was deep and ever-increasing -dissatisfaction with the ʿUmayyads, who represented an arrogant _parvenu_ -Arab aristocracy, ruling over races who enjoyed an older and richer -culture, and were by no means effete. The Hashimites seized hold of this -discontent and sent out their missionaries (_daʿi_, plur. _duʿat_) in all -directions disguised as merchants and pilgrims who relied upon private -conversations and informal intercourse rather than public preaching, -and thus began that unostentatious but effective propaganda, which has -ever since been the chief missionary method of Islam. Hashimite teaching -centered in the doctrines of _tawakkuf_ or the theory of a divinely -appointed Imam, who alone was the rightful Commander of the faithful and -their authoritative teacher, of _hulul_ or the incarnation of the Divine -Spirit in the Imam, and of _tenasukhu l-Arwah_ or the transmigration of -that Spirit from each Imam to his valid successor, doctrines alien to -Islam proper. With the death of the Abu Hashim this party passed over to -the service of the ʿAbbasids to whom it was a source of great strength, -and at their accession to the Khalifate it ceased to exist as a sect. - -The most important sect, or group of sects, of the Shiʿites was (ii.) -the faction which recognised Husayn as the third Imam, and his son, ʿAli -Zayn al-Abidin (d. 94 A.H.) as his successor, the son of the Imam and of -the royal princess of Persia. But at al-Abidin’s death this party split -into two, some following his son Zayd (d. 121), others his son Muhammad -al-Bakir (d. 113). The former or Zaydite party established itself for a -considerable period in North Persia, and still maintains itself in South -Arabia. Zayd himself was the friend and pupil of the Muʿtazilite or -rationalist leader Wasil ibn ʿAta, and the Zaydites have generally been -regarded as more or less free thinkers. The majority of the Shiʿites, -however, recognised Muhammad al-Bakir as the fifth Imam, and after his -death Jaʿfar as-Sadiq (d. 148) as the sixth, though here again there was -a schism, some regarding Abu Mansur, another son of Muhammad al-Bakir, -as the sixth Imam. Abu Mansur seems to have been one of the first ʿAlids -to endorse the divine rights claimed for them by their followers, and -did so in an extreme form, asserting that he had ascended to heaven -and obtained supernatural illumination. At this time all the extremer -Shiʿites regarded the Imam as an incarnation of the Divine Spirit passed -on from ʿAli, and many believed that ʿAli was the true prophet of God -whose office had been fraudulently intercepted by Muhammad. - -The Mansuris, however, were a minor sect, the majority of the Shiʿites -followed Jaʿfar who was Imam at the time of the ʿAbbasid revolution. -He was one of those who were deeply influenced by the traditions of -Hellenistic philosophy and science, and was the author of works on -chemistry, augury, and omens: he is usually credited with being the -founder, or at least the chief exponent, of what are known as _batinite_ -views, that is to say, the allegorical interpretation of the Qurʾan as -having an esoteric meaning, which can only be learned from the Imam who -is illuminated by divine wisdom, and who alone is able to reveal its -true sense. The inner meaning thus revealed was usually a more or less -imperfect reproduction of Aristotelian doctrine as it had been handed -down by the Syriac writers. Like his brother, Abu Mansur Jaʿfar fully -endorsed the doctrine of a divine Imamate and the transmigration of -the Divine Spirit, then tabernacled in himself, and it seems probable -that Van Vloten (_Recherches sur la domination arabe_, 1894, pp. 44-45) -is right in suggesting that the general promulgation of these beliefs -amongst the Shiʿites was largely due to the labours of the Hashimite -missionaries. - -The contemporary establishment of the ʿAbbasids made a far-reaching -change in the conditions of Islam. The Arabs began to take a secondary -place, and Persian influences became predominant. In 135 the noble -Persian family of the Barmecides began to furnish _wazirs_ or Prime -Ministers to the Khalifate, and controlled its policy for a period of -fifty-four years. Nearly all important offices were given to Persians, -and a distinct anti-Arab party was formed, known as the _Shuʿubiyya_, -which produced a prolific controversial literature which expressed the -hatred stored up under generations of ʿUmayyad misrule: the Arab was held -up to derision, his pretensions to aristocratic descent were contrasted -with the much more ancient genealogies of the Persian nobles, and he was -portrayed as little better than an illiterate savage. In literature, in -science, in Muslim jurisprudence and theology, and even in the scientific -treatment of Arabic grammar, the Persians altogether surpassed the Arabs, -so that we must be careful not to talk of Arab philosophy, Arab science, -etc., in the history of Muslim civilization, but always of Arabic -philosophy, etc., remembering that it was not the science and philosophy -of the Arabs, but that of the Arabic speaking people, amongst whom only -a small minority were actually of Arab race: and this applies to the -“golden age” of Arabic literature (A.H. 132-232). On the other hand it -must be remembered that, indirectly and unintentionally, the ʿUmayyads -had helped towards this result. It was under their rule that the Arabic -language had been introduced into the public administration, and in due -course replaced Greek and Persian in all public business, so that it -became the common speech of all Western Asia, or at least a common medium -of intercourse between those who used various languages in their private -life, and thus the brilliant intellectual and literary renascence was -rendered possible by a wide exchange of thought. - -We may rightly refer to this period as a renascence, for it meant -quickening into new and other life the embers of the later Hellenistic -culture, and especially of the Aristotelian philosophy and medical and -natural science, which had never quite died away in Western Asia, but had -been checked by its passage into Syriac-speaking and Persian-speaking -communities, amongst whom the language in which the original authorities -were written was only imperfectly known. Thus Hellenism suffered a -phase of provincialism, which came to an end when Arabic appeared as a -more or less cosmopolitan language, and thought began to be exchanged -by different races and social groups. Under the early ʿAbbasids, and -especially under the Khalif al-Maʾmun (A.H. 198-218), there was a vast -amount of translation from Greek into Arabic until the greater part of -Aristotle, of the neo-Platonic commentators on Aristotle, of Galen, some -parts of Plato, and other material, were freely accessible to the Muslim -world: whilst at the same time translations were made from Indian writers -on mathematics, medicine, and astronomy, some directly from the Sanskrit, -and others from old Persian versions. - -As a result the philosophical speculations of the Greeks began to act -as a solvent upon Islamic theology, and from this doctrinal discussions -and controversies arose which, on the one side, produced a series of -rationalistic heresies, and on the other side laid the foundations of an -orthodox Muslim scholasticism. Long before this Hellenistic influences -had permeated Persia and Mesopotamia, and these now revived and resulted -in a philosophical presentation of religion which, under the veil of -allegorical explanations of the Qurʾan, was really undermining orthodox -doctrine, and heading towards either pantheism or simple agnosticism. -With these tendencies the pro-Persian party was particularly associated. -The Khalifs who, in spite of Arab birth, were most devoted to Persian -ideas, largely because the Persians were subtle courtiers and were the -champions of absolutism, were amongst those most ardent in promoting the -study of Greek philosophy; and the Imams, such as Jaʿfar and his brother -Zayd, were even more devotedly attached to this type of philosophical -speculation which was acting as a powerful solvent on the traditional -beliefs of orthodox Islam. - -At Jaʿfar’s death another schism took place, indeed the perpetual -sub-division into new sects has always been a salient characteristic -of the Shiʿiya. Jaʿfar had nominated his son Ismaʿil as his successor, -but afterwards disinherited him because he had been found in a state -of intoxication and chose as heir his second son, Musa al-Qazam. There -were some, however, who still adhered to Ismaʿil, and refused to admit -that his father had power to transfer the divinely ordained succession -at will; they asserted indeed that the son’s drunkenness was itself -a sign of his superior illumination as showing that he knew that the -ritual laws of the Qurʾan were not to be taken literally, but had an -esoteric meaning which did not appear on the surface. Musa, the seventh -Imam as generally reckoned, and his son, ʿAli ar-Rida (p. 202), the “two -patient ones,” suffered harsh treatment at the hands of the contemporary -ʿAbbasid rulers; they were brought from Madina by Harun ar-Rashid so as -to be under the observation of the court, and in 148 Musa was poisoned -by the wazir Ibn Khalid. His son ʿAli married the daughter of the Khalif -Maʾmun, and was intended to be the heir to the throne. But Maʾmun very -nearly provoked civil war by his strong Shiʿite sympathies, and when -he perceived how dangerous a storm the projected accession of ʿAli -was beginning to arouse, he extricated himself from the difficulty by -procuring the Imam’s death. ʿAli al-Qazim was usually reckoned as the -eighth Imam, the ninth was Muhammad al-Jawad (d. 220), the tenth ʿAli -al-Hadi (d. 254), and the eleventh al-Hasan (d. 260), these two latter -being buried at Samarra, which replaced Baghdad as the ʿAbbasid capital -from A.H. 222 to 279. The town afterwards fell into decay, but has been -colonised by Shiʿites, and is one of the places of Shiʿite pilgrimage. -The twelfth Imam was Muhammad al-Muntazir, who in A.H. 260 “disappeared.” -The mosque at Samarra is said to cover an underground vault into which -he went and was no more seen. The “twelvers,” or _Ithna ʿashariya_, -who to-day form the main body of the Shiʿites, and whose belief is the -official religion of modern Persia, suppose that he is still living, and -the place where he is to re-appear when he emerges from concealment is -one of the sacred spots visited by the Shiʿites. - -But, as we have already noted, some of the Shiʿites did not accept -Jaʿfar’s transference of the Imamate from his son Ismaʿil to his second -son Musa, but recognised Ismaʿil still as heir. Ismaʿil died in 145 -whilst his father was still alive, leaving a son named Muhammad. Although -Ismaʿil’s body was publicly shown before its burial at al-Bakiʿ, many -persisted in believing that he was not dead, and asserted that he had -been seen in Basra after his supposed funeral; others admitted his -death, but believed that his Imamate had passed to his son Muhammad; -others again believed that his soul had migrated to Muhammad, so that -they were in reality one person. These adherents of Ismaʿil, or of his -son Muhammad, or of Ismaʿil-Muhammad, formed the sect known as the -Ismaʿilians or the _Sabʿiya_, i.e., “seveners,” accepting the six Imams -to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and adding his son or grandson as the seventh and -last. - -These “seveners” seem to have been a comparatively minor sect of the -extremer Shiʿites. Some members of the sect are still to be found in the -neighbourhood of Bombay and Surat. But, about 250 this comparatively -obscure sect was taken in hand and organised by a singularly able leader, -and became for a time one of the most powerful forces in Islam. - - -GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF ʿALI - - (1) ʿAli d. 41. - +-----------------------------+ - | | - marr. (i) Fatima (ii) al-Hanifiya - +---------------------+ | - | | | - (3) Hasan d. 50. (3) Husayn d. 61. Muhammad - | | - Hasan | - +-------------+ | - | | | - Muhammad Abd Allah (4) ʿAli Zayn d. 94. - | | +-------------------+ - | | | | - (Sherifs of Idris Zayd (5) Muhammad - Morocco) | | al-Bakir d. 113. - (Idrisids (Zaydites | - of N. Africa) of N. Persia (6) Jaʿfar as-Sadiq - and S. Arabia) d. 148. - +------------------+ - | | - (7)* Ismaʿil (7) Musa - | d. 183. - Muhammad | - | (8) ʿAli ar-Rida - (alleged d. 202. - descent of | - Fatimids) (9) Muhammad al-Jawad - d. 220. - (10) ʿAli al-Hadi - d. 254. - (11) al Hasan al - Askari d. 260. - | - (12) Muhammad - al-Muntazar - “disappeared” - A. H. 260. - - - - -II - -THE ISMAʿILIAN SECT - - -From the beginning the neo-Ismaʿilian sect showed all the characteristics -of the ultra Shiʿite bodies: it accepted the _ʿalim l-batin_, or the -principle of allegorical interpretation which is especially associated -with Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, the doctrine of incarnation, and of the -transmigration of the Imam’s soul. But underneath all this, borrowed from -current Shiʿite ideas, it had a strong element of agnosticism, a heritage -of the philosophical ideas borrowed from Greek scientists, and developed -in certain directions by the Muʿtazilites. As organised by its leader, -whose name was Abdullah b. Maymun, it was arranged in seven grades to -which members were admitted by successive initiations, and which diverged -more and more from orthodox Islam until its final and highest stages -were simply agnostic. According to Stanley Lane-Poole “in its inner -essence Shiʿism, the religion of the Fatimids is not Mohammedanism at -all. It merely took advantage of an old schism in Islam to graft upon -it a totally new and largely political movement” (Lane-Poole: _Story -of Cairo_, Lond., 1906, p. 113). In this passage “Shiʿism” is taken as -denoting the sect of the “Seveners,” and the “political movement” is -simply disaffection towards the Khalifate. Similarly Prof. Nicholson -considers that “Filled with a fierce contempt of the Arabs and with a -free-thinker’s contempt for Islam, Abdullah b. Maymun conceived the -idea of a vast secret society which should be all things to all men, -and which, by playing on the strongest passions and tempting the inmost -weaknesses of human nature, should unite malcontents of every description -in a conspiracy to overthrow the existing _régime_” (Nicholson: _Literary -History of the Arabs_, pp. 271-272). - -Undoubtedly the ideas involved in the Ismaʿilian doctrines were -totally subversive of the teachings of Islam, but so were those of -the “philosophers,” and in exactly the same way. The views of Ibn -Tufayl (d. 531 A.H.) and of Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 595 A.H.) were -purely Aristotelian in basis, and on this foundation was built up an -agnostic-pantheistic superstructure. Ibn Tufayl particularly makes it -quite clear that his teaching is not consistent with the Qurʾan which -he treats as setting forth a system of doctrines and ritual precepts -suitable for the unlearned who ought not to be disturbed in their -simple faith, but quite inadequate for the satisfaction of the more -intelligent: the mysteries of the universe, revealed through Aristotle -and his followers, furnish a sounder religion, but it is expedient -that this be reserved for the enlightened and not divulged to the -illiterate who are unable to appreciate or understand its bearing. Such -teaching is subversive of orthodox Islam, and consciously so: in the -case of ʿAbdullah it may, perhaps, be described as a conspiracy against -religion. In one sense it was the final product of the rationalism of the -Muʿtazilites. - -Admittedly the Ismaʿiliya worked as a political conspiracy against -the ʿAbbasids, but this was true of every Shiʿite sect: the ʿAbbasids -had used the Shiʿites in seating themselves on the throne, and then -discarded them. Still it seems that we have no reason to question the -perfect sincerity of the Ismaʿilians in their agnostic principles: -those principles were the product of the solvent influence of Greek -philosophy upon the religion of Islam: Islamic thought was too simple and -primitive to be able to adapt itself to that philosophy in its entirety, -hence some such position as that of Ibn Tufayl, or of Ibn Rushd, or -of the Ismaʿilians, was inevitable. It was equally a necessary result -of the time and circumstances that these rationalists tended towards -the Shiʿites. In spite of weird superstitions, especially current in -Khurasan, the Shiʿites represent the Muslim element most kindly disposed -towards freedom of thought. This seems a bold statement to those familiar -with Shiʿites of the present day, but it must be noted that the Shiʿites -whom the European most frequently meets are either the devotees who have -settled in places like Samarra, or those who seem to be more exclusive -than the orthodox Muslims, chiefly because they have as yet had much -less intercourse with foreigners. In 2-3rd cent. Islam it was the -Shiʿite princes who invariably did their best to foster philosophical -and scientific research, whilst, after A.H. 232, the orthodox party, as -it gets in the ascendent, becomes distinctly reactionary, and tends to -repressive persecution. - -The most difficult task for us is to appreciate the strong appeal which -the doctrines of incarnation and transmigration made to the Persian -and Mesopotamian mind. Both these doctrines had figured prominently -in pre-Islamic religions in Western Asia; and both recur in most -religious movements from the coming of Islam to the present day in that -particular area. We may note a few instances to illustrate this, and show -incidentally the strong attraction these doctrines had for the Persian -mind. - -Abu Muslim was the general who more than any other helped to seat the -ʿAbbasids on the throne, and suffered death at the hands of the first -ʿAbbasid Khalif, who was jealous,—with good cause, it would appear,—of -his excessive power. But Abu Muslim had exercised an extraordinary -influence over men during life, and was treated as a quasi-divine hero -after death, his admirers regarding him as not really dead but as -having passed into “concealment,” some other having been miraculously -substituted for him at the moment of execution. This resembles the theory -which the pre-Islamic Persian teacher Mani held as to Christ. Mani fully -accepted Christ as a religious teacher, side by side with Zoroaster and -Buddha, but he could not admit the reality of his death, for a material -body capable of death was in his view unworthy of one purely good. He -supposed, therefore, that at the crucifixion Simon of Cyrene was at the -last moment substituted for Christ, and this Persian idea has actually -obtained a place in the Qurʾan (cf. Sura 4, 156). - -Not long after Abu Muslim we hear of a pseudo-prophet named Bih-afaridh, -a Zoroastrian who had travelled in the far East, and afterwards accepted -Islam at the hands of two _duʿat_ who were preaching the cult of Abu -Muslim. Very little is known of his teaching, but he certainly maintained -the doctrine that the Imam is an incarnation of the Deity, and seems to -have attached a particularly sacred signification to the numeral seven. -This superstitious reverence for particular numbers was a common feature -in the pre-Islamic religions of Mesopotamia, and we shall meet it again -in the doctrines of the Ismaʿilians. - -Another sect, of similarly pre-Islamic origin, was that known as the -_Rawandiyya_ from its origin at Rawand near Isfahan. Its members were -king-worshippers in the old Persian sense, and a body of them travelled -to Hashimiyya, where the Khalifs then had their residence, and tried -to acclaim the Khalif al-Mansur as a god. He not only rejected the -proffered adoration, but cast the leaders into prison. This was followed -by an attempt to attack the palace, the Rawandis considering that, as -the prince had disclaimed deity, he could be no valid ruler. For some -centuries the sect, strongly disaffected towards the Khalifate, lingered -on in Persia and had many sympathisers. - -Under the next Khalif al-Mahdi, came the still more serious rebellion -of _al-Muqannaʿ_, the “veiled prophet of Khurasan,” who asserted his -own deity. He was killed in A.H. 169, but his followers, as usual, -believed that he had not really suffered in person, but had passed into -concealment and would in due course return again: they continued to form -a distinct sect for some three hundred years. - -Another pseudo-prophet of the same type was _Babak al-Khurrami_, who -was executed in A.H. 222 or 223. He also declared himself to be an -incarnation of the Divine Spirit, and asserted that the soul within him -had already dwelt in his master Jawidan. - -We might continue to extend the series very considerably by enumerating -the various prophets and sects which reproduce these same general -characteristics. The latest example occurs in the Babi movement, which -still flourishes and has many converts in this country and in America. -The first teacher of the Babists, Mirza ʿAli Muhammad (A.D. 1820-1851) -claimed only to be a Mahdi or fore-runner of One who was to come, but -his successor, Mirza Husayn ʿAli, declared himself to be the expected -One, the incarnation of the Divine Spirit, which is an emanation of the -Deity and is fairly equivalent to the Reason, Word, or Spirit of the -Plotinian philosophy. In later times this doctrine has rather fallen -into the background, perhaps as the result of western influences, but the -earlier phase shows a repetition of the traditional Persian position. -All these sects show common matter in the doctrines of incarnation, of -transmigration, and of an esoteric teaching to be revealed only to the -elect. Such were the extremer Shiʿite sects of mediaeval times, and such -are their descendants of modern times. Even in Persia to-day, side by -side with the more orthodox “Twelvers” of the state church and off-shoots -such as the Babists, the latest of a long series of mystical developments -from the Shiʿite stock, are the ʿAli Allahis who believe in the deity -of the Imam ʿAli, and combine with this belief many elements from the -ancient Zoroastrian religion, a survival of the older mediaeval Shiʿism -which caused so much trouble to the Khalifate of Baghdad. - -In the teaching of most of the Shiʿites it is believed that some deceased -Imam was an incarnation of deity, and it is he who, not really dead as -men suppose, has passed into concealment, to return again in the fulness -of time, when this evil age in which the true Khalifate no longer exists -has passed away. Meanwhile there is no valid Khalif or Imam upon earth, -but only some Shah or king who acts as vicegerent of the hidden Imam -until his return. - -This digression serves to show us how strongly Persian thought always -has inclined towards the idea of a divine incarnation in the honoured -religious teacher, and towards that of transmigration of the soul -from one such teacher to his successor. In the 3rd century A.H. -probably no sect which did not hold such theories could have obtained -a favourable hearing amongst the Persians who found Islam of the Arab -type unsatisfying, and every radical religious movement was necessarily -compelled to assume at least the externals of Shiʿism. - -The Shiʿite party organised by ʿAbdullah is known by various names. It -is called _Ismaʿilian_ as representing the party adhering to Ismaʿil, -the son of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and his son Muhammad, as against those who -continued the succession of the Imamate through Musa; but the name is not -strictly accurate as it seems that there was an Ismaʿilian sect proper -existing before ʿAbdullah, and that his re-organisation was so drastic -that we may regard the continuity as being severed; and it seems certain -that some part of the earlier sect continued to exist independent of his -reforms. It was, no doubt, its attachment to a deceased or “hidden” Imam -which made it a more promising field for the advocates of a speculative -philosophy than any sect whose Imam was living and might dissociate -himself from the doctrines held. It was also called the _Sabʿiya_ or -“Seveners” because it accepted seven Imams, and also because it attached -a sacred significance to the numeral seven; there were seven prophets, -seven Imams, seven Mahdis, seven grades of initiation (afterwards changed -to nine), etc. In many respects _Sabʿiya_ is the most accurate name, but -it is open to the same objection as Ismaʿilian. More commonly its members -are called _Fatimites_ as recognising Fatimid Imams who claimed descent -from ʿAli and Fatima: but this, although convenient because of its -frequent use amongst mediaeval Arabic writers, is peculiarly inaccurate. -The Ithna ʿashariya or sect of “Twelvers” was equally Fatimite, and so -were the Zaydites, indeed these last were the true Fatimites as holding -that _any_ person descended from ʿAli and Fatima might be a valid Imam: -but common usage allows the use of “Fatimites” for the sect organised by -ʿAbdullah. Another name is _Batinites_ or advocates of an allegorical -interpretation, but this also applies to other Shiʿite groups. Sometimes -they are called _Qarmatians_, but this name is only applicable to one -branch of the sect which originated in the district of Sawad between -Basra and Kufa, and should be reserved for that branch which at a later -period became alienated from the main Ismaʿilian body. - -The new sect carried out its propaganda by means of missionaries (_daʿi_) -on the lines developed by the Hashimites. In this, as in most of its -external features, it reproduces the characteristics usual amongst the -mediaeval Shiʿites. - -The organiser of the sect or masonic fraternity was ʿAbdullah, who -is stated to have been the son of one Maymun. Sometimes ʿAbdullah is -surnamed _al-laddah_ (“the oculist”), as is done by Abu l-Feda, but more -often this surname is given to his father Maymun. Maqrizi, referring -to the Fatimids, says, “this family was traced to al-Husayn, the -son of ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, but men are divided in the matter between -two opinions: some treat it as true, but others deny that they are -descendants of the Prophet and treat them as pretenders descended from -Daysan the Dualist, who has given his name to the Dualists, and (say) -that Daysan had a son whose name was Maymun al-Qaddah, and that he had a -sect of extreme views. And Maymun had a son ʿAbdullah, and ʿAbdullah was -learned in all the canon law and customs and sects” (_Maqrizi_, i. 348). - -The reference to “Daysan the Dualist” is pure fable. This Daysan appears -frequently in Arabic history as the legendary founder of the _Zindiqs_, a -name given to the followers of the pre-Islamic cults of Mesopotamia and -Persia, who found it convenient to make external profession of Islam. -Thus Masʿudi (_Muruj adh-Dhahab_, viii. 293) says that “many heresies -arose after the publication of the books of Mani, Ibn Daysan, and -Marcion, translated from Persian and Pahlawi by ʿAbdullah ibn al-Muqaffaʿ -and others.” Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ was a converted Zoroastrian who took a -leading part in translating Persian and Syrian works into Arabic under -the first two ʿAbbasids, and was generally regarded as privately adhering -to his earlier religious views. - -It will be noted that Zindiqism is mentioned as propagated by Ibn -al-Muqaffaʿ, and is traced to Ibn Daysan amongst others, and this -is precisely the same as the one whom Maqrizi names as the reputed -progenitor of Maymun. Evidently the charge which lay at the bottom of -this latter statement originally meant that Maymun was a Zindiq, and so -could be described as a follower of Ibn Daysan, not that he actually was -Ibn Daysan’s son, which would be an absurd anachronism. For the name -Ibn Daysan refers to a perfectly genuine historical person: the Ibn -Daysan of the Arabic writers was the Bar Daisan of Syriac literature, a -convert from paganism to Christianity who died about A.D. 222, and whose -followers formed an important sect at Edessa for several centuries, -though in Muslim times he appears as a semi-legendary character. We -possess a work probably written by one of his pupils called “A treatise -on Fate” in the Christian writers, from which two lengthy extracts -appear in Eusebius: _Praep. Evangel._ vi. 9, one of which is cited -also in _Clementine Recognitions_ ix., but is headed “Book of the Laws -of Countries” in the Syriac text discovered by Cureton, and published -by him in 1855. Various references are made to Bar Daisan in Euschius, -Epiphanius, and other Church Fathers, as well as in the dialogues -ascribed to Adamantius, but our best information as to his teaching is to -be obtained from Moses bar Kepha (_Patrol. Syr._, I., ii. 513-5), whose -summary is fully endorsed by the controversial essays of St. Ephraim, who -settled at Edessa in 363 when the Bar-daisanites were a real force there. -Bar Daisan’s doctrine, which is a kind of Christianized Zoroastrianism, -is described by Prof. Burkitt in his introduction to Mitchell’s edition -of St. Ephraim’s _Prose Refutations_. - -Marcion represents an earlier and more definitely Christian system which -at one time had a very wide extension, and probably was the medium -through which Bar Daisan learned Christianity. It was a kind of dualistic -system with two powers, the Good God and the Evil One. The Evil One was -the creator whom the Jews worshipped as God, and the Good God sent his -Son on earth to save men from this delusion: as in Zoroastrianism the two -rival powers maintain an unceasing strife until the day of judgment when -the good God will be finally victorious. From St. Ephraim we learn that -the Marcionites long retained their hold in Northern Mesopotamia side by -side with the Bar-daisanites. - -Mani shows very much these same views in a Zoroastrian setting, but -with a strong element of Marcionite Christianity. Mani’s work came some -twenty years later than Bar Daisan, and he, in his early days, had been a -disciple of the Mandeans, the Gnostic sect which Justin Martyr calls “the -baptists” βαπτισταί (_Justin M. Dial._ 80) from their frequent ablutions, -who were settled in the marsh land between Basra and Wasit on the lower -Euphrates. All three, Bar Daisan, Marcion, and Mani, draw largely from -the same source the eclectic mixture of old Babylonian religion, of -Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity, which developed in the lower -Euphrates valley, though Marcion claimed to be, and no doubt believed -himself, an orthodox member of the Catholic Church, whilst Mani was no -less confident in regarding himself as a Zoroastrian. The whole of the -different religious ideas of the Euphrates valley were welded together by -an element of Greek philosophy of the neo-Pythagorean type, which seems -to have filtered in through the Jews who were settled there in force, and -had shared in the common life of the Hellenistic world at the time when -the neo-Pythagorean school was taking form, and showing marked sympathy -towards the various forms of Eastern religious speculation. All this -kind of eclectic speculation, half religious and half philosophical, -lived on, and was still alive in the third cent. of the Hijra; indeed, -it had spread and formed a new centre at Harran, quite distinct in its -character, but obviously drawing from the same sources, and, moreover, it -quickened into new life when the speculations of the neo-Platonic school -were introduced through a Syriac medium. Traditionally all this type of -thought prevalent in Mesopotamia was connected with the names of Marcion, -Mani, and Bar Daisan, though probably very few Muslims had any clear idea -of the respective parts these three characters had played, but simply -cited them as heresiarchs of exceptional notoriety. - -But Maymun was without doubt a real character. Abu l-Feda refers to him -as a native of Qaraj or Ispahan, who professed to be a Shiʿite, but was -really a Zindiq, _i.e._, a follower of the heresies of Marcion, Bar -Daisan, and Mani, or else a materialist (_Abu l-Feda, Annales Moslem_., -ii. 311). Used in this sense “materialist” means an Aristotelian, _i.e._, -one who believed in the eternity of matter and so did not accept the -Qurʾanic teaching of creation _ex nihilo_. Ibn Khaldun states that Maymun -migrated to Jerusalem with a number of his disciples and became well -known as a magician, fortune teller, astrologist, and alchemist (cf. -Quatremère: _Journ. Asiatique_, Aug., 1836). The Fatimid advocates, as -represented by the Druze writers, fully admit the descent of the Fatimids -from Maymun, but claim that he was of the family of ʿAli (cf. De Sacy: -_Chrestom._, ii., note 3 on page 95), which seems as though Maymun’s -position as an ancestor of Abdullah’s family was beyond question. - -In the passage already quoted Maqrizi describes ʿAbdullah as “learned -in all the canon law and customs and sects,” so that it seems that he, -the fortune teller’s son, was credited with being the original teacher -and founder of the sect. Perhaps Maymun himself was the founder of a -minor off-shoot of the Ismaʿilian body,—we hear of followers who went -with him to Jerusalem,—and ʿAbdullah succeeded him as head of this group -but, himself a student of philosophy like so many other Shiʿites, and -participating in rationalistic opinions, used his position to form a -kind of free-masonry, in which he developed more fully the principles -already indicated by Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and so made the Aristotelian and -neo-Platonic teaching somewhat modified in a Persian guise, the “hidden -meaning” of the Qurʾan. Probably he too was responsible for the efficient -organizing of the sect, although its missionary propaganda was, as has -been noted, reproduced from that of the Hashimites. He is said to have -been the author of a book called _al-Mizan_, “the balance” (Abulfeda: -_Ann. Mus._, ii. 310). According to Nuwairi, who used the history of -Abu l-Hasan b. ʿAli Akhu-Muhsin, himself a descendant of Ismaʿil b. -Jaʿfar and a contemporary of the chief activity of the Ismaʿilian sect, -ʿAbdullah assumed Shiʿite views, not because he wanted to get men to -recognise the Imamate of Ismaʿil or his son Muhammad, but simply as a -device to attract adherents: such was Akhu-Muhsin’s view, no doubt a -prejudiced one, but of some weight as undoubtedly the judgment of many -contemporaries. It is, however, quite as probable that the ʿAlid theories -were derived from the existing sect of which Maymun had been head, and -were left unaltered by his son when he took it in hand. - -In order to make proselytes, ʿAbdullah’s missionaries used to propose -obscure questions about the Qurʾan and the doctrines of traditional -Islam, with the object of showing that as generally held these doctrines -were contrary to reason, and so required an explanation. The revelation -of Islam, they said, was difficult, and hence there was much diversity -of opinion and many sects and schools of thought, all of which caused -an infinite amount of disedification and much trouble. The reason of -these diverse opinions is that each man follows his own private judgment -and forms his own conjectures, with the result that many end in utter -unbelief. But God would not give a revelation full of such obscurity -and ambiguity as the only guidance for men. It must be that there is -some available guidance, some authoritative teacher who can explain the -doctrine so that it may be both clear and certain, and such an infallible -teacher implies an Imam. The _daʿi_ then gave illustrations of the -obscurities and difficulties which men are not able to understand by the -light of their own reason. The pilgrims at Mecca throw stones and run -between the two hills, Safa and Merwa,—what is the purpose and meaning of -this? Why is it that a woman who has omitted a fast and prayer because -prevented by reasons of personal impurity is required to fast afterwards -to make up for her omission, but is not required to make up for the -omitted prayer? Why did God take six days to create the world when he -could quite well have created it in an hour? What does the Qurʾan mean -when he refers in a figurative manner to the “way”? What is the meaning -of the reference to the two angels who write and take note?—why cannot -we see them? What really are the torments of hell? What mean the words -“and over them on that day eight shall bear up the throne of thy Lord”? -(Qur., 69, 17). What is Iblis?—Who are Yajuj and Majuj (Qur., 18, 93), -and Harut and Marut (Qur., 2, 96)? Why have there been created seven -heavens, and seven earths, and why are there seven verses in the Fatha? -and many similar questions all designed to show that the Qurʾan is full -of references to things which are not explained and need explaining, but -to which the orthodox teachers are unable to give an explanation. All -these are the conventional arguments which are commonly employed to prove -that revelation is incomplete without an authorised teacher. - -They then continued to ask other questions which throw a curious light -on the kind of problems which interested the Muslims of the day, or -which could be thought as deserving of attention. Why have men ten -fingers and ten toes?—why are four fingers on each hand divided into -three phalanges, whilst the thumbs have only two each?—why has the face -seven openings?—why are there twelve dorsal vertebrae and seven cervical -vertebrae? etc., constantly suggesting some mystic meaning as lying -under particular numbers. They cited “on earth are signs of men of firm -belief, and also in your own selves; will ye not then consider them?” -(Qur., 51, 20-21): “God setteth forth these similitudes to men that haply -they may reflect” (Qur., 14, 30), and “we will shew them our signs in -(different) countries and among themselves, until it become plain to them -that it is the truth.” - -These suggestions produced doubt in the minds of many hearers, and -gave the impression that the missionary had thought more deeply on the -problems of religion than the ordinary teachers; and so the hearers were -induced to ask the _daʿi_ to instruct them and reveal the answers to -some of the problems he proposed. Forthwith he would begin a discourse -dealing with some of these questions, and then suddenly check himself: -the religion of God is too precious to be disclosed to those who are -not worthy and who may, perhaps, treat it with contempt: God has always -required a pledge of those to whom he has disclosed his mysteries. Thus -we read, “And remember that we have entered into covenant with the -prophets and with thee, and with Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus -the son of Mary; and we formed with them a strict covenant” (Qur., 33, -7), and again “some there were among the faithful who made good what -they had promised to God” (id., 23),—“O believers, be faithful to your -engagements” (Qur., 5, 1),—“be faithful in the covenant of God when ye -have covenanted, and break not your oaths after ye have pledged them: for -now ye have made God to stand surety for you” (Qur., 16, 93), and many -similar passages. “So now,” the _daʿi_ said, “pledge yourself, putting -your right hand in mine, and promise me with the most inviolable oaths -and assurances that you will not betray our secret, that you will assist -no-one against us, that you are laying no snare for us, that you will use -the truth only in speaking with us, and that you will not join any of our -enemies against us.” By this means they discovered how far the would-be -proselyte was ready to be submissive and obedient, and accustomed him to -act in absolute conformity with his superiors. If the proselyte readily -took this pledge, the missionary next said, “Give us now an offering -from your goods and first fruits which shall be a preliminary to the -disclosure which we are about to make to you of our doctrine, and a -pledge which you will give for it.” By this they tested how far the -proselyte was prepared to make sacrifices to join the sect, and how far -he could be trusted to be a loyal and devoted member. Thus the proselyte -was admitted to the _First Grade_ which consisted of those who accepted -the principle that the Qurʾan has both an external literal sense and an -inner esoteric meaning which needs the help of an interpreter. The inner -meaning was termed _batin_, or _iman_, “faith,” as distinguished from the -external _islam_, and this distinction was justified by the words of Qur. -40, 14. “The Arabs of the desert say, ‘we believe.’ Say: ‘Ye believe not, -but rather say, ‘we profess Islam’; for the faith has not yet found its -way into your hearts.’” - -The _Second Grade_. When the disciple had fully adopted the ideas -taught in the first grade, and was convinced that men have fallen into -error by accepting the traditional teachings of Islam, the _daʿi_ used -the ordinary arguments to persuade them that there was need of an -authoritative teacher, and without such a teacher men are unable to -please God or obey His laws. Great stress was laid upon the unreliability -of private judgment and the need of guidance and authoritative teaching. - -_Third Grade._ The _daʿi_ next proceeds to point who can be accepted -as the desired teacher and infallible guide, the Imam of Islam. There -have been seven such Imams, as worthy of reverence by their religious -characters as by their number, for the most important things in the -universe, such as the planets, the heavens (Qur. 2, 29; 67, 3), the -earths (id. 65, 12, of Bukhari _Sahih_ 59, 2) are invariably in sevens. -He then enumerates the seven Imams, the first six being ʿAli to Jaʿfar -as-Sadiq, the seventh _al-Kaʾim_, “the chief,” whom some understand to be -Jaʿfar’s son Ismaʿil, others his grandson Muhammad, whilst others again -regard these two as but one. He next endeavoured to show that the other -Shiʿites, who regard Musa as the seventh Imam, cannot be correct as they -do not limit the Imams to the sacred number seven, but continue until -twelve are reckoned in all. He then was accustomed to speak against the -character of Musa, the son of Jaʿfar, asserting that Ismaʿil had deep -knowledge of secret things, whilst Musa possessed no such supernatural -enlightenment: he told anecdotes which placed Musa in an unfavourable -light, and even attributed to him grave sins, so that it was impossible -to regard him as the true Imam. Moreover it was agreed that, since -Husayn, the Imamate can only be passed by direct succession, so it is -not possible that it could be taken from one and given to his brother. -The Ismaʿilians alone have inherited the accurate knowledge of secret -mysteries bequeathed by Jaʿfar as-Sadiq to his son Ismaʿil. - -_Fourth Grade._ In this grade instruction was given in the history of -God’s revelation. The age of the world is divided into seven stages, each -under the guidance of a prophet whose teaching surpassed that of his -predecessors and abrogated it. Between each pair there were but “silent” -guides who did not add to nor alter the revelation of the prophet who -inaugurated that age. Each of these seven prophets had a coadjutor who -was his authorised exponent to mankind at large. These seven prophets and -coadjutors were— - - (_i._) Adam, with coadjutor Seth. - (_ii._) Noah, with coadjutor Shem. - (_iii._) Abraham, with coadjutor Ismaʿil. - (_iv._) Moses, with coadjutor, at first Aaron, then Joshua. - (_v._) Jesus, with coadjutor Simon Sifa (Cephas). - (_vi._) Muhammad, with coadjutor ʿAli. - (_vii._) al-Kaʾim, with coadjutor ʿAbdullah. - -Thus the seventh prophet al-Kaʾim, _i.e._, Ismaʿil or his son Muhammad, -has abrogated the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, and has given a new -revelation. At this point, therefore, the convert was entirely separated -from orthodox Islam which accepts Muhammad as the “seal of the prophets,” -that is to say, the final completer of revelation, and was taught to -regard his religion as obsolete. - -_Fifth Grade._ In this grade it was taught that the traditional practices -of the religion of Islam were merely temporary, a concession to the -uninstructed multitude who could not yet understand the spiritual -principles of _iman_: they were useful as an educative influence with -the ignorant, but the Qurʾanic precepts on which some of them were based -had an esoteric meaning quite other than their literal form, whilst the -traditional rules which had added so much detail to the laws of the -Qurʾan were baseless and negligible. The disciple was taught to replace -the external precepts of Islam by inner convictions. If he was a Persian -he was reproached with the servile submission which the Persians had -rendered to an Arab Khalif: if he were an Arab he was instructed that -the privileges of the Arabs have now been transferred to the Persians. -In addition to this he was taught certain principles of geometry and the -properties of numbers, all applied in a mystical manner to the claims -of the Imamate. He was further informed that each prophet had twelve -_hujjaj_ corresponding to the twelve signs of the zodiac, to the twelve -months of the year, to the twelve tribes of Israel, and to the twelve -_nugabaʾ_ whom Muhammad chose from the _ansar_ or “helpers” at Madina. -These numerals “seven” and “twelve” which have been shown to possess -sacred meanings, were now cited to explain why men have twelve dorsal -vertebrae, seven cervical vertebrae, etc. It is as well to note that when -these teachings were first put forth the other Shiʿites who followed Musa -and his successors had not yet made up the number of twelve Imams. - -_Sixth Grade._ The missionary did not admit the postulant to this grade -until he was perfectly assured as to his discretion and secrecy. In it -the teaching that the ritual precepts of Islam as generally understood, -were abrogated, was carried to its logical conclusion, and the convert -was instructed to abandon the observance of prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, -and all the other external practices of religion; or at least to observe -them only in so far as they served as a bond of social usage or as -expedient as a concession to their uninstructed companions. At the same -time the teacher professed the utmost veneration for the men who had -established these practices, and for the wisdom which had led them to -do so. The _daʿi_ then described to his pupil the doctrines of Plato, -Aristotle, Pythagoras, and other philosophers, and exhorted them not to -follow the traditions of religion which have been passed down as mere -hear-say, but to test them by the methods of philosophy and to accept -only those things which are endorsed by reason. Changing his former -attitude, he then began to criticize the Imams unfavourably, and to -contrast them with the philosophers to their disadvantage. - -_Seventh Grade._ Some of the missionaries were not themselves instructed -in the doctrines of the highest grades, and only a select number were -able to initiate converts into this seventh stage. This serves as the -probable explanation of some events in the history of the sect which -appear strange at first sight such, for example, as the estrangement of -the most faithful and successful missionary Abu ʿAbdullah who, no doubt, -revolted when he found the difference between the actual beliefs of the -Mahdi ʿUbayd allah, and the doctrine which he himself had learned and -taught. In initiating a disciple into this highest grade the _daʿi_ first -pointed out that there are in this world always correlatives, of which -one is the cause, the other the result, as giver and recipient, teacher -and taught, etc. Thus the Qurʾan tells us of God that “when he decreeth -a thing he only saith ‘be’ and it ‘is’” (Qur., 3, 42), in which God, the -First Cause, is the greater, the thing created only derives its being -from him: and again, “all things have we created after a fixed decree” -(Qur., 54, 49), and again, “he who is God in the heavens is God in earth -also” (Qur., 43, 84). Hence, following a teaching of the philosophers, it -is clear that from a Being who is only One, only one thing can proceed: -but the world contains many things, so it cannot be the work of the One, -but needs at least two Beings. Moreover, creation is not the bringing -into being that which did not previously exist, but only the arrangement -and disposing of things. At bottom this was intended to be a statement of -the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of matter, and shows striking -resemblances with the speculations of the Muʿtazilites. Thus Abu Hudhayl -(d. circ. 226) held that before the creation the world existed, but in a -state of perfect quiescence; creation was the introduction of change and -movement, and this theory, in one modification or another, recurs in all -the speculations of the later Muʿtazilites. Very similar is the teaching -of al-Farabi (d. 339), who was himself a member of the Ismaʿilian -sect, and held that the world proceeded from God in an instant of the -immeasurable eternity which preceded time, but remained at rest until at -creation God introduced movement and so produced time and change. - -Such was the teaching of the seven grades which formed the original -constitution of the sect. Later on two higher grades were added which, -for the sake of completeness, we may consider here although they were no -part of the original scheme. - -_Eighth Grade._ In this the disciple learned that there are two -Principles, the original and primary Cause, without name or attribute, -the pre-existent (_as-sabiq_) who seems to be very much the same as “the -first God” of Plotinus, and a Second proceeding from this First Cause, -due to a thought in the pre-existent, _i.e._, as an emanation, just as -the spoken word proceeds from the thought in the mind of the speaker. Of -the pre-existent nothing can be stated but what is negative. The “Second” -seems to be very similar to the Reason or Active Intelligence as defined -by the philosophers on the basis of Alexander of Aphrodisias’ explanation -of the teaching in Aristotle’s _de Anima_; not, as in the Zoroastrian -system, a rival power, but an emanation which is an intermediary between -the unknowable God and man. The true prophet, the _daʿi_ declared, is -shown, not by working miracles which impress the vulgar, but by the -establishment of political institutions which equip a stable and well -disposed government, and by the teaching of spiritual doctrines which -give an explanation of the phenomena of nature. Then, as Nuwairi and -Maqrizi state, the Qurʾan, the resurrection, the end of the world, the -last judgment, and such like doctrines of Islam are explained away as -having allegorical meanings: according to the _batinite_ doctrine, all -these things signify only the revolutions of the planets and of the -universe in regular rotation, or the production and destruction of things -according to the arrangement and combination of elements, as explained in -the teachings of the philosophers. - -_Ninth Grade._ In this grade the disciple was taught the doctrines of -the philosophers and what they have stated about the heavens, the stars, -the soul, the intelligence, and other like things: in all he was made -grades which were a later addition were more definitely based on the -teachings of the Greek philosophers which had been popularised in the -Muslim world. At the same time the disciple learned that Abraham, Moses, -and the other prophets were only founders of legal and social systems; -they had received their learning from Plato, and the other philosophers -who consequently are more important than the prophets commonly revered. -He was especially taught to abhor the Arabs because they had been -responsible for slaying Husayn, for which crime they were deprived of -all rights to the Khalifate and Imamate, which were transferred to the -Persians. - -Maqrizi says that the members of ʿAbdullah sect who attained to the -highest grade became _muʿattil_ and _ibahi_ (Maq. i. 348). Strictly -speaking the former term denotes one who denies that the universe has -a creator, and therefore implies that the initiated held the doctrine -common to most of the Arabic “philosophers” of the eternity of matter. -This teaching was one of the leading charges brought by the orthodox -Muslims against Aristotle. The second term seems to mean “one who -admits as (or makes) allowable,” and implies what would be described as -antinomianism. Maqrizi continues that the initiated “did not any longer -recognize any moral law, nor expect either punishment or future reward” -(id.). The historian Nuwayri gives the same account of the Qarmatian -branch of the Ismaʿilian sect. Such antinomianism is not at all unknown -amongst Muslim devotees: thus Maqrizi (ii. 432) in another passage refers -to the Qalandariya darwishes as a type of Sufis who disregard fasting and -prayer, and have no reluctance to use any form of self-indulgence, saying -that it is sufficient that their hearts are at peace with God. These -darwishes were of Persian origin and appeared in Syria in the 7th cent. -A.H., but their order had its beginning in the 5th cent. Antinomian ideas -appear with the later Murjiʿites of the 2nd cent., and are represented in -the doctrines of Jahm b. Safwan, who was put to death about 131, and was, -characteristically enough, a Persian convert in rebellion against the -Arab Khalif. Amongst these Murjiʿites we find the doctrine to assume the -system of those who believed in the eternity of matter. Thus it will be -seen the two highest _taqiya_ or “concealment,” which afterwards became -common amongst the Shiʿites, the doctrine, namely, that profession of -faith means only the confession of the soul to God, it being allowable -that the true believer outwardly conforms to any religion. - -Nuwayri also gives the form of contract proposed to a convert at the -time of his initiation. This appears in two parts, to each of which the -convert gives assent. They may be summarised thus: - -(1) A promise before God, and before his Apostle, his prophets, angels, -and envoys, to inviolable secrecy as to all the convert knows about the -missionary, about the representative of the Imam in the district where he -lives, as well as regarding all other members of the sect. A pledge to -accept all the orthodox teachings of Islam, and to observe all its rites, -both matters which, as we have seen, were required of the lower grades -and disregarded by the higher ones. - -(2) A pledge to loyalty towards the missionaries and the Imam, and the -invocation of the curse of Iblis if this pledge is broken. “If you have -any reservation, in will or thought, this oath nevertheless has full -binding force upon you, and God will take no satisfaction other than the -complete fulfilment of all it contains and of the agreements made between -you and me.” - -This oath, it will be observed, is intended for those initiated into -the first grade, and so conforms to the idea of orthodox Islam, though -including the Shiʿite doctrine of an Imam, but covers all that is to be -taught later with a veil of secrecy. The plan was to adapt the earlier -teaching to the beliefs and capacity of the proselytes, and this method -is further illustrated by the _kitab as-siyasa_ or “book of policy,” a -manual for the guidance of the _duʿat_, which Nuwayri describes on the -authority of Abu l-Hasan. - -According to this the teacher is told to emphasize his zeal for Shiʿite -theories if he has to deal with a Shiʿite, to express sympathy with -ʿAli and his two sons, and repugnance towards the Arabs who put them -to death. If he has to deal with a Sabian, emphasis was laid on the -reverence paid to the numeral seven. If his conversation was with a -Zoroastrian, his principles are at the basis very similar to those of -the Ismaʿilians, and with him the _daʿi_ may commence at the fourth -grade. If his business is with a Jew, he should explain that the Mahdi -Muhammad b. Ismaʿil is the Messiah expected by the Jews and speak much -against the Muslims and Christians, especially about their erroneous -beliefs as to the unique birth of Christ, making it plain that Joseph the -carpenter was undoubtedly his father. With Christians, on the contrary, -it is advised to speak ill of the Muslims and Jews, explaining that the -Ismaʿilians recognise the Christian creed, but giving it an allegorical -interpretation, and showing that the Paraclete is yet to come, and is -the true Imam to whom they are invited to come. In dealing with dualists -or Manichaeans the _daʿi_ may begin at the sixth grade of initiation, -or if the convert seems worthy of confidence, the whole doctrine may be -revealed at once. With one of the “philosophers” who, in true Muslim -fashion, are treated as a distinct sect, emphasis is to be laid on the -fact that the essential points of the Ismaʿilian faith are based on the -teachings of philosophy, and the sect agrees with them in everything -concerning the prophets and the eternity of the world; but some of the -philosophers differ from the Ismaʿilians in admitting a Being who rules -the world, though confessing that he is unknown. With “dualists,” _i.e._, -Muslims of the sect so called (cf. De Sacy: _Druses_, p. lxviii., note -3), victory is sure; it is only necessary to dwell on the doctrine of the -pre-existing and the second. With orthodox Sunnis the missionary is to -speak with respect of the early Khalifs, avoid eulogies upon ʿAli and his -sons, even mentioning some things about them which call for disapproval: -great pains should be taken to secure Sunni adherents as they form -most useful defenders. When dealing with a Shiʿite who accepts Musa, -the son of Jaʿfar, and his descendants, great care is necessary: the -_daʿi_ should dwell on the moral laws of Islam, but explain the sacred -associations of the number seven. With some it is impossible to venture -further and show that the religion of Muhammad is now abrogated, with -others it is possible even to show that the ritual laws of the Qurʾan are -obsolete, with a few he may proceed to admit that the _Kaʾim_ is really -dead, that he comes back to the world only in a spiritual manner, and -explain allegorically the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Each -is to be dealt with according to his beliefs, and care must be taken not -to offend his religious prejudices. The _daʿi_ is advised to study the -history of ancient legislators, their adventures, systems and sects, so -as to have a fund of illustration which will arrest the attention of -their pupils. - -Such was the system formed by ʿAbdullah, probably somewhere before -A.H. 250, and by him grafted on the already existing sect of Shiʿites, -which upheld the claims of Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar. In the reign -of Maʾmun (A.H. 198-218) ʿAbdullah had joined the revolt of Ishaq b. -Ibrahim at Karkh and Ispahan, and formed a close friendship with the -wealthy Muhammad b. Husayn b. Jihan-Bakhtar ad-Didan, a Persian prominent -for his intense hatred of the Arabs, and it was he who first supplied -ʿAbdullah with funds to begin his propaganda (cf. Quatremère in _Journ. -Asiat._, Aug., 1836). It is not easy to form any clear scheme of the -chronology of the sect in its early days, nor to follow the details of -its history: conspiracies and secret societies do not leave much in the -way of documentary evidence of their first formation. That ʿAbdullah -was associated with a rebellion in the reign of Maʾmun is hardly -likely; it seems rather that Muhammad b. Husayn ad-Didan (Dandan, or -Zaydan) was so associated, and he afterwards befriended ʿAbdullah. This -Muhammad was secretary to Ahmad ibn ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz ibn Abi Dolaf, who -became prince of Karaj in A.H. 265. No doubt ʿAbdullah was a younger -contemporary, assisted by the old anti-Arab agitator. Certainly ʿAbdullah -was established at Basra, whither he had removed from Persia, before 261 -(_Fihrist_, 187), lodging there with the family of ʿAgil ibn Abi Talib. -Thence he went to Syria, presumably finding suspicion aroused at Basra, -and made his headquarters at Salamiya in the territory of Emessa (Maq. -i., 348-9: ii., 11), and from there sent out missionaries who preached -the claims of Muhammad b. Ismaʿil b. Jaʿfar as the “concealed” Imam, and -of ʿAbdullah himself as the Mahdi or “guide,” who was to prepare men for -the Imam’s return to earth (Maq. i., 348). At Salamiya he had a son named -Ahmad, and when he died Ahmad succeeded him as head of the sect. - -Ahmad, like his father, sent out missionaries, and one of these was -instrumental in founding the important branch known as the _Qarmatians_, -a branch so important and prominent that some, e.g., Jamal ad-Din, have -regarded the Ismaʿilians as their off-shoot. The fact seems to be that -there were at first members of one body, then circumstances gave the -Qarmatians a political opening in Syria and ʿIraq, and, in a position of -independence, they developed their doctrines more openly than the rest of -the sect and, being drawn from the peasant class, these assumed a grosser -form: whilst the other or parent community found a career in Africa -but, as they became there a ruling minority with a subject majority of -orthodox type, they were induced to observe some semblance of orthodoxy. - -ʿAbdullah was succeeded as head of the Ismaʿilian sect by his son Ahmad. -According to the _Fihrist_ he was succeeded first by his son Muhammad, -then by a second son Ahmad, the latter being also described as the son of -Muhammad, and so grandson of ʿAbdullah (_Fihrist_, p. 137). This Ahmad -may be the one who was at Basra for some time, then at Kufa, whence in -266 or thereabouts he sent missionaries to Yemen; possibly he was the -Ahmad al-Qaiyal who wrote a book on the Imamate, which was refuted by -Razi (d. 320). - -After Ahmad came his son Husayn, who died not long afterwards, leaving a -son named Saʿid, who subsequently took the name of ʿUbayd Allah, and was -the Mahdi who established the Fatimid State in North Africa, dying in -A.H. 323 (= A.D. 934). That he was originally called Saʿid is generally -admitted, but he appears variously as Saʿid son of Husayn son of Ahmad, -and Saʿid son of Ahmad, and Saʿid son of Abu Shalaghlagh. The explanation -given for these different names is that Ahmad had two sons, of whom the -elder, Husayn, died whilst Saʿid was still young, and the son was adopted -by his uncle Muhammad, the second son of Ahmad, who was also known as Abu -Shalaghlagh. - -There is a story that Saʿid or ʿUbayd Allah was the son of an obscure -Jewish smith, whose widow was married to Husayn, son of Ahmad, and that -he was adopted by his step-father. This is one of the three forms of -what we may call the “Jewish legend,” the attempt to trace the Fatimid -dynasty to a Jewish source. These three attempts are: (i.) that Maymun b. -Daysan the oculist was a Jew; (ii.) that ʿUbayd Allah was really the son -of a Jewish smith; and (iii.) that he was killed in prison at Sijilmassa, -and afterwards personated by a Jewish slave. Probably the “Jewish legend” -was associated with the fact that the renegade Jew, Ibn Killis, was the -one who encouraged the Fatimids to invade Egypt and did most to organise -their government there, and with the undoubted favouritism which the -early Fatimids showed the Jews. - -A new development in the teaching of the sect took place under Husayn, -or possibly commenced under his father Ahmad. ʿAbdullah had been content -to describe himself as the “Mahdi” or guide, who was to lead men to -the Imam, who was Ismaʿil, or his son Muhammad; he made no claim to be -himself a descendant of the Imam. Probably it was a later theory that -the Imam was “concealed” only in the sense that he had to hide himself -from the ʿAbbasid Khalif. Later still, when a Fatimid Khalif was actually -ruling in Cairo, the claim to descent from ʿAli through ʿAbdullah and his -family became a matter of heated controversy. - -Historians differ very much as to how far the Fatimids succeeded in -proving their ʿAlid descent, and contemporary opinion was quite as -varied. Abu l-Hasan Muhammad Masawi, commonly known as Radi, born at -Baghdad in 359 and dying in 406, was himself an undoubted descendant of -Husayn the son of ʿAli, and was official keeper of the records of ʿAlid -genealogy. As Abu l-Feda notes (_Ann. Mosl._, ii. 309) he, in one of his -poems, fully admits the legitimate descent of the Fatimids of Egypt from -ʿAli, and the actual passage is extant (cf. _Diwan_ of Radi, Beirut, p. -972): but in 402 this same Radi joined with other ʿAlids and certain -canonists in a proclamation denouncing the Fatimids and declaring their -claimed genealogy as baseless. It is natural to suppose that in this -he was actuated by fear or complaisance, and this difficulty meets us -throughout; the whole question was so much a matter of current political -controversy that it was practically impossible to get anything like an -unbiassed opinion. Maqrizi, the leading Egyptian authority of a later -age, was strongly pro-Fatimid, but he claims the noble rank of _sayyid_ -on the ground of descent from ʿAli through the Fatimids, and so is -prejudiced in their favour. He argues that the ʿAlid descent of the -Fatimids was never attacked by the acknowledged ʿAlids who then existed -in considerable numbers (Maq. i., 349), an argument which is far from -being true. - -Elsewhere Maqrizi defends the Fatimid claims by saying that the ʿAlids -were always suspected by the ʿAbbasid Khalifs, and so “they had no resort -but to conceal themselves and were scarcely known, so that Muhammad b. -Ismaʿil, the Imam ancestor of ʿUbayd Allah, was called the ‘concealed’” -(Maq. i., 349). But this tells the other way: it admits that the ʿAlid -genealogy was not well known: and the mere fact that ʿAbdullah was sought -for by the Khalif simply shows that his pretensions were known to be -dangerous, as a Mahdi with a body of followers would necessarily be, -and is no proof of the validity of the descent afterwards claimed by -ʿAbdullah’s descendants. The obscurity of the ʿAlid genealogy afterwards -favoured the Fatimid claims, but it does not seem that that claim was -part of their original programme. The first idea was to support the -claims of the vanished Imam, claims selected in all probability because -of the convenient fact that he had vanished, and to represent ʿAbdullah -and his descendants simply as Mahdis, viceroys to guide and direct the -people of Islam until the day came for the concealed Imam to be revealed -again. - -After the Fatimid claims had been laid before the world the ʿAbbasids -brought forward many calumnies (Maq. i., 349). The strongly anti-Fatimid -Ibn Khallikan relates a story that when the first Fatimid Khalif to -enter Egypt, al-Moʿizz, came to Cairo, the jurist, Abu Muhammad ibn -Tabataba, came to meet him, supported by a number of undoubted members -of ʿAli’s family, and asked to see his credentials. Al-Moʿizz then drew -his sword and cried, “Here is my pedigree”: and scattering gold amongst -the by-standers added, “And this is my proof.” The story is an improbable -legend, and even Ibn Khallikan rejects it on the ground that when -al-Moʿizz entered Cairo, Abu Muhammad the jurist (d. 348) had been many -years in his grave (Ibn Khall. iii., 366). - -The weakest part of the Fatimid claim, as we have remarked, lies in the -great diversity of forms the claim takes in different writers. When -ʿUbayd Allah or Saʿid, ʿAbdullah’s great-grandson, established himself -in Africa, the genealogy began to call for serious attention, and came -to be examined, not by uncritical members of the sect, but by all the -historians and genealogists of the Muslim world. It then appeared in no -less than nine divergent forms. - -(1) Traced through Jaʿfar as-Sadiq the sixth Imam, then through -his son Ismaʿil, his son Muhammad “the concealed,” then Jaʿfar -al-Musaddiq—Muhammad al-Habib—and then ʿUbayd Allah. Thus Maqrizi and -Ibn Khaldun. According to this ʿAbdullah and Ahmad do not appear in the -descent at all. - -(2) Traced through Jaʿfar to Muhammad “the concealed” as in the -preceding, then ʿAbdullah ar-Rida (the accepted of God),—Ahmad al-Wafi -(the perfect),—al-Husayn at-Taki (the pious),—and ʿUbayd Allah the Mahdi. -This appears in Ibn Khallikan and Ibn Khaldun, and seems to have been -more or less the official version. According to this ʿAbdullah, the -father of Ahmad, was the son of Mohammad “the concealed,” not of Maymun. -Similarly the pro-Fatimid author of the _Dastur al-Munajjimin_ (MS. of M. -Schefer, cited by de Goeje, _Qarmates_, pp. 8-9), who says that Muhammad -b. Ismaʿil took refuge in India; he had six sons, Jaʿfar, Ismaʿil, Ahmad, -Husayn, ʿAli, and ʿAbdu r-Rahman, but does not mention ʿAbdullah nor say -which of these sons was the Imam: he then refers to the three “mysterious -ones” as succeeding Muhammad. Tabari (iii., 2218, 12) says that Muhammad -b. Ismaʿil had no son named ʿAbdullah. - -(3) As before, but Maymun as son of Muhammad “the concealed,” then -ʿAbdullah—Muhammad—Ubayd Allah; thus in Abu l-Feda. Maymun is made -the son of the seventh Imam (which is impossible), and the Mahdi is -represented as ʿAbdullah’s grandson (see below). - -(4) Ismaʿil, son of Jaʿfar,—Muhammad “the -concealed,”—Ismaʿil,—Ahmad,—Ubayd Allah. This also occurs in Abu l-Feda, -and in ʿUbayd Allah’s “Genealogy of the ʿAlids” (MS. Leiden, 686—cited -by de Goeje, _Qarmates_, p. 9) Muhammad had three sons, Ismaʿil II, -Jaʿfar, and Yahya; Ismaʿil had a son named Ahmad, who dwelt in the -Maghrab. - -(5) Ismaʿil—Muhammad “the concealed,”—Ismaʿil -II,—Muhammad,—Ahmad,—ʿAbdullah,—Muhammad,—Husayn,—Ahmad or -ʿAbdullah,—Ubayd Allah the Mahdi. This is the genealogy given in the -sacred books of the Druses, and rests on the theory that there must -have been seven “concealed Imams” intervening between Jaʿfar as-Sadiq -and the Mahdi. It is merely an instance of the mystic value attached -to the sacred numeral. Like (3) it gives Muhammad for Ahmad which is a -permissible variant. - -(6) The five preceding genealogies are distinctively Ismaʿilian in -character, but there are others which show adaptations of the “Twelvers” -accounts, and these cannot be much more than later attempts to connect -the Fatimid line with that recognised by the other Shiʿites. First we -have the idea that the descent from Jaʿfar as-Sadiq was through Musa, -not Ismaʿil, then following the next three Imams ʿAli ar-Rida—Muhammad -al-Jawad—ʿAli al-Hadi (see above)—al-Hasan al-Askari—Ubayd Allah the -Mahdi. According to this the Fatimite Mahdi in Africa was the son of the -eleventh Imam of the “Twelvers,” and thus replaced Muhammad al-Muntazar. - -(7) The same line as the preceding, but admitting Muhammad al-Muntazar -as twelfth Imam who “disappeared” in 260, and asserting that ʿUbayd -Allah who appeared in North Africa was this same Muhammad emerging from -concealment, after an interval of 29 years. - -(8) The same line as far as ʿAli al-Hadi, then Husayn, presumably a -brother of Hasan al-Askari, and ʿUbayd Allah as son of this Husayn. -This is given by Ibn Khallikan on the authority of a reference in Ibn -al-Athir. All these three last genealogies must be dismissed as later -suggestions since it is clear that the Ismaʿilian sect rejected the Imams -of the “Twelvers” after Jaʿfar as-Sadiq: but it may be that Ahmad’s first -claim was simply to be an ʿAlid, and not necessarily the son of the house -of Ismaʿil. - -(9) Finally we have another theory, mentioned by Ibn Khallikan, that the -Mahdi was descended from Hasan, a brother of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and so an -ʿAlid but not an Imam, and from this Hasan came ʿAbdullah, Ahmad, Hasan, -and then ʿAli or ʿUbayd Allah the Mahdi. Back to ʿAbdullah this was -the generally asserted genealogy of the Mahdi’s family, but Hasan, the -brother of Jaʿfar, replaces Maymun. - -The chief point is that there were so many alternative forms of the -genealogy, and close scrutiny shows very weak points in every one -of them. To the fully initiated this was a very small matter, as no -importance was attached to the claim to the Imamate or to the descent -from ʿAli at all. No doubt all these pedigrees served their purpose in -dealing with the different types of proselytes, and their very diversity -tends to prove that they were actually accepted and circulated in a sect -which adapted its teachings to suit the opinions of the different classes -with which it came into contact. It was not until the Fatimids became a -political power that any need was felt to bring these various genealogies -into any kind of agreement, and then, no doubt, the variant forms -circulated by the different missionaries were a source of embarrassment. - - - - -III - -THE QARMATIANS - - -We turn now to the formation of the important branch of the Ismaʿilian -sect known as the Qarmatians, which is particularly interesting as we -have detailed accounts of its formation which show how the propaganda -worked, and illustrate the ease with which an armed group could set up an -independent robber state in this period of the decay of the Khalifate. Of -the history of their founding there are two leading narratives slightly -divergent in details,—which De Goeje (pp. 13-17) calls A. and B. A. given -by De Sacy (_Druses_, pp. clxvi., etc.) is that of Nuwayri, who drew his -information from Akhu Muhsin, who obtained it from Ibn Razzam, and the -substance, drawn from the same sources, appears in the _Fihrist_. B. -(in De Sacy clxxi., etc.) is really the account given by Tabari, and is -based on the description given by a person who had been present at the -examination of Zaqruyah the Qarmatian by Muhammad b. Dawud b. al-Jarrah. -The A. account is as follows. - -One of Ahmad’s missionaries named Husayn Ahwazi was sent to labour in the -district of Kufa known as the Sawad. As he was travelling he met a man -named Hamdan b. Ashhath al-Qarmati, who was leading an ox with forage -on its back. Husayn asked him the way to a place named Kass-Nahram, and -Hamdan replied that he was going there himself. Then Husayn asked him -where was a place named Dawr, and Hamdan told him that was his home. So -they went on together. Then Hamdan says: “You seem to have come a long -way and to be very tired: get on this ox of mine.” But Husayn declined, -saying that he had not been told to do so. Hamdan remarked: “You speak -as though you acted according to the orders which some one had given -you.” Husayn admitted that this was so. “And who,” Hamdan asked, “it -is then from whom you receive these orders and prohibitions?” Husayn -replied: “It is my master and yours, the master of this world and of the -world to come.” After some reflection Hamdan said: “There is only God -most High who is master of all things.” “True,” replied Husayn, “but God -entrusts control to whom he pleases.” Hamdan then asked, “What do you -intend to do in the village to which you have asked to be directed?” -“I am going,” said Husayn, “to bring to many people who dwell there a -knowledge of the secrets of God. I have received orders to water the -village, to enrich the inhabitants, to deliver them, and to put them in -possession of their masters’ goods.” Then he began to persuade Hamdan to -embrace his teaching. Hamdan said: “I beseech you in the name of God to -reveal to me what you possess of this wisdom: deliver it to me, and God -will deliver you.” “That,” said Husayn, “is a thing I cannot do, unless -I previously get from you an undertaking and bind you in the name of God -by a promise as an oath like that which God has always exacted from his -prophets and apostles. After that I shall be able to tell you things -which will be useful to you.” Hamdan continued to urge, and at last -Husayn gave way, and as they sat by the roadside Husayn administered the -oath to him and asked his name. Hamdan replied that he was commonly known -as the _Qarmat_, and invited Husayn to take up his abode with him. So -Husayn went to his house and gained many converts from Hamdan’s kinsmen -and neighbours. There he stayed for some time, arousing in his host and -others the strongest admiration of the ascetic and pious life he led, -fasting by day, and watching by night. He worked as a tailor, and it was -generally felt that the garments which had passed through his hands were -consecrated. When the date harvest came a learned and wealthy citizen -of Kufa named Abu ʿAbdullah Muhammad b. ʿUmar b. Shabab Adawi, hearing -good reports of him, made him guardian of his date garden, and found him -scrupulous in his attention and honesty. Husayn revealed his doctrines -to this employer, but he saw through the piety which had impressed the -villagers and understood that he was a conspirator. Before his death -Husayn appointed Hamdan as _daʿi_ in his place. This is an outline of the -narrative of the origin of the Qarmatians, so called as the followers of -Hamdan the Qarmat, according to the Sherif Abu l-Hasan as reported in the -history of Nuwayri. - -Gregory Bar Hebraeus gives a different account which appears also in -Bibars Mansuri and in another part of Nuwayri who cites the authority -of Ibn Athir, and this is the second account which de Goeje calls B. -According to it a Persian of Khuzistan established himself in the Nahrayn -or district between the rivers, near Hufa, and soon drew attention by -the asceticism and piety of his life. When anyone went and sat by him -he used to discourse about religion and try to induce his hearers to -renounce the world; he taught that it was a matter of obligation to -pray fifty times a day, and that it was his office to guide men to the -true Imam whose abode he knew. Some merchants purchased the produce of -the garden in which this recluse had taken up his abode, and enquired -for a trustworthy watchman to look after their property. The gardener -introduced the recluse to them, and they gave him charge of the produce. -When they came to take away their dates they paid the watchman, and he, -on his part, paid the gardener for the dates supplied to him, deducting -a rebate for the stones. The merchants saw this reckoning going on, and -supposed that he had been selling some of their dates, so they struck -him, saying, “Is it not enough that you have eaten our dates?—is it for -you also to sell the stones?” The gardener then spoke up and told them -the facts, and when they perceived their error they made their apologies -and conceived a very high opinion of his rectitude and probity. Some -time later he fell ill, and the gardener sent for a certain villager -commonly known as _Qaramita_, a word which in the Nabataean language -means a man with red eyes. This villager’s real name is not given, but -Tabari adds that Muhammad b. Dawud b. al-Jarrah said to someone that he -was called Hamdan. He was an owner of oxen which were used to carry the -produce of Sawad to the city of Kufa. He took the sick man to his house -and there the devotee stayed until he was quite well, and whilst there -taught the Qaramita the doctrines of the sect to which he belonged, -and also instructed the villagers. From amongst his converts he chose -twelve _nakibs_, in imitation of Moses and Jesus, and sent them out as -missionaries. He required his followers to pray fifty times a day, and as -a result the work of the villagers fell into arrears. A certain Haysam -who possessed property in the village perceived this and made enquiry -as to the reason; this led him into contact with the devotee who was -induced to reveal to him his peculiar doctrines. Haysam perceived their -subversive character and took him to Kufa where he locked him up in his -house, but a female servant who was moved by the captive’s apparent -piety stole the key and set him free. In the morning the room was found -empty, and this was reported as a miracle. Soon afterwards the devotee -re-appeared to the villagers and told them that he had been set free by -angels, and then he escaped to Syria. After his departure the Qaramata -continued to preach and expand the doctrines which he had learned, and -in this was assisted by the other nakibs. According to Ibn Athir, cited -by Nuwayri, this Qaramat or Hamdan was a man who “affected a religious -life, detached from the world and mortified,” and “when anyone joined his -sect Hamdan took a piece of gold from him, saying that it was for the -Imam. From them (_i.e._, his followers) he chose twelve _nakibs_ whom he -charged to call men to his religion, saying that they were the apostles -of Isa b. Maryam.” - -The A. text refers to Husayn’s death, the B. text says that he went to -Syria. Tabari speaks of the devotee as coming from Khuzistan, but Akhu -Muhsin says that he was sent by Ahmad from Salamiya. De Goeje (p. 18) -suggests that he may have been Ahmad’s son Husayn. According to the -_Kitab al-Oyun_ (MS. Berlin, 69—cited by de Goeje) Saʿid, the son of -Husayn, the son of Ahmad, the son of ʿAbdullah, was born at Salamiya -in 259 or 260. But evidently there is some error here. Husayn was the -grandson, not the son, of Abdullah, and the head of the sect did not -leave Askar Mokram before 266: probably not until after the repression -of the slave rebellion in 270. No open revolt of the Qarmatians took -place until 286. - -In his _Chronicle_ Bar Hebraeus applies to the sect of the _Nusayri_ -all that he says about the Qarmatians, and so the books of the Druses -in their references to the Nusayri prove that they hold very much the -same doctrines as the Ismaʿilians. It is supposed that the Nusayri sect -is a survival of an ancient pagan community (cf. René Dussand: _Hist. -et religion des Nosairis_, _Paris_, 1900). This fits in with the advice -given to the missionaries that Manichaean converts may be admitted to a -higher grade without hesitation. - -After this rather confused account of the foundation of the sect of -Qarmatians we find ourselves on surer ground. It is clear that Hamdan -surnamed the Qarmati was the convert chosen to act as head of the branch -founded near Kufa, and he seems to have been diligent in sending out -missionaries throughout the whole district of Sawad, where success was -easy as the oppressed Nabataean villagers were still groaning under the -tyranny of the Arab colonists of the two camp-cities, Kufa and Basra. -Not only were the peasants won over in large numbers, but many of the -dissatisfied Arab tribes were also gained: these, it will be understood, -were those tribes which had had no share in the wealth acquired by the -Khalif and his followers. At first Hamdan required each proselyte to -pay a piece of silver, corresponding to the _fitr_ or legal alms which -Muslims are expected to pay at the end of Ramadan. Then he exacted a -piece of gold from each person on attaining the age of reason, a tribute -which he called _hijra_ or “flight,” perhaps because intended for the -maintenance of a place of refuge called the “house of flight.” Later -again he demanded seven pieces of gold which he termed _bulgha_ or -“livelihood.” He prepared a choice banquet, and gave a small portion -to each of those who gave him the seven pieces of gold, saying that it -was the food of the dwellers in paradise sent down to the Imam. He next -levied a fifth of all their possessions, basing his claim on the words -of the Qurʾan, “And know ye, that when ye have taken any booty, a fifth -part belongeth to God and to His Apostle” (Qur. 8, 42). Next he required -them to deposit all their goods in a common fund, a reminiscence of the -communism taught in pre-Islamic times by the Persian prophet Mazdak, and -justified this by the passages, “Remember God’s goodness towards you, how -that when ye were enemies, He united your hearts, and by His favour ye -became brethren” (Qur. 3, 98), and “Hadst thou spent all the riches of -the earth, thou couldst not have united their hearts; but God hath united -them, for He is Mighty, Wise” (Qur. 8, 64). He told them that they had -no need of money because everything on earth belonged to them, but he -exhorted them to procure arms. All this took place in the year 276. - -The _daʿi_ chose in each village a man worthy of confidence, and in -his charge they placed the property of the inhabitants. By this means -clothes were provided for those who were without, and all had their -needs supplied so that there was no more poverty. All worked diligently, -for rank was made to depend on a man’s utility to the community; no -one possessed any private property save sword and arms. Then it is -said the _daʿi_ assembled men and women together on a certain night, -and encouraged them to indulge in promiscuous intercourse. After this, -assured of their absolute obedience, he began to teach them the more -secret doctrines of the sect, and so deprived them of all belief in -religion, and discouraged the observance of external rites such as -prayer, fasting, and the like. This was the distinctive mark of the -Qarmatian branch: the initiated were no longer a small minority living in -the midst of their fellow sectarians who still adhered to the external -forms of Islam, but amongst the Qarmatians all were initiated to the -fullest extent in all the teachings of the sect. Before long they began -to steal and to commit murders, so that they produced a reign of terror -in the vicinity. Then the _daʿis_ felt that the time was ripe for open -revolt, and selected a village in the Sawad called Mahimabad, near the -river Euphrates, and within the royal domain as their rallying place or -“house of flight”: thither they carried large stones, and in a short time -surrounded it with a strong wall and erected a building in the midst, in -which a great many persons could be assembled and where goods could be -stored. This took place in 277. - -At this time the Khalifate was weak, and this favoured the lawless -movements of the villagers who now came to be known as Qarmatians from -their leader. Their head, Hamdan the Qarmati, meanwhile kept up constant -correspondence with the leaders of the sect at Salamiya. After the death -of Ahmad his son and successor wrote a letter to Hamdan, but he was -not satisfied with its contents: he observed that this letter differed -considerably in expression from those which he had previously received, -and contained matters which did not seem to agree with the teaching he -had received, so he concluded that the responsible heads had changed -their policy. To make sure he sent a trusty follower named Abdan to -Salamiya to find out how matters stood. Abdan arrived there, learned -about the death of Ahmad and the succession of his son Husayn, and had -an interview with this latter. In that interview he asked who was the -Imam to whom they owed obedience, and Husayn replied by the counter -question, “Who then is the Imam?” Abdan replied, “It is Muhammad the son -of Ismaʿil the son of Jaʿfar, the master of the world, to whose obedience -your father called men, and whose _hujja_ he was.” Husayn showed some -annoyance at this reply, and said: “Muhammad the son of Ismaʿil has no -rights in all this; there has never been any other Imam than my father -who was descended from Maymun b. Daysan, and to-day I take his place.” -By this reply Abdan discovered the real nature of the sect, or at least -its present policy. He then returned to the Qarmati and told him what he -had discovered, and by his orders all the _duʿat_ were called together -and informed of what Abdan had discovered and advised to stop their -propaganda. As a result the preaching came to an end in the districts -about Kufa, but they were not able to check it in remoter parts, and they -ceased all correspondence with the leaders at Salamiya. - -Then one of the sons of Ahmad who had been on a visit to Talakan tried -to see the Qarmati on his return journey, but was unable to find him. He -therefore called on Abdan and reproached him for ceasing to correspond -with Salamiya. Abdan replied that he had left off preaching and desired -to sever his connection with the sect as he had discovered that they -were not really loyal to the house of ʿAli, but were supporting an Imam -of the family of Maymun: he only asked God’s pardon for what he had -previously done in error. When the visitor saw that he had nothing to -hope from Abdan, he turned to another _daʿi_ named Zaqruya b. Mahruya and -discussed with him Abdan’s attitude. Zaqruya received him well, and it -was agreed that he should be established as chief _daʿi_ in the district -and, in return would resume the former relations with Salamiya. To this -Zaqruya assented, but objected that, so long as Abdan was alive all -efforts would be fruitless, as all revered him as a leader. They agreed -therefore to get rid of Abdan. For this end Zaqruya collected a number of -his neighbours, informed them that the _hujja_ or earthly representative -of the Imam was dead, and that his son was now occupying his place. -The people expressed the greatest respect towards the new _hujja_, and -declared their readiness to carry out his commands. He told them that -they were to kill Abdan as he had proved to be a rebel and apostate. -Next night Abdan was killed. When, however, it came to be known that it -was Zaqruya who had brought about his death the Qarmates were indignant, -and Zaqruya had to flee for his life and hide himself, and advised the -representative from Salamiya who seems to have remained with him, to -leave the neighbourhood. This took place in 286. - -During the rest of that year, and the year following, the Qarmatians were -busy hunting for Zaqruya who was compelled to move from place to place, -and finally retired to a subterranean retreat. When he went into the -village near his hiding place a woman who lived in the house used to make -bread on the stone which covered the entrance to the concealed cave so as -to disarm suspicion. - -In 288 the search seemed to be relaxed, and then Zaqruya sent his son -Hasan to Syria with a companion named Hasan b. Ahmad, and told them to -preach to the Arabs of the B. Kalb tribe, inviting them to recognise -Muhammad b. Ismaʿil as the Imam. These two envoys obtained many -followers. The envoy who had made plans with Zaqruya had meanwhile gone -back to Talakan, and now, annoyed at Zaqruya’s silence, went to the Sawad -and discovered his place of concealment. When Zaqruya told him of the -success of his mission to the Arabs he was delighted and determined to -join the envoys himself. Zaqruya approved this plan and sent with him -his nephew Isa b. Mahwayh, surnamed Mudatthar, and another young man -surnamed Mutawwak, at the same time writing a letter to his son bidding -him render obedience to the leader of these new comers whom he termed -_Sahib al-Nakat_. When they reached the B. Kalb they were welcomed and -received with every profession of loyalty, and the tribe prepared for -war. This took place in 289. The resulting conflict with the authorities -was, however, unsuccessful: the sectaries were not able to repeat their -brigandage which the weakness of the central authority had been unable -to prevent about the Sawad, and the leader, the kinsman of the Mahdi at -Salamiya, was killed, and the Arabs scattered. - -Nuwayri says that this leader had struck money, both gold and silver, and -that the coins were inscribed on one side: “Say, the truth has come and -falsehood has disappeared” (Qur. 17, 83): and on the other: “There is no -God but God; Say, ‘for this I ask no wage of you, save the love of my -kindred’” (Qur. 42, 22). - -After this leader’s death Hasan, son of Zaqruya, took command of -the Qarmatians and assumed the name of Ahmad. The general Muhammad -b. Sulayman had a great victory over him and, as he was unable to -reconstruct his forces, he left for Baghdad where, he said, he had many -followers, and put his son Kasam in charge as his deputy, promising to -write to him. This was, however, only a pretext as he intended to seek -safety in flight, but was caught by Mudatthar and Mutawwak and put to -death. - -This check caused the Arabs to keep quiet for some time. Then they -received a letter from Zaqruya saying that he had heard of the death of -Hasan and Isa by revelation, and that after their death the Imam was -going to be revealed and would triumph with his followers. Kasam was now -getting anxious, and thought it well to visit his grandfather Zaqruya in -the Sawad; but Zaqruya disapproved the course of events and rebuked him -severely, sending another disciple, an ex-schoolmaster named Muhammad b. -Abdullah, to replace him. At first this new commander met with success, -then came reverse and he was killed. At this news Zaqruya sent back -Kasam to collect the remnants of the party which he did and brought them -to ad-Derna, a village in the Sawad. Here they were joined by Zaqruya, -who was hailed by the Arabs as their _wali_, and all the Qarmatians in -the Sawad came out to join them. The rising in the Sawad was a mere -_jacquerie_ of Nabataean peasants, and the Qarmatian movement proper -never rose much above this level. At the head of his men Zaqruya attacked -the caravan of pilgrims on their way to Mecca in 294, plundered it, and -slew twenty thousand pilgrims. The Khalif then sent out forces to put -down these troublesome brigands, the Qarmatians were severely punished, -Zaqruya was taken prisoner and sent in chains to the Khalif, but died of -his wounds on the way (Abu l-Feda: _Ann. Mosl._, ii. 299). - -In 295 a man named Abu Khatam founded a new sect of Qarmatians in the -Sawad, and these were known as the _Buraniyya_ after Burani, who was the -most active _daʿi_ in organising them. Abu Khatam forbade his followers -to use garlic, leeks, or radishes, and prohibited the shedding of any -animal’s blood; he made them abandon all the religious observances of -Islam, and instituted rites of an entirely new character. We shall -find these prohibitions of particular vegetables in the ordinances -of the Fatimid Khalif Hakim later on, but there justified by certain -Shiʿite theories. At the end of the year Abu Khatam drops out of sight -entirely. The movement is of interest only in showing the tendency of the -Ismaʿilians to form new schisms. - -Another off-shoot of the Qarmatians established itself in the Bahrayn, -the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. In 281 Yahya, a son of the -Mahdi, whom de Sacy supposes to have been the same individual who advised -Zaqruya and who was killed near Damascus in 289, the one of whom we -have already heard as the Sahib an-Nakat, although no mention of his -real name is given in any account of Zaqruya’s rising, came to al-Katif -and lodged in the house of a Shiʿite called ʿAli b. Maʿli b. Hamdan. He -told his host that he had been sent by the Mahdi to invite the Shiʿites -to recognise him, the representative of Ismaʿil, as the Imam, and to -announce that the public appearance of the “concealed one” was near at -hand. ʿAli gathered together the Shiʿites of the locality, and showed -them the letter which Yahya had given him to be read to them: they -promised obedience and declared themselves ready to take up arms as soon -as the Mahdi’s representative appeared amongst them. Very soon all the -villagers of the Bahrayn were induced to join in these undertakings. -Yahya then went away and returned with a letter, which he stated that he -had obtained from the Mahdi authorising him to act as their leader, and -calling on them to pay him six pieces of gold and two-thirds for each -man. This they did, and then Yahya brought a new letter bidding them give -him a fifth of all their goods, and this they did also. - -Ibn al-Athir says that Yahya went to the house of Abu Saʿid al-Jannabi, -one of these Shiʿites, and that his host gave him food, and then told -his wife to go in to Yahya and not refuse him her favours. News of this, -however, came to the governor of the town, and he had Yahya beaten and -his hair and beard shorn off as a punishment for the scandal caused. -After this Abu Saʿid fled to his native town of Jannaba, and Yahya went -out to the Arab tribes of Kalab, Oqayl, and Haras, who rallied round him, -so that he found himself at the head of a considerable force in 286. It -will be noted that the desert tribes, even though the most purely Arab, -were always ready to join revolutionary movements, anti-Arab as well as -other; in fact they were simply marauders, and fell in with any plans -which offered promise of a period of successful brigandage, irrespective -of any political or religious movements involved. - -Nuwayri supposes either that Abu Saʿid had previously learned Qarmatian -ideas in the Sawad, or had been initiated by Hamdan and appointed _daʿi_ -for the district of al-Katif. Most of his followers were drawn from the -lowest classes, butchers, porters, and such like. The Sharif Abu l-Hasan -says that Abu Saʿid regarded the _daʿi_ Zaqruya as a rival and felt a -jealousy towards him, so that, having contrived to get Zaqruya into a -house belonging to him, he starved him to death. - -When he had gathered a considerable following Abu Saʿid established -himself at the town of al-ʾAhsa, besieged Hajar, the capital of the -Bahrayn, for a matter of two years, during which his followers were -considerably increased, and finally captured the town by cutting off its -water supply. Some of the inhabitants escaped to the islands in the river -near by, others embraced Abu Saʿid’s doctrines, whilst others were put -to death. The town was pillaged and ruined, and thus al-ʾAhsa afterwards -replaced it as the capital of the Bahrayn. According to Ibn Khallikan Abu -Saʿid first appeared as _kabir_ or “great man” of the Qarmatians in 286. -In 287 they made an attempt on Basra, and though they defeated the forces -sent by the Khalif to repel them, they were unable to take the city (Ibn -Khall., i. 427). - -Abu Saʿid then attempted to get possession of Oman, but was obliged to -abandon this scheme. He was slain in 301 with several other Qarmatian -leaders, and was succeeded by his son Abu l-Kasam Saʿid, who held the -leadership until his second son Abu Tahar, who had been designated -successor, was old enough to take up the task, which happened in 305. The -Qarmatian risings which take a position of considerable prominence in -later history all took place under the successors of Abu Saʿid, who may -be regarded as the founder of the Qarmatians as a revolutionary force, -although there had been an earlier beginning of the sect as an off-shoot -of the Ismaʿilians under Hamdan and his missionaries. - -According to Ibn Khallikan Abu Saʿid entered Syria in 289, and in 291 -he was slain in his bath by one of his eunuchs. He left six sons. It -was Abu Tahar who marched on Basra in 311, occupied it without serious -resistance, and plundered the city. But to these doings of the Qarmatians -we shall return later. - - - - -IV - -ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FATIMIDS IN NORTH AFRICA - - -The political career of the Fatimids centres in North Africa and Egypt, -and commences with the activity of Ibn Hawshab, who himself never visited -those parts. This man, whom Maqrizi calls Abu l-Kasam Hasan b. Farash -b. Hawshab, and Abu l-Fera and Bibars Mansuri, referred to as Rustam b. -Husayn b. Hawshab b. Zadam an-Najjar (“the carpenter”), was a follower -of Ahmad whom we have seen as succeeding his father ʿAbdullah, and -accompanied him on a pilgrimage to the sacred sites of the Shiʿites, -the tombs of Hasan and Husayn and of several of the later Imams, all -in the neighbourhood of Kufa and Samarra,—ʿAli’s own tomb is not known -for certain, but is commonly believed to be at Najaf, near Kufa. Whilst -there they noticed a wealthy Shiʿite of Yemen named Muhammad himself -remarked by his tears and display of grief (Maqrizi i. 349). According -to this Yemenite’s own account he had just read the Sura of “The -Grotto” (Qur. 18), when he noticed an old man with a young companion -close at hand. The old man sat down, his companion sat near, but kept -on observing Muhammad, until at last he left the old man and drew near -him. Muhammad asked him who he was; he gave his name as Husayn, and -hearing this sacred name Muhammad could not restrain his tears. The old -man observed this very attentively, and bids the young man ask him to -join them. When Muhammad did so he asked who and what he was. The man -replied that he was a Shiʿite, and gave his name as Hasan b. Faraj b. -Hawshab. The old man said that he knew his father, and that he was a -“Twelver.” Did the son hold the same views? Hasan replied that he always -had held them, but that of late he had felt much discouragement (cf. -extract in Quatremère, _Journal asiatique_, for Aug., 1836). From this a -conversation commenced, and as a result Hasan was converted to acceptance -of the Ismaʿilian creed. Further, Ahmad drew the conclusion that Yemen -would offer a promising field for Shiʿite propaganda, and decided to -send Ibn Hawshab to act as _daʿi_ in Yemen, and about A.H. 270 (= A.D. -883) he appears there as settled in the district of the B. Musa tribe at -Sana (Maq. i. 349). At first he claimed to be simply a merchant, but his -neighbours soon penetrated his disguise and urged him to act openly as a -Shiʿite missionary who, they assured him, would be in every way welcome -(Bibars Mansuri). Thus encouraged he declared himself a Shiʿite agent, -and soon gathered a considerable band of followers drawn, not only from -the immediate vicinity, but also from the Qarmatians of Mesopotamia. As -soon as they were strong enough Ibn Hawshab’s companions took up arms and -began raids upon neighbours who had not accepted the Shiʿite creed and -met with much success in obtaining plunder. - -From the earliest period of Muslim history North Africa has been the -favourite field of exploitation of every sect and political party which -found itself in opposition to the official Khalifate, and there has -always been very close intercourse between that area and South Arabia; -indeed, there are even common peculiarities of dialect between the two. -Thus we find that as soon as the new Ismaʿilian sect was established in -Yemen, Ibn Hawshab sent two missionaries, Hulwani and Abu Sufyan (Maq. -ii. 10) to preach in the province of Ifrikiya, the modern Tripoli and -Tunis, where their work seems to have lain particularly amongst the -aboriginal Berber population, for the Berbers were always more disposed -to any heresy or rebellion which would give them a good pretext for -making war against the ruling Arabs. Nothing is known of the subsequent -history of these two missionaries save that after a brief career during -which they seem to have made a deep impression, especially on the Katama -tribe, they died. This Katama tribe lived in the broken territory -north-west of the town of Constantine, in what would now be north-east -Algeria. - -As we shall have to refer more than once to the geography of North Africa -it will be convenient here to make a brief statement of its political -divisions and condition in the fourth century A.H. By North Africa we -understand the whole territory lying between the land of Egypt on the -east and the Atlantic on the west, bounded by the Mediterranean on the -north and by the great desert on the south. Previous to the Arab invasion -this land was inhabited by the Berbers or Libyans, the same who, under -the name of _Lebu_, had constantly threatened Egypt in the days of the -Pharaohs. As a race these Berbers seem to have progressed little since -neo-lithic times, and were still in the condition of nomadic tribes like -the Arabs of the pre-Islamic period. Their language was not Semitic, -but it has many very marked Semitic affinities and, although language -transmission is often quite distinct from racial descent, it seems quite -probable that in this case the race bore a parallel relation to the Arab -stock. This would be best explained by the supposition that both were -derived from a neo-lithic race, which at one time spread along the whole -of the southern coast of the Mediterranean and across into Western Asia, -but that some cause, perhaps the early development of civilization in -the Nile valley, had cut off the eastern wing from the rest, and this -segregated portion developed the distinctive characteristics which we -term Semitic. - -Along the coast there had been a series of colonies, Greek, Punic, -Roman, and Visigothic, but these left no permanent mark on the Berber -population, language, or culture. Although at the time of the Arab -invasion the country was theoretically under the rule of Byzantium, and -the invaders had to meet the resistance of a Greek army, the early defeat -of the Greeks brought an immediate end to Greek influence in the country, -and left the Arabs face to face with the Berber tribes. - -The Arab invasion of North Africa followed immediately after the -conquest of Egypt, but the internal disputes of the Muslim community -prevented this invasion from resulting in a regular conquest, much less -in settlement. It was not until the second invasion took place in A.H. -45 (= A.D. 665) that we can regard the Arabs as really beginning the -conquest of the country and its settlement. For centuries afterwards the -Arab hold was precarious in the extreme, and many Berber states were -founded from time to time, some of which had an existence of several -centuries. As a rule there was a pronounced racial antipathy between Arab -and Berber, but this was mild compared with the tribal feuds between -different Berber groups, and Arab rule was only possible by temporary -alliance with one or other of the quarrelling factions. Strangely enough -the religion of Islam spread rapidly amongst the Berbers, but it took -a peculiar development which shows the survival of many pre-Islamic -religious ideas and observances. The worship of saints and the reverence -paid to their tombs is a corruption of Islam which appears in most lands, -but in the West it takes an extreme form, although there are tribes -which reject it altogether. Similar worship, often in a revolting form, -is paid to living saints or _murabits_ (marabouts), who are allowed to -indulge every passion, and to disregard the ordinary rules of morality: -very often these reputed saints are no more than insane persons, for the -Berbers, like many other primitive people, regard insanity as a form of -divine inspiration. Such saints, even those living to-day, are credited -with miraculous powers, and especially with the power of surpassing the -limitations of time and place, and so to pass from one place to another -in an instant of time, and to be in two places at once. - -These ideas, of course, are no legitimate development of Islam, to -which they are plainly repugnant, but represent the survival of older -pagan beliefs which Islam has not been able to eradicate. At the same -time, as we have noted, there are tribes which are completely free from -these ideas, and there is, especially in the towns, an element which is -strictly orthodox in its rejection of alien superstitions, and there -have been many learned theologians and jurists of the Berber race, for -the most part of a reactionary and conservative school of thought. -The conquest of Spain was carried out by Muslims, amongst whom the -Berbers were in the numerical majority, and the Berber element always -predominated in Spain, where some of the most brilliant philosophy, -literature, and art of the Islamic world was produced. - -North Africa was always the home of the lost causes of Islam. Whenever -the Khalifs of Baghdad tried to exterminate some obnoxious sect or -dynasty, the last survivors took refuge in the remoter parts of the -West, and there managed to hold their own, so that even now those parts -show the strangest survivals of otherwise forgotten movements. But North -Africa always gave its readiest welcome to those sects which show a -strongly puritan character: though anyone in revolt against the Khalif or -other recognized authority could count on a welcome in North Africa for -that very fact. - -In race, language, and religious ideas the Berbers of the North are one -with the Berber tribes of the great desert which spreads to the watershed -of the Benwe and connects, by regular trade routes following the ridges -which traverse North Africa from north-west to south-east, with the Horn -of Africa. But these desert dwellers of the south do not enter into the -subject of our present enquiry. - -The Arab conquerors settled along North Africa and down to the desert -edge in sporadic groups, their tribes as a rule occupying the lower -ground, whilst the older population maintained itself in the mountainous -districts. But this does not mean that the Berbers were held at bay -as a subject people: the Katama, for instance, possessed some of the -best territory in North Africa, and were practically independent of the -Khalif. During the invasion of 45 the city of Kairawan was founded some -distance south of Tunis. The site was badly chosen, and it is now little -more than a decayed village, but for some centuries it served as the -political capital of _Ifrikiya_, the province which lay next to Egypt -and embraced the modern states of Tripoli, Tunis, and the eastern part -of Algeria to the meridian of Bougie. West of this lay _Maghrab_ or “the -western land” which was divided into two districts, Central Maghrab, -extending from the borders of Ifrikiya across the greater part of Algeria -and the eastern third of Morocco, and _Farther Maghrab_, which was the -land beyond to the Atlantic coast. - -The Berber tribes were spread over all these provinces. In the eastern -part of Ifrikiya the chief were the tribes of _Hwara_, _Luata_, -_Nefusa_, and _Zuagha_: in Central Ifrikiya the _Warghu_ and _Nefzawa_: -in western Ifrikiya the _Nefzawa_, _Katama_, _Awraba_, and a number of -smaller tribes to the south: the chief tribes of Central Maghrab were the -_Zuawa_ (or Zouaves), _Magbrawa_, and _B. Mzab_: and in Farther Maghrab -the _B. Wanudin_, _Ghomara_ (in the Rif of Morocco), the _Miknasa_, -etc. No satisfactory result has ever been attained by those who have -tried to identify the ancient Numidians, Mauritanians, and Gaetuli with -existing tribes; evidently, as in Arabia, there have been new groupings -and new formations, which forbid the tracing back of the mediaeval -tribal divisions to ancient times; perhaps it was Islam which finally -rendered permanent the divisions as they existed in the first century of -the Hijra. Amongst these Berber tribes were spread the tribes of Arab -invaders and settlers which, even in the 10th century A.D. extended in -scattered groups from the borders of Egypt to the Atlantic. For the -most part each race preserved its own language, the Arabic dialects -being distinguished by archaic forms, and a phonology somewhat modified -by Berber influences; but there are several instances of Berber tribes -which have adopted Arabic, and some of Arabs and mixed groups which have -adopted the Berber language. For the most part the Arabs have had no -reluctance to mingle with the Berbers, but the attitude of the Berbers -varies, and some groups rigidly exclude intermarriage between themselves -and the Arabs or any others. - -The Kharijites, the oldest and most turbulent dissenting sect of Islam, -the reactionaries who opposed the modification of Muslim customs under -Hellenistic influence, had appeared in Maghrab early in the 2nd century -of the Hijra after their suppression in Asia, and were still a living -force there in the fourth century, when their very name was almost -forgotten elsewhere. A small group of the less extreme branch of that -sect, the Ibadites, still survives in strict isolation in South Algeria. -The Idrisids, a dynasty descended from the house of Hasan the son of -ʿAli, founded by Idris who escaped from the attempted extermination of -his kinsmen at Madina in 169, ruled an independent state in Farther -Maghrab in the fourth century. The Umayyads dethroned by the ʿAbbasids -in 132, had a representative who escaped to North Africa, and then -crossed to Spain where they founded a Khalifate at Cordova which, in -the fourth century, had become a great and flourishing power. Indeed -the Maghrab was too remote from the Khalifs of Baghdad ever to be under -effective control: one after another punitive expeditions marched across -North Africa, the disaffected were defeated, the remnant took refuge in -the hills, and in the course of a few years or even months the former -condition returned again. Obviously those western lands offered a -promising field to the agitator, whether political rebel or sectarian -leader, and Ibn Hawshab’s missionaries had evidently struck a promising -vein in the Berber tribe of Katama. - -Amongst those who attached themselves to Ibn Hawshab in Yemen was a -certain Abu ʿAbdullah Hasan (or Husayn) b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Zakariya, -afterwards surnamed ash-Shiʿi, a native of Sana and a zealous Shiʿite -who had been inspector of weights and measures in one of the districts -attached to Baghdad. He was a man not only of superior education and -intelligence, but astute and with as good knowledge of how to deal with -men. Before long he became one of Ibn Hawshab’s most trusty companions -and, when the news came of the death of the two missionaries who had -been sent to Africa, Ibn Hawshab determined to send him as _daʿi_, -and provided him with the funds necessary for his enterprise. Later -on we find him in Africa assisted by his brother, but we are without -information as to whether this brother was sent to join him later or set -out with him (Maqrizi ii. 11, Ibn Khallikan i. 465). - -Abu ʿAbdullah’s first step was to go to Mecca and to find out where the -Katama pilgrims were lodged. As soon as he discovered this he engaged a -lodging near by and sat as close to them as he could, listening to their -conversation. Before long they began to talk about the prerogatives -of the house of ʿAli, a subject on which they had been instructed by -the two missionaries who had already visited their country, and Abu -ʿAbdullah joined in their conversation. When he stood up to go away -they begged to be allowed to visit him, and to this he assented. They -were delighted with his learning and began to frequent his society, -and one day they asked him where he intended to go when he had finished -his pilgrimage to Mecca. He replied that it was his intention to go -to Egypt, so they begged him to join them as they would have to pass -through Egypt on their homeward journey. They set out together, and -the good opinion they had formed of him was greatly increased as they -observed his piety, his regularity in the exercises of religion, and -his ascetic character. During all this time he mentioned no word of his -real intentions, but constantly directed the conversation to the subject -of the land of Katama, and asked many questions about the neighbouring -tribes and their relation with the governor of Ifrikiya. On this last -subject the Katamites explained that they did not regard the governor -as having any authority over them, his residence was ten days’ journey -from their country, and his control was nil. He further enquired if they -were accustomed to bear arms, and they replied that this was their usual -occupation. - -When they reached Egypt Abu ʿAbdullah said farewell to the Katama -tribesmen but, as they expressed deep regret at the idea of leaving him, -they asked what business he had to attend to in Egypt. He replied that he -had no business there but simply intended to become a teacher. “If that -is all,” they said, “our country will offer you a better field, and you -will find more who are disposed to become your pupils, for we know your -worth.” So as they pressed him warmly, he consented to continue in their -company, and went on until they met some of their fellow tribesmen who -came out to meet them. All these had come under the influence of the two -former missionaries and were devoted Shiʿites and, when they heard the -account given by the returning pilgrims, they welcomed Abu ʿAbdullah with -every demonstration of respect. - -At length, about the middle of Rabiʿ I. 288 (Feb., 900 A.D.) they reached -home, and every one of his companions pressed the missionary to be his -guest. He declined all these offers of hospitality and asked them to -inform him where was the valley of _al-Khiyar_ (the righteous men). This -enquiry greatly astonished them as no one could remember that such a name -had ever been mentioned in his presence: they admitted, however, that -there was such a place and described its situation, and he then told them -that he would take up his abode there and visit each of them from time to -time. He then set out with some guides to Mount Inkijan where the valley -is situated, and when they arrived there he told his companions, “Here -is the ‘Valley of the righteous men’ and it is on your account that it -is thus named, for one reads in the traditions that ‘the Mahdi will be -obliged to make his migration, and will be helped in his flight by the -Righteous Men who will be on earth at that time, and by a nation whose -name is derived from _kitman_’; it is because you will rise up in this -valley which has been named ‘The valley of the Righteous Men’” (Maq. ii. -11). The derivation of the Berber name _Katama_ from the Arabic _kitman_ -“secret” was, of course, no more than a play upon words. - -Very soon the dwellers in the vicinity began to spread Abu ʿAbdullah’s -reputation, men came from all parts to visit him, and he completely -swayed a large body of Berber tribesmen amongst whom the Katama tribe -was most prominent. He made, however, no further mention of the Mahdi, -and did not seem to interest himself in the subject. But he connected -his work with that of the two former missionaries and said: “I am the -man entrusted with the sowing of whom Abu Safyan and Hulwani spoke to -you,” and this increased their attachment towards him and his importance -in their eyes (Maq. id. 37). Some, however, regarded him with disfavour, -for evidently there were Berber tribes which had not adopted Shiʿite -doctrines: but the Katama tribe under its chieftain Hasan b. Harun -supported him, and took up arms against those who tried to interfere with -his work. This inter-tribal dispute was the beginning of a long conflict, -which ultimately made the Shiʿites dominant in North Africa. Supported by -the Katama and a number of Kabyle tribes Hasan attacked and captured the -town of Tarrut, and then advanced against Meila. - -Already reports of the religious teacher of Mount Ankijan had spread -through the province of Ifrikiya, and had reached Ibrahim b. Ahmad the -Aghlabi Emir. These Aghlabids were hereditary governors of Ifrikiya -established at Kairawan about 184 by the ʿAbbasid Khalifs, to whom -they paid tribute and were subject. Desirous of obtaining more accurate -information Ibrahim had sent to the governor of Meila to make enquiry -about Abu ʿAbdullah and his doings, but the governor had sent back -to Kairawan a somewhat contemptuous account of him, in which he was -described as a religious fanatic, a devotee revered as a saint by the -ignorant people, and so the political possibilities of his activity were -overlooked. - -The taking of Tarrut and the advance on Meila, which city, after a brief -resistance, was betrayed by some of its inhabitants, made a change in -this attitude. Ibrahim sent an army under his brother Ahwal against -Abu ʿAbdullah and his followers, and defeated them, after which Ahwal -returned home fully convinced that the rising had been finally disposed -of. From this defeat Abu ʿAbdullah retired to Mount Ankijan where he -established a “house of flight,” and there he gathered his partisans -around him. As soon as he heard of Ahwal’s retirement he began a series -of forays, pillaging the surrounding districts and annoying those who did -not join the Shiʿite sect. At this Ahwal made a new expedition, but this -time he suffered a repulse, not severe enough to force him to retreat, -but compelling him to be satisfied with a defensive police duty in the -neighbourhood which was, however, effectual in checking the Shiʿite -raids. But this did not last long. In 291 (= A.D. 903) Ibrahim the -Aghlabi died, and the governorship passed to his son Ziadat Allah, a man -indolent and entirely devoted to pleasure, who recalled his brother Ahwal -from his military duties. - -This, of course, opened new opportunities for Abu ʿAbdullah, and very -soon his followers were ranging at will through the whole province of -Ifrikiya, and he boldly declared that the Mahdi was now near at hand -and would soon appear in Africa, and would prove his sacred mission by -working miracles (Maq. ii. 11). Common report affirmed that Abu ʿAbdullah -himself had done many wonders, even making the sun rise in the west, -restoring the dead to life, and other marvels. Not only had he now a very -large following amongst the Berber tribesmen, but many of the officers -serving under Ziadat Allah were well disposed towards the Shiʿite -claims, and were secretly in correspondence with Abu ʿAbdullah. - -At this juncture, in 291, the Shiʿites were practically supreme in all -the country west of the suburbs of Kairawan, and now Abu ʿAbdullah sent -messengers over to the Mahdi inviting him to cross into Africa. Ismaʿil -had just died at Salamiya, and shortly before his death advised his son -Saʿid to migrate to a distant land. As soon as his father died Saʿid and -his son Abu l-Kasam Nizar set out from Salamiya intending to go to Yemen, -but hearing of the success in North Africa changed their course in that -direction, probably meeting the messengers from Abu ʿAbdullah on the way -(cf. Ibn Khaldun ii. 515-516). The journey was beset with great perils, -especially in the passing through Egypt. At that time the governor of -Egypt was Abu Musa Isa b. Muhammad Nushari, who had been appointed after -the death of Ibn Tulun in 292, and held office until the government was -usurped by Khalanj in 293-4, after which the Khalif al-Muqtadi restored -him to office which he held until his death in 297. Saʿid, or ʿUbayd -Allah as he now preferred to call himself, arrived during this latter -period of office, and the governor had grounds of suspicion about him -without very clear information. The refugees left Misr, the old capital -lying to the south of the present Cairo, but the governor followed -and overtook them. He attempted no violence, but joined their company -and induced them to rest with him in a garden, his guard meanwhile -surrounding the place. He tried every means to win their confidence, and -so to find out who they were and what was the object of their journey: he -tried to coax ʿUbayd Allah to join him in taking refreshment, but ʿUbayd -Allah declined on the pretext that he was then observing a fast: then he -tried to get information by judicious questions, but in vain. At length -he allowed ʿUbayd Allah to go on his way. He offered the travellers an -escort, but this was politely declined. Then the governor assembled -his men to return home, but many of them showed their discontent that -the travellers had been allowed to escape, and on second thoughts the -governor himself regretted that he had not detained them for further -enquiry, and sent a body of men after them, but they had made good use -of their start, and it proved impossible to overtake them. Some said that -the governor had been bribed by ʿUbayd Allah, and this seems to be likely -enough. - -After this escape ʿUbayd Allah, his son, and Abu l-ʿAbbas, the brother -of Abu ʿAbdullah, went on to Tripoli. The next town on their way would -be Kairawan, and ʿUbayd Allah was distinctly anxious about venturing -there, so he sent forward Abu l-ʿAbbas to obtain information. Now it -appears that Ziadat Allah had much clearer grounds of suspicion than the -Egyptian governor, and Abu l-ʿAbbas was not able to escape suspicion, -and was taken prisoner. Ziadat Allah does not seem to have been so much -interested in the prisoner himself, but made every endeavour to find -out some details about the companions with whom he was travelling. Abu -l-ʿAbbas denied that he had travelled with any companions, or that he -had any knowledge of a fugitive from Syria: he asserted that he was -simply a merchant passing through Ifrikiya on his own business. But -Ziadat Allah’s suspicions were not allayed: Abu l-ʿAbbas was detained in -custody, and a messenger was sent to Tripoli to secure the arrest of the -other travellers. The messenger, however, returned with the reply that -ʿUbayd Allah had already left the city before the order for his arrest -had arrived. Again the suggestion is made that the governor of Tripoli -had been won over by bribes. It is supposed that ʿUbayd Allah had been -able to take with him a great part of his considerable wealth, and that -it was easy for him to corrupt the provincial governors. Certainly he had -information of what had befallen Abu l-ʿAbbas in Kairawan. At first he -retired to Kastilia, but when he made sure that there was no possibility -of Abu l-ʿAbbas getting free and joining him there, he went on to -Sijilmassa (Maq. ii. 11). - -At the time of his arrival in this town the ruling prince, al-Yasa b. -Midrar, had no grounds of suspicion, and received the travellers very -kindly. ʿUbayd Allah made him valuable presents, and they soon became -intimate. One day, however, as they were sitting together, a letter from -Ziadat Allah was put into al-Yasa’s hand, and in it the Aghlabi related -the suspicions he had formed about ʿUbayd Allah. The governor immediately -ordered the arrest of ʿUbayd Allah and his son, questioned them closely -about their relations with Abu l-ʿAbbas, and the suggestion that they -were in some way associated with Abu ʿAbdullah, but ʿUbayd Allah denied -any knowledge of either of these. The father and son were then separated -and confined in separate quarters, and the son, Abu l-Kasam, was examined -apart, but no information of any sort could be obtained from him. - -Meanwhile, since the departure of the messengers from Abu ʿAbdullah to -ʿUbayd Allah, the former had continued his career of conquest. Meila, -Satif, and other towns immediately near the Katama territory were taken, -and the governor at Kairawan was no longer able to disguise from himself -that the Shiʿite revolt was threatening the very basis of Arab authority -in Ifrikiya. Under these circumstances Ziadat Allah assembled a council -of canonists to advise him about the Shiʿite claims. The meeting took -place in the house of the prince’s chief adviser, Abdullah b. Essaig, -and, after considering the religious character of Abu ʿAbdullah’s -movement, and especially the report that “he cursed the Companions,” -_i.e._, that he was a Shiʿite who cursed the first three Khalifs as -usurpers who had excluded ʿAli from his rights, regardless of the fact -that they had been the companions of the Prophet, they decided that Abu -ʿAbdullah and his followers must be publicly denounced as heretics. -Fortified with this decision which was necessary to stop the tendency of -his own people to favour the Shiʿites, the Aghlabid assembled an army -of 40,000 men whom he placed under a kinsman named Ibrahim b. Habashi -b. ʿUmar at-Tamimi, and sent them against the Katama. Ibrahim took up -his quarters at Konstantina l-Hawa, on the western edge of the Katama -country, and there he stayed six months without actually attacking -the Shiʿites, but serving as a check upon their movements. As soon as -he appeared Abu ʿAbdullah retired to his usual retreat, “the house of -flight,” and no further advance was made on either side. As Ahwal had -already proved, this kind of patrol work was the most effective. But -Ibrahim desired a decisive punishment of the revolted tribes, and rashly -resolved to move out and attack Kerma, one of the cities occupied by the -Shiʿites. On the way Abu ʿAbdullah met and defeated him, and he had to -flee with the remnants of his army to Kairawan. - -Matters were now becoming extremely serious, and Ziadat assembled a new -force which he entrusted to Harun b. Tabni. Harun marched upon Daralmoluk -and took it, but immediately afterwards Abu ʿAbdullah arrived with his -main band, and a general engagement ensued, in which Harun was killed and -his forces completely routed. After this victory Abu ʿAbdullah marched -upon Banjas, which capitulated, and then was in a position to threaten -Kairawan itself. We have now reached the year 295, and at this point -Ziadat Allah raised a third army and took command himself. He advanced -to Elaris, but there his courtiers began to remonstrate with him: if any -disaster took place and he were involved it would mean the downfall of -the Aghlabid dynasty, a result which would not necessarily proceed from -the defeat of a subordinate general. Persuaded by his entourage Ziadat -Allah appointed his kinsman Ibrahim as commander-in-chief, and himself -retired to Raqada to the south-west of Kairawan, and gave himself over -entirely to a life of pleasure. - -Meanwhile Abu ʿAbdullah was extending his authority over the whole -country. He was invited to Bagaya which he occupied, then took by force -the small towns of Majana, Sash, and Maskanaya. His politic clemency at -Bagaya produced a good impression, and did much to assist him in gaining -over other towns. His success caused great alarm to Ziadat Allah, and -he consulted ʿAbdullah b. Essaig, who advised him to retire to Egypt -and leave a general in charge of the army, but Ibrahim persuaded him to -abandon this idea. Soon afterwards Abu ʿAbdullah advanced to Merida, -where were many refugees from the towns already taken. The inhabitants -asked for terms, and Abu ʿAbdullah’s lieutenants agreed, the leader -himself being absent. When the envoys from the citizens returned and the -gates were opened to admit them, the attacking army made a sudden rush, -forced their way in, and pillaged the city. - -Abu ʿAbdullah now resolved to attack Raqada where Ziadat Allah was -established. As he marched towards that town Ibrahim tried to intercept -him, and for this purpose left al-Arbes where he was encamped, and -occupied Derdemin, which lay near the route which Abu ʿAbdullah would -have to take. On his way the Shiʿites sent a detachment to take Derdemin, -without apparently being aware that this was now Ibrahim’s headquarters. -The detachment was repulsed and put to flight. Abu ʿAbdullah was unable -to understand why the detachment did not return, and went after them with -reinforcements to find out. On the way they met their comrades in full -flight from Derdemin, but at their arrival the fugitives stopped, turned -back, and with the help of the new-comers inflicted a severe defeat on -Ibrahim. This was followed by the submission of Qafra and Qastilia, -the latter place being a general depot for Ziadat Allah’s munitions, -provisions, and money, all of which fell into the Shiʿites’ hands. For -the moment, however, Abu ʿAbdullah refrained from further advance: he -settled at Bagaya and established his headquarters there, and then -retired for a time on his own account to Mount Ankijan. - -Ibrahim then decided to take the offensive and laid siege to Bagaya, news -of which quickly brought Abu ʿAbdullah back from his retirement, bringing -12,000 newly enrolled tribesmen with him. But Bagaya was offering such a -sturdy resistance to Ibrahim that the besieger was both astonished and -discouraged, and, hearing of Abu ʿAbdullah’s approach, retired again to -al-Arbes. - -In the spring of the following year, A.H. 296, the two armies of Ziadat -Allah and Abu ʿAbdullah both took the field. The historians state that -the former numbered 200,000 men, the latter many more. It must, of -course, be remembered that figures of this sort by oriental writers are -hardly deserving of the least attention. An engagement took place with -results unfavourable to Ibrahim, who forthwith retired to Kairawan, -the strongest military stronghold in Africa. As a consequence of this -Abu ʿAbdullah was enabled to enter al-Arbes, and a great massacre of -the inhabitants took place, some 3,000 it is said being killed in the -principal mosque. The following morning Abu ʿAbdullah retired to Bagaya. -Next day the news reached Ziadat Allah. For some time ʿAbdullah b. -Essaig endeavoured to conceal it from the citizens, but when he offered -20 dinars to each volunteer willing to serve in the cavalry, and 10 -dinars to each recruit for the infantry, the citizens perceived that -the state was reduced to the last extremities and a panic ensued, many -of the nobles and their dependents leaving for Raqada. Ziadat Allah -himself packed up his valuables, and with the favourite ladies of his -harim set out for Egypt. ʿAbdullah b. Essaig was put in charge of the -prince’s goods, and these were loaded on thirty camels, but unfortunately -they missed their way as they started in the dark, and arrived at Susa -where the governor impounded them, and they finally fell a prey to Abu -ʿAbdullah. ʿAbdullah b. Essaig himself tried to escape by sea, but a -storm drove his ship ashore at Tripoli just as Ziadat Allah, angry at -missing his goods, was stopping there. The unfortunate minister was -brought before the prince as a deserter, but made so good a defence that -Ziadat Allah decided to pardon him; the courtiers, however, intervened, -and he was beheaded. - -After reaching Egypt, Ziadat Allah passed on to Rakka and sent forward -messengers to the Khalif asking permission to present himself at -Baghdad. A reply came forbidding him to attend at court and ordering him -to await further instructions at Rakka. He stayed there a whole year -which he spent in pleasure, and then received instructions to return -to Africa, the governor of Egypt being directed to prepare supplies to -equip him for an expedition against the Shiʿites. In accordance with -these orders he travelled back to Egypt, where the governor told him to -wait for the supplies at Dhatu l-Hammam. He waited there a long time -in vain, and then, as he was now in broken health he started out for -Palestine, but was taken worse on the way and died at Ramla. With him the -Aghlabid dynasty of hereditary governors of Ifrikiya, under the ʿAbbasid -Khalifate, came to an end. - -When Abu ʿAbdullah heard of the Emir’s flight he went at once to Wady -an-Namal, and sent forward 1,000 men under Arunaba b. Yusus and Hasan -b. Jarir to Raqada. The news soon reached Kairawan, and a deputation -was sent out to congratulate the Shiʿites. These emissaries thought to -ingratiate themselves by making contemptuous and hostile reflections upon -the late ruler, but Abu ʿAbdullah rebuked them, stating that Ziadat -Allah had lacked neither courage nor intelligence, but that defeat had -overtaken him because it was the will of God. His gracious reception of -the envoys from Kairawan caused great annoyance to the Katama tribesmen, -to whom he had made a promise that they would be allowed to plunder the -city. - -In Rajab I. 296 Abu ʿAbdullah, at the head of 300,000 men, entered Raqada -to find the town entirely deserted by its inhabitants. He established -himself in one of the empty mansions, and the leaders of the Katama -occupied others (Maq. ii. 11). He then sent to Tripoli to fetch his -brother Abu l-ʿAbbas and Abu Jaʿfar, as well as ʿUbayd Allah’s mother, -who had apparently accompanied her son, though we hear no more about her. -Abu ʿAbdullah was a fervent Shiʿite and established a strict puritan -rule in Kairawan, death being the penalty for drinking wine or bringing -it into the city. The Shiʿite formula was used in the call to prayer, -which implied the addition of the words “come to the excellent work” -to the orthodox call, and the names of ʿAli, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn -were inserted in the _Khutba_ or public prayer at the Friday service. As -in modern Persia the supreme authority was attributed to the concealed -Imam, and the civil government based its rights on the claim to act as -his deputy until the day of his revealing. In Kairawan the proper deputy -would naturally be the Mahdi ʿUbayd Allah, but no public announcement -was made of this as yet. The Khatibs of Kairawan and Raqada were ordered -to omit the name of the ʿAbbasid Khalif from the _khutba_, but no other -ruler’s name was inserted in its place. A new coinage was prepared, and -this similarly bore no prince’s name; simply it had the inscription on -one side, “I have borne my witness to God,” and on the other “May the -enemies of God be scattered.” - -During these events ʿUbayd Allah remained still imprisoned at Sijalmasa, -but now the time had arrived for his supporters to rescue him. Abu -ʿAbdullah’s two brothers, Abu l-ʿAbbas and Abu Zakir, who had hitherto -taken no very prominent position, were left as deputies at Raqada, and -Abu ʿAbdullah with a large body of followers marched towards Sijalmasa. -The object most desired was of course the liberation of ʿUbayd Allah, -and the danger was that the governor might put him and his son to death -before the Shiʿites could rescue them. It was necessary, therefore, to -avoid irritating al-Yasa the governor. Abu ʿAbdullah halted his army at -some distance from the city, and sent forward envoys bearing a letter in -which he assured al-Yasa that he desired no conflict, but only asked that -ʿUbayd Allah and his son might be set free. Al-Yasa only threw the letter -on the ground and had the envoys put to death. A second letter produced a -similar result, and then Abu ʿAbdullah advanced and camped his men before -the city, intending to make an attack on the following day. During the -night al-Yasa escaped with all his portable goods and relatives. Next -morning the inhabitants sent out and informed Abu ʿAbdullah, who went at -once to the prison whence he liberated ʿUbayd Allah and his son. Leading -the Mahdi out he showed him to the people, saying: “This is the Mahdi to -whose obedience I invited men.” He then set him and his son on horses and -paraded them through the streets, crying, “This is your lord,” frequently -interrupting his cry with tears of joy. He conducted them to a tent -which had been made ready for them, and sent a body of men in pursuit of -al-Yasa (Maq. ii. 11-12). The fugitive governor was overtaken, brought -back, and executed. - -Ibn Khallikan gives another account of the taking of Sijalmasa, in -which it is related that, before leaving the city al-Yasa executed -ʿUbayd Allah, and when Abu ʿAbdullah entered his cell he found only the -dead body and a faithful Jewish slave. Knowing that the absence of the -Mahdi would be fatal to the whole Shiʿite scheme, he seized the slave, -compelled him to silent acquiescence, and leading him out declared, “This -is the Mahdi” (Ibn Khall. ii. 78). This is another form of the “Jewish -legend,” to which we have already referred (cf. p. 47, above). - -For forty days ʿUbayd Allah remained at Sijalmasa, and then, towards the -end of Rabiʿ II. 297 he was conducted by Abu ʿAbdullah to Raqada. Here -he assumed the title of “al-Mahdi, Commander of the Faithful,” and on -the following Friday was prayed for under that title in the mosques of -Raqada and Kairawan. On the same day the Sherif and the _duʿat_ held -a public meeting, at which they tried to persuade the people of Raqada -to become professed members of the Ismaʿilian sect. In this, however, -they were only partially successful, although lavish rewards were -offered to those who joined, and many of those who definitely refused -were imprisoned, some even put to death. In fact we are now in quite -different surroundings: the Mahdi was a successful adventurer, and had -every prospect of establishing a principality quite as stable, and more -independent than that of the Aghlabids: the religious pretensions of -the Shiʿite party were only an embarrassment. From this time forward -the Ismaʿilian sectaries form a privileged class, on the whole disliked -and despised by the people generally, who were quite ready to submit to -the Mahdi’s government, though deriding its spiritual claims; and the -tendency is for the ruler rather to disembarrass himself of the sectaries. - -Ziadat Allah’s harim was then presented to the Mahdi who, after selecting -such women as met with his approval for himself and his son, distributed -the remainder amongst the chief men of the Katama. - -As soon as ʿUbayd Allah had entered Raqada the citizens had waited on -him to obtain the renewal of the amnesty accorded by Abu ʿAbdullah. He -replied to them, “Your lives and your children are safe.” They asked him -if he would give them a similar assurance as to their property, but this -he refused. This caused great anxiety amongst the citizens, who gathered -that their property was regarded as at the disposal of the Shiʿites. At -first ʿUbayd Allah showed a much more violent Shiʿism than Abu ʿAbdullah, -although we seem justified in supposing that he was merely an adventurer -who was entirely without religious convictions, whilst Abu ʿAbdullah -seems to have been a devout Shiʿite: but this is by no means the only -instance in history where religious persecution was carried out most -severely by unbelievers. He caused the “Companions,” _i.e._, the three -Khalifs preceding ʿAli, to be reviled openly, just as ʿAli himself had -formerly been cursed publicly every Friday in the mosque of Damascus; and -he strictly prohibited the canonists from teaching or using any system of -jurisprudence other than that attributed to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq. - -Year 298 (= A.D. 910). Abu ʿAbdullah had proved himself a loyal and -efficient helper, and had done more than any other to establish the Mahdi -in Africa. It seems that he was a sincere Shiʿite, and acted throughout -in perfect good faith and in attachment to the Mahdi with whom he had -corresponded, but probably had never seen before he entered the prison -at Sijilmasa. In 298 these feelings changed. One account is that Abu -ʿAbdullah and the chiefs of the Katama began to feel doubts about the -Mahdi’s claim because he proved unable to work any miracles, and ability -to perform miracles had always been assumed as one of the evidences of a -Mahdi’s claims. Working miracles always has been and still is the primary -essential of a _murabit_ (marabout) in North Africa, and there need be -no reason to doubt that the non-fulfilment of the probably extravagant -Berber expectations must have caused serious disappointment amongst the -Katama. Then again, the Berbers, like the Arabs, are naturally fickle -and insubordinate; in the ordinary course of things they would be sure -to murmur before long against any ruler, especially against one near -at hand. Did Abu ʿAbdullah share their feelings? or did he excite them -for his own ends? Ibn Khallikan states that when the Mahdi was firmly -established at Kairawan, Abu l-ʿAbbas reproached his brother that “You -were master of the country and uncontrolled arbiter of its affairs, -yet you have delivered it over to another and consent to remain in the -position of an inferior,” and at this Abu ʿAbdullah began to regret that -he had handed everything over to the Mahdi and commenced plotting against -him (Ibn Khall. i. 465). But it must be remembered that Ibn Khallikan -shows a very marked anti-Fatimid bias. It seems more likely that both -Abu ʿAbdullah and the Berbers were really disappointed to find the Mahdi -an ordinary mortal. The matter was debated in the presence of the chief -sheikh of the Katama, and Abu ʿAbdullah expressed his doubts, saying: -“His actions are not like those of the Mahdi to whom I used to try to -win you: I am afraid I have been mistaken in him, and have suffered a -delusion similar to that of Ibrahim al-Khalit when the night closed over -him and he saw a star and said, ‘This is my lord’ (Qur. vi. 76). It is -therefore incumbent on me and you to examine him, and to make him show -those proofs which are known to the genealogists as those to be found -in the Imam” (Arib b. Saʿid, _Nicholson_, pp. 120-121). As a result -the Sheikh of the Katama waited upon ʿUbayd Allah and asked for the -performance of a miracle as a proof of his claim to be the Mahdi. The -reply was the immediate execution of the Sheikh. This gave serious alarm -to Abu ʿAbdullah and his brothers, who held a meeting by night in the -house of the youngest brother Abu Zakir. This night meeting may have been -merely a conference to discuss changed conditions, or it may have been in -the nature of a conspiracy. Such meetings continued for some time, and -very probably treasonable plans were suggested, even if not seriously -adopted: at any rate suspicion was aroused, the brothers were watched, -and full information of their proceedings was carried to the Mahdi. One -morning Abu ʿAbdullah appeared at court with his garment turned inside -out, the Mahdi took no notice. Next day the same thing happened, and so -on the third. On the last of these occasions the Mahdi asked him why he -wore his garment so. He replied that it was an oversight; he had not -noticed that it was turned the wrong way. The Mahdi continued, “Did you -not pass the night at the house of Abu Zakir?”—he replied, “Yes,”—“Why -did you do so?”—Abu ʿAbdullah answered that he did so because he was -afraid. The Mahdi remarked that one only feared when there was cause -to believe that there was an enemy. He then showed that he was fully -aware of the meetings, that he knew the names of those present, and the -subject of their conversation. As a punishment he declared that the three -brothers should be expelled from Kairawan, and that Abu Zakir, who seems -to have been the moving spirit, should be sent to Tripoli as governor. -There had been a revolt of the Hawarite tribe in Tripoli, and so it -seemed that Abu Zakir was to be sent on military service as a punishment, -replacing the governor who was his uncle. At Kairawan this seemed a just -and proper measure, for conspiracy could hardly be passed over, but the -penalty involved no disgrace or apparent severity. So Abu Zakir set -out for Tripoli bearing a letter to the governor. But unknown to him -the letter contained orders for his instant execution. As soon as the -governor read the letter he sent for Abu Zakir and showed it to him; the -nephew admitted that it was the will of God and submitted to be beheaded. -News of this was sent by carrier pigeon to the Mahdi, who perceived that -it was now time to get rid of the other two brothers before they took -the alarm. He invited them to a repast, but sends two officers, Garwaih -al-Mulusi and Jaʿbar al-Mili, to conceal themselves behind the castle of -as-Sachu and way-lay them as they passed. They did so and killed them -with pikes. The bodies laid uncared for at the brink of a cistern until -after the following noon, then the Mahdi orders them to be taken up and -given a public funeral at which he himself officiated. In explanation of -his action the Mahdi wrote a letter to the Shiʿites of Asia in which he -said: “Ye know the position in which Abu ʿAbdullah and Abu ʿAbbas stood -with regard to Islam; but Satan hath caused them to stumble, and they -have been punished with the sword. Farewell” (Arib b. Saʿid, _Nicholson_, -p. 128). - -But the murder of Abu ʿAbdullah was not taken easily by all the Katama -tribe, and a riot followed the funeral. At this the Mahdi showed the -personal courage which, equally with a total absence of scruple or -gratitude, became characteristic of his dynasty. Mounting his horse he -rode out into the streets, and declared that now justice was satisfied, -and that no further enquiry would be made or punishments inflicted. He -was so far successful that the people dispersed quietly. - -We may take the murder of Abu ʿAbdullah as marking the establishment of -the Khalifate at Kairawan. Hitherto it had been more or less surrounded -with a religious atmosphere; it had been essentially connected with a -particular religious sect. Now, with the death of Abu ʿAbdullah it is -established frankly as a secular power, although the religious claims -are still maintained in the background. The Shiʿite position, however, -now appears rather as political than sectarian. The orthodox Khalif was -ruling at Baghdad, but the Mahdi’s followers regarded him simply as a -usurper. The same view was taken by the Umayyad rulers in Spain, although -at this time they had not yet ventured to assume the title of Khalif. -Amongst the Shiʿites proper the Khalif exists only as the “concealed” -Imam, and the visible ruler on earth is merely his viceroy: but the Mahdi -claimed to be not only Mahdi, but the heir of the Imams, and thus assumed -the Khalifate as the legitimate heir of ʿAli. - - - - -V - -THE FATIMID KHALIFS OF KAIRAWAN - - -Led by religious enthusiasms, the Berber tribes had succeeded in sweeping -away the Arab government of the province of Ifrikiya. To a very large -extent, however, this was as much a racial and anti-Arab movement of -the Berbers as a religious one: of course, very much the same has been -true of every Mahdist movement in Africa. The history of Islam is full -of similar revolts, for the most part either with a religious motive, -or at least a religious pretext. Now the destructive work was finished -and the Mahdi settled at Kairawan, having damped or perhaps quenched the -religious fervour of his followers by the execution of Abu ʿAbdullah and -the implied shelving of the miraculous powers which his earlier followers -had associated with him, was faced with the task of constructing an -orderly and stable principality out of what must be confessed to have -been rather unpromising materials. More than once the Semitic and Berber -tribes have shewn themselves quite capable of nation-building, and their -work has not always been short-lived. The religious motive was effective -in arousing the enthusiasm of fighting men, the task of framing political -institutions demanded different qualities. At this time, no doubt, we -must regard the Mahdi as primarily a political adventurer: that he had -any serious regard for Shiʿite principles is incredible; that he was the -missionary of an enlightened philosophy which would deliver men from the -fetters of religion,—a position which may have been true of his ancestor -ʿAbdullah,—is extremely improbable in his case. Unexpected circumstances -had given him an exceptional opportunity as the founder of a dynasty, and -we have now to see how he used this opportunity. - -Towards religion the Mahdi’s attitude had been at first one of rabid -Shiʿism, though he, as one of the fully initiated, could not have been -sincere: no doubt he was acting up to what he expected to be the feelings -of his subjects so far as he had observed the Katama and the immediate -followers of Abu ʿAbdullah: closer acquaintance with the people of -Kairawan showed him that he had been mistaken, the people generally were -quite ready for a Mahdi, or anyone else, who could establish and maintain -an orderly government, but as Muslims they were orthodox by a large -majority, and by no means willing to accept the rather fantastic theories -of incarnation and transmigration which appealed to the Persian mind. -As soon as this was made clear the Mahdi formulated a definite policy -in religion, enforcing strictly all the outward observances of Islam, -rigidly punctilious in the prohibition of forbidden food and drink, and -punishing severely those of the Ismaʿilian sect, who tried to practice -the freedom of the higher grades of the initiated. It was no doubt -possible for the initiate to disregard the rites of religion in their -private life, but any external neglect, likely to cause scandal amongst -the populace at large, was treated as a criminal offence: there was none -of the open lawlessness of the Qarmatians tolerated in Ifrikiya: the -inner grades of the sect were distinguished from other Muslims only by -their reverence for the family of ʿAli, whom all revered to some extent, -by their repudiation of the first three Khalifs, which was offensive to -the orthodox but not intolerable, and by a few minor differences in the -ritual of prayer, and in the treatment of the problems of the canon law. - -The most difficult problem demanding the new ruler’s immediate attention -lay in the lands to the west, for the Mahdi claimed to control all the -territory to the Atlantic, over which the Aghlabid princes had pretended -to rule. The first difficult task came in the revolt of Tiharet. - -For long past the Berber lands of North Africa had afforded a refuge -for every persecuted sect and dynasty of Islam. The earliest sect, the -Kharijites, the wild men of the desert who adhered to the oldest form of -purely Arab Islam, had entered Africa after they had been hunted down and -slaughtered in Asia by the Umayyad Khalifs. In the days of the Mahdi -they still held their own in the district of Tiharet in the mountainous -country of Central Maghrab. They threw off all allegiance to the ruler at -Kairawan and invited Muhammad b. Khazar to be their Emir. The Mahdi sent -the Katami Aruba b. Yusuf against them: after three days siege the city -was taken, plundered, and some 8,000 of the inhabitants slain. - -The Umayyads who had put down the Kharijites in Asia had been compelled -by the course of events to seek a refuge in Africa for themselves, and -thence had passed over to Spain which was regarded as the remotest of -the western parts. At this time they were ruling at Cordova (they did -not assume the title of Khalif until A.H. 317), and held also some -possessions in Africa about Oran. The same Karmati leader who had taken -Tiharet was able to seize Oran. - -The Idrisid dynasty, descendants of ʿAli by Hasan, expelled from Madina -in 169, had founded a state in the remoter part of Morocco where they -were still ruling. This state also was attacked by Aruba and reduced, so -that all the western lands to the Atlantic coast was brought under the -control of the Mahdi (Ibn Khald. i. 244-5, 267-8, etc.). - -This course of consolidation of the most loosely held part of the Muslim -world speaks well for the organising ability of the general Aruba, and -established the Mahdi’s authority upon a sound foundation. It was, -however, disturbed by domestic difficulties in the capital. Kairawan was -an Arab colony, but under the Mahdi the Berbers were in the ascendant, -and racial disputes were inevitable. One day a Katama tribesman treated a -city merchant with insolence; a riot ensued, and some 1,000 of the Katama -were slain. After this had been repressed the governor rode through -the city and ordered the dead bodies of the Berbers to be removed. The -workmen who carried out this order threw the bodies into the channel -which served as the city sewer. At this the Katama tribesmen removed from -the city in indignation, and declared that they would no longer submit -to the Mahdi’s rule, and chose a youth named Kadu as their emir. Very -soon this rebel was in possession of the whole province of Zab, and the -Mahdi sent several generals against him without result. Some of these -generals, indeed, deserted to the enemy, for the Berbers were the main -fighting force in Africa, and there was a general indignation amongst -them at the way in which the Katama rebels in Kairawan had been treated, -and there were many followers of Abu ʿAbdullah still who threw in their -lot with the revolted Berbers. At length ʿUbayd Allah sent his son Abu -l-Qasim, and he, with some difficulty, managed to reduce the tribesmen. - -In 300 the colony of Tripoli revolted. There, as in Kairawan, there had -been riots between the Berbers and Arabs. When Abu l-Qasim returned from -punishing the tribes he advanced to attack Tripoli, whilst the Mahdi -at the same time sent a fleet against it, and after some delay it was -reduced. Then Sicily revolted, and this proved to be a permanent loss -to the Fatimid Khalifs. At first the Sicilians invited Ahmad, a son of -Ziadat Allah, the former emir of Kairawan, to take charge. He refused, -but after some time, as the invitation was repeated, he consented to -be recognised as emir of Sicily. As soon as he was established he sent -a letter to the Khalif of Baghdad professing loyalty and asking to be -confirmed as emir by the Khalif. Thus Sicily broke away from the Fatimid -dominions and became once more a part of the empire of the ʿAbbasid -Khalif. - -In 301 the Mahdi founded a new city on the coast near Kairawan, and gave -to it the name of al-Mahadiya. The site was very badly chosen, and the -place afterwards decayed completely, although it served as the Fatimid -capital for some generations. At the same time he commenced building a -fleet, by the help of which he hoped to make an attack upon Egypt in -due course; no doubt he was by this time convinced that his kingdom in -North Africa was not likely to be a stable one, just as it had been -held precariously by the Arab rulers who preceded him: in fact it was -an unsettled and savage country, which could be under control only so -long as under actual military occupation. Probably, also, he hoped that -the prospect of conquering Egypt would attach the Berbers to him more -successfully. The weak point in these plans was that the building and -manning of a fleet depended almost entirely on what Greek help he could -hire. Soon afterwards he sent his general Khubasa eastwards and extended -his authority, somewhat precariously, to Barqa. In the summer of 302 -he made his first attempt against Egypt, sending forces by land under -his son Abu l-Qasim, and Khubasa against Alexandria. The inhabitants -of that city were obliged to take refuge in the ships in the harbour, -whilst the invaders plundered their houses. The invading army then passed -southwards to the Fayyum, but here they were met by an Egyptian army -strongly reinforced from Baghdad, and compelled to retire. The effort, -however, had brought the invasion of Egypt within the sphere of practical -politics, and the plunder of Alexandria raised much enthusiasm amongst -the Mahdi’s followers. At that time the ʿAbbasid Khalifate was in its -decline: in Baghdad the government was in the hands of the military -guard, the commander of that guard was the real ruler, the Khalif being -no more than a figure head liable to be deposed and replaced at the will -of the soldiery. The provinces were semi-independent, in most cases ruled -by hereditary emirs who paid no more than a formal tribute of respect -to the Khalif; indeed, in many cases it meant simply that his name was -mentioned in the Friday prayer. Of all the provinces Egypt was, perhaps, -the worst administered, and the ripest for falling away from the ʿAbbasid -dominions. It was on the verge of disintegration by natural decay, -whilst the Fatimid state which coveted it, though outwardly strong and -efficient, had already showed that it had the seeds of internal weakness -in the tribal jealousies of Berbers and Arabs. - -In 307 the Mahdi’s armies made another attempt on Egypt, this time -supported by a fleet of 85 ships, which passed along the coast from -al-Mahadiya and anchored in the harbour of Alexandria. The Khalif’s -officers at Baghdad could only get together 25 ships which were assembled -at Tarsus and sailed over to Alexandria. But those twenty-five ships were -manned by experienced Greek mariners, and inflicted a decisive defeat on -the Mahdi’s fleet. - -As Egypt now enters very directly into the affairs of the Fatimids, it -will be necessary to consider its condition. For the last four years it -had been governed by the Emir Dhuka ar-Rumi, _i.e._, Ducas the Roman -(or Greek). Before the defeat of the Mahdi’s fleet Dhuka resolved to -check the invaders who had followed their former route to the Fayyum, -and were laying waste and plundering at will. He had great difficulty -in inducing the Egyptian army to move at all, but at last marched out -to Giza and encamped on the same side of the Nile as the Mahdi’s army. -Soon afterwards he died, and the governorship was taken over by Tekin -al-Khassa, who had been governor before from 298 to 303 and had been -associated with the former victory over the Shiʿites. Immensely popular -with the soldiery, his resumption of office made an immediate change, -and he was able to take the offensive and inflict a serious check upon -the invaders, about the same time as the naval victory at Alexandria. -Although the Fayyum was cleared the Fatimid forces were still in control -in Upper Egypt, whither their cavalry had pressed on whilst others stayed -in the Fayyum. There the extreme narrowness of the Nile valley and the -exposed condition of the Bahariya and the other oases always meant a -minimum of defence, and the invaders were able to hold their own until -the next year. That meant that the whole area was infested by bands of -light cavalry, rapidly moving Bedwin, both Berber and Arab, always able -to retreat at will into the neighbouring desert and very difficult to be -restrained by any ordinary military force. In our own dealings with the -Sanusi in 1916 we had experience of such difficulty. The only possible -solution is a system of organised military patrol, which takes some -little time to dispose efficiently. That Egypt was cleared after a few -months’ interval shows that Tekin had considerable ability in handling -the military task with which he was confronted. - -These attacks of the Shiʿites revealed another weakness in Egypt. There -was strong reason to suspect that they had many sympathisers there. -There was an active branch of the Ismaʿilian propaganda at work in the -country, and all who were initiated in the sect were of necessity spies -and helpers of the invaders. Two at least of the leading officials, the -Qadi and the Treasurer were in correspondence with the Mahdi and in his -employ: this does not mean that they were converts to the Shiʿite sect, -but simply that they were disloyal to their own service as the result -of personal jealousies and rivalries, the perennial bane of all oriental -governments. It was only the support of the army which maintained -Tekin, and even so he was not in a position to attack his rivals in the -government. When he had been successful in clearing the country of the -Mahdi’s forces, he had his reward in dismissal from the governorship in -which he was succeeded by Muhammad b. Hamal, but three days later he -was restored, to be deposed again soon afterwards as the result of more -palace intrigues. The two following governors, Hilal b. Badr and Ahmad -b. Kayghalagh, held office, the first for two years, the other for one, -and then in 312 Takin was restored and remained governor until his death -in 321. Conditions indeed were such that only a military leader with the -support of the army could exercise any effective control in the country. -The reinforcements sent from Baghdad in 302 had done more harm than the -Shiʿite invaders; they had totally demoralised the native soldiery, and -the army was now no more than a large troop of brigands who lived on -the plunder of the country. At his appointment in 312 Takin established -the army in camps around his own palace as well as in quarters in the -building itself, and, more by the force of his own personality than -anything else, managed to keep them fairly in hand until his death. It -was no small feat, for he was utterly unable to provide them with their -pay, which was many years in arrear. At his death the governorship -was assumed by his son Muhammad, but he had not his father’s power or -popularity, and was soon mobbed and driven out by the discontented -soldiers clamouring for their pay. The Treasurer Madaraʿi, who was in the -Mahdi’s employ and largely responsible for the disorder in the finances, -was obliged to hide himself. Several ambitious officers assumed the -title of Governor and tried the expedient of raising funds by brigandage -organised on a larger scale than usual, and the country had relief only -in the fact that these were soon occupied in war against one another. -It is not difficult to understand that the eyes of many Egyptians were -turned longingly towards Kairawan, where the Mahdi, in an efficient -though somewhat brutal manner, was administering a firm and well ordered -state, maintaining civil law and peace. This is the easier to appreciate -when we remember that Ismaʿilian missionaries were busy in Egypt, and -the orderly government at Kairawan would naturally form one of their -arguments. - -At this juncture, when Egypt was plunged in anarchy, the Khalif at -Baghdad intervened and appointed as governor Muhammad b. Tughj the -Ikhshid, son of the Emir of Syria, who had himself been governor of -Damascus since 318. As his name denotes, this new governor was of Turkish -birth. For some time now the Khalifs, seriously alarmed at the growing -independence of the various dynasties of hereditary governors, especially -in Persia and the neighbouring lands, had been introducing Turkish -mercenaries, reckless of the inevitable consequences. - -The conditions of the Khalifate at this time show a close parallel -with those prevailing in Europe under the later Karlings, when “the -governor,—count, abbot, or bishop—tightened his grasp, turned a delegated -into an independent, a personal into a territorial authority, and hardly -owned a distant and feeble suzerain” (Bryce: _Holy Rom. Empire_, p. -79). So each governor appointed by the Khalif became the founder of an -independent dynasty, barely conceding the mention of the suzerain’s name -in the _khutba_ and on the coinage. Such were the Tahirids who ruled in -Khurasan from 205 to 259, the Saffarids in Persia from 254 to 290, the -Samanids in Transoxiana and Persia from 288 to about 400, the Hamdanids -who established themselves at Mosul in 292, at Aleppo in 333, and ruled -there until 394, and the Aghlabids whom we have seen in Kairawan. - -The Ikhshids claimed to be descended from the ancient kings of Ferghana -on the Jaxartes, a district inhabited by fighting races, from whom -the Khalif al-Muʿtasim (218-227) drew many mercenaries. The first of -the Ikhshids to serve the Khalifs was a mercenary named Juff, and he -continued in the Khalif’s employ until his death in 247. One of his sons -named Tughj was in the service of Luʿluʿ, who acted as squire to Ibn -Tulun in Egypt, and, when his master died, in that of Ishaq b. Kundaj, -and afterwards in that of Ibn Tulun’s son, Abu l-Jaysh Khumasawaih, -who regarded him with great favour and formed a very high opinion of -his military abilities, in consequence of which he procured for him -the governorship of Damascus and Tiberias. At his patron’s death Tughj -offered himself to the Khalif al-Muktafi, who considered this an act of -marked loyalty, and was greatly pleased with him, and made him one of -his confidential officers. These favours provoked the jealousy of the -wazir al-ʿAbbas, and he succeeded in getting Tughj cast into prison where -he died. He left two sons, Muhammad and ʿAbdullah, who burned to avenge -their father’s death, and their resentment was gratified when they saw -al-ʿAbbas executed by the Hamdanid al-Husayn. - -After this the elder son, Muhammad, went to Syria and joined himself to -Takin, who was governor of Syria as well as of Egypt. In this service he -prospered and was made governor of Amman. Then in 316 he was appointed to -Ramla, in 318 he was transferred to Damascus, which led the way to his -appointment as Emir of Egypt. This last charge was given him in 321, but -the state of Syria did not allow his immediate departure, and Egypt was -left for a while in the hands of Ahmad b. Kayghalagh, who returned to -office temporarily. By 324 Syria had been reduced to order, and Muhammad -the Ikhshid went over to Egypt to assume his governorship in person, -leaving his brother ʿAbdullah in Syria. - -There were some in Egypt who did not like the prospect of this new -governor, and amongst these was the Treasurer Madaraʿi, who induced the -acting governor, Ibn Kayghalagh, to take up arms to resist his entry. -The Egyptian army marched to the frontier and engaged the Syrians and -Turks under the Ikhshid at Farama, the ancient Pelusiun, now more -generally known as Tineh (Arabic _tîn_ = Greek πηλός “mud”), near the -Egyptian end of the “short desert route,” _via_ al-Arish from Syria. -The result was a complete defeat of the Egyptians, and so Muhammad the -Ikhshid continued on his way to the capital Fustat (“Old Cairo”) without -further opposition. Meanwhile the Syrian fleet had sailed up the Nile and -anchored off Giza, thus commanding the city until the Ikhshid marched up -his forces and took possession. The arrival of the new governor and his -army, largely Turkish in composition, established a firm and efficient -government in Egypt again until his death in 335. At their first arrival -indeed the Turkish troops began plundering the city, but they were soon -called to order and then, although the new governor was severe and -exacted heavy contributions, this stern rule was welcomed as it recalled -the peace and prosperity of the golden days of Ibn Tulun. The resultant -peace very soon opened up the way to literary activity and scholarship, -and Egypt began to follow, though at a distance, the culture of ʿIraq. -This literary development, as well as theological discussion and debates -on jurisprudence, centered in the “Old Mosque,” which was also the scene -of the most important state functions. - -Although the establishment of the Ikhshid rule in Egypt gives the -appearance of supreme power to the Khalif at Baghdad, who seems thus able -to dispose of provinces and appoint governors at discretion, his position -at the time was really very precarious. The Buwayhid dynasty of governors -had established itself in ʿIraq in 320 (= A.D. 932), but Baghdad itself -remained under the Khalif until 334, though generally he was only a tool -in the hands of the commander of the garrison. These Buwayhids claimed -descent from Buwayh, a prince in the hill country of Daylam, and so -ultimately from the ancient kings of Persia. They appeared as rivals of -other Daylamites led by Bajukin, who was _Emir al-Umara_ or “Supreme -Prince,” and had control of the government under the Khalifs ar-Razi and -al-Muttaqi. Alarmed at the progress of the Buwayhids, Bajukin took up -arms against them in 327, but was compelled to abandon his efforts by -the report of disorders in Baghdad. Soon afterwards Bajukin was killed -by a band of Kurdish marauders, and the capital was left in a state of -anarchy. Then Baridi became Chief Emir, but was expelled a few weeks -later: then the Daylamite Kurtakin, who turned out to be a tyrant. At -this the Khalif appealed to Ibn Raiq, the Emir of Syria, and he expelled -Kurtakin. Not long afterwards Baridi attacked Baghdad and Ibn Raiq had to -flee, taking the Khalif with him to Mosul, which was in the hands of the -Hamdanids. As champions of the Khalifate the Hamdanids marched against -Baghdad, took it, and ruled there for a short time, until the Turk Tuzun -drove them out and made himself _Emir al-Umara_ in 331. Then another -revolt drove him out, and the Khalif appealed again to the Hamdanids -and escaped to Mosul; but when peace was concluded between Tuzun and -the Hamdanids the Khalif remained in their hands. At this time, indeed, -the Khalifate was very far from showing the character of an absolute -monarchy. All over the Muslim world the Sunni, or orthodox party, -recognised the Khalif as the Commander of the Faithful, except of course -in Spain where the Umayyads of Cordova assumed the title of Khalif in -317. Enjoying great dignity and prestige in an office which combined many -of the characteristics of the Pope and Emperor in the West, he was in -fact no more than a puppet, a valuable asset in the hands of any one of -the warring dynasties of Asia, but possessing no real authority. Yet his -formal recognition was eagerly sought as a precious endorsement of _de -facto_ rights by Muslim rulers, and even princes in far-off India humbly -begged his approval of their titles. It seems indeed as though the office -of Khalif gained in spiritual influence as it lost in political authority. - -Whilst in exile and in Hamdanid’s hands, the Khalif appealed to the -Ikhshid whom he had set over Egypt, and Muhammad visited him at Riqqa and -invited him to take refuge in Egypt; but al-Muttaqi, though anxious for -help to recover the external symbols of authority at Baghdad, was not -willing to put himself so entirely in the Ikhshid’s hands; he knew that -Ikhshid and Hamdanid alike only desired to possess his person as a kind -of imperial regalia, and so he preferred to entrust himself to the Turk -Tuzun, who at least could establish him in the capital. He reigned in -Baghdad in name only until 333, when Tuzun deposed him, put out his eyes, -and enthroned al-Mustakfi in his place. But this was followed by a period -of anarchy in Baghdad, until in 334 the Buwayhid prince took the city. A -few months later al-Mustakfi was deposed and replaced by al-Muʿti, whose -position under the Buwayhid princes was parallel to that of the Frankish -kings under the “Mayors of the Palace,” with the aggravated condition -that the Khalifs were spiritual pontiffs and the Buwayhids were, like -the Hamdanids, Shiʿite heretics of the “Twelvers” sect. Buwayhid’s rule -over Baghdad lasted from 384 to 447, when the Emir was displaced by the -Saljuk Turks under Tughril Beg. Throughout this period the Buwayhids were -content with the title of _Emir al-Umara_; they never assumed that of -Sultan. - -It has been necessary for us to turn aside to note the position of the -Khalifate at the time, for otherwise we should have some difficulty in -understanding the course of events in Egypt, which now takes the foremost -place in the policy of the African Shiʿites. It is often possible to -ignore the contemporary history of Spain and of North Africa when -following the course of events in Egypt, but Egypt forms so integral -a part of the world of Islam that it is never possible to treat its -history, even during the comparative isolation of the Fatimid period, -without some passing note of the contemporary history of the Baghdad -Khalifate. - -Whilst these changes were taking place in Asia and the Ikhshid was -consolidating his power in Egypt, the Mahdi continued ruling at Kairawan, -and, though North Africa was one of the most turbulent and the least -civilized parts of the Islamic world, his rule was stable and orderly. -In 312 he added a suburb to the city which he called al-Muhammadiya, and -which served as a kind of royal cantonments closed against the ordinary -citizens, and used only as an official settlement of those engaged in the -public administration and as the site of the various public offices. Such -official suburbs were very frequent in oriental capitals, and become a -regular feature of the great Muslim royal cities. The Mahdi’s later years -were somewhat clouded by his relations with the Qarmatians, who were -still active in Asia, and who caused the whole Ismaʿilian movement to be -regarded with grave suspicion by the Muslim world at large. - -Since 311, as we have seen, the Qarmatians had occupied Basra. In 317 -they had spread down into the Hijaz, and on the 8th of the month of -the pilgrimage in that year the pilgrims who had come up to Mecca were -attacked by them. The Sherif of Mecca, many of his attendants, and many -of the pilgrims, were killed: the sacred spring of Zamzam was choked -up with the bodies of the slain which were tumbled in: the door of the -“House of God” was broken open, the veil which covered the House was -torn down, and the sacred black stone was removed from the Kaʿaba and -carried away to the Qarmatian headquarters at Hajar. Never in the history -of Islam has there been sacrilege at all comparable to this, and never -before had the Qarmatians advertised so boldly their contempt for the -Muslim religion. Begkem, the Emir of Baghdad, offered them a reward of -50,000 dinars to restore the sacred stone, but the offer was refused. - -According to Ibn Athir, quoted by Ibn Khallikan (i. 427, etc.) the -Mahdi then wrote to them from Kairawan: “By what you have done you have -justified the charge of infidelity brought against our sect, and the -title of ‘impious’ given to the missionaries acting for our dynasty; -if you restore not what you have taken from the people of Mecca, the -pilgrims and others, if you replace not the Black Stone and the veil -of the Kaʿaba, we shall renounce you in this world and the next.” This -letter was more effectual than Begkem’s proffered reward, and the -Qarmatians restored the Black Stone with the statement, “We took it by -order, and by order we return it.” It was restored either in Dhu l-Kaada -or Dhu l-Hijja of 339. Of the year there seems no question, and Ibn -Khallikan points out that the Mahdi died in 322. He suggests, therefore, -that the letter and the Qarmatian reply were fabrications, presumably for -the purpose of throwing the odium of sacrilege on the Mahdi. But it is -not necessary to suppose that the Black Stone was returned immediately in -response to the Mahdi’s request. A more likely interpretation is given -by Macdonald, who accepts the letter as genuine and comments: “When an -enormous ransom was offered for the stone they (_i.e._, the Qarmatians) -declined—they had orders not to send it back. Everyone understood that -the orders were from Africa. So ʿUbayd Allah found it advisable to -address them in a public letter, exhorting them to be better Muslims. The -writing and reading of this letter must have been accompanied by mirth, -at any rate no attention was paid to it by the Qarmatians. It was not -till the time of the third Fatimid Khalifa that they were permitted to do -business with that stone” (Macdonald: _Muslim Theology_, pp. 46-47). This -suggests a plausible explanation, that the letter was sent by the Mahdi, -but was only intended to disclaim any responsibility for the taking of -the stone on his part; that it was not intended to be heeded, and was not -taken seriously, the stone being detained until long after the Mahdi’s -death. This theory would fit in with the policy of the Fatimids at -Kairawan, which carefully avoided anything likely to offend the orthodox, -and would dispose of Ibn Khallikan’s objection, which is based on the -supposition that the date of the return of the stone was shortly after -the writing of the latter. The letter assumes that the Qarmatians and -the Fatimids were members of the same sect. Undoubtedly they had been so -originally, but later on they definitely separated, and we are not clear -as to the time of this division. It seems probable that the external -quasi-orthodoxy of the Fatimids in Africa was the cause of its separation -from the Qarmatians, who had made more open profession of the destructive -elements of their religion. - -The Mahdi died in 322 (A.D. 933), and was succeeded by his son Abu -l-Kasim, who assumed the name of al-Qaʾim. - - - - -VI - -THE SECOND FATIMID KHALIF, AL-QAʾIM - -(A.H. 322-335 = A.D. 933-946) - - -The new Khalif, al-Qaʾim, had already shown himself an efficient leader -in the two expeditions against Egypt, and in the vigour with which he -repressed the simmering revolts in Africa. His accession was marked by -two expeditions; a naval attack on the south of France, the coast of -Genoa and Calabria, which resulted in the bringing home of many slaves -and plunder: and another attempt on Egypt, which, however, was promptly -checked by the Ikhshid’s brother, ʿUbayd Allah. - -At the moment Egypt was too well administered to allow opportunity for -invasion such as had taken place in 307-8. The Ikhshid was doing his best -to hold Syria and to bolster up the tottering throne of the Khalifs, -but had forces to spare for the protection of Egypt. It is true that he -was defeated shortly afterwards by Ibn Raiq, who had seized Damascus -and was compelled to pay tribute, but after two years’ payment Ibn Raiq -died (A.H. 326), and then the Ikhshid was able, not only to recover all -that he had temporarily been compelled to yield, but was in a position -to extend his dominions, and brought Syria under his control. Not long -afterwards the Khalif entrusted him with the guardianship of Mecca and -Madina. At that time the Ikhshid was the only loyal supporter on whom the -Khalif could rely, chiefly, of course, because of his jealousy towards -those who threatened the throne of Baghdad. - -Unable to divert his subjects by the long hoped for conquest of Egypt, -al-Qaʾim had to meet more serious rebellions in the west than his father -had experienced. The principal revolt took place amongst the Zenata tribe -of Aures and Zab, south of the Katama territory, nearly all members of -the Kharijite sect, led by a darwish named Abu Yazid, who assumed the -title of “Sheikh of the true believers,” but was better known as “the man -with an ass.” This movement was mainly of a nationalist character, and -aimed at establishing a purely Berber state in which Arabs should have no -place. The Berbers had won Spain, and had done most to place the Fatimids -on the throne of Kairawan, but in both cases they seemed to have been -cheated out of the fruits of their labours by wily Asiatics, and so the -motive in this revolt was the assertion of their racial rights. - -In 332 Abu Yazid marched northwards at the head of most of the Zenata -tribe of the south, hereditary rivals of the Katama, and many other -Berbers. In rapid succession he took Baghai, Tabassa, Mermajenna, and -Laribus. The Fatimid forces tried to prevent his advance upon Baja, but -were repulsed. It was the story of Abu ʿAbdullah over again, but this -time it was a Berber at the head of Berber tribes, and the religious -motive assigned was the restoration of the primitive ideals of Islam, -the democratic election of the Khalif, and all the reactionary programme -of the Kharijites which was, and is, the most congenial to the nomadic -tribes of Africa and Arabia. We have seen very much the same programme in -the history of the Sanusi in recent times. The successful repulse of the -Fatimid army made a great impression, and all the Zanata tribes of Zab, -the Hwaras of the Aures, and many others, rallied round Abu Yazid. At the -head of a large, but undisciplined force, he marched towards Kairawan: -on the way he met a Fatimid army, but this time suffered defeat. It was, -however, no more than a temporary check; he soon rallied, took Raqada, -and then pressed on to Kairawan, defeated the forces of the Fatimid -Khalif, and captured the city. Al-Qaʾim was obliged to take refuge in -al-Mahadiya, which Abu Yazid forthwith besieged. At this juncture the -Katama and Sanhaja tribes came in mass to relieve the city, and Abu -Yazid’s followers, demoralised by the steady resistance of the defenders, -were obliged to retire. As they retreated al-Qaʾim followed, and was soon -able to recover the whole of Tunisia, but after an interval Abu Yazid -rallied and laid siege to the town of Susa. - -At this juncture al-Qaʾim died, and was succeeded by his son, who took -the name al-Mansur (the protected). - -Al-Qaʾim had accompanied his father, the Mahdi, in his flight from -Syria, and had proved himself a trusty and competent general before his -accession to the throne. He figures in history solely as a fighting man: -we hear nothing of any development either in the Ismaʿilian sect or in -the organization of the Fatimid state. - - - - -VII - -THE THIRD FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MANSUR - -(A.H. 335-342 = A.D. 946-953) - - -The stability of the Fatimid Khalifate was problematical when al-Qaʾim -died at the height of Abu Yazid’s rebellion. The first task of the -new Khalif al-Mansur was to relieve Susa, and he was fortunate enough -to inflict a severe defeat on Abu Yazid, and to drive him back to the -mountains of Kiana in the extreme west of Ifrikiya. There a stubborn -struggle followed which lasted a whole year, but was terminated by the -final defeat and complete rout of the insurgent Berbers, Abu Yazid -himself being mortally wounded in the final engagement and dying soon -after. - -This revolt, however, begins the decay of Fatimid authority in the -west. The Zanata tribes of Maghrawa and B. Ifrene were able to form a -separate state in the neighbourhood of Tlemsen, whilst the Umayyads of -Spain established a colony at Fez, where they placed the descendants -of Musa ibn Abi l-Afia and his followers, Syrian Arabs who had been -invited to Spain but had become obnoxious, and whom it was advisable to -segregate from the earlier settlers in Spain. Central Maghrab, roughly -corresponding to the greater part of Algeria, was held by the Sanhaja -tribe, steady allies and supporters of the Fatimid Khalifate, under the -government of Ziri b. Menad, who built the town of Achir as his capital. - -Such was the position when al-Mansur died in 342 and was succeeded by -his son Maʿad, who took the name of al-Moʿizz. Al-Mansur’s reign had -been occupied entirely in dealing with Abu Yazid’s rebellion, and in the -consolidation of the country after this rebellion had been put down. It -cannot be said that he left the Fatimid state in a strengthened position -when compared with conditions under the Mahdi, for already independent -states had begun to be formed in the West, but he had dealt successfully -with the emergency existing at the time of his accession. - -The Fatimid state was essentially an hereditary one, for the Shiʿite -theory implied the legitimate descent of the Imam. The recognition of -Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar, clearly showed that the father’s claimed -right of disposing of the succession was invalid in the eyes of the sect -of Seveners. From that time the succession had been strictly hereditary. -But the Fatimids, seated in power, borrowed the constitutional usage of -the Khalifs of Baghdad, and secured the succession by obtaining formal -recognition of the heir during their lifetime. Thus Maʿad was formally -recognised as next in succession on Monday, the 7th of Dhu l-Hijja 341, -and came to the throne in the following year. In the ʿAbbasid Khalifate -this recognition was a relic of the earlier election, and meant that the -next Khalif was formally elected by the princes during his predecessor’s -lifetime, the orthodox Khalifate not being professedly hereditary. The -case was otherwise with the Fatimids who were legitimist, and could only -have as Imam the one chosen by God, and to whom alone the Divine Spirit -could pass at the preceding Imam’s death. No doubt the formal recognition -during the father’s life was adopted as a measure of precaution; -theoretically it might be defended by the supposition that its point was -the father’s public recognition of his son and heir, but the real case -seems to be that it was simply borrowed from the usages of the court of -Baghdad, and marks a relaxation of the theocratic and sectarian character -of the Fatimid state which is gradually inclining towards becoming a -purely secular one, differing from the Baghdad Khalifate in little more -than in that it professed Shiʿism as the established religion. - - - - -VIII - -THE FOURTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MOʿIZZ - -(A.H. 342-365 = A.D. 953-975) - - -The new Fatimid Khalif was of a type somewhat different from his -predecessors. Like them, indeed, he proved an able and efficient ruler, -but unlike them he was a man of cultured tastes and of considerable -literary ability. His heart was set on the conquest of Egypt, the great -dream ever present before his father and grandfather, which seemed now -coming within the bounds of possibility. - -To understand this we must turn for a while to the course of events -in Egypt. The Ikhshid Muhammad b. Tughj had died in 335, and had been -succeeded by his son Abu l-Qasim Unjur, a child of 15, who was kept in -a state of pupilage by a black eunuch named Abu l-Misk Kafur, _i.e._, -“Camphor, the father of musk.” This Kafur was an ungainly black slave, of -ponderous bulk and mis-shapen legs, who had been purchased as a boy of -ten in the year 310 and sent one day with a present to the Ikhshid; the -present was returned, but the messenger was retained. Little by little he -rose in the service, first of the Ikhshid’s household, then in that of -the state, conciliating everyone by his pleasing manners and fair words, -and was finally appointed by the Ikhshid _atatek_, or guardian, to his -two sons. At the Ikhshid’s death a riot broke out, and this Kafur put -down with such tact that he was regarded with even greater favour and -consideration by all the public officials. Soon afterwards news arrived -that the Hamdanid Sayf ad-Dawla ʿAli had taken Damascus, and was marching -upon Ramla. At once Kafur set out at the head of the army and checked -ʿAli, returning home with considerable booty. This greatly increased -his reputation, and, although holding no constitutional authority he -was able to get all the business of the state into his hands, and was -generally conceded the title of _ustad_ or “tutor,” a word often used -in the same sense as _patron_ in French, and under this title he was -mentioned in the _khutba_ or Friday prayer. As his ward Unjur grew -older, however, a more or less veiled hostility arose between them, each -on his guard against the other, until the titular prince died in 349, -not without suspicion of being poisoned by the ustad, although such -suspicions were usual in every case where a death seemed to be timely: -the oriental world has always had an obsession for poisoning. - -Kafur was now strong enough to control the appointment of the next heir -and, as Maqrizi expresses it, appointed the deceased prince’s brother -Abu l-Hasan ʿAli to succeed him, paying him an annual pension of 400,000 -dinars, and reserving the whole administration in his own hands. The -new Emir, though 23 years of age, was kept shut up and was permitted -to see no-one. However, the same strained feelings arose between him -and the ustad as in the case of his brother, and when he died in 355 -there were the same suspicions. For some time Egypt remained without a -regular governor,—it must be remembered that the Emir was theoretically -no more than a viceroy appointed by the Khalif at Baghdad,—and all the -power continued in Kafur’s hands as he declined to proclaim Anujin’s -son, saying that he was too young to occupy the position of Emir. About -a month after Abu l-Hasan ʿAli’s death he displayed a pelisse of honour -sent from Baghdad and a charter nominating himself governor under the -title of ustad, and on Tuesday, the 10th of Safar 355 (Feb., 966), he -began to wear the pelisse in public (Ibn Khall. ii. 524, etc.). - -Before long the Khalif al-Moʿizz made another attempt upon Egypt, and his -army advanced to the oases before the western frontier, but Kafur checked -the advance and slew several of the invaders, but received at his court -some of the Fatimid missionaries whom al-Moʿizz sent as envoys to invite -Kafur to recognise his authority. The Ustad received them favourably, -and most of his entourage and the chief officials gave their promises -of homage to the Fatimid. It seems, indeed, that Kafur had formed the -definite plan of transferring allegiance from the ʿAbbasid Khalif to the -Fatimid, or rather that such a transference should take place at the next -vacancy in the governorship of Egypt. - -Kafur never repeated the military enterprise or success of his two -earlier expeditions, his defeat of the Hamdanid and his repulse of the -Fatimid, if indeed this latter can be regarded as a success. He was -unable to prevent the Qarmatians who had raided Syria in 352, from -capturing the caravan of Egyptian pilgrims on their way to Mecca in 355. -Nor could he restrain a Nubian invasion into Egypt which plundered the -more southern districts and took home much booty. Still more serious -misfortunes which were not under his control were the two low Niles, -producing famine and misery, and a severe fire which destroyed parts of -Fustat, as well as an earthquake. On the whole the four years of Kafur’s -rule were a period of distress and discontent. - -Yet many in after days looked back to those years as a kind of golden -age. It was a period in which the later growth of Arabic literature was -in full tide, that later literature which contrasted with the ancient -Arabic poetry of the more strictly classical period, when both prose -and poetry were manipulated mainly by men who were not Arabs by race, -but obtained a greater technical skill than the earlier writers had -achieved. To that later literature the negro ruler of Egypt showed -himself a generous patron and his court was filled with poets, wits, -and men of letters who were attracted to Egypt by the liberality of -the black Maecenas. Like most of his race he was passionately fond of -music; and the beautiful gardens which he laid out on the north of -Fustat, gardens which the Fatimids incorporated in their royal city of -Cairo, transmitted his name to succeeding generations. He was lavish -in his expenditure,—the negro is always ostentatious,—and especially -so on the daily provisions of his kitchen, but this was counted in his -favour, for the Arabic tradition was that princes should dispense an -open handed hospitality, and the Egyptians of ancient and modern times -have had a strong inclination to appreciate feasting and the indulgence -of the appetite. But most welcome of all to his table were poets and -epigrammists, who rarely went away without some substantial rewards -for their literary efforts. One poet was able to leave behind him a -hundred suits of robes of honour, twice that number of vests, and five -hundred turbans. Such literary courtiers naturally turned their genius to -complimentary verses about their patron. One, playing upon his name Kafur -or “camphro,” composed verses on the fragrant scented gardens which he -had laid out, and which long stood for the ideal gardens in the Egyptian -mind: another explained in verse how the shocks of earthquake had been -caused by the Egyptians dancing for delight as they contemplated Kafur’s -merits, an effusion which caused the delighted Ustad to throw him a -purse containing a thousand dinars. Amongst his pensioners was the poet -al-Mutanabbi, who had left the court of the Hamdanid Sayf ad-Dawla in -anger at the smallness of his presents, and thought little of a prince -who did not come up to his very high standard of generosity. At first -Kafur used to smile graciously at him, but the poet wanted presents and -not mere compliments. “When I went into Kafur’s presence,” he said, “with -the intention of reciting verses to him, he always laughed at seeing me -and smiled in my face, but when I repeated to him these lines:— - - ‘Since friendship has become a mere deception, I am repaid - for my smiles with smiles; but when I choose a friend my mind - misgives me, for I know he is but a man’: - -he never did so again as long as I remained with him. I was astonished -at this proof of his sagacity and intelligence.” He was very quickly -dissatisfied with Kafur. “What I want,” he said, “I declare not; thou -art gifted with sagacity, and my silence is a sufficient explanation, -nay a plain request.” At length he left Kafur’s court, dissatisfied at -the liberal gifts he received because they were not ample enough, and -revenged himself by writing satires on Kafur, such as:— - - “Who could teach noble sentiments to this castrated negro?—his - white masters?—or his ancestors who were hunted like wild - beasts?” - -The poet finally settled at the court of Adud ad-Dawla at Shiraz (Ibn -Khall. ii. 524, sqq.). - -But Kafur, though easy going and with many of the weaknesses of the -negro, was a man who had the wit to acquire more than a superficial -education by the right use of opportunities which were often available -to the ambitious slave, and which indeed form one of the redeeming -features of slavery as it existed in Muslim lands. Besides this he was -a painstaking and efficient administrator, and a man of deep religious -convictions. - -In all Kafur ruled the country twenty-two years, part of the time as -tutor to the two sons of the Ikhshih, part as independent viceroy in all -but name. During the closing years of this period he became unpopular. -Feeling had been strained by the famine due to the bad Niles, and the -reports of the Qarmatians’ advance into Syria bred disaffection amongst -the Turkish and Greek mercenaries. On Tuesday, the 20th Jumada I. 356 -(May, 967), he died at the age of sixty, leaving property to the value of -700,000 dinars of gold, and goods, furniture, jewels, slaves, and animals -valued at some 600,000 dinars. - -Kafur’s death left Egypt in a state of confusion. The court assembled -to elect a governor; a significant mark of the times, for no reference -was made to the Khalif at Baghdad, who was a mere phantom. The choice -fell on Abu l-Fawaris Ahmad, grandson of the Ikhshih Muhammad b. Tughj, -who was a mere child. Soon after this, however, there arrived in Egypt -Husayn, the son of ʿAbdullah, the brother whom Muhammad had left in Syria -in 321. During the thirty years which had elapsed since then ʿUbayd and -his son had had a chequered military career, and the son now arrived -as a fugitive, fleeing from the Qarmatians. His arrival was welcome to -the Turkish troops who forthwith elected him their general, and he at -once assumed the supreme power. The use he made of this authority was to -arrest the wazir Ibn al-Furat and torture him until he wrung from him -a large sum of money with which he departed at once to Syria. During -his brief stay in Egypt he had been guilty of other acts of cruelty and -rapacity, and when a year later he was himself sent a prisoner to Egypt, -there was a general feeling of satisfaction that he was himself treated -with severity. His departure for Syria took place on the first of Rabiʿ -II. 358 (Feb., 969). The rule of the Ikhshids, or at least their nominal -authority, continued for five months more until the summer of the same -year (Ibn Khall, Life of Tughj). - -It was a time of acute disorder. Famine had followed the failure of the -Nile, and plague had followed the famine. The soldiers had their pay -diminished, their customary gratuities were in arrear, and they were in -open mutiny, for there was no controlling hand to restrain them. The -administration was in the hands of the wazir Ibn al-Furat, who had been -plundered by ʿAbdullah, and he was unable either to pay the troops or -to relieve the distress of the people. It was clear that under these -conditions the country would be in no condition to offer effective -resistance to an invader, and this was the moment chosen by the Fatimid -Khalif to make his attack. - -For two years (356-357) al-Moʿizz had been making detailed preparations -for the invasion of Egypt. In 356 he had commenced constructing roads, -digging wells along the roadside, and building rest-houses at regular -intervals. At the same time he began collecting funds for the necessary -expenses and paying substantial sums to the Katama leaders, who were -thus enabled to arm and equip their followers. As we have already seen, -there had been Fatimite missionaries for some time at work in Egypt, -and al-Moʿizz had even made formal advances to Kafur and had been well -received, and his proposals for coming to Egypt had been heard with -politeness: he certainly had many strong adherents in high office in -Egypt. Now the general disorder following the famine and plague, and -the disorganization after Kafur’s death seemed to furnish the right -opportunity, just as all his preparations were mature. - -An even more important task had been performed in bringing all North -Africa into complete subordination. Cultured literary man as the Fatimid -Khalif was, he was also a most efficient organizer, and was well served -by officials whom he treated with generous confidence. The disciplining -of Africa was a necessary preliminary to an expedition outside the bounds -of the country, which might well be of protracted duration and uncertain -issue. For this he had the assistance of an able general, Abu l-Hasan -Jawhar b. ʿAbdullah, commonly known as “Jawhar the Greek scribe,” as he -was a liberated slave trained as a secretary, whose father had been -subject of the Byzantine Empire. Like Kafur he shows that the slave -in Islam was not merely treated as a fellow man, but had a career of -ambition open before him, in which his servile origin was no obstacle; -even in modern times slaves have risen to high office, and have sometimes -married princesses. There was no colour barrier nor any racial feeling: -no reluctance was felt at white men being ruled by a negro ex-slave. - -Marching to the Maghrab, Jawhar joined forces with the Sanhaja chieftain -Ziri, who was one of the most faithful allies of the Fatimids (cf. p. -123), and together they advanced upon the Umayyad colonies at Fez and -Sijilmasa. These they took and thus prevented the possibility of Spanish -interference in Africa for the time. Continuing westwards they reduced -the whole Maghrab to the coast. As a sign of the extent of the expedition -fish were caught in the ocean, and sent in jars to the Khalif in company -with the princes of Fez and Sijilmasa, who were conveyed in an iron cage. -The only town left to the Umayyads was Sibta (Ceuta). The Idrisid princes -of the far west, descendants of Hasan, the son of ʿAli, were put down, -and thus their independent rule which had lasted just over two centuries -came to an end. It was a more thorough reduction of the country than had -ever been made previously, and when Jawhar returned to Kairawan al-Moʿizz -was recognised as the unquestioned ruler of all North Africa. - -The Khalif determined to entrust the invasion of Egypt to Jawhar, who -had so clearly proved his efficiency in the reduction of the Maghrab, -but just about this time Jawhar fell ill. Al-Moʿizz was not willing -to replace him, and continued his preparations, assembling troops and -supplies at Raqada: every day he visited the general who, as soon as his -health was sufficiently restored, the order to advance was given. - -Jawhar was the commander of the Fatimid force, but with him was another -who played an important part in the subsequent construction of the -Fatimid state in Egypt. Yaqub b. Killis was a native of Baghdad, by -origin and for many years by religion a Jew. His father sent him first -to Syria, then to Egypt, where he became a chamberlain to Kafur, then -received a seat on the privy council and acted as accountant and -treasurer. He became a Muslim in 356. At Kafur’s death he was arrested -by his rival the wazir Ibn al-Furat, but by bribing his gaolers he -managed to escape and fled to Kairawan. The expedition against Egypt was -already in full preparation, but he joined himself with Jawhar and proved -a useful adviser. He was commonly regarded as the instigator of the -enterprise, but this does not seem to be accurate. - -Jawhar’s start was made on the 14th of Rabiʿ II. 358 (A.D. 969). -Al-Moʿizz attended with his court to bid him farewell. During this -meeting the general stood before the Khalif, who leaned down on his -horse’s neck and spoke to him privately for some time. The Khalif then -ordered his sons to dismount and give Jawhar the salutation of departure; -this obliged all the great officers of state to dismount also. Jawhar -then kissed the hand of the Khalif and the hoof of his horse and, -mounting at his master’s command, gave the word for the whole force to -march. When al-Moʿizz returned to his palace he sent as a present to -Jawhar all the clothes he had been wearing at the farewell interview, -save only his drawers and signet ring. At the same time he sent forward -orders to Aflah, the governor of Barqa, that he should set out to meet -Jawhar and kiss his hand. Aflah offered a gift of 100,000 dinars to be -permitted to escape this act of homage, but was obliged to submit (Ibn -Khall. i. 341-2). - -Jawhar first advanced upon Alexandria. The city capitulated on liberal -terms; there was no pillage and no violence to any of the inhabitants, as -Jawhar was able to restrain his well-paid army in admirable discipline. - -The news of Jawhar’s approach caused great dismay in Fustat. It was -decided that the wazir Ibn al-Furat should write to him and ask for peace -with security for the lives and property of the citizens. At the same -time Abu Jaʿfar Muslim b. ʿUbayd Allah, an emir of high standing, and an -acknowledged descendant of Husayn the son of ʿAli, was asked to go in -person to plead with Jawhar, it being assumed that an ʿAlid envoy would -carry weight with the Shiʿites. Abu Jaʿfar consented on condition that a -company of citizens went with him (id.). - -The deputation set out on Monday, the 18th of Rajab 358 (= 18 June, -969) and met Jawhar at Taruja, a village not far from Alexandria. They -delivered their appeal to him, and he immediately granted all their -requests, and confirmed his promised by a written statement. With this -the envoys returned to Fustat, where they arrived on the 7th of Shaban. -The wazir Ibn al-Furat rode out to meet them, read Jawhar’s statement, -and handed to each of his companions who had written to Jawhar asking -for appointments under the new government his replies, which were in -all cases favourable. Some time was spent then in discussion, but the -informal gathering dispersed without agreeing to any uniform attitude -towards the invaders. The city was still in great alarm, and the -adherents of the Ikhshids, the officers who had served under Kafur and -some of the army, determined to reject Jawhar’s proffered peace and to -make armed resistance. Valuables were concealed, a camp was formed, and -Nahrir ash-Shoizai was chosen general. Under his leadership the Egyptian -army marched out to Giza and set companies to guard the bridges. - -On the 11th of Shaban, Jawhar arrived, having been informed of the -intended resistance. He took several prisoners and marched to Muniat -as-Sayadin (the village of the fishermen) and seized the ford of Muniat -Shalkan. At this some of the Egyptian troops passed over in boats and -surrendered, but the men on the Fustat side put a guard at the ford. Then -Jawhar stripped to his trousers, and at the head of his men waded into -the river, and thus arrived at the other side where they attacked the -defenders and killed a considerable number. Night had now approached, -and under the cover of darkness the rest of the defenders fled from the -city, carrying off from their houses whatever they could. A deputation of -wives waited on Abu Jaʿfar asking him to write to Jawhar and obtain, if -possible, a renewal of his previous offers of peace. Abu Jaʿfar wrote as -requested: the Fatimid general readily assented, and issued an order to -the troops forbidding pillage and violence. At this the city recovered -its confidence, the bazars were re-opened, and commercial life went on -its normal course (Ibn Khall. i. 343). - -On Tuesday, the 17th Shaban, by Jawhar’s order, a deputation of leading -officials, sharifs, the learned, and prominent citizens went out to -Giza. By orders announced by a herald everyone except the wazir Ibn -al-Furat and the Sharif Abu Jaʿfar, dismounted and saluted Jawhar in -turn, the Fatimite general standing with the Sharif on his right hand, -the Wazir on his left. After this ceremony was concluded the envoys -returned to the city, and the troops commenced their entry with arms and -baggage. After the ʿAsr or hour of mid-afternoon prayer Jawhar himself -made his entry preceded by drums and flags; he wore a silk dress heavily -embroidered with gold, and rode a cream coloured horse. He rode straight -through the city with his men, and passing out on the north-east side -pitched camp there. - -Late in the evening in the camping ground he marked out a great square of -1,200 yards base, and men were stationed, spade in hand, ready to start -the foundations of this new city, or rather royal suburb, when the signal -was given. The projected lines, all sketched out by al-Moʿizz himself -beforehand, were marked with pegs, and bells were hung from connected -ropes so that a signal might be given for the simultaneous turning of the -first sod. Meanwhile the astrologers were busy calculating the propitious -moment for the birth of the city. Unexpectedly, however, a raven settling -down on one of the ropes set all the bells jingling, and the men at once -thrust their spades into the soil. It was too late to check them, though -the astrologers found that it was a most inauspicious moment as the -planet _al-Kahir_ (Mars) was in the ascendant. There was nothing for it -but to accept the omen, and the city thus commenced was named _al-Kahira_ -(Cairo), or more fully _al-Kahira al-Mahrusa_ (the guarded city of Mars). -It was designed as a royal suburb to be entirely devoted to palaces and -official buildings, inaccessible to the general public, similar to the -city of al-Muhammadiya outside Kairawan. In course of time, however, the -main part of the population of Fustat migrated to Kahira, and it is now -the most populous city in the whole of Africa. - -Fustat, or Misr al-Atika, or simply Misr, was the old Arab city founded -in A.H. 21 soon after the conquest. In 133 the suburb of al-ʿAskar to the -north-east was added, but this was simply cantonments for the government -officials, and was not accessible to the ordinary citizens. Al-Qataiʿ -“the wards,” a kind of additional cantonments intended for the foreign -mercenary troops, was added in 256, but was partially destroyed by the -later ʿAbbasid governors and finally abandoned. Al-Kahira stood further -to the north-east, and it was after the burning of Fustat in 564 that the -population generally began to colonize this suburb. - -When the people came out from the city next morning to Jawhar’s camp they -found, to their unbounded surprise, that the foundations of the new city -had been dug during the night. For six days after the troops continued -entering the old city, passing through, and going out to the new suburb -where was Jawhar’s camp. News of the successful occupation of Egypt was -without delay sent to the Khalif, and with it were the heads of the -Egyptians slain at the ford. - -Jawhar now issued orders that all mention of the ʿAbbasid Khalif at -Baghdad in the Friday prayer must cease, and in place of his name the -coinage must bear the inscription _bi-smi mulaʿi l-Moʿizz_, “in the name -of my master al-Moʿizz.” At the same time the preachers in the mosques -were forbidden to wear the black garments usual under the ʿAbbasids, -and were ordered to use white, a similar order being issued to public -officials generally. It was ordered that every Sunday a court should be -held for the “Inspection of complaints,” for the hearing of petitions -against officials and against the administration, the Kaʾid or military -governor, _i.e._, Jawhar himself, being present as well as the Wazir, -Qadi, and a number of men learned in the law, so that those who had -complaints against officials which lay outside the scope of the ordinary -law courts might obtain redress. The court did not try cases, but on -hearing a complaint referred it to the proper qadi with orders to see -that it received attention. The decision was then sent to the court of -“Inspection of complaints,” and written out in substance by a secretary, -and then passed on to another secretary who put the summary in full -legal form. This was taken to the Khalif who confirmed it, and this -authoritative decision was then communicated to the petitioner, who had -the whole protection of the state behind him in putting it into effect. - -On Friday, the 8th of Dhu l-Kaada, in the _khutba_, the words were added, -“O my God, bless Muhammad the chosen, ʿAli the accepted, Fatima the pure, -and al-Hasan and al-Husayn, the grandsons of the Apostle, whom thou hast -freed from stain and thoroughly purified. O my God, bless the pure Imams, -ancestors of the Commanders of the faithful” (Ibn Khall. i. 344). This -was at once a profession of Shiʿite faith, and an assertion of the claim -of al-Moʿizz to be descended from the house of ʿAli. There is no sign -that any appreciable number of the Egyptians became converts to Shiʿite -views: for the most part these claims were regarded with complete apathy -until the celebration of the great Shiʿite festival of the Muharram, when -there was some rioting. The people at large acquiesced in the new rule -without paying any attention to its religious claims. - -On Friday, the 18th of Rabiʿ II. 359, the Kaʾid Jawhar himself presided -at the public prayers and sermon in the Old Mosque, that is the Mosque -of ʿAmr. The building then existing had been erected by ʿAbdullah b. -Tahir in 212, and is still standing. It escaped destruction when the city -was burned, but suffered a disastrous restoration in A.D. 1798. At this -service many soldiers were present. The preacher was ʿAbdu s-Sami b. Umar -al-ʿAbbasi, who in the _khutba_ made especial mention of the “people -of the house,” _i.e._, the family of ʿAli, and prayed for the Kaʾid, -although Jawhar did not approve of his own name being thus mentioned, -saying that no authority for it had been given in the instructions he -had received from al-Moʿizz. In the call to prayer the Shiʿite custom of -adding the words “come to the excellent work” was adopted. In the month -of Jumada I. this addition was made in the call to prayer at the Old -Mosque, at which Jawhar was greatly pleased, and made a report of the -circumstance to the Khalif (Ibn Khall. i. 344-5). - -Meanwhile progress was being made with the building of al-Kahira. The -new city was surrounded with a wall of large bricks, of which the last -fragments were observed by Maqrizi in A.D. 1400. In the middle of the -great enclosure was an open space, the _Bayn al-Kasrayn_, “between -the two palaces,” as it was afterwards called, large enough for 10,000 -troops to be paraded: a small portion of this open space remains as the -Suq an-Nahhasin. On the east was the Khalif’s palace; one corner of -its site is now marked by the Khan al-Khalili, another by the Husayn -Mosque. The name of the square was of later date, and due to the fact -that al-Moʿizz’s successor built a lesser palace on its west side, at the -beginning of the beautiful garden which Kafur had laid out, and which the -Fatimid Khalifs maintained. A great thoroughfare led through the midst -of Kahira from the Bab al-Zuwayla on the south side, communicating with -the old city of Fustat, and passing through the Bayn al-Kasrayn to the -Bab al-Futah, which led out to the open country on the north. To the -north of the Khalif’s palace lay the Wazir’s official residence, and to -the south the mosque of al-ʾAzhar, which Jawhar commenced soon after the -foundation of Kahira and finished on the 7th of Ramadan, 361. Although -the existing building has been much modernised it retains enough of the -older structure to show the typical character of Fatimid architecture. -The horse shoe arch, commonly regarded as of Persian origin, seems to -have been developed in Egypt, and appears first in the Nilometer and -then in the mosque of Ibn Tulun: it had an Indian parentage, and was -not introduced into Persia until it had already been employed in Egypt -(Rivoira: _Moslem Architecture_, E.T. 154, etc.), at least no dated -example is found until later than the mosque of al-ʾAzhar. The Fatimid -style shows this horse-shoe arch combined with high imposts which occur -in the mosque of Ziadat Allah in Kairawan (A.H. 816-837); “nor does it -seem an unnatural conjecture that it was Jauhar, not only a distinguished -general, but also a man of letters, and therefore of culture, who -suggested the form to some Christian architect of Egypt: and that, under -these circumstances, the designer of the building, wishing to endow it -with some distinctive feature marking the accession of the new dynasty, -modified the pointed arch of Tulun’s time under the influence of the -Indian ‘cyma reversa’ or ogee arch” (Rivoira: op. cit. 157). - -In general plan, style, the use of brick piers, etc., the mosque of -al-ʾAzhar followed the model of the mosque of Ibn Tulun, and so was a -development of Egyptian native taste. The minaret was of heavy square -type with outside stairs which has always remained popular in western -Islam. - -The most novel feature introduced by the Fatimid architects was the -pendentive, the pensile cusped framing arch over a recessed angle. This -appears clearly in the interior of the dome of the mihrab in the mosque -of al-Hakim, commenced in 380 but not completed until 404. But this -reproduces the pendentive as it appears in the mosque of Cordova (A.H. -350-366) in the bay in the front of the mihrab, and had its precursor -more than four centuries before in the church of St. Vitale at Ravenna. - -It is impossible, therefore, to connect Fatimid architecture with Persia: -obviously it was developed out of the older Egyptian Muslim style under -the influence of western and European, _i.e._, Italo-Greek, models. As -usual, art is a clear indication of the general line of culture contact -and intellectual influences. Though Asiatic and Persian in origin the -Fatimids were, by their heretical character, entirely cut off from the -Islamic world in Asia, a severance which the Fatimid rule in Syria, being -one of purely military occupation, did not bridge over. Isolated in art, -it was isolated in philosophy and literature, although this isolation -from the Muslim world at large was richly compensated by its close -contact with Shiʿite circles, and by some contact with the Greek and -Roman Empire along the shores of the Mediterranean. - -The wall surrounding the whole city of Kahira was finished in 359. To its -south-east lay the old city which remained the centre of commercial and -non-official life until the end of the Fatimid dynasty, and to the west -the suburbs of Maqs, which extended down to the river and remained the -port of Cairo until the shifting of the Nile in the 13-14th cent. A.D. -gave the opportunity for the building of Bulaq. - -The first serious problem with which Jawhar had to deal was the famine -due to the successive bad Niles. Fortunately al-Moʿizz had sent a number -of ships laden with grain as soon as he heard that Jawhar had occupied -the country, and this caused some temporary relief in the city, and -showed the people that they had a ruler anxious to assist them. At the -same time Jawhar established a public corn exchange under an inspector -(_muhtasib_), who had to prevent hoarding and excessive prices, and -several offending millers were flogged. Of course these primitive -expedients produced no serious relief, although they evoked the sympathy -of the people, and a state of famine continued until the end of 360, and -there were still cases of plague. In the following winter, _i.e._, in -the early months of 361 (October, etc., of A.D. 971), the famine came to -an end, and in the course of the next few months the country began to -recover, and as a consequence the plague disappeared. - -In the year 361 an Ikhshid officer in the district of Bashmur revolted, -but was put down, chased to Palestine, captured there, and put to death. -So far there had been very little reluctance to the change of government, -in this insignificant revolt as in the first efforts to oppose Jawhar it -is only a few of the Ikhshid officials who seem to feel the slightest -grievance. - -Jawhar now felt anxious to raise the prestige of Egypt, which had -suffered greatly since the death of the first Ikhshid governor. In 355 -the Nubians had invaded the country, so now in 362 he sent an embassy to -king George of Nubia, inviting him to become a Muslim and to pay tribute. -The Nubians, it must be noted, remained Christians down to the 14th cent. -A.D. The embassy was politely received, tribute was paid, but no further -reference was made to religious differences. - -Jawhar found that as ruler of Egypt he was necessarily involved in the -politics of Syria, some portions of which had been, at least nominally, -part of the Ikhshid dominions. Indeed, Egypt never has been free from -Syrian connections, either in ancient, mediaeval, or modern history. At -this time independent Shiʿite princes were ruling at Aleppo, and Husayn -the Ikhshid, who had returned to Syria after plundering the Wazir Ibn -al-Furat, held his own at Ramla. Against him Jawhar sent his lieutenant -Jaʿfar b. Fellah, who attacked and defeated him. Husayn was brought a -prisoner to Fustat, publicly exposed as a proof of the power of the -Fatimids, and viewed with great satisfaction by the inhabitants of the -Egyptian city who remembered his cruelties. He was then sent on to a -prison in Ifrikiya, where he died in 371. After defeating Husayn, Jaʿfar -marched north and occupied Damascus. But this brought the Fatimids -into conflict with the Qarmatians, for Damascus had for some time past -been paying tribute to the Qarmatian leader Hasan b. Ahmad, and this -payment was now stopped. After the death of Abu Saʿid, the _kabir_ of -the Qarmatians, in 301, as we have already noted, the leadership was -held temporarily by Abu l-Kasim Saʿid, and then passed to Abu Tahir -Sulayman who attacked Mecca. Abu Tahir died in 332, as well as a third -son of Abu Saʿid named Abu Mansur Ahmad. Then the eldest brother, Abu -l-Kasim, resumed the leadership. In 360, the date we have now reached, -the chieftain was Hasan b. Ahmad (Abu l-Feda, _Ann. Moslem._ ii. 325, -350, 509). It seems that at this time there had been a complete rupture -between the Shiʿites of Africa and the Asiatic Qarmatians, though we are -quite in the dark as to when or why this took place. It may have arisen -from this attack upon the tribute paying city of Damascus, which the -Qarmatians regarded as aggressive: or it may have had an earlier origin, -perhaps in the relaxation of Ismaʿilian doctrine and practice amongst the -African Shiʿites when they accommodated themselves to the tone generally -current at Kairawan. Now Hasan had no hesitation in proposing an alliance -with the orthodox Khalif of Baghdad against the Fatimids, but this -was rejected by the Khalif with contempt. The Shiʿite Buwayhid prince -who was the real ruler of ʿIraq, however, was more complaisant, and a -third ally was found in the Hamdanid prince of Rabha on the Euphrates, -whilst various Arab tribes, always ready to join in any fighting and -usually as much an embarrassment to their allies as to their enemies, -readily agreed to take part. Thus helped Hasan captured Damascus and -celebrated his achievement by the public cursing of al-Moʿizz in the -great Mosque. Theoretically, the Qarmatians professed to believe in the -divine right of the Fatimid Imam, and so this cursing seems strange. It -may be that the people of Damascus, who were fanatically anti-Shiʿite, -were responsible, or it may be that the Qarmatians no longer troubled to -pretend an attachment to the reputed house of ʿAli, but displayed their -total indifference to all religious considerations without reserve. -After taking Damascus Hasan marched south rapidly and, avoiding Jaffa -where Jaʿfar and his army were stationed, passed through Ramla and made -a lightning descent on Egypt itself. He surprised Kulzum (Suez) and -Farama (al-Arish), and thus commanded the whole Isthmus of Suez, whilst -Tinnis declared in his favour. He then advanced into the country and -encamped at ʿAyn Shams (Heliopolis), and threatened Cairo. Jawhar had -commenced defensive measures as soon as he heard that Hasan had reached -the Isthmus and had made a trench before the city. The real danger lay in -the possible treachery of officials of the old régime, and a spy was told -off to watch Ibn al-Furat. At the same time men were sent to Hasan’s army -who, under the pretence of being discontented citizens, made treacherous -overtures to its officers. After some delay Hasan attempted to storm -the trench, but was driven back with heavy losses, the most surprising -incident being the unexpected courage shewn by the Egyptian volunteers -who were enrolled in Jawhar’s army. A number of Ikhshid officers who were -serving with Hasan were taken prisoner, and Hasan was compelled to retire -to Kulzum, leaving his baggage to be plundered by the Egyptians. - -News of the attack on Egypt had been sent to al-Moʿizz, and soon after -the defeat reinforcements arrived from Kairawan under Ibn ʿAmmar. Thus -supported Jawhar advanced on Tinnis, which was now penitent for its -defection and was pardoned. A Qarmatian fleet which had sailed up the -Nile to support Hasan fled hurriedly, and was obliged to abandon seven -vessels and some 500 prisoners. - -Jawhar had effectively repelled the Qarmatian invasion, and acted -prudently in following up the retreating enemy and relieving Jaffa. Hasan -fell back upon Damascus, but after some delay there began to recover and -commenced preparations for a new attempt. - -At this juncture Jawhar felt that the time had arrived when al-Moʿizz -ought to be commanding in Egypt in person, and wrote earnestly entreating -him to come and take up the reins of government, and this appeal decided -the Khalif to remove from Kairawan to Cairo. - -Early in 363 al-Moʿizz appointed Bolukkin b. Ziri of the Sanhaja tribe -as deputy in Ifrikiya, advising him “never cease levying contributions -on the nomadic Arabs, and keeping the sword on the (necks of the) -Berbers; never appoint any of your own brothers or cousins to a place of -authority, for they imagine that they have a better right than you to the -power with which you are invested; and treat with favour the dwellers in -towns” (Ibn Khall. i. 267). - -Having thus provided for the government of Ifrikiya al-Moʿizz then -set out. Passing by Qabus, Tripoli, Ajdabiya, and Barqa, he reached -Alexandria in the course of the spring, and there received the Qadi of -Fustat and other officials. At the beginning of the summer he encamped in -the gardens of the monastery at Giza, and there received Jawhar who came -out to welcome him on his arrival. After resting a short time he made -his solemn entry into the capital. Although Fustat was decorated ready -for his coming, he paid it no visit, but marched straight to his palace -in Kahira where he took up his abode. In this solemn entry the coffins -of the three Khalifs who had been his predecessors were carried in the -first ranks, escorted by two state elephants, and the Khalif himself -rode surrounded by his four sons and other kinsmen. He entered the royal -city by the “gate of the arch,” one of the two openings in the Bab -az-Zuwayla. The other opening which no longer existed in Maqrizi’s time -was generally regarded as unlucky. This _bab_ is now commonly regarded -as the mysterious dwelling place of the head of all the darwishes who, -wherever he may be, is supposed to be able to fly in spirit to this -abode, and there the spirit is placated. The legends connected with this -gate seem to have varied from age to age, but it has always been regarded -as haunted by mysterious presences. - -Soon after taking up his abode in the royal palace, on the great feast -day which terminates the fast of Ramadan, al-Moʿizz conducted prayers in -the newly finished mosque of al-ʾAzhar which, it will be remembered, lay -within the guarded precincts, and so was not accessible to the public. -The mosque, commenced by Jawhar in 360, had been completed in 361. In 378 -the following Khalif, al-ʿAziz, devoted it especially to the learned, -and from this it has gradually become the leading university of Islam. - -But al-Moʿizz was not able to remain as a sacred character in the -seclusion of the guarded city, although that perhaps was his first -intention. The Qarmatians were still threatening. Al-Moʿizz wrote to -Hasan proposing negotiations, but the Qarmati chief merely replied, “I -have received thy letter, full of words, but empty of sense: I will bring -my answer.” - -In the following spring the Qarmatians appeared again at ʿAyn Shams, -and helped by Ikhshid partisans, spread far and wide through Egypt. -Al-Moʿizz sent his son ʿAbdullah with some 4,000 men into Lower Egypt and -he gained several minor advantages over some of the marauding bands of -Qarmatians, but this did not prevent the main body from assembling before -Jawhar’s trench which they prepared to assault. By means of spies the -Khalif managed to bribe the Arab tribe of B. Tayy, the strongest factor -in Hasan’s army, allies but not themselves of the Qarmatian sect, to -desert, the price being 100,000 dinars. As the treasury did not contain -sufficient gold these coins were specially struck of lead and gilt. In -the next attack the B. Tayy rode away and Hasan was routed, his camp -plundered, and some 1,500 of his irregular followers slain. The advantage -was pressed home by the Egyptians who advanced into Syria, but after this -defeat the Qarmatians began to fall to pieces as the result of internal -disputes. - -The defeat of the Qarmatians was followed by the appearance of a new -danger in the person of the Turkish leader Haftakin. This man had been a -slave in the service of the Buwayhid prince, Moʿizz ad-Dawla, and rose to -a leading position in command of the Turkish mercenaries under his son -Azz ad-Dawla Bakhtiar (Maq. ii. 9). In the course of a battle which took -place outside Baghdad between the Turks and the Daylamites, Haftakin, -though himself acting with exemplary courage, was deserted by most of his -men and compelled to flee with a small body of some 400 followers. At -first he took refuge at Rabha on the Euphrates, but afterwards moved to -Syria. The Syrian Arabs were alarmed at his approach, and appealed for -help to Ibn Jaʿfar, the Fatimite governor of Damascus, who was easily -convinced that Haftakin was acting on behalf of the ʿAbbasid Khalif of -Baghdad, and so took the field against him. But the Emir of Aleppo sent -a force under the eunuch Bashara to the help of Haftakin, and as soon as -this became known the Arabs deserted Jaʿfar and went home. Bashara then -escorted Haftakin to Aleppo (Abu l-Feda) or Emessa (Maqrizi), where the -Emir received him well and bestowed on him many presents. - -At Damascus Jaʿfar was faced with a discontented group of citizens, and -they even formed themselves into armed bands under the leadership of one -Ibn Maward. As soon as these men heard of Haftakin’s arrival in Syria, -they opened negotiations with him and invited him to Damascus, promising -to join him in expelling the Fatimid garrison and to recognise him as -emir. Damascus, it must be remembered, was fanatical in its hatred of -the Shiʿites. Haftakin agreed to these proposals, and towards the end of -Shaban 364 proceeded as far as Thaniyyat al-Okab on the road to Damascus. - -At this juncture Ibn Jaʿfar heard that the Greeks were intending to -make an attack upon Tripoli in Syria, and so marched his forces out of -Damascus to intercept them. This gave Haftakin his opportunity, and he -was able to enter Damascus without opposition. After a brief stay there -he went down to Baʿalbak to chastise the Arabs who had taken up arms to -assist Jaʿfar against him, but was surprised by a large Greek force, -which was pillaging Baʿalbak and laying waste the surrounding country: -he was only just able to escape before them and seek safety in Damascus -whither the Greeks soon followed him. The citizens sent out an embassy -to ask for terms, and were informed that the city would be spared in -return for a substantial fine. Soon Haftakin went out to the Greek camp -and explained that he was unable to raise the promised fine because -of the obstacles put in his way by Ibn Maward and his partisans, the -free militia of Damascus. As a result of this the Greek Emperor, John -Tzimisces, sent officers into the city, who arrested Ibn Maward and -brought him out a prisoner. By this means the city was cleared of its -irregular forces and Haftakin took full possession, raising the sum of -30,000 pieces of gold as a fine with great rigour. He paid the sum to -the Greeks, who forthwith retired to Beirut and thence to Tripoli. - -Thus Haftakin became absolute master of Damascus, and formally recognised -the suzerainty of the ʿAbbasid Khalif of Baghdad. He was afraid, however, -that the Fatimid Khalif would before long take steps to recover his hold -over Syria, and so wrote to the Qarmatians at Lahsa, their headquarters -in the Bahrayn, asking them to ally themselves with him against -al-Moʿizz. They accepted these proposals and a large body of them arrived -before Damascus in 365, where they encamped for a few days; after resting -and conferring with Haftakin they passed on to Ramla, where the Fatimid -general Ibn Jaʿfar was in command, and at their approach he retired to -Jaffa, and they occupied Ramla. Meanwhile Haftakin, as agreed with the -Qarmatians, marched along the coast, and at Saʿida (Sidon) engaged two -subordinate Fatimite generals, Dhalim b. Marhub and Ibn ash-Sheikh, whom -he defeated. Dhalim then withdrew to Tyre, and Haftakin had the hands of -the slain of the Fatimite army cut off and sent as a trophy to Damascus -(Maq. ii. 9). - -Just about this time the Khalif al-Moʿizz died, his son ʿAbdullah having -pre-deceased him. He had spent only two years in Egypt but, besides the -decisive repulse of the Qarmatians, he had established a government, -which on the whole was a fair one and kept good order in the land. To -avoid racial disputes, such as had disturbed Kairawan, he settled his -African troops at al-Khandaq near ʿAyn Shams and, although they were -allowed to visit Fustat freely during the day, all were required to leave -the city before nightfall. In dealing with the inhabitants of Egypt -both al-Moʿizz and Jawhar put aside all prejudices, whether of race -or religion, and took a simply practical attitude, at heart no doubt -regarding all religions as equally worthless. The Copts were as a rule -far more efficient as clerks, accountants, and scribes, than their Muslim -fellow countrymen, and they, as well as some Greek Christians, were -largely employed in all the subordinate branches of the administration, -and even to rise to some of the higher offices. As a practical measure -this was thoroughly satisfactory, but the fact that the tax collectors -and practically all the finance officials were Christians or Jews, caused -the gradual evolution of a strong feeling of dislike against members of -these two religions. Undoubtedly also the methods of oriental finance -gave opportunity for much oppression and dishonesty, and the Copts -and Jews were unable to avoid these temptations, so that much of the -prejudice felt against them was justified. Although the employment of -Christians and Jews in the civil service is more or less an established -tradition in Muslim lands, it was carried much further by the Fatimids -than had been usually the case. - -Al-Moʿizz entrusted the task of organising a new system of taxation to -the converted Jew, Ibn Killis, who had had experience of administrative -work under Kafur, and to ʿAsluj. The old system of farming out the -taxes was abolished and the whole was centralised, whilst at the same -time a new assessment of land and taxable sources was made. All arrears -were rigorously called up, but very careful consideration was given to -every appeal and complaint. The whole system of taxation was strictly -enforced, but efforts were made to protect the tax-paying community from -unjust exactions. As a result the revenue of the state was considerably -increased, the daily takings in the city of Fustat alone ranging between -50,000 and 120,000 dinars. At the same time, however, al-Moʿizz commenced -an extravagant expenditure on the erection of the royal suburb of -Kahira, and this was followed by ostentatious and luxurious outlay on -an unprecedented scale, so that the actual financial position of the -government was not much improved on the whole. A taste for display became -a characteristic of the Fatimid dynasty, and this tended to exert a -demoralising influence on the community generally by raising the general -standard of expenditure. - - - - -IX - -THE FIFTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-ʿAZIZ - -(A.H. 365-386 = A.D. 975-996) - - -Al-Moʿizz was succeeded by his son Nizar, who took the name _al-Imam -Nizar Abu Mansur al-ʿAziz bi-llah_, and so is generally known as -al-ʿAziz. Although his father’s death took place in the early part of -365, it was concealed for some time until it seemed that the succession -was secure, and the formal proclamation was deferred until the Feast of -Sacrifice on Thursday, the 4th of Rabiʿ II. 365. The traditional picture -of al-ʿAziz represents him as humane, generous, a fearless hunter, and a -successful general. Like his father he had a strong taste for building, -and erected a great mosque in Kahira, generally known as the Mosque of -al-Hakim, as it was finished by his son Hakim, near the Bab al-Futuh: -besides this he built the “Palace of gold” facing his father’s palace -across the great square in the midst of Kahira, also a mosque in the -cemetery of al-Karafa, and a palace at ʿAyn Shams (Ibn Khall. iii. 525). -These can hardly be called public buildings in the true sense as they -were all connected with the royal court, and as such were within the -precincts of the “guarded city” and inaccessible to the public generally. -In person al-ʿAziz was tall, broad shouldered, with reddish hair, and -eyes large and of a dark blue colour: in Arab opinion there is something -sinister in such hair and eyes. He was not only fond of sport, but -had also a marked taste for literature, and was particularly adept at -composing epigrams. According to Ibn Khallikan, who, as a partisan of -the ʿAbbasids, delights in reporting anecdotes to the detriment of the -Fatimid Khalifs, he once addressed a derisive and sarcastic letter to -al-Hakim, the Umayyad of Spain, who replied, “You satirize us because -you have heard of us; had we ever heard of you we should reply” (Ibn -Khall. iii. 525). - -The Fatimid Khalifs were not able to maintain their somewhat dubious -pedigree above the reach of criticism. In Egypt there were many undoubted -descendants of ʿAli, and some of these, as well as other people, were -strongly inclined to resent the Khalifs’ pretensions. No serious credence -can be given to the story that al-Moʿizz was examined on this subject -at his first entry into Egypt, and simply displayed his sword as his -title to the throne (cf. 49, above), but no doubt many criticisms were -passed in private. One day, when al-ʿAziz ascended the pulpit in the Old -Mosque he found before him a paper on which was written: “We have heard -a doubtful genealogy proclaimed from the pulpit of the mosque: if what -you say be true, name your ancestors to the fifth degree. If you wish to -prove your assertion, give us your genealogy, one that is as certain as -that of at-Taʿi. If not, leave your pedigree in the shade and enter with -us in the great family which includes all mankind. The most ambitious -vainly strive to have a genealogy like that of the sons of Hashim” (Ibn -Khall. iii. 525). The “sons of Hashim” means the ʿAbbasids, of whom -at-Taʿi was then the reigning Khalif. The incident seems probable enough -as the Egyptians generally were not at all in sympathy with Shiʿite -claims; it seems, however, that there was a growing feeling even amongst -Fatimid supporters that the Khalif would do well to discard the Shiʿite -religious theories which were now of no assistance to the dynasty, and -that he would do better if he posed frankly as a secular ruler. Probably -this feeling had commenced to form soon after the execution of Abu -ʿAbdullah in the time of the first Fatimid: we shall see it gathering -force under the son of al-ʿAziz, and finally deciding the Fatimids to -cast aside all the quasi religious and mystical pretensions which had -been adopted at the formation of the sect by ʿAbdullah, the son of Maymun. - -Like his father, al-ʿAziz was favourably disposed towards the Copts and -other Christians, but in his case a pro Christian attitude was emphasized -by the fact that he had a Christian wife whose two brothers were, by -the Khalif’s influence, appointed Malkite patriarchs,—that is to say, -patriarchs of the church in communion with the orthodox Greek Church as -distinguished from the Jacobite body to which the Copts belonged,—the one -at Alexandria, the other in Jerusalem. The Khalif’s favour was extended -to the Coptic Church as well as to the Malkite body to which his wife -belonged, and permission was given to the Coptic patriarch Efraim to -rebuild the ruinous church of Abu s-Seyfeyn in Fustat. Al-ʿAziz exceeded -his predecessors in the ostentatious display of wealth, introducing -new fashions of Persian origin, such as turbans of cloth of gold, gold -inlain armour, and other splendours which were copied by the courtiers -and nobles. At one time he spent a sum nearly equivalent to £12,000 on a -magnificent silk curtain from Persia. - -Al-Moʿizz had left his successor a difficult problem in Syria. From the -first Syria was the hardest burden which the Fatimids had to assume by -their entry into the heritage of Egypt, and it is worth remembering -that, of the three pieces of advice which Ibn Killis gave to the Khalif -as the great wazir was on his death bed, the two first were, try to -keep peace with the Greeks, and “be content if the Hamdanids of Aleppo -mention your name in the Friday prayer and put it on their coinage.” The -ambition to control Syria has always been the fatal temptation of the -sovereigns of Egypt, in the days of the ancient Pharaohs as at every -period of subsequent history, and the great minister was undoubtedly -wise in advising the Khalif not to seek more than a formal recognition -of suzerainty. At this moment, however, it was no matter of choice. The -Qarmatians had threatened the gates of Cairo, and were now in alliance -with Haftakin, who had ejected the Fatimid governor from Damascus: it -seemed that the prestige, and perhaps the existence of the Fatimids, -depended on their dealing with Haftakin. - -Al-ʿAziz entrusted the problem of Syria to the general Jawhar who was -put at the head of a large army. The news of his approach found the -Qarmatians at Ramla, and Haftakin encamped before Acca. The Qarmatians -fell into panic when they heard of Jawhar’s coming, fled from Ramla -and allowed him to take possession of the town. Some of the Qarmatians -retired to their own territory of al-ʾAhsa in the Bahrayn, whilst others -dispersed in all directions. Haftakin heard of this and saw himself -deprived of his allies, and so retired to Tiberias where he rallied round -him some of the scattered Qarmatians and then, helped by his own Turkish -levies, prepared to give battle to Jawhar. First he raised supplies -from the Hauran and from Bathniyya, one of the districts near Damascus -and then, having provisioned the city for a siege, determined to wait -the Egyptian general there. Towards the end of the month of Dhu l-Kaada -Jawhar arrived and pitched camp before Damascus, surrounding his camp -with a deep trench and making regular openings for his men to pass in -and out. Haftakin entrusted one Qassam Sharrab a leader of the local -irregular force which had evidently been revived in the city, with the -task of arranging sorties and attacks on Jawhar’s camp, and these went -on until the 11th of Rabiʿ II. of 366, when the local captain became -disheartened as these sorties did not produce any favourable results, and -Haftakin himself was beginning to consider the expediency of attempting -to escape from the city. Before abandoning Damascus, however, he made -every effort to obtain assistance, and at last was cheered by the news -that the Qarmatian Hasan b. Ahmad was marching to his relief. When Jawhar -heard this he thought it prudent to propose terms to Haftakin, the more -so because his own supplies were running short and, to Haftakin’s great -delight, proposed to retire if he would refrain from pursuit. As this -offer was at once assented to, Jawhar withdrew on the 3rd of Jumada -I. and went to Tiberias. As soon as the Qarmatians heard of this they -followed to Tiberias, but found that Jawhar had passed on to Ramla. -They pursued as fast as they could, and a small engagement took place. -The Qarmatian leader Hasan b. Ahmad died at Ramla, and the office of -_kabir_ passed to his cousin Jaʿfar, the army being under the command of -Yusuf, the last survivor of the six sons of Abu Saʿid (Abu l-Feda: _Ann. -Moslem_, ii. 535). After this it became the custom for the Qarmatians -to put their forces under the control of six _saʿids_, who formed a -kind of elective military council. Very soon after Hasan’s death they -quarrelled with Haftakin and deserted him. Although the retirement of -the Qarmatians left Haftakin in a less favourable position he decided to -give battle to Jawhar, with the result that he defeated him, and Jawhar -was obliged to flee to Ascalon, leaving a vast booty in the victor’s -hands (Maqrizi, ii. 9-10). - -Elated by this success Haftakin advanced to besiege Ascalon, but the -Khalif al-ʿAziz had heard of the late reverse and prepared to march to -his general’s relief. The preparations in Egypt seem to have been delayed -for some reason, and so Jawhar sent to Haftakin proposing terms of peace. -It was agreed that Jawhar should pay a compensation to Haftakin and then -both he and his men should be allowed to go away in peace, but should -pass under Haftakin’s sword. This was agreed and Haftakin’s sword was -suspended over one of the gates of Ascalon, and the Egyptian army moved -out through this gate and marched homewards by the road through Ramla. On -the way they met al-ʿAziz marching to their relief, and the two forces -joined together and turned back upon Haftakin. He was at Tiberias when -he heard of this meeting and at once set out, and before long came into -contact with the Fatimite army, with the result that the Turks were put -to flight after an engagement lasting only a few minutes. This took place -on Thursday, seven days before the end of the month of Muharram 368. -Haftakin’s body was sought amongst the many slain but was not found: -later on he was brought in a prisoner by some Arabs who had taken him in -flight. He was led before al-ʿAziz, who ordered him to be paraded through -the troops, during which he had his beard pulled, and had to endure blows -and insults of all sorts. The Fatimite then returned to Egypt carrying -with it Haftakin and many other prisoners. - -When the Khalif reached Cairo he treated Haftakin with every -consideration, supplying him with garments and presents, and assigned -him a residence. In after times Haftakin, admitted to the Fatimid court -as an honoured guest, used to say: “I blush to mount my horse in the -presence of our lord ʿAziz bi-llah, and dare not look at him because of -the gifts and favours with which he overwhelms me.” When al-ʿAziz heard -this he said to his uncle Haydara: “By God, my uncle. I love to see men -covered with favours, shining with gold and silver and precious stones, -and to think that all their fortune comes from me.” The Khalif heard that -some people found fault with his conduct towards Haftakin, and ordered -him to be escorted through the city in magnificent apparel, and on his -return presented him with a large sum of money, a number of robes of -state, and ordered the chief men of the court to show him hospitality. -After the courtiers had feasted him the Khalif asked him how he approved -of their banquets, and Haftakin replied that they were magnificent and -that his hosts had loaded him with presents and compliments. It was the -Khalif’s project to form a Turkish faction of military capacity which -would counterpoise the weight of the Berber element which he regarded -with some distrust. He put the Turks and Daylamites who were in Cairo as -prisoners under Haftakin’s command, and thus formed a bodyguard which -was independent of the Berbers, on whom he and his predecessors had -hitherto relied. Haftakin enjoyed the Khalif’s favour until his death in -372. Al-ʿAziz suspected the wazir Ibn Killis of having caused him to be -poisoned, as it was said that Haftakin had behaved scornfully towards -him, and cast the wazir into prison, but after a short confinement the -wazir was set at liberty as the Khalif found that he could not dispense -with his services. - -Ibn Killis served as wazir in all for fifteen years (d. 368), and it -was largely due to him that the country enjoyed internal peace and that -the public revenue was largely increased. For the next two years the -wazir was the Christian ʿIsa b. Nestorius, who was supported by harim -influence. In fact the only efficient administrators were to be found -amongst the non-Muslims and renegades: the Turks and Berbers were all -right as fighting men, but could never learn to act efficiently as civil -servants. But these appointments were not popular, and evidences of -resentment appear from time to time. When, towards the end of the reign, -preparations were being made against the Greeks, and a fleet of 600 -ships lay ready at Maqs to support the army in an expedition to Syria, -eleven of these ships were set on fire, and popular feeling ascribed -this disaster to the Greek inhabitants living in the neighbourhood, with -the result that there was a riot in which many Greeks were murdered and -their houses pillaged. It is not fair, however, to represent this as an -anti-Christian movement, although no doubt most of those who suffered -were Christians. The riot was soon put down, for al-ʿAziz brought out his -bodyguard of Turks and Berbers, and within six months the energy of Ibn -Nestorius produced six new vessels of the newest type. - -Al-ʿAziz shared the besetting weakness of all the Fatimids in his -uncontrolled love of ostentatious display. In his case this not only took -the form of magnificent dresses and lavish generosity, but he showed a -marked passion for rarities of every sort. At his table there were the -most curious and foreign dainties, strange animals were imported to -grace his public processions, and robes of costly and hitherto unknown -materials were procured from the most distant lands. At the same time -al-ʿAziz was an expert in precious stones and articles of _vertu_, and -formed a collection of such things in his palace. On the other hand he -was a strict reformer in matters of finance, putting down the taking of -bribes and presents with severity, and introducing the custom of paying -every official and household servant a fixed salary. - -Syria still remained subject to Fatimid rule, but was held only by force -of arms. In 368 al-ʿAziz judged it expedient to visit the country where -hostile movements were taking place on the part both of the Turks and of -the Greeks. At the beginning of the journey, however, he was taken ill at -Bilbays. For some time he lay in a dubious state, then rallied, and then -became worse again. On Sunday, the 23rd of Ramadan, he rode to the bath, -and thence to the lodgings of Barjawan his treasurer with whom he stayed, -but next morning was very seriously worse. The complaint was stone with -pains in the bowels. On the following Tuesday he felt that his end was -near and sent for the Qadi Muhammad b. an-Numan, and the general Abu -Muhammad al-Hasan Ibn ʿAmmar, to whom he commended the care of his son, -then only eleven years old. After this he sent for his son, al-Hakim, -and of that interview al-Musabbihi said: “In a conversation I had with -al-Hakim, we happened to speak of the death of al-ʿAziz, on which he said -to me: ‘O Mukhtar, my father sent for me before he breathed his last, and -I found him with nothing on his body but rags and bandages.’ I kissed -him, and he pressed me to his bosom, exclaiming: ‘How I grieve for thee, -beloved of my heart,’ and tears flowed from his eyes. He then said: ‘Go, -my master, and play, for I am very well.’ I obeyed and began to amuse -myself with sports such as are usual with boys, and soon after God took -him to himself. Barjawan then hastened to me, and seeing me on the top of -a sycamore tree, exclaimed: ‘Come down, my boy; may God protect you and -us all.’ When I descended he placed on my head the turban adorned with -jewels, kissed the ground before me, and said: ‘Hail to the Commander of -the faithful, with the mercy of God and his blessing.’ He then led me out -in that attire and showed me to all the people, who kissed the ground -before me and saluted me with the title of Khalif” (Ibn Khali, iii. 529). - -Al-Musabbihi says that after this interview with his son he became worse. -For some time he remained in his bath, and then as he left it, suddenly -expired. The historian of Kairawan says that the physician prescribed -a potion which was wrongly made up and that this was the cause of his -death. - - - - -X - -THE SIXTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-HAKIM - -(A.H. 386-411 = A.D. 996-1021) - - -Al-Mansur Abu-ʿAli al-Hakim bi-amri-llah (“ ... ruling by God’s -command”), commonly known as Al-Hakim, was only eleven years old when -he was saluted as Khalif at Bilbays on Tuesday, the 23rd of Ramadan 386 -(October, 996 A.D.). Next day he proceeded to Cairo with all the court. -Before him went his father’s body in a litter borne on a camel, the two -feet protruding. The young prince was clothed in a woollen shirt split -up the front and adorned with buttons and button holes, and on his head -was the jewelled turban which served as the official diadem; in his hand -he bore a lance and a sword depended from his neck (Maqrizi ii. 285). He -reached Cairo and entered the palace a little time before the hour of -evening prayer, and the following night was occupied with the funeral -of the deceased Khalif. Ibn an-Numan washed his late master’s body, -which was then buried in a chamber of the palace beside the tomb of his -predecessor, al-Moʿizz (Maqrizi _loc. cit._, Ibn Khallikan _loc. cit._). - -On Thursday morning the whole court attended early at the palace. A -golden throne covered with cushions of cloth of gold was placed in the -great portico which al-ʿAziz had constructed in 369. Al-Hakim started out -from the palace on horseback wearing the jewelled turban. At his approach -all the courtiers kissed the earth, and then walked at his side or before -and behind until he reached the portico, where he dismounted and took his -seat on the throne, the courtiers taking their places according to rank, -and each in turn did homage. Barjawan, the white eunuch whom al-ʿAziz had -appointed to act as _Ustad_ or “tutor,” administered the oath, and the -young Khalif was proclaimed with the title _al-Hakim bi-amri-llah_. - -There is no doubt that al-ʿAziz, in appointing Barjawan as tutor intended -him to act as regent until the young prince was old enough to assume -the power himself, although Ibn ʿAmmar and the Qadi Muhammad b. Nuʿman -were associated with him as guardians. But at this point Ibn ʿAmmar, the -acknowledged leader of the Katama party in Cairo, seized the office of -_Wasita_ or chief minister, to which was united the office of _sifara_ or -secretary of state, ejecting Isa b. Nestorius, and assumed the title of -_Amin ad-Dawla_ or “the one trusted in the empire.” This was the first -time that the term “empire” was employed in the Fatimid state and, as De -Sacy points out (_Druses_ i. cclxxxv.), its use shows the appearance of -a new tendency. So far the Fatimids had been the leaders of a sect of -which the Imam was supreme pontiff: circumstances had enabled the sect -to establish a state, first in Ifrikiya, then in Egypt, but it retained, -at least in theory, a quasi-religious character, and its professed duty -was to maintain the divine right of the Mahdi and his descendants. It -seems, however, that by this time there were some who had out-grown this -sectarian point of view and desired the Fatimid state to pose frankly -as a secular power. The Berber tribe of Katama appears to have been the -centre of this change of view; they considered no doubt that they had -been the conquerors of Ifrikiya and of Egypt, and by their conquest had -established a Berber monarchy: why should the fruits of this conquest be -laid at the feet of an Arab dynasty whose supernatural claims they no -longer believed?—the Fatimid Khalifs had given no evidence of miraculous -powers, but were evidently ordinary human beings whose kingdom had been -secured by the ready credulity of their forefathers. Ibn ʿAmmar comes -forward as the leader of what we may term the secular party, and his -programme seems to have been to dispense with the religious claims of -the Fatimids, and to treat Egypt and its subject provinces simply as a -_dawla_ or temporal kingdom. No doubt these views had been gathering -force for some time past, and certainly al-ʿAziz had been more prominent -as the secular ruler and had allowed the sectarian propaganda to drop -into the background, but his death and the accession of a child Khalif -offered exceptional opportunities for modifying the policy of the state. -De Sacy suggests that Ibn ʿAmmar’s party was disposed to get rid of the -young sovereign and to establish a purely Berber government, a suggestion -which has every appearance of probability. With the disappearance of the -divinely appointed Mahdi and the end of the Fatimid line the country -would be set free from the peculiar religious views of the Ismaʿiliya, -which were an actual barrier to the progress of the state and alienated -from it the bulk of the subject population. It seems a very probable -picture of the tendencies prevailing at the moment and rests upon rather -more than simple conjecture, though it must be admitted that none of the -native historians attach this deep significance to the introduction of -the term _dawla_. - -It is not necessary to suppose that Barjawan was a devout supporter -of Ismaʿilian views, but he certainly was the decided opponent of Ibn -ʿAmmar who had curtailed his power and thrust him into the background, -leaving him to be no more than the private tutor of the young prince. By -force of circumstances he was compelled to become the champion of the -young Khalif, so that this first period of al-Hakim’s reign centres in -Barjawan’s intrigues to get rid of Ibn ʿAmmar. - -Very early in al-Hakim’s reign there came to Egypt as a refugee the -eunuch Shakar, who had been a servant of the Buwayhid prince Adhad -ad-Dawla, but who had been taken prisoner by the rival prince Sharif -ad-Dawla, from whom he had escaped. He was a friend of Manjutakin, the -governor of Syria, and Barjawan, having enlisted his support, used him -as the medium of sending an appeal to Manjutakin to deliver him and -the Khalif from the bondage in which they were kept by Ibn ʿAmmar. -Manjutakin, who was naturally inclined to be a partisan of the Turks and -the Turkish mercenaries whom al-ʿAziz had introduced into Egypt as a -counterpoise against the influence of the Katama and other Berber tribes, -readily espoused Barjawan’s faction and assembled troops preparatory to -an advance upon Egypt. As soon as Ibn ʿAmmar heard of this he treated -it as a revolt, and sent out an army under the command of Sulayman b. -Jaʿfar b. Fallah, a Berber of the Katama tribe and one of his supporters -to check the revolted Manjutakin. Thus the palace intrigue between Ibn -ʿAmmar and Barjawan was fought out by their respective supporters in -Syria. - -Sulayman met Manjutakin either at Ascalon or Ramla, and there he -inflicted a defeat upon the Turks in which Manjutakin himself was -taken prisoner and sent captive to Egypt. He was well received by Ibn -ʿAmmar, who wanted to see Berbers and Turks united in resistance to the -established Khalifate, and perceived very clearly that his plans could -not be successful unless he enlisted the sympathy of the Turkish faction -which was very strong in Cairo. - -After his victory over Manjutakin Sulayman was made governor of Syria -and proceeded to Tiberias, sending his brother ʿAli to act as his -deputy in Damascus. But the citizens of Damascus, always turbulent and -independent, refused to accept ʿAli as governor or to allow him to enter -the city until they received a threatening letter from Sulayman which -thoroughly frightened them and put an end to their opposition. ʿAli -entered Damascus in no pleasant mood, and made his irritation felt by -turning his soldiers loose, so that many of the citizens were slain and -some parts of the city burned, after which he withdrew and pitched camp -outside. Not long afterwards Sulayman himself arrived and received the -apologies and protestations of loyalty of the citizens and was pleased to -express his pardon. It was his aim at this time to continue the policy of -al-ʿAziz and to hold the sea coast as a check upon the Greeks, and thus -had no desire to be embroiled with a city in his rear which he left to -be dealt with at a more convenient time. The Syrian Tripoli was the most -important coast town held by the Muslims, and this he now handed over to -his brother ʿAli, dismissing the governor Jaysh, although he was a fellow -Berber and a tribesman of the Katama, with the result that Jaysh went -back to Egypt with a grievance and joined himself to Barjawan’s faction. - -Barjawan’s intrigues had now so far succeeded that he had a strong -following, and as most of Ibn ʿAmmar’s troops were absent in Syria it -seemed a favourable moment to strike his rival. For some time there were -street riots between Berbers and Turks, indeed, this seems to have been -more or less the normal state of Cairo at the time, for in spite of -the good treatment accorded to Manjutakin, the Turkish mercenaries were -deeply jealous of the favour shown by Ibn ʿAmmar to his fellow Berbers. -When Barjawan felt that the time was ripe he secretly distributed largess -amongst the Turks, and they made an open attack upon Ibn ʿAmmar which -compelled him to conceal himself and to retire from public life. - -At Ibn ʿAmmar’s downfall, for this it actually was, Barjawan assumed -the offices of Wasita and Sifara, thus becoming practically regent of -the state, on 28 Ramadan 387, after Ibn ʿAmmar had held office for a -little less than eleven months. He treated the fallen minister as a kind -of usurper who had tried to make the Khalif a prisoner and celebrated -his own accession, or rather restoration to office—for he had certainly -acted as chief minister for the first few days of al-Hakim’s reign—as a -vindication of the Khalif’s rights. He brought forth al-Hakim in public, -had him again proclaimed Khalif, and displayed him as sovereign. - -But it was in Syria that the two factions were really fighting out their -quarrel, and Barjawan’s first act of policy was to write to the citizens -of Damascus urging them to resist Sulayman, and assuring them of the -support of the home government as the Katama faction had now fallen from -power. Thus encouraged the people of Damascus pillaged Sulayman’s goods, -slew many of his men at arms, and expelled him from the city. - -Neither faction at Cairo was strong enough to proceed to extremities, and -Barjawan had reason to dread the return of the Berber troops from Syria. -For a while Ibn ʿAmmar was treated as a prisoner of state and confined to -his house, but all his fiefs and sources of income were secured to him -and, after an interval, he was allowed to go about as he pleased and to -present himself at court. - -In Syria a period of disorder followed the fall of Sulayman, and the -Bedwin phylarch Mufarraj b. Daghtal b. Jarrah broke out in revolt, -established his headquarters at Ramla, and made forays in the Bedwin -fashion through the surrounding country. At the same time Tyre revolted -under the leadership of a peasant named Olaka, and the Greeks, led by -the Emperor Ducas, laid siege to Apamea. It seemed, therefore, that -Barjawan’s success involved the practical loss of control over the -Asiatic provinces. But though Barjawan had encouraged the turbulence of -the Damascenes for his own purpose, and had thus got rid of Ibn ʿAmmar’s -chief supporter Sulayman, he had no intention to lose hold of Syria -permanently, and sent up Jaysh b. Samsama as governor: probably this -appointment was Jaysh’s stipulated fee for assisting Barjawan. At the -head of a large force Jaysh proceeded to Ramla where he found Sulayman -whom he made prisoner and sent to Egypt. He then sent a detachment under -Husayn b. ʿAbdullah against Tyre, and proceeded himself against Mufarraj. - -At Husayn’s approach Olaka appealed for help to the Greek Emperor, and -in response a fleet of Greek ships was sent to his assistance. These -ships, however, were met off Tyre by an Egyptian fleet and defeated. The -Tyrians, now thoroughly discouraged, made an unconditional surrender and -Husayn entered their city, pillaged it, and sent Olaka a prisoner to -Egypt where he was flayed and crucified. - -Meanwhile Jaysh had been advancing against Mufarraj but, as he approached -with so large an army, Mufarraj became frightened and fled. Jaysh did -not pursue him but passed on to Damascus where the inhabitants received -him with some anxiety, although in their recent revolt against Sulayman -they had been acting with the approval and encouragement of Barjawan’s -faction, and so in alliance with Jaysh. They remembered, however, that -Jaysh was a Berber of the Katama, and that tribal prejudices were -stronger than any temporary association in palace factions. As soon as -Jaysh entered the city he made a reassuring speech to the people, and the -citizens were fully convinced that he intended only friendly relations. -At the moment he was most anxious to be free from any minor troubles -with the cities of Syria in order that he might deal effectually with -the Greek attempts upon the country which, for some years past, had been -growing more serious. He proceeded therefore to Apamea, and before long -joined issue with the Greek forces under Ducas, and received at their -hands a severe defeat. Whilst the Muslims were in full flight and the -Greeks were occupied in plundering their baggage, a young Kurd named -Ahmad ibn ʿAbdu-l-Haqq, with a small band of followers of the tribe -of Bashara advanced to where the Emperor stood surrounded by officers -amongst whom was his son. The Emperor paid no attention to the Kurd, -supposing him to be one of the defeated enemy coming to make formal -surrender, but as Ahmad drew near he fell upon the Emperor with his sword -and killed him instantly. At this the Greeks were thrown into confusion, -the Muslims rallied, and the conflict closed with a victory for the -Muslims. - -Jaysh, thus unexpectedly the victor, proceeded to Antioch, but did not -think it worth while to spend time in a siege without which it would have -been impossible to enter the city, and so taking what booty and prisoners -he could get in the neighbourhood, he went back to Damascus. He was now -free to give vent to his long standing grudge against that city. Refusing -all invitations to enter within its walls he pitched camp outside, but -continued his friendly attitude towards the citizens, and frequently -inviting the leaders of the local bands,—whether they should be called -militia or brigands is dubious,—entertained them in his tent. On these -occasions the guests feasted with Jaysh and then, instead of having -water brought round to wash their hands, they used to be conducted to a -separate room and washed there. This went on for some time, and then one -day the door of the room where they had retired was closed, the guests -were trapped and led out one by one to execution. As soon as the citizens -heard of this they were thrown into great alarm. Next day Jaysh entered -the city, executed as many leaders of the local bands as he could find, -seized many of the prominent citizens and sent them prisoners to Egypt, -and then pillaged their houses. - -Thus Syria was brought to a condition of comparative order. Meanwhile -Barjawan had sent forces to reduce Barqa and the African Tripoli, and -thus the whole Fatimid Empire was brought to subjection. The Katami Fahl -b. Ismaʿil was appointed governor of Tyre, the eunuch Yanas was put in -charge of Barqa, and the eunuch Maysur was given the African Tripoli, -whilst the frontier posts of Gaza and Asqalon were entrusted to the -eunuch Yaman. But more important than any of these arrangements was -Barjawan’s great achievement in sending an embassy to the Greek Emperor -and concluding with him a truce for five years. - -Although Barjawan remained for nearly three years regent of Egypt, -Syria, North Africa, and the Hijaz, his position was far from secure. -His danger came from an unexpected quarter; not from the Katama faction -and Ibn ʿAmmar, but from the young Khalif who was beginning to resent -Barjawan’s conduct as regent. According to one account the feeling was -personal and largely due to Barjawan’s manner towards his ward, whom -he seems to have treated with contempt and active dislike, applying to -him the nick-name of “lizard.” For a long time al-Hakim nourished his -resentment in secret and then, four days before the end of Rabiʿ II., in -the year 390, he sent to him the message, “The little lizard has become -a great dragon and wants you.” Much alarmed, Barjawan presented himself -before the Khalif, and was slain by Abu l-Fadl Raydan, the bearer of -the royal parasol, who stabbed him in the belly with a knife (cf. Ibn -Khallikan, i. 53). Whatever measure of truth there is in this account -it probably hits off some salient features in the way that a caricature -sometimes gives a truer portrait than a photograph. Undoubtedly al-Hakim -was quick to feel resentment, many proofs of this appear in his later -life; and undoubtedly there was already something uncanny in his actions -and manners, the symptoms in all probability of incipient insanity; and -no doubt interested persons were busy in fanning the smouldering embers -of resentment. Other accounts, reported by Nowairi and Bar Hebraeus, -the former always a most weighty authority for this period, represent -al-Hakim as chafing at Barjawan’s control, at his confinement to the -precincts of the palace and at the prohibition against his riding -abroad, the declared reason being the fear of assassination at the hands -of the Katama partisans, which may have been not without good ground. -According to these two historians the whole plot was due to the parasol -bearer Raydan, who had become the Khalif’s confidant, Barjawan being -occupied with matters of state and wasting no time with the youth who -was the titular sovereign and who, it may be supposed, was a moody and -unpleasing personage, and thus the parasol bearer was able to persuade -his master that Barjawan was trying to emulate Kafur, and intended to -make the Khalif a merely ornamental figure kept in the palace, and -brought out from time to time to grace some state function. It lent -colour to this, that Barjawan’s mode of life was strangely reminiscent -of Kafur; after he had secured the command of the government he had -gradually relaxed his attention to public business, until at last his -life was spent entirely in pleasure, but he never attained the literary -interests of the former negro ustad. - -Nowairi tells us that al-Hakim, influenced by the suggestions of Raydan, -had consulted Husayn, the son of the great general Jawhar, and that he -frankly advised him to get rid of Barjawan. Although the minister no -longer troubled to supervise the Khalif’s education, it was his custom -to take him from time to time for a walk in the gardens which had been -laid out by Kafur, the gardens of the Pearl Palace, as they were called. -It was decided that some such occasion should be used to dispose of -Barjawan, and so one day as he was thus walking with al-Hakim Raydan -suddenly attacked him and drove a lance into his back, then al-Hakim’s -servants crowding round cut off his head. - -Barjawan’s assassination was followed by a riot. The people of Cairo -were not insensible of the general security and peace which his rule had -secured, and feared a return of disorder. But Nowairi tells us that the -report went abroad that Ibn ʿAmmar had made an attempt on the Khalif’s -life. This is likely enough, for Barjawan had constantly kept alive the -idea that the Khalif lived in perpetual danger of Katama attacks. Other -accounts attribute the riot to Barjawan’s popularity and to resentment -at his murder and fear of resulting relaxation of the strong hand which -had guided the country into ways of peace and prosperity. This riot was -al-Hakim’s first lesson of the need of tact in dealing with his subjects. -He was never lacking in personal courage, and on this occasion he went -out to the people and declared, “I have been informed of an intrigue -which Barjawan made against me, and for that I caused him to be executed. -I beg you to take my part and not to be hard on me, for I am yet a -child,” and he burst into tears. The “intrigue” thus referred to was no -doubt the conspiracy which Raydan maintained that Barjawan had formed to -treat the Khalif in the same way as Kafur had treated the later Ikhshid -princes. - -Although al-Hakim was now in the fifth year of his reign he had as -yet taken no part in the government, which was of course the result -of his tender years. It is obvious, however, that he had come under -the influence of Barjawan and then of Raydan and Husayn, who had all -endeavoured to develop his self-assertion for their own ends. As yet -his personal character was quite unknown, and the expansion of his -personality lies within the period following Barjawan’s assassination. - -Thus the death of Barjawan marks the beginning of the second period of -al-Hakim’s reign, during which he began to assert himself and to display -his own character, although in this we see very distinct graduations -which tend to produce marked differences of policy. The first phase -covers the years 390-395, in which he shows marked peculiarities, and we -note an increasing fanaticism in upholding Shiʿite views, but for the -most part he is inclined to pleasure, and seems to have been popular. -In 395-396 there comes a puritan reaction, associated with a time of -distress and famine in Egypt, which becomes more pronounced as he has to -meet revolt at home and hostile invasion from the west. - -After Barjawan’s death al-Hakim chose Husayn, the son of Jawhar, as his -chief minister, the same adviser whom he had consulted about Barjawan, -and who had advised his murder. Husayn received the title of _Qaʾid -al-Quwwad_, “general of generals,” or Commander-in-Chief, and a Christian -named Fahd acted as his lieutenant. Fahl b. Tamim was made governor of -Damascus but, as he died shortly afterwards, he was replaced by ʿAli b. -Fallah. An order was made very early in this period forbidding any person -to address the Khalif as “our lord” or “our master,” and requiring them -to confine themselves to the simpler title “Commander of the Faithful,” -and this order was enforced with the penalty of death. - -Now al-Hakim, feeling himself free from restraint, began to show -evidences of peculiarities which caused many of his day and many since -to regard him as a person of disordered intellect. His first peculiarity -was a preference for night over day. He began to hold meetings of the -“council” by night, whether of the council of state or the religious -assembly of the Ismaʿilian sect does not seem quite clear, he rode -abroad in the city by night, and by his orders the streets were brightly -illuminated, the shops opened, and business and pleasure followed by -artificial light. The citizens vied with one another in hanging out -lights and illuminating their houses to win the Khalif’s approval. This -continued for about five years, during which al-Hakim seemed disposed -to encourage every kind of pleasure, and every night saw both Cairo and -the old city of Fustat refulgent with artificial illumination. In his -conduct generally the Khalif was tolerant, as his predecessors had been, -towards the Christians and Jews as well as towards the Muslims who did -not embrace the peculiar tenets of the Shiʿa sect. His mother was a -Christian. Towards his officials his conduct was generous, and he seems -to have been distinctly popular. Thus, when Jaysh died in 390 his son -went to Cairo with a paper on which his father had written his will and a -detailed statement of all his property: all this, he declared, belonged -to the Khalif his master; his children had no rights. The property thus -valued was estimated at 200,000 pieces of gold. The son brought all this -before the Khalif, but al-Hakim said, “I have read your father’s will -and the statement of the money and goods of which he has disposed by -his will: take it, and enjoy it in tranquility and for your happiness.” -Indeed, all through his career the chief charge made against him was -his reckless generosity, which often reduced the government to serious -inconvenience: it was, indeed, a species of megalomania. - -No doubt the nocturnal festivities of Cairo, well suited to the pleasure -loving character of the Egyptians, led to many abuses, and so in 391 a -strict order was issued forbidding women to go out of doors by night, -and a little later this was followed by a general order prohibiting the -opening of the shops by night (Maq. ii. 286). Al-Hakim himself continued -his nocturnal tastes and nightly wanderings in the city until 393, when -he entirely ceased riding about by night and forbade any person to be out -after sunset. - -In 393 al-Hakim began to show other curious developments in his conduct, -the external signs, it would appear, of a growing disorder of the mind. -We do not know what grounds Barjawan had for calling him a lizard; very -possibly there was something furtive and uncanny in him even in his -boyhood. In the early years following the death of Barjawan he seems to -have been genial and generous, but all this changed in 393, when his -character began to show a rigorous puritanism and signs of religious -fanaticism, which indeed need be no sign of a disordered intellect, but -which, suddenly developed, might very well accompany such a thing. It was -in this year also that he began to be active as a mosque builder and as a -generous benefactor of existing mosques, though this again is no evidence -of disordered mentality. At the same time he became fanatical in his -support of the peculiar tenets of the Shiʿite sect to which he belonged, -and began to show great severities towards Christians and Jews, although -in this last item he seems to have acted under the pressure of public -opinion, which was very decidedly irritated by the favouritism which the -Fatimids had so far shown to non-Muslims. But side by side with this -sudden puritanism and fanaticism appeared a vein of capricious cruelty -which has a very sinister bearing. Such cruelty begins to be prominent -in 393 when many persons were put to death, some on religious grounds, -others it would appear merely by a passing caprice of the Khalif. Amongst -these was the Ustad Raydan, the royal parasol bearer who had counselled -the murder of Barjawan. - -In 394 the Chief Qadi Husayn b. Nuʿman was deprived of his office and -replaced by ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz b. Muhammad b. Numan, who had been acting as -Inspector of Complaints. In every Muslim country the Qadi who administers -the sacred law is a person of very great importance, but under the -Fatimids the Chief Qadi very often also held the office of Chief Daʿi -or Supreme Missionary, as was the case with Husayn. If the two offices -were held by different persons the Chief Daʿi ranked next after the -Chief Qadi, and wore a similar official costume. It was the duty of the -Chief Daʿi, who had under him twelve assistants as well as subordinate -daʿis in the different provinces, to receive the conversions of those -who joined the Ismaʿilian fraternity, and to deliver regular courses of -instruction to those who were members, according to their grades in the -society. His official income was derived from a fee of three and a half -pieces of silver from each member. In earlier times, as we have seen, the -daʿis were chosen from the most earnest proselytes, but at this period -the office of Chief Daʿi was hereditary in the family of the B. ʿAbdu -l-Kawi, and in them we may be disposed, perhaps, to recognise “the power -behind the throne.” Still it does not seem that this hereditary right -was treated as essential for the office, but only that it was usually -regarded as giving a normal qualification. - -The appointment of a new Chief Daʿi brings us to the period of al-Hakim’s -puritanism. It was a time of great dissatisfaction. Even a people so -habitually patient as the Egyptians were beginning to feel irritation at -the expense involved in the nightly illuminations so long continued. A -more serious cause of discontent was that which usually lies behind every -disaffection in Egypt, a failure of the inundation of the Nile. For three -years in succession the Nile flood had been exceptionally low, and so -food was scarce and dear. - -In 395, when a great number of people were executed, the ex-Qadi Husayn -b. Nuʿman was put to death and his body burned. We note elsewhere the -peculiar pro-Ismaʿilian legislation of 394 against various vegetables -which were traditionally associated with persons who appeared in history -as hostile to the house of ʿAli (cf. p. 141 below). At the same time a -prohibition was issued against the slaying of oxen, other than those -injured or diseased, save at the Feast of Sacrifice (Maq. ii. 286, Ibn -Khallik. iii. 450), a prohibition perhaps connected with the scarcity due -to the bad Niles. - -We have already seen that strict laws against going out at night were -made as the result, no doubt, of abuses arising from the nightly -illuminations and merry-making. Now, in 395, more stringent regulations -were made. It was enacted that no women were to appear in the street -unveiled, and that no persons were to use the baths without wearing -wrappers. In Jumada II. of this year, a general prohibition was issued -against any persons going out of doors after sunset, so that the streets -were deserted by night. In accordance with another law all vessels -containing wine were seized, the vessels broken, and the wine poured out -(Maq. ii. 286). Another law dealt with the dogs which roam about most -eastern cities and who, in Muslim lands are savage because they lack -human intercourse, for the religion of Islam has placed the dog and the -pig apart as animals who are in all circumstances unclean, so that no one -who has touched either of these is able to pray or eat without formal -ablution. Now al-Hakim commenced a war of extermination against dogs, -with the result that in Cairo many were slain and very few could be seen -in the streets. Severus says that this rule was made because al-Hakim’s -ass had taken fright at a dog barking at it: in strict accuracy the -Khalif had not at this time adopted the custom of riding an ass, but this -is a minor detail. - -Stricter rules also were made excluding ordinary civilians from Kahira, -from which it appears that the seclusion of the guarded city had been -somewhat relaxed. In future no one was to be allowed to ride into it, -but must dismount and proceed on foot, and all those who let out asses -for hire were to be excluded from its precincts, whilst no one was to be -allowed to pass in front of the royal palace even on foot. - -We must now turn to consider conditions in Syria, for it is always -impossible to understand Egyptian history unless the course of events -in Syria is kept in view. At the time of Barjawan’s death Syria was -under the governorship of Jaysh, but when he died in 390 it became -necessary for al-Hakim to nominate a successor for this important post. -He chose Fahl of the B. Tamim, but Fahl died after only a few months. The -Khalif then appointed ʿAli b. Fallah of the Katama. In 392 the Hamdanid -prince of Aleppo, Saʿid ad-Dawla, and his wife, were poisoned by his -father-in-law Luʿluʿ, who desired to obtain the throne for himself. He -did not seize the supreme power immediately, but proclaimed Saʿid’s two -sons ʿAli and Sharif as joint rulers, retaining the real control in -his own hands. This continued for two years, then in 394 he sent them -together, with the whole of the harim of the Hamdanids to Cairo, and -assumed to himself the office and title of Emir in conjunction with his -son Mansur, and these two ruled as Emirs under the protection of the -Fatimid Khalif until Luʿluʿ’s death in 399. Then Mansur became sole -ruler under the title of _Murtada l-Dawla_ which was conferred on him -by al-Hakim, and he had the name of the Fatimid Khalif inserted in the -Friday prayer and inscribed on the coinage so that by 399 Aleppo was -fully admitted as a part of the Fatimid empire, having been a protected -district for the previous five years, before which it had for forty years -been included in the Byzantine Empire. - -The first evidence of al-Hakim’s strong religious interest appears in his -diligence as a builder of mosques, and in the completion or adornment of -those already erected. - -A mosque near the Bab al-Futuh, the second congregational mosque of -Kahira, had been commenced by al-ʿAziz and the Wazir Ibn Killis in 380, -and was sufficiently advanced to allow the Friday prayers to be held -there in 381. In 394 al-Hakim added the minarets and the decorations -so that Maqrizi describes him as reconstructing the building. The work -was not completed until 404. At first known as the “New Mosque” or as -_al-Anwar_ “the brilliant,” it afterwards generally bore the name of -Hakim’s Mosque. Desecrated by the Crusaders, severely injured by an -earthquake in 703, it was in a semi-ruinous condition by fire and neglect -with its roof falling to pieces when Maqrizi wrote his description -of it about A.H. 823 (= A.D. 1420. Cf. Maqrizi ii. 277, sqq.). After -even worse decay in later days it was temporarily converted in recent -times to a museum of Arabic art, the collection being removed to its -present quarters in 1903. The mosque is now abandoned and in ruins. Its -general plan follows that of the mosque of Ibn Tulun, a square courtyard -surrounded with arcades, the centre open to the sky. A considerable part -of the east _liwan_ remains, with a few fragments of the north _liwan_, -of the other two sides only portions of the exterior walls survive. -Two towers can be seen standing at the ends of the west wall, but the -open-work minarets which crown these towers are additions made some three -centuries later and alien to the style prevailing in the time of the -Fatimids. - -In the year 393 al-Hakim also began to rebuild the mosque in the district -of Rashida to the south of Kataiʿ near the Mukattam hills, on a ground -where a Christian church had once stood. The mosque had been built of -brick; this al-Hakim destroyed and reconstructed on a larger scale and of -more imposing appearance. It was known as the mosque of Rashida from its -position, the ground being so called after a person of that name who had -once been its owner. This mosque was commenced in Rabiʿ I. 393, and the -position of the _mihrab_ was carefully adjusted by the astronomer ʿAli b. -Yunus. Two years later the Khalif made this mosque a present of carpets, -curtains, and lamps. - -Besides this building al-Hakim made many gifts to various mosques, -especially to those he purchased for the special purposes of the Shiʿite -sect, presenting them with copies of the Qurʾan, silver lamps, curtains, -Samanide mats, etc. - -The earlier Fatimids in North Africa present rather a brutal appearance -and, so far as we can see, their one ideal was the establishment of -political power. But that was not the original character of the movement -which had distinct intellectual tendencies, and to this earlier type -al-Moʿizz had reverted. Since the dynasty had been established in Egypt -the humane side had been more prominently in evidence, and especially -in the encouragement of medicine and natural science. The Khalif -al-Moʿizz employed the Jewish physician Musa b. al-Ghazzan and his two -sons Ishaq and Ismaʿil: these were not only eminent practitioners but -Musa was distinguished as a writer on the pharmacopoeia, and all three -were regarded as leading authorities on medicine. Another distinguished -physician was the Christian Eutychius or Saʿid b. Batriq, patriarch of -the Malkite church of Alexandria who died in 328 (= A.D. 943), the author -of a history of which an edition in Arabic and Latin was published at -Oxford in 1654. - -Al-Hakim himself was anxious to encourage scholarship in accordance -with the traditions of the sect of which he was the head. The mosque of -al-ʾAzhar had been especially devoted to the learned by his father, -and now in Jumada II. 395 he founded an academy on the lines of similar -institutions already existing at Baghdad and elsewhere. This new -foundation was named the _Dar al-Hikma_ or “house of wisdom.” To it were -attached a number of professors, both of the traditional sciences and -Qurʾan and canon law, and also of the natural sciences. A library was -connected with it and was filled with books transferred from the royal -palace near by. All who came to it were supplied with ink, pens, paper, -and rests for books. - -It seems probable that the intellectual efforts of the Fatimids should be -connected with the _Ikhwanu s-Safa_, “the brotherhood of purity” and with -the Assassins. The former began as a kind of masonic society at Basra -soon after the capture of Baghdad by the Buwayhids in 334. Undoubtedly -it had some connection with the sect established by ʿAbdullah the son of -Maymun, but it is not possible to specify accurately what that connection -was. It may have been a more cultured off-shoot, just as the Qarmatians -were a cruder branch; but the more probable explanation is that it was a -descendant of the movement which produced ʿAbdullah, but free from the -Shiʿite elements which he inherited from the sect founded by his father -Maymun. To a large extent it seems that the “Brotherhood” displayed the -true principles adopted by the Ismaʿilians free from the Shiʿite ideas -and free from the political opportunism which marked the development of -the Fatimids in Africa and Egypt. To the Assassins we shall have occasion -to return at a later stage. The “Brethren of purity” were disposed in -four grades, the highest of which was composed of those who desired -the union of their souls with the world-spirit, so that their final -doctrine was a species of pantheism. They were a body of religious and -ethical reformers, a purified and gentle society, at the opposite pole -to the fierce Qarmatians. On the literary side they are best known as -the producers of the fifty-one “Epistles of the Brethren of Purity,” an -encyclopaedia of philosophy and science as known in the Arabic speaking -world of the fourth century. These “Epistles” were edited and translated -by Prof. Dieterici between 1858 and 1879, and show a general scheme -of education in grammar, theology, philosophy, and physics, the latter -including mineralogy, chemistry, botany, and zoology. It is in no sense -an original work, but simply an encyclopaedic compilation of all the -material then available. - -The whole Fatimid movement took place in an atmosphere saturated with -Hellenistic thought, and the revived study of the Greek material was the -direct inspiration both of the Ismaʿilian sect as organised by ʿAbdullah -and of the “Brethren.” But the influence of these latter was checked -by the strong tendency towards reaction in Muslim theology and thought -generally which was gathering even in the fourth century in Asiatic -Islam. The future of the philosophers lay in the far west: Ibn Sina (d. -428) was the last of the Muslim philosophers in the east, and he was -associated with Shiʿite circles, whilst al-Farabi had lived under the -shelter of the Shiʿite Hamdanids, and the “Brethren” flourished under the -Buwayhids who also were Shiʿites. For the most part the study of Greek -philosophy, therefore, progressed under Shiʿite influences. - -The “House of Wisdom” continued until 513 when the reactionary wave of -orthodoxy had reached even Fatimid Egypt, and in that year it was closed -as a home of heresy by the Wazir Afdal. Four years later a new academy -near the great palace was founded by the Wazir Maʾmun, but this adhered -more strictly to the traditional lines of Muslim study. - -In the line of philosophers strictly so-called, that is to say, of those -who worked from the basis of Greek science, one is associated with -al-Hakim and the Cairo of the Fatimids, namely, Ibn al-Haytsam, known -to the mediaeval Latin writers as Alhazen. He was born at Basra in 354, -and became distinguished as a student of the Greek philosophers. At that -time the path of philosophy was beset with many difficulties owing to the -orthodox reaction. - -Ibn Sina was a wanderer in many lands, and Ibn al-Haytsam found it more -prudent to seek a refuge in Cairo where he made his home amongst the -learned of the al-ʾAzhar mosque. He died in 430. We have a long list -of the works he produced, all of the type usually associated with the -Arabic philosophers, manuals, commentaries, and discussions of questions -arising from the teaching of the ancients. In his case these deal chiefly -with mathematics, physics, the Aristotelian logic, and the medical works -of Galen. The Bodleian contains a MS. of his commentary on Euclid. To the -mediaeval west he was best known as the author of a treatise on optics -which was translated into Latin and used by Roger Bacon. Occasionally -this optical work of “Alhazen” appears in the curricula of the mediaeval -universities. - -Various evidences of a fanatical spirit in maintaining the doctrines -and usages of Shiʿism begin to appear in al-Hakim about 393. In Syria -a person was arrested on the charge that he denied that any special -devotion was due to ʿAli. The offender was imprisoned by the authority -of the Chief Qadi of Egypt who acted as pope over all the territories -subject to Fatimid rule, and was examined by four jurists who did their -best to persuade him to recognise the Imamate of ʿAli, but, as he -remained stubborn, he was beheaded. - -In Cairo thirteen persons were arrested for having observed the _Salat -ad-Duha_ or “mid-morning prayer,” one of the voluntary observances -sometimes added to the five canonical daily prayers, but disapproved by -the Shiʿites. The offenders were paraded through the streets, beaten, and -detained three days in prison. - -In the month of Rabiʿ II. of this same year (393) a man named Aswad -Hakami was punished for some offence of which the details are unknown, -but which probably was a public championship of the three first Khalifs -whom the Shiʿites regarded as usurpers. He was paraded through the city -and a herald cried before him: “This is the reward of those who are the -partisans of Abu Bakr, and Umar,” after which he was beheaded (As-Suyuti, -_History_, chap. I., Qadir bi-llah). - -In 395 al-Hakim re-enforced many old laws against Christians and Jews, -and the decrees ordering the strict observance of these penal regulations -contained many abusive expressions against Abu Bakr and Umar. A new -decree of 395 forbade the use of _malukhiya_ or “Jews’ mallow” as food -because it was traditionally stated to have been a favourite article of -Muʿawiya the opponent of ʿAli. Similarly the use of _jirjir_ (_girgir_) -or “watercress” was forbidden because it had been introduced by -ʿAyesha: and of _mutawakkiliya_, a herb named after the ʿAbbasid Khalif -Mutawakkil. The sale or making of beer (_fuqqaʿ_) was severely prohibited -because it was especially disliked by ʿAli: it was forbidden to use -_dalinas_, a species of small shell fish, for some reason not known: and -very strict orders were made against the sale or use of any fish which -had no scales. - -In the same year a law was published that the noon prayer was to be said -at the seventh hour and the afternoon prayer at the ninth, that is to say -the modern way of counting the correct hours was to be observed instead -of the traditional method of observing the sun. In these cases tradition -allowed the noon prayer to be said as soon as the sun is actually seen -to begin its decline from the meridian (Bukhari: _Sahih_ ix. 11), and -the afternoon prayer after it has declined (id. 13, 13A). Orthodox Islam -allows the former at any time between noon and the hour when the shadow -of a thing is equal to the thing itself in length, and the latter at any -time between the moment of equal shadow and the sunset (cf. id.). The -Fatimid Khalif now replaced these very primitive methods of reckoning, -which are still in force, by the observance of fixed hours as marked by -the dial. - -In the month of Safar of 395 al-Hakim caused inscriptions cursing the -three first Khalifs, the “usurpers,” and certain others such as Talha, -Zubayr, Muʿawiya, and Amru, all regarded as enemies by the Shiʿites, -to be written up on the doors of the mosques and of shops, and on the -guard houses and in the cemeteries, and compelled the people to display -similar inscriptions in gold lettering and bright colours (cf. Maq. ii. -286, As-Suyuti: _al-Qaʾim_. Ibn Khall. iii. 450). These were extremely -offensive to the Sunnis or orthodox who formed the large majority of the -people, indeed at the present day the attitude to be observed towards the -first three Khalifs is the sorest point of difference between the Sunnis -and Shiʿites, and even in recent years more than one Shiʿite has risked -death for the sake of spitting on the tomb of ʿUmar. At the same time -efforts were made to induce citizens to join the Ismaʿilian sect, and two -days were set apart every week for the admission of those who desired to -be initiated. On some of these occasions the crowds were so large that -several people were crushed to death (Maq. ii. 286). - -Those who were keen Shiʿites naturally were encouraged by this -legislation to become somewhat aggressive in their attitude. When the -caravan of African, that is to say Moroccan and Tunisian, pilgrims on -their way home from Mecca passed through Egypt and rested at Cairo, some -of the more ardent Shiʿites tried to induce them to utter curses against -ʿUmar and the other early Khalifs, and the refusal of the pilgrims to do -so led to some disturbances. - -At the beginning of the year 396 the usual Shiʿite feast of the _Ashura_ -commemorating the martyrdom of ʿAli and his sons, a regular occasion for -an outbreak of Shiʿite fanaticism at the present day, was duly celebrated -on the first ten days of Muharram. This time the offensive attitude of -the Shiʿites caused a good deal of annoyance, and one man was arrested -for shouting: “Such be the recompense of those who curse ʿAyesha and her -husband.” For this he was beheaded. - -In 393 al-Hakim commenced the strict observance of the old laws, now -long obsolete, against the Christians and Jews. We are left in no doubt -as to the reason why these ancient penal laws were revived and strictly -enforced. Maqrizi tells us that it was due to the arrogance and wealth of -those Christians and Jews who had been unduly favoured by the Fatimids. -The greater part of the civil service was filled by them, and some -Christians, such as ʿIsa b. Nestorius and Fahd b. Ibrahim, were then -acting as ministers of state. To a large extent we may ascribe al-Hakim’s -treatment of Christians and Jews as due to the pressure of public -opinion, and it is rather interesting to observe how such opinion was -brought to bear upon a mediaeval Khalif. - -One day as al-Hakim was riding through the streets he was confronted by -a female guy made of paper bearing in her outstretched hand a document -which Hakim took, and read: “In the name of him who has honoured the Jews -in Manasseh, and the Christians in ʿIsa b. Nestorius, and has dishonoured -the Muslims in himself, deliver us from the evil state we are in, in good -time” (Abu l-Feda, _Annal. Mosl._ ii. 591). - -Hakim’s first step was to endeavour to bring pressure to bear upon his -chief officials in order that by getting them to profess Islam he -might remove the objection felt towards them. One of these was Fahd -b. Ibrahim, a Christian who had been _raʾis_ or lieutenant under the -commander-in-chief Husayn b. Jawhar since 389. He, however, proved -stubborn in his adherence to the Christian religion and so was beheaded -and his body burned, an act of severity which was not justified by Muslim -law. As soon as the execution was over Hakim sent for Fahd’s children, -assured them of his protection, and forbade any one to do them harm. Fahd -was succeeded in his office by the Muslim ʿAli b. ʿUmar al-ʿAddas. Hakim -then made a similar attempt to convert ʿIsa b. Nestorius and with similar -result, so ʿIsa also was beheaded. Bar Hebraeus puts this event in the -period 386-389, but as Maqrizi mentions it just before his reference to -the execution of Fahd it is more probably dated 393. - -Al-Hakim had ten of the chief Christian clerks, including Fahd, arrested. -The first of these to be brought before him was Abu Najah, who was a -member of the Greek Church. Hakim urged him to become a Muslim, and -promised him rapid promotion and immediate rewards if he would do so. Abu -Najah asked that he might be allowed a day’s delay, and this was granted -him. He then went home and, gathering together his kinsmen and friends, -told them what had taken place, and assured them that he had asked for -this delay, not because he was in any doubt as to what he would do, -but in order to meet them and exhort them to remain steadfast in their -faith in the persecution which he fore-saw was about to fall upon the -church. He then entertained them all to a feast and next day presented -himself before the Khalif. Al-Hakim asked him if he had made his choice: -he replied that he had done so:—“And what is your intention?”—“It is to -remain firm in my religion.” Al-Hakim then tried promises and threats, -but without result. He then had him stripped and scourged until he had -received five hundred stripes, so that his flesh was torn and the blood -flowed freely. As the torturers stopped al-Hakim ordered them to continue -until the sufferer had received a thousand lashes. After three hundred -more Abu Najah cried out that he was in thirst and, as this was reported -to al-Hakim he ordered one of the men to give him a drink of water. But -when the water was offered Abu Najah said: “Take away his water. I have -no need of it, because Jesus Christ the true King has given me to drink,” -and then he died. When this was reported to Hakim he ordered the thousand -strokes to be completed on the dead body. - -Of the other eight clerks remaining after Fahd and Abu Najah, four -remained firm and were executed, and four turned Muslim. Of these latter -one died during the night after making his profession of faith, the other -three remained conforming Muslims until the penal laws were relaxed in -the latter part of Hakim’s reign when they returned to the Christian -Church, the Khalif protecting them from the legal penalties to which this -exposed them. - -Towards the end of 394 Hakim began collecting a large store of wood -on Mokattam, and this was completed in Rabiʿ I. 395. A rumour went -abroad that this was intended to provide a general holocaust of -non-Muslim clerks and civil officials, and a panic took place amongst -the Christians. On the 5th of that month a large number of clerks -assembled at the ar-Riahin and went in procession through the streets -with lamentations and cries for mercy, and finally assembled before -the palace imploring the Khalif’s mercy. At the palace they were met -by the Commander-in-Chief, Husayn b. Jawhar, who undertook to present -their petition to the Khalif. Next day they returned and Husayn gave -them letters of protection written out in three forms, one for Muslims, -another for Christians, and another for Jews (cf. Maq. i. 286, sq.). -Although it was the clerks employed in the public service who were -chiefly concerned in this, there were also merchants and private citizens -who had dealings with the court who joined in the appeal and received -letters of protection. Maqrizi has preserved a specimen of these letters -from which we gather that they were by way of licences of toleration -granted, in the case of Muslims, to those who had not become members of -the Fatimite sect. The example he gives reads: “In the name of God, etc. -This letter is from the servant of God and his wali Mansur Abu ʿAli the -Imam Hakim bi-amrillahi, Commander of the faithful, to the people of the -mosque of ʿAbdullah: You are amongst those who are in safety with the -security of God, the King, the evident Truth, and with the security of -our ancestor Muhammad, the seal of the prophets, and of our father ʿAli -the best of his heirs, and of the line of the prophets, and of the people -of the Mahdi our ancestor, may God be gracious to the Apostle and his -envoy, and to all others of them; and the security of the Commander of -the faithful is upon you yourselves, upon your kindred and property. Do -not fear for yourselves, let no hand be raised against you save for the -punishment of wrong-doing, or for a claim made and proved. Confidence -must be given to this, and one must count on the accurate fulfilment -of what is above, God willing. Written in the month of Jumada II. 395. -Praise be to God, may he be gracious to Muhammad the chief of the -apostles, to ʿAli the best of his successors, and to the Imams of the -house of the Mahdi, kinsmen of the prophet, and may abundant peace be -upon them” (Maq. i. 286). We note that Muhammad is described as “the seal -of the prophets” quite in the orthodox way which gives no indication of -the Fatimite teaching of a subsequent prophet of greater importance in -Abdullah b. Maymun. The general tone is distinctly Shiʿite, but Fatimid -only in the reference to the family of the Mahdi. - -Was there any basis to the rumour that a general holocaust was intended? -Such a thing seems almost incredible, but there are certain signs which -point in its favour. Soon after the appeal made to the Khalif in Rabiʿ -I. he made a huge bonfire of all the wood collected, and for this there -was no obvious purpose, and it is certain that he had developed a -tendency to use burning as a form of punishment. We are not prepared to -say, therefore, that the rumours circulated about the store of wood on -Mokattam were entirely baseless. - -Al-Hakim was particularly severe upon the inferior servants of the court, -and especially on the runners or footmen, many of whom were put to death -whilst others obtained letters of protection. This may have been an -instance of religious intolerance, or simply a case of the capricious -cruelty which now began to appear in Hakim’s conduct and contributed so -much to the theory that he was suffering from a disordered mind. - -In 395 the old penal laws dating from the year 36 were re-enforced -against Christians and Jews. Both were required to wear a distinctive -dress, the Christians to have turbans of black or dark blue, a custom -which the Christians seem to have adopted voluntarily in the first place, -and which the Coptic clergy retain to the present day, the Jews to wear -yellow turbans: the women of both religions were forbidden to wear the -waist sash which was a characteristic part of female attire, and the men -were required to adopt it. At the same time it was forbidden to sell -slaves to Christians or Jews. - -The citizens of Fustat, sorely tried by the scarcity and dearness of -food resulting from the bad Niles, groaned in secret over the caprices -and severities of their ruler, but did not yet venture to express their -dissatisfaction openly. It was otherwise with the free Arab tribes -settled in the country, and in 395 the B. Qorra in Lower Egypt broke -out in open rebellion. Al-Hakim had no great trouble in punishing -these rebels but his severity in doing so, although it checked the -movement, only left them ready to take up arms again on a more promising -opportunity, and for this they had not long to wait. - -A serious revolt took place in North Africa in 396, which before long -seemed to threaten the very existence of the Fatimid Khalifate. In its -first inception this revolt connected with far off Spain. There the -Umayyads had been reigning since 138, but were now in their decline. -The supreme power at this time had passed into the hands of the Wazir -Mansur ibn Abi ʿAmir, who treated the Khalif of Cordova very much in the -same way as Kafur had treated the later Ikhshids, but, more cruel and -unscrupulous, was steadily getting rid of every one who stood in the way -of his ambition. Many of the Umayyad kindred were put to death, whilst -others left the country. Amongst these latter was one commonly known as -Abu Raqwa, “the man with the leather bottle,” because he carried a bottle -like that used by the travelling darwishes. As a darwish he journeyed -to Egypt, thence to Mecca, Yemen, and Syria, everywhere observing the -possibilities of forming a party to support the claims of the Umayyad -family and the evidences of discontent and probabilities of stirring up -civil strife. In all his wanderings, however, he met with no success: the -Umayyads had long passed out of the main current of Islamic life, and it -did not seem that their name could anywhere be used as a rallying cry -for the dissatisfied; there was no religious attachment to the Umayyads -like there was to the ʿAlids. At last he came back to Egypt at the time -when the B. Qorra were smarting under the severe chastisement they had -received from Hakim, and this seemed to him to offer some promise. -Passing westwards he took refuge amongst the Berber tribe of Zanata where -he obtained great esteem for his piety, acting as Imam in the services -of the mosque and teaching the Qurʾan to the children. It is perhaps as -well to note that “Imam” in this connection means no more than customary -leader in prayer; it has nothing in common with the “Imam” as understood -by the Shiʿites, save that both imply the general idea of religious -teacher. At length he managed to get a following, and proclaimed himself -as Emir under the title of “he who is sent by the order of God” and “he -who has victory over the enemies of God,” both titles common enough -amongst the Shiʿites but strange as applied to an Umayyad. His supporters -were chiefly drawn from the Zanata, but before long he was joined also by -other Berber tribes and by the B. Qorra. - -At the head of a considerable army of the usual undisciplined Berber -type Abu Raqwa advanced eastwards and took Barqa where he was careful to -prevent all pillage and violence, and thus proclaimed that he was not -a mere leader of tribes on the war path, but aimed at establishing an -orderly government. At the fall of Barqa Hakim saw that the rebellion -had to be taken seriously, and sent out an army under the command of -Inal. This Egyptian force had to cross a considerable stretch of desert -before it could reach Barqa, and Abu Raqwa sent a rapidly moving body of -cavalry across the route to fill in the wells, and then waited at the -end furthest from Egypt. At length Inal’s force appeared, exhausted and -thirsty from its desert march, and the engagement which followed left -the advantage with Abu Raqwa. Before the action commenced a number of -the Katama tribesmen serving with the Egyptians deserted and joined the -enemy, induced to do so by disgust with the conduct and now notorious -cruelties of Hakim. When they presented themselves before Abu Raqwa their -first act was to intercede with him on behalf of their fellow tribesmen -still serving in the Fatimid army, and as he promised them a favourable -reception they called out to them and they deserted also. After this Abu -Raqwa joined battle and inflicted a serious defeat on Inal. The news of -this disaster caused great alarm in Cairo; there was an immediate rise -in the prices of provisions, and preparations were made for another -expedition to North Africa. - -After his success Abu Raqwa made his residence at Barqa and seemed -disposed to establish a kingdom in Ifrikiya. Before long, however, he -received letters from several leading men in Egypt, including Husayn b. -Jawhar who was Hakim’s Commander-in-Chief, begging him to invade Egypt -and assuring him of a welcome and substantial support. This, more than -anything else, shows to what an extent the strange conduct of Hakim -had now alienated his subjects and even those who, like Husayn, were -his chief ministers and were, or had been, his personal friends. If -we suppose that, by this time, Hakim had given unmistakable signs of -disordered intellect we shall find in that a reasonable explanation -of the desire for some one to come and deliver the country from what -threatened to be a serious danger. - -In response to this invitation Abu Raqwa started his advance into Egypt. -The news of his undertaking threw the country into great alarm. The -Druze books describe Hakim himself as completely unmoved, but other -writers speak of him as seriously frightened and even planning to retire -to Syria if all came to the worst. Meanwhile he sent to Syria for the -Hamdanid armies, and put the general Fadi b. Salih in command of the -native forces. With these Syrians and such other levies as he could raise -Fadl went out and encamped at Gizeh, waiting for the invaders. At their -arrival Fadl did not give battle, but manoeuvred so as to evade them, -and by his position at Gizeh prevented them from being able to make a -crossing of the river as that would have exposed them to his attack -whilst going across. Meanwhile he managed to open up correspondence -with some of the subordinate officers, amongst them with a certain -captain of the B. Qorra named Mahdi, who agreed to keep him informed of -all Abu Raqwa’s plans. After some delay the invaders advanced direct -upon the Fatimid general who was unable to evade the movement, and so -an engagement was forced near Kum Sharik. It was not decisive, but it -was very severe, and caused Fadl to determine not to give battle again -if he could possibly avoid doing so. Owing to his severe losses he was -compelled to retire, but still lay between Abu Raqwa and the river so as -to be able to make a flank attack if the Berbers tried to cross. - -Abu Raqwa and his men, however, were perfectly confident that success -was assured, and made plans for their future policy as conquerors. They -decided to settle in Egypt and rule that country and the adjacent North -Africa, leaving Syria to the Arabs. This scheme repeated the old plan of -a purely Berber state in Africa with the Arabs excluded and sent back to -their own country. Fadl received full information as to these projects. -But there was treachery in his own army also: the Arab leaders brought -from Syria had been tampered with by Abu Raqwa’s agents who tried to -persuade them that they were making a mistake in fighting for the Fatimid -state, and that it would be more satisfactory to divide its territories -between them, the Africans under Abu Raqwa taking Egypt, the Asiatic -Arabs taking Syria. It was agreed therefore that Abu Raqwa should make -a night attack on Fadl’s army and, as soon as the attack commenced, the -Syrian leaders were to march their men over to the enemy and thus an easy -victory would be assured. But Fadl was fully informed of this plan, and -the evening before the projected attack he invited the Arab leaders to -dine with him. When the dinner was over and the guests wished to retire -he detained them and, on one pretext or another, kept them near him until -the enemy attacked. Even then he still detained them and sent orders to -the Syrians to engage their opponents, and the Syrians, ignorant of the -private plans of their leaders, did so. The followers of Abu Raqwa were -surprised at the unexpected resistance and were finally driven off. - -Meanwhile Hakim succeeded in raising reinforcements of 4,000 horsemen, -which he tried to send across the river to Fadl. Abu Raqwa heard of this -and determined to intercept them, setting out so quickly that Mahdi was -unable to send a message to Fadl until he was already on the way. When -the message reached Fadl it was too late, he could no longer get into a -position to protect the new force from the fierce onset of the Berbers, -and about a thousand of them were slain. The news of this misfortune, -which Fadl contrived to conceal from his men for a time, caused great -alarm in the city: the people were seized with panic, they feared an -immediate assault, they were too much alarmed to remain in their houses -and camped for the night in the streets. - -Even yet the way to the river was not clear, for a considerable force -remained ready to attack the Berbers if they tried to get down to the -ford, and Abu Raqwa found it impossible to get to grips with them. So the -Berbers were moved nearer and took up their position before the pyramids. -Fadl followed at a distance. Then Abu Raqwa thought that he could force -an engagement by leading him into an ambush. He passed on, therefore, -towards the Fayyum, and at a place called Sabkha stationed a body of men -in concealment and sent another company back towards Fadl. This body made -a perfunctory attack and then turned to flight so as to draw the pursuers -to the place of ambush. Unfortunately the whole plan had not been clearly -explained to the men beforehand, and when those in ambush saw the others -in flight they thought there had been a real defeat and, coming out of -concealment, joined their retreat. This change in the arranged programme -threw Abu Raqwa’s men into confusion, and Fadl profiting by the disorder -fell upon them and inflicted a severe defeat. This took place on the 3rd -of Dhu l-Hijja in 396. As a result Fadl was able to send to Cairo 6,000 -heads of enemy slain and 100 prisoners. - -This severe engagement was decisive, although Abu Raqwa himself -escaped and fled, first to Upper Egypt, then to Nubia. Here he went -to Hisnaljebel where the Nubian king lay ill, and pretended to be an -ambassador sent by the Khalif Hakim. Owing to the king’s illness he -was not able to see him and thus, ostensibly waiting for an interview, -he was able to live for some time in security. Fadl had followed close -behind to the Nubian frontier and managed to find out where he was. As -soon as he knew this he sent a messenger to the governor of the palace -informing him of the facts, and the governor had Abu Raqwa kept under -close observation. In due course the king died and his son ordered the -fugitive to be conducted across the frontier, and so he was taken across -and conducted to Fadl’s camp. The Fatimid general received him with -every courtesy and, fully supposing that Fadl’s conduct represented -the attitude of the Khalif the prisoner, as he was in spite of polite -treatment, wrote a letter to al-Hakim appealing to his generosity and -begging that he might be pardoned for his rebellion with protestations of -penitence. - -The letter was duly sent and Fadl marched down towards Cairo with his -prisoner who was still treated with every consideration. When they had -passed Gizeh and were about to enter Fustat, on Saturday the 27th Jumada -II. 397, orders were received by Fadl from the Khalif that Abu Raqwa was -to enter the city riding on a camel, wearing Abzari’s turban, and with -Abzari and his monkey mounted behind. Abzari’s turban was one of many -gaudy colours which it was customary for those condemned to death to -wear on their final parade to the place of execution, and the monkey was -specially trained to strike with a whip across the face of a criminal set -in front of him. For this performance Abzari was to receive 500 pieces of -gold and ten pieces of cloth. - -Thus Abu Raqwa entered Fustat in the midst of the army, preceded by -fifteen elephants. The whole city was adorned as for a public holiday, -and the population lined the streets to see Abu Raqwa paraded until he -was brought to a balcony where al-Hakim was seated. The Khalif then -pronounced on him the sentence that he was to be conducted to a piece of -elevated ground before the mosque of Raydan and there beheaded. But when -they reached the place of execution and the camel knelt for Abu Raqwa to -dismount it was found that he was already dead. The body was stretched -out, and the head cut off and carried to the Khalif. - -This success raised Fadl’s reputation, and for a time al-Hakim showed -great appreciation of his services. When the general fell ill the Khalif -visited him several times, and when he recovered he presented him with -gifts of large estates. Two years later, however, Fadl was put to death. - -Severus of Ashmunayn relates an anecdote about al-Hakim which is commonly -supposed to refer to Fadl, but it is not certain that it does so refer, -and many things related by Severus seem to be open to question. According -to this anecdote a certain favourite, who may have been Fadl or may not, -once entered al-Hakim’s presence and found him with a comely child whom -he had bought for 100 pieces of gold. He had just cut the child’s throat, -and had opened the body and taken out the liver and entrails which he was -cutting up as the visitor entered. At the sight the onlooker could not -repress an involuntary movement of repulsion and hastily withdrew. He -knew quite well that his discovery and expression of disapproval meant -his execution, and at once went home, put his affairs in order, and -waited for his summons. Before long a messenger from the palace arrived, -and the minister who had seen too much was led away and put to death. -Whether Fadl was the hero of this anecdote, or whether the story has any -basis at all, remains uncertain, but it is known that he was executed by -the Khalif’s orders. - -Abu Raqwa’s rebellion certainly makes an important turning-point in -Hakim’s reign. After it he made certain concessions to prevailing Muslim -opinion, that is to say he relaxed some of his Shiʿite prejudices and -left off some of the practices, such as the cursing of the early Khalifs, -which were most offensive to his orthodox subjects, but at the same -time he increased in severity towards the Christians and Jews who were -generally hated as forming the greater part of the civil officials and -tax-collectors. - -As might be expected the rebellion was followed by several changes in -the personnel of the court. The Commander-in-Chief, Husayn b. Jawhar, -was deprived of his office on the 10th of Shaban 398, ordered to remain -in his house, and forbidden to take part in the public processions -which accompanied the Khalif on his visits to the principal mosques: -but shortly afterwards he was pardoned and ordered to resume his place -in these functions. As we have seen, it was Husayn who took part in the -invitation to Abu Raqwa. Whether this was known at the time to the Khalif -or not does not appear, but it is very probable that he had reasons for -suspecting his fidelity. The office of Commander-in-Chief was given to -Salih Rudbari b. ʿAli. - -On the 16th of Rejeb 398 the Chief Qadi and Daʿi ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz also -was deprived of office, perhaps here again there was reason to suspect -correspondence with the enemy, and his place given to Malik b. Saʿid -al-Faraqi. About three years later, as we shall see, both Husayn and -ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz were so much alarmed that they fled the country, but -afterwards returned and were put to death in 401. A change was made also -in the important governorship of Damascus to which ʿAli b. Falah was -appointed in 398. - -We may trace a connection between the anxiety caused by Abu Raqwa’s -revolt, complicated by growing dissatisfaction amongst the people, with -Hakim’s abandonment of his more aggressive Shiʿite attitude and partial -return to Sunni practice. In 397 he ordered all the inscriptions reviling -the early Khalifs to be effaced, and all persons who cursed them were -punished by flogging and paraded through the streets in disgrace (Maq. -ii. 286, Ibn Khall. iii. 450). This year (397) he sent a white veil to -cover the “House of God” at Mecca, white being more or less the official -colour of the Fatimids. Perhaps this more orthodox attitude should be -connected with his severer treatment of the Christians which dates from -398, and both were bids for popularity. - -The year 398 had a particularly bad Nile, the river rising only sixteen -yards and sixteen fingers of the seventeenth yard, with the result that -there was a great rise in prices and consequent hardship. Complaint -was made to the Khalif that the dearness of corn was largely caused -by dealers hoarding supplies so as to force an increase, and al-Hakim -announced that he would ride through the city himself and make enquiry, -and would behead anyone he found with a hoard of corn. Next day he -rode from his palace and passed through Fustat and out to the mosque -of Rashida, his attendants entering houses and searching for stores of -corn. None, however, were found, and the result of this was that popular -feeling was pacified and the idea that the scarcity was artificially -produced removed. In 399 the Nile suffered an unexpected check and there -was increased anxiety. Twice the Khalif conducted public prayers for a -good Nile. Several taxes were remitted, but bread became so dear that it -could be obtained only with the greatest difficulty. On the 4th of the -Egyptian month of Tot (circ. 1st September) the canal was opened, but the -river had then risen only 15 yards. On the 9th of Muharram, the middle of -Tot, the waters began to go down, the total rise having reached only 16 -yards: as a result food became even dearer and the famine was followed by -plague. - -It was no doubt as an act of mourning that Hakim issued orders forbidding -the holding of pleasure parties, excursions, or concerts on the river or -its banks. - -Although al-Hakim, by ordering the removal of the imprecatory -inscriptions against the early Khalifs had done something to conciliate -public opinion, he continued to enforce strictly the regulations against -wine, beer, and the various kinds of food disapproved by the Shiʿites, -and many fishmongers were arrested for selling fish without scales. -Indeed the city was thrown into consternation by the extreme severity -with which these and other rules were enforced. It was in this year (399) -that the general Fadl was executed, and many other persons were punished -by having their hands cut off. A decree published this year allowed -the fast of the month of Ramadan to finish at the date as obtained by -astronomical calculations, without waiting for the actual appearance of -the new moon, a Fatimid novelty which was regarded with disapproval and -is still not admitted by the orthodox. New regulations allowed the use -of the Shiʿite formula in the call to prayer, or the Sunni call at the -muezzin’s discretion; no complaint was to be made in either case. No -one was to utter any imprecation against the early Khalifs, and if any -one liked to use the reverent formula “God have mercy on them” in using -their names, thus treating them as saints, they were allowed to do so: if -on the other hand they chose to use the more honourable formula “God be -gracious to him” after the name of ʿAli, there was full liberty to do so. -Every Muslim was free to follow Sunni or Shiʿite usage as he preferred -(Ibn Khall. iii. 451). - -Al-Hakim’s more definite anti-Christian and anti-Jewish policy began -in 398. In that year he seized the property of the churches and placed -it under the control of the state treasury. He forbade the public -processions which had generally been observed at the feast of Hosannas -(Palm Sunday), at the feast of the Cross, and at the Epiphany. By his -orders a large number of crosses were publicly burned before the doors of -the Old Mosque, and orders were sent out that the same was to be done in -the provinces. In some of the churches little mosques were constructed, -and from these the usual call to prayer was given. Severus tells us that -the use of bells was now prohibited. - -The churches on the road to Maqs were destroyed, as well as the Coptic -church of al-Maghitha in the Street of Rome, and all their contents were -seized. Many other churches were pillaged and destroyed, the sacred -vessels, furniture, and goods being handed over to Muslims, and the -vessels often sold in the public markets. Amongst these were the churches -at Rashida outside Fustat and the convent of Dayr al-Kasr on Mokattam, -all these being given over to the people who plundered them. - -Various persons sent in petitions to search churches and monasteries -in the provinces for hoarded wealth, and received permission to do so -(cf. Maq. _Hist. of Copts_). It is clear that this kind of persecution -was generally popular, at least in its earlier stages, for it was -generally believed that the Christians had used their opportunities as -tax collectors to defraud the country to a serious extent. This no doubt -contained a measure of truth, although the Fatimid government kept a -closer and more careful control over its officials than has always been -done by oriental powers. But it must be noted that resentment was felt -towards the Christians and Jews, not for their religious beliefs, but -because they were revenue officials. - -In 400 Salih b. ʿAli Rudbari was deprived of his office as chief minister -and replaced by Mansur b. ʿAbdun, a Christian clerk, for at no time -did the persecution take such a form as to prevent the advancement of -Christians and Jews to high and responsible offices in the state. The -new minister was hated by the nobles who made accusations against him -and brought forward his religion as one of the grounds of attack. This -caused a brief but severe outburst against the Christian officials. Many -of them were scourged to death and their bodies thrown to the dogs, and -Mansur himself was beaten and left for dead, but as his friends stood -round they perceived that there were signs of life in him, so they took -him up and carried him home. After some time he recovered and went back -without remark to his duties. Such a state of affairs seems to us almost -incredible, for his duties were practically those of a prime minister, -and that he should have been thus scourged, left to the dogs, as was the -intention, and then when he was well enough go back to the highest office -in the state without any particular remark seems to present al-Hakim’s -court rather in the light of a lunatic asylum: practically it was very -near that, for it can hardly be doubted that the Khalif at this time was -definitely insane. - -Orders were sent to Jerusalem for the destruction of the church of -_al-Qayama_ “the resurrection,” the most famous and honoured sanctuary -of Christendom. In accordance with these orders it was plundered and -then pulled down, an act which produced a deep feeling of anger in the -Christian community generally, as well as amongst the subjects of the -Greek Empire as amongst those who lived in Hakim’s dominions. Indirectly -it caused the Christian world to form an idea of Islam as a persecuting -power, and so paved the way to the Crusades. The cause of the destruction -of this sanctuary is said to have been a malicious report which alleged -that the Christians practised a fraud in connection with the “holy fire” -given out at Easter in that church. This blessing and distribution of -new fire is a prominent part of the Easter Eve ceremonies of the Greek -and of the Gallic churches, and from the latter afterwards passed into -the Roman rite where it originally had no place. A common but apparently -unauthorised superstition amongst the Greeks represents this “new fire” -as distributed in the Church of the Resurrection at Jerusalem as sent -down from heaven, and this superstition was already in existence in the -days of Hakim. A certain chaplain of the church, suffering from some -grievance, declared to the Muslim authorities that the canons of the -church practised a fraud to play upon this superstition. He said that -they used to anoint the iron chain by which the great lamp was suspended -in the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, and that after the Muslim governor -had closed and sealed the door of the church, as was the custom, they -used to get at the chain from the roof and so the fire was passed -along the anointed surface and reached the wick of the lamp which was -thus lighted, whilst the chaplains sang _Kyrie eleison_ and wept, and -pretended that the fire came down from heaven, thus confirming the -Christians in their religious errors (Bar Hebraeus: _Chron._, pp. 215 -sqq.). - -Severus attributes the outbreak of this persecution to a monk named John -whom the Patriarch steadily refused to ordain bishop and who, on this -account, made his complaint to the Khalif. He waylaid Hakim as he was -walking on the Mokattam hills and called on him for assistance, at the -same time presenting a petition in which he said: “You are the ruler of -this country, but the Christians have a king who is more powerful than -you by reason of the immense wealth he has acquired. He sells bishoprics -for money and acts in a way displeasing to God.” Influenced by this -petition Hakim ordered the churches to be closed and the Patriarch to be -brought before him. The Patriarch Zacharias was a man far advanced in -years and now, by the Khalif’s order, was cast into prison. The very day -after the Patriarch’s arrest Hakim sent the letter to the governor in -Jerusalem ordering the destruction of the Church of the Resurrection, the -clerk who prepared the letter being a Christian named Ibn Sharkin. - -Shortly after this Hakim sent out notices to all the provinces that -churches were to be destroyed and their gold and silver vessels -confiscated, that all bishops were to be arrested, and that no one was -to buy from or sell to Christians. At this many Christians conformed to -Islam, whilst in most places they left off the distinctive outward signs -of their religion as laid down in the revived penal laws, and popular -usage evidently connived at this. - -The Patriarch remained three months in prison; each day he was threatened -with burning or being cast to wild beasts if he did not conform to Islam, -whilst he was promised that if he did conform he would be made Chief -Qadi and covered with honours, but neither threat nor promises made -any impression on him. His gaoler visited him frequently and treated -him roughly, but this he bore with patience and resignation. A Muslim -fellow-prisoner tried to persuade him to conform, but he only replied, -“All my confidence is in God who is almighty; it is He who will help me” -(Severus). - -A certain Christian who had been collector of taxes was in the same -prison suffering the penalty for a deficit of 3,000 pieces of gold in -his accounts. This prisoner was a friend of a noble Arab of the B. Qorra -tribe, named Mahdi b. Mokrab, perhaps the same who had assisted Fadl at -the time of Abu Raqwa’s revolt, and he stood high in the Khalif’s favour. -One day he visited his Christian friend and promised to ask the Khalif -for his release. The prisoner said, “I should not be willing to go out -of this and leave here the Patriarch, the old man whom you see.” Mahdi -enquired why the Patriarch was in prison, and when he heard the reason -he judged that it would not be prudent to speak about him by name to -Hakim, but he asked the Khalif to grant the liberty of all those who were -detained in that prison. The Khalif consented and so the Patriarch was -set free and went to Fustat, a thing which was the cause of great joy -to all the Christians. But as his freedom had been granted only by an -oversight it was judged expedient for him to go away and hide himself, -so he retired to the valley of Habib where he lived in retirement for -nine years. In that particular part the churches had not been destroyed. -Officials and workmen had been sent to do so, but they were afraid of the -Bedwin of the desert near and retired without doing anything. - -The Khalif issued orders forbidding the Christians to observe the -“Feast of Baptism,” _i.e._, the Epiphany, on the banks of the Nile, -and prohibited the games and amusements which usually accompanied the -celebration of that feast. He also forbade the observance of the “Feast -of Hosannas,” _i.e._, Palm Sunday, and the Feast of the Cross in the -autumn. At that time it was customary for Muslims and even the Khalifs -themselves, to take part in the public festivities with which the -Christians celebrated their greater festivals. - -The destruction of churches was general during the course of this -persecution, especially in the year 403. By 405 some 30,000 had been -pillaged and pulled down in Syria and Egypt, and many of the Jewish -synagogues were treated in a similar manner. Very often mosques were -erected on their sites. The great church of the _Muʿallaqa_ was taken -from the Christians, and the Muslim call to prayer was made in the -Church of Shenuda in Fustat. In many places people presented petitions -asking permission to seize one of the churches or monasteries, and -these petitions were invariably granted. The furniture of the churches -and their vessels of gold and silver were confiscated and sold in the -markets, the price obtained being paid into the treasury or given to some -of the Khalif’s retainers. A special board was established to deal with -the confiscated property and the goods belonging to those who had been -put to death. - -We turn now to Hakim’s dealings with the Muslims during the year 400. -In the earlier part of the year many persons who had been detected in -possession of beer, malukhia, etc., were arrested and beaten. There was -a growing disquiet at Hakim’s severity, and a large number of people -thought it well to take out letters of protection. Panic seized Husayn -b. Jawhar the ex-Commander in Chief, ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz b. Nuʿman, and Abu -l-Kasam Husayn b. Maghrabi, and they fled the country. The laws against -intoxicating drinks were executed with great rigour, and a number of -eunuchs, clerks, and footmen were put to death. In the month of Shawal -Salih b. ʿAli Rudbari was put to death. On the 19th of this same month -an order was published dispensing with the payment of the fifth levied -on the Shiʿites, of the sum paid at the end of Ramadan as alms, and -of the _nejwa_, or “voluntary contribution,” all sums collected from -the Ismaʿilian sect. About the same time the “conferences of wisdom,” -the regular meetings of the sect which were held in the palace, were -discontinued. This seems like an anti-Shiʿite change of attitude on the -Khalif’s part, but the only reasonable explanation of the numerous and -arbitrary developments which took place about this time is that which -commended itself to many contemporary observers, namely, that the Khalif -was insane, and the disorder of his mind was growing worse. - -Later in the year Hakim abandoned the enforcement of several -distinctively Shiʿite usages. He ordered the restoration of the formula -known as the _tethwib_ in the call to prayer; the muezzins were forbidden -to add “Come to the most excellent work” to the call, and were ordered -party badges. Permission was given for the use of the _salat ad-Duha_ -or voluntary fore-noon prayer which had been strictly forbidden in 393, -and also for the use of the prayer known as _kunut_. In the course of -the year Hakim presented lamps and a large candelabrum to the Mosque of -Rashida. - -The result of these events was that Hakim fell into ill repute with the -Shiʿites who had come to Cairo from many parts, and now found themselves -in a town veering round to orthodox Muslim customs. Other events, -however, quickly made him even more obnoxious to the orthodox. He had -sent officials to Madina to open the house which had formerly belonged -to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq and to bring away whatever might be found there. When -the house was opened the officials found in it a Qurʾan, a bed, and some -furniture, and the _Daʿi_ Khatkin, who superintended the opening, carried -away these articles, and at the same time helped themselves to the taxes -which the _sharifs_ paid. Khatkin then returned to Egypt accompanied -by a large number of sharifs, all descendants of ʿAli, who were led to -expect generous treatment from Hakim. But when they reached the Khalif’s -presence he gave them only a very small part of the money Khatkin had -brought back and kept the bulk for himself, saying that he deserved -it more than they did, as he, the true heir of ʿAli, was the head of -the _sharifs_. The _sharifs_ at this left Cairo and returned to Madina -cursing him (Abu l-Mahasin). - -Hakim then decided to remove the bodies of the two first Khalifs, Abu -Bakr and Umar, who were buried at Madina. His envoys bribed an ʿAlid who -lived in a house close by the burial place, and with his help they began -digging a passage through to the tombs. But a violent storm arose which -so terrified the citizens that many of them sought refuge in the holy -place where the Prophet and the early Khalifs were buried. The storm -still continued until at last the ʿAlid who had assisted Hakim’s envoys -himself became alarmed, and revealed the project on which they were -engaged to the governor who had him punished, and provided that the plan -should not be carried out (Mirkhond on the authority of the _Istidkar_ of -the Qadi Ahmad Damagini). - -On the whole Hakim seems at this time to have been endeavouring to -conciliate Sunni opinion, perhaps he had even intended to honour Abu -Bakr and ʿUmar by shrines in one or other of the burial places of Cairo. -Certainly he was trying to please the Sunnis when, in this same year -(400), he founded a college for instruction in the Malikite system of -jurisprudence, the form of canon law in vogue before the arrival of the -Fatimids, and the one to which the Egyptians were most attached. He -presented the college with a library, and appointed Abu Bakr Antaki as -its principal, and bestowed robes of honour on the principal and the -lecturers whom he welcomed at court. For three years Hakim continued to -favour the Sunnis, and then he suddenly changed his attitude. In the -following year indeed the pro-Sunni decrees began to be modified. On the -12th of Rabiʿ II. 401 the call to prayer was again ordered to be made in -the Shiʿite form, the _tethwib_, and the words “Prayer is better than -sleep” were again forbidden, and the formula “Come to the excellent work” -was restored. The fore-noon voluntary prayer was prohibited and so the -_Tarawih_. When Hakim found that the latter form had been used in the Old -Mosque in spite of his prohibition during the whole of Ramadan he had the -leader of the prayer put to death. At the same time the “Conferences of -wisdom” were restored in the palace, and the various subscriptions due -from the initiated of the Ismaʿilian sect were again collected. It is -impossible to follow anything like policy or purpose in these incessant -changes; it can only be supposed that the Khalif’s mental malady was -getting worse. - -In the following year (401) new laws were published forbidding all -pleasure parties on the banks of the canal and requiring all doors and -windows opening on the canal to be kept closed: other laws forbade music, -games, or meetings for pleasure at Sahra: and others forbidding loose -entertainments anywhere or the sale of singing girls. - -Changes in the personnel of the administration now begin to become more -numerous and capricious. At the beginning of 401 the chief minister, -Mansur b. ʿAbdun, the one who had once been scourged and left for dead, -was deprived of his office, and later in the year was put to death and -his goods confiscated. He was replaced by Ahmad b. Muhammad Kashuri, who -was beheaded after ten days. The next minister was the clerk Zara, son -of Isa b. Nestorius. Husayn b. Jawhar and ʿAbdu l-ʿAziz b. Numan, who -had fled the country in the previous year were invited to return and -were received with honour; only to be put to death and have their goods -confiscated a few months later. The third fugitive, Abu l-Kasam Husayn, -had gone to Syria and declined to come back. We shall find him a little -later stirring up trouble for Hakim. - -Turning to Syrian affairs we find similar rapid and frequent changes. -In 400 Abu l-Jaysh Hamid b. Masham was replaced by Muhammad b. Nazae as -governor of Damascus. In 401 Luʿluʿ b. Abdullah was appointed governor, -reaching Damascus in the month of Jumada II. On the 10th of Dhu l-Hijja -at the “Feast of Sacrifice” he was replaced by Dhu l-Karnayn. - -The most important event of 401 was the revolt of Hasan b. Mufarraj -b. Daghfal b. Jarrah Taiy (cf. year 387). He was persuaded to this by -Husayn, the one of the three who fled from Egypt in 399 and was not -willing to return. His two sons and two brothers had been put to death -at the request of the minister, Mansur b. ʿAbdun, his mortal enemy, and -it was this which had alarmed him and caused his flight in the first -place. He took refuge with Hasan, and used every persuasion to induce -him to revolt. The rebel faction was headed by Hasan’s father Mufarraj, -and was joined by a number of Arabs, and very soon by the whole of the -tribes of the Hijaz under the leadership of the Sultan of Mecca, Husayn -b. Jaʿfar. Hakim sent Yarakhtakin to Aleppo with a large army to put down -this movement. As soon as he arrived in Syria Mufarraj and his son became -extremely anxious but, between Gaza and Ascalon they managed to get him -into an ambush, and in the ensuing battle the Fatimid general was slain. -The rebels then besieged Ramla and, as new recruits pressed in every day, -they soon took it. Hakim sent them letters of remonstrance, but these -were disregarded, and they invited the Sultan of Mecca to assume the -Khalifate. This he was perfectly ready to do and, leaving a deputy in -the city, joined the army of Mufarraj, and was saluted “Commander of the -Faithful.” - -But Hakim wrote again to Hasan and Mufarraj promising them estates and -other gifts if they would cease from rebellion, so they resolved to -abandon the newly proclaimed Khalif and returned to their allegiance. -The result of this was a violent dispute between them and the man they -had just invited to be Khalif. In the end he left them and returned to -Mecca, taking Husayn Maghrabi with him. Not long afterwards Hakim sent -an army under Jaʿfar b. Fallah to Syria, and expelled Hasan and his -followers from Ramla. For two years Hasan remained in exile then, at the -intercession of his father Mufarraj, Hakim pardoned him and gave him -an estate in Egypt. Ultimately Mufarraj was poisoned by the Khalif’s -orders. The anti-Khalifate of Mecca continued until 403, when the prince -requested to be reconciled to Hakim, and when this was granted put -Hakim’s name on his coinage and inserted it in the _khutba_. - -In 401 Karwash b. Mukallad, chief of the Arabs of Okayl, revolted against -the ʿAbbasid Khalif and transferred his allegiance to Hakim, whose name -was inserted in the _khutba_ in Mosul, Anbar, Madayn, and other towns. In -Mosul the form commenced: “Praise be to God, by whose light the shadows -of tyranny have been scattered, by whose greatness the foundations of the -heresy of the enemies of ʿAli have been rooted up, by whose power the sun -of truth has risen in the west (_i.e._, in Africa).” Baha d-Dawla, the -ʿAbbasid Khalif’s guardian, ordered the Emir al-Joyush to march against -Karwash, who at once sent his apologies to the Khalif of Baghdad, and the -recognition of the rival Fatimid Khalif ceased. - -Next year (402) Hakim made more rigorous decrees against beer, vegetables -disapproved by the Shiʿites, and the use of fish without scales. He -further forbade women to go to funerals or to visit the cemeteries. He -strictly suppressed the playing of chess, and caused chess-boards to be -burned. Gathering the fishermen together he exacted from them a pledge -that they would not take any fish without scales, and further threatened -them with death if they were found selling any such. - -He had already forbidden the use of beer, and the usual law against -wine was strictly enforced. Now he forbade the sale of dried raisins -because they were used by some for the making of wine: he forbade their -importation into the country, and ordered all found in stores to be -destroyed, in consequence of which some 2,340 boxes of dried raisins were -burned, the value being put at 500 pieces of gold. He next forbade the -sale of fresh grapes exceeding four pounds at a time; in any case grapes -were not to be exposed for sale in the markets, and strict prohibition -was made against squeezing out the juice. Very many grapes found on -sale were confiscated, and either trodden in the street or thrown into -the Nile. The vines at Gizeh were cut down and oxen employed to tread -the fruit into the mire. Orders were issued that the same was to be -done throughout the provinces. But honey as well as grapes can be used -in preparing fermented liquor, so the Khalif’s seal was affixed to the -stores of honey at Gizeh, and some 5,051 jars of honey were broken and -their contents poured into the Nile, as well as 51 cruises of date honey. -The sale of fresh dates was then forbidden, and many dates were collected -and burned (Maq. ii. 287, Ibn Khall. iii. 450). - -A curious story is told by Severus of Ashmunayn in connection with -these laws of 402. A certain merchant had all his money invested in the -prohibited fruit, and lost everything by the seizure and destruction of -his goods. He appeared before the Qadi and summoned Hakim to appear and -make good the destruction caused by his officials. The Khalif appeared -to answer the charge preferred against him, the Qadi treating him like -any other citizen against whom complaint had been made. The merchant -asked for compensation to the amount of 1,000 pieces of gold. Hakim in -his defence says that the fruits destroyed were intended to be used in -the preparation of drinks forbidden by the law of the Qurʾan, but that -if the merchant will swear that they were not intended for this purpose -but only to be eaten he was willing to pay their price. The merchant -refuses to take the oath until the Khalif actually produced the money -before the Qadi. Hakim ordered the money to be brought into court, and -when it is produced the merchant swore that the fruit was intended only -for eating. He then received the money and gave the Khalif a formal -receipt. He then demanded letters of protection from the Khalif that he -might not incur any retaliation for his suit, and these were given. When -the case was concluded the Qadi, who had up to this point treated both -parties as ordinary suitors, rose from his seat and gave the Khalif the -salute customary at court. Hakim admired the Qadi’s conduct, and made him -valuable presents in recognition of his treatment of the case. - -This year the ʿAbbasid Khalif assembled the leading ʿAlids and several -prominent canonists at Baghdad, and prepared a manifesto against the -ʿAlid claims of the Fatimid Khalifs. To this we have already referred -(cf. p. 48 supra): how much weight should be attached to it is doubtful, -for the motives and pressure brought to bear are obvious. We know, -however, that Hakim was greatly annoyed by it. - -We have come now to the year 403, another bad year of great scarcity and -famine. Early in the year (on the 2nd of Rabiʿ I) the minister, Zara b. -Isa b. Nestorius, was put to death and his place given, twenty-seven -days later, to Husayn b. Taher al-Wazzan, who received the title of Emir -al-Umara “Prince of the empire.” This Husayn began to make a careful -survey of the income and expenditure of the state, and expressed his -plain opinion that Hakim’s constant and lavish presents were unwise, some -measure of economy was urgently called for. It seems that these acts of -generosity had now become excessive. In after years the sacred books of -the Druses in praising Hakim lay especial emphasis on his unexampled -generosity in presenting not only honours and titles but also pensions, -estates, fiefs, etc. upon all his friends (cf. de Sacy: _Chrestom._ ii. -69-70). The Emir even suspended payment of the orders brought to the -treasury bearing the Khalif’s seal, and addressed a remonstrance to -the sovereign. Hakim replied in a tone of kindly remonstrance urging -the treasurer to pay the orders. The Emir did so, but sent in a full -statement of the sums paid and of the gifts made to strangers. - -Extravagance was the besetting fault of all the Fatimids, but it reached -its extreme in Hakim. Whilst he was alienating large portions of the -public property which was not, of course, distinguished from his own -private possessions, he was also making lavish gifts to the mosques of -Fustat and Cairo. In Jumada II. of this year he resolved to furnish -the mosque which he had completed in Cairo and which bears the name of -Hakim’s Mosque. A preliminary estimate of the cost of the lamps, chains, -mats, etc. came to 5,000 pieces of gold. Early in Ramadan he presented a -_tannur_ or large candelabrum to the Old Mosque in Fustat. This _tannur_ -weighed 100,000 drams and had 1,200 lights. It was carried to the mosque -to the sound of drums and trumpets and with cries of _tehlil_ (“there -is no power or might but in God”) and _takbir_ (“God is great”), the -procession being led by the Kaʾid (Commander-in-Chief). When they came -near the mosque it was found necessary to remove the mastabas or stone -benches outside the houses on the way, and to dig up the roads to enable -the _tannur_ to be brought to the door, and then the upper part of the -door had to be removed by masons to get the lamp in. The Khalif presented -the mosque at the same time with 1,290 copies of the Qurʾan, some of -which were written in letters of gold. - -At the beginning of his reign Hakim had forbidden the use of the -honorific titles customarily applied to the Fatimid Khalifs. He now -forbade the custom of kissing the ground before him, and of kissing -his hand or stirrup. These customs, he stated, were imitated from the -Byzantine court and so not seemly for Muslims. In salutation he desired -the use of the simple formula: “Hail to the Commander of the faithful; -may the mercy and blessing of God be on him.” Never in speech or in -writing might the formula be used, “God be propitious to him,” as this -was applied to the patriarchs and saints. In writing petitions, etc., -the formula should be, “May the peace of God, his abundant favour and -blessing, rest upon the Commander of the faithful.” Similar forms, and no -others, were to be used in praying for the Khalif: in the _khutba_ the -form approved was, “O God, be propitious to Muhammad thy chosen; grant -peace to ʿAli the first of believers, whom thou hast honoured with thy -bounty: O God, grant peace to the princes of the believers, the fathers -of the Commander of the faithful: O God, may thy most excellent peace -rest on thy servant and vicar” (Maq. ii. 288, Ibn Khall. iii. 451). - -At the palace the use of cymbals and trumpets when the guard made the -rounds was forbidden, all was to be done without music. A new seal was -engraved for the use of the Khalif bearing the inscription, “By the help -of God most high and beneficent, the Imam ʿAli will be victorious” (Maq. -id.). - -Various events of passing interest are associated with the month of -Jumada II. of this year, the month, it will be remembered, in which the -Emir of Mecca abandoned his claim to the Khalifate and was reconciled -to Hakim. On the very day on which the Emir’s envoy was received Hakim -commenced building an observatory at Karafa. This observatory was -never finished. It should be noted in passing that various occasional -references in the historians justify us in regarding Hakim as greatly -interested in astrology as well as in other branches of natural science, -and in this he was true to the Fatimid tradition. After receiving the -submission of the Emir of Mecca Hakim wrote a letter to the Sultan, -Mahmud of Ghazna, the great champion of orthodoxy, asking for his -allegiance. It could hardly be expected that Mahmud would tolerate or -recognise any Shiʿite, least of all the head of the Fatimid dynasty. -On receiving the letter the Sultan tore it in pieces and spat on the -fragments, afterwards sending them to the ʿAbbasid Khalif al-Qadir. - -It was perhaps in this year, as De Sacy thinks, although Abu l-Mahsin -refers to 400, the Tarikh Jafari to 404, that a crowd of men, presumably -Shiʿites, came to the palace demanding justice against the Egyptians. -It seems that, as Hakim was now passing through an orthodox phase and, -as we have seen, had abandoned some of his pro-Shiʿite legislation, the -orthodox Egyptians had been teasing the Shiʿites and paying them back for -the insults they had ventured upon in the time of their ascendancy. They -were not able to obtain an interview with the Khalif, but were told to -come again next day. Some go away, but many pass the whole night before -the palace. Next day the clamours recommenced, until at length the Kaʾid -appeared and ordered them to withdraw. They then went to the Qadi who -assured them that he had no power of dealing with their complaints, and -they left his court cursing the “Companions,” that is to say, the early -Khalifs who, though regarded by the Shiʿites as usurpers and enemies of -ʿAli, were admittedly companions of the Prophet (Maq. ii. 288). - -This was followed by an order strictly forbidding any persons to curse -the “Companions,” and before long several persons were punished for -this offence. One day Hakim saw such curses written up on a public -inn, no doubt so written at the time when he had commanded the putting -up of inscriptions of this sort. These he ordered to be effaced and -sent officials through the streets reading out an order that all such -inscriptions on inns, shops, streets, etc. must be removed, and great -care was taken to see that the order was carried out. All this was a bid -for popularity with the orthodox, and this year he made a further bid by -assigning property for the support of the indigent, and for the doctors -in the various mosques and the muezzins. - -It was in Ramadan of 403 that Hakim showed the zenith of his passing -orthodoxy. Each Friday during this month he attended the Mosque of -Rashida clad simply, with a turban without jewel and having a sword -adorned only with bands of silver, and himself led the public prayers. -During his progress to and from the mosque any person who desired to do -so was free to approach him, and he took the memoranda and petitions -which they presented him, conversing with the petitioners. On Friday the -10th he did thus, clothed plainly in a garment of white wool and riding -to the mosque on an ass. On the 27th of Ramadan he went to the Old Mosque -and made there the _khutba_ and led the Friday prayer, a thing which -no Fatimid had done before. This visit was made without any display; -there was no cortège or led horses, save only ten horses whose saddles -and bridles were plainly adorned with silver; over his head was borne a -plain white parasol without the usual gold fringe; there was no jewel in -his turban, and the pulpit in the mosque was without hangings. The same -simplicity was observed at the Feast of Sacrifice, at which the victims -were slain by the heir, ʿAbdu r-Rahim (Maq. ii. 288). The ceremonial thus -observed at the close of Ramadan was to a large extent of Shiʿite origin, -but it was a concession to the feelings of the people that the Old Mosque -was used. It will be remembered that it was during this month that Hakim -presented the great _tannur_ to the same mosque. - -The persecution of Christians and Jews continued, and even became more -severe, during this year (404). The order that Christians should wear -black robes and turbans was renewed; they had to bear crosses of wood a -yard long and a yard wide, and to carry them so that they could be seen. -This was done to many Christians wearing small crosses as ornaments, and -often carrying them beneath the outer garment. Jews received similar -orders as to the billets of wood which served as their distinctive -badge. According to Severus both cross and billet had to be marked with -a lead seal bearing the Khalif’s name: this no doubt means that those -of the proper size and material received this seal as a mark that they -were approved. Both Christians and Jews were forbidden to ride horses; -the mules and asses which they used must have plain saddles of wood and -stirrups of sycamore wood without any ornament. Neither were allowed to -have Muslim servants or to buy a slave of either sex. Muslim owners of -riding animals were forbidden to let on hire to Christians or Jews, and -Muslim sailors similarly were forbidden to take them in their boats. Both -Christians and Jews were forbidden to wear rings on their right hand. All -these orders were proclaimed in the streets of Fustat and Kahira, and -great pains were taken to see that they were rigorously enforced. Many -Christians turned Muslim in order to avoid these vexations (Maq. _loc. -cit._). - -It is not easy to date precisely all the anti-Christian and anti-Jewish -legislation. It is certain that it commenced in 393 and came to an end -in 405, that for the most part it increased in severity up to 403, and -then slightly relaxed, but there are various divergences of detail in -the accounts as to the actual orders enforced in each of the intervening -years. - -De Sacy thinks that it was about this time (404) that the conference -of the Christians and Jews with Hakim to which reference is made in the -books of the Druses, took place. One day as the Khalif was walking at -Karafa, in the cemetery Kibab attair, a band of representatives of the -two persecuted religions waited upon him. He permitted them to speak -with him and assured them that they might talk freely without fear. They -pointed out to him that his conduct towards them was very different from -that of the Prophet and of his early successors; they asked how he could -justify his policy which was so opposed to the compacts which had been -made with them. Hakim asked them to retire and meet him again in the same -place the following night, to bring their learned men with them, and -assured them again of his protection under which they might speak freely. -Next night Hakim relates to them the conferences which the Prophet had -with Christians and Jews in his day, conferences which were designed to -bring about their conversion but which failed in this result; for four -hundred years Islam has been available, and the reasons brought forward -by the Prophet had been under consideration: now you are offered the -choice of Islam again after all this delay, if you do not now accept the -punishment can be no longer postponed. The representatives admit the -truth of this and retire from Hakim’s presence. It is very doubtful, -however, whether we can regard this description as given in the sacred -books of the Druses as in any way belonging to serious history. - -The Khalif this year gave permission to the Christians who wished to do -so to emigrate to the land of the Greeks, or to Nubia, or Abyssinia, -permission which had previously not been conceded, and many did thus -emigrate. De Sacy connects the incident which we have related above with -this permission to emigrate. - -Although Hakim had been, and still continued, devoted to the study of -astrology, he now made a decree against the astrologers who are to be -banished. Many of these astrologers went to the Qadi and entered into a -solemn undertaking not to practise their art, and on the strength of this -promise were allowed to remain. Maqrizi notes it as a strange thing that -after this decree one could no longer see astrologers in the streets. -Perquisition was made and any of these found were brought before the -Qadi and expelled from the country. The same treatment was meted out to -professional musicians (Maq. ii. 288, Ibn Khall. iii. 450). - -A general report began to circulate in the course of this year that Hakim -intended to have a great massacre of many people, and the report, though -vague, was readily believed, with the result that multitudes fled from -Cairo, so that the markets were suspended and all business came to an end -for the time (Maq. ii. 288). - -On the 12th of Rabiʿ I. ʿAbdu r-Rahim, who had killed the victims at -the preceding Feast of Sacrifice and was a great grandson of the Mahdi -who had been the first Fatimid Khalif, was publicly declared heir to -the throne to the exclusion of the Khalif’s infant son. Orders were -given that he was to be saluted in the form: “Hail to the cousin of the -Commander of the faithful, the designated successor of the sovereign of -the Muslims.” His name was placed on the coinage, he received apartments -in the royal palace, his name was inserted in the _khutba_, and he acted -as the Khalif’s deputy in all business of state. Business was at this -time little regarded by Hakim, who spent much of his time riding about in -the city and in the country round, sometimes by day, often also by night. - -In the following month he cut off the hands of the Kaʾid’s secretary, Abu -l-Kasim Jarjarai. This secretary had been in the service of the Princess -Hakim’s sister, but fearing that this was a dangerous place had left her -for the service of the Kaʾid. The Princess desired to know the reason -of this change, and the secretary sent her a letter in which he made -reference to a certain matter which he had discovered,—probably Hakim’s -intention to change the succession—and this letter the Princess, fearing -a trap, showed to the Khalif, at which he was very greatly annoyed. ʿAyn -had been Kaʾid (Commander-in-Chief) since 402, and had had one of his -hands cut off in 401, and now on the 3rd of Jumada I. Hakim cut off his -remaining hand, after which he sent him a present of 5,000 pieces of gold -and 25 horses; on the 13th of the same month he had his tongue cut out -and then sent other gifts, but after this the Kaʾid died. Very many were -put to death about this time, for the Khalif seemed to be suffering from -an insane impulse to torture and slay; so great was the alarm that many -fled from the city. - -Since 400 the Khalif had been showing favour to the orthodox, but in the -course of this year he changed his attitude, ceased to make gifts to -the mosques, to the muezzins, doctors, etc., and disbanded the college -which he had founded for teaching the Malikite canon law. More than this -he treated the lecturers with great severity, and put to death Abu Bakr -Antaki, the principal, and one of his assistants. - -Either in this year or in 405 Hakim made very strict rules about women. -He forbade them to go about the streets at all. The baths used by -women were closed; boot-makers were forbidden to make outdoor boots -for women, and so some of the boot-makers’ shops were closed entirely. -Women were forbidden to look out of doors or windows, or to go out on -terraces. These laws continued in force until the close of the reign. A -case occurred in which some old women who lived by spinning and selling -their work to the merchants were neither able to dispose of it to their -customers nor go out to buy provisions, and remained inside until their -bodies, which showed that they had died of starvation, were found by -the neighbours. When this was reported to the Khalif he conceded that -merchants who bought or sold with women might go to the doors of their -houses and the women might pass out goods or money and receive its -exchange, provided they did not show their faces or hands to the merchant -or any passer-by in the street. - -One day Hakim was passing the “Golden Baths” and heard a great deal of -noise within. On making enquiry he found that there were women inside. -He ordered the doors and windows to be walled up and left the inmates -to perish of hunger. The pretext given for these new regulations was -the libertinage of the Egyptian women. Hakim employed many harim spies, -and by means of these old women he heard of various assignations and -intrigues. On several occasions he sent a eunuch with a guard of soldiers -to wait in concealment at the place of assignation, and when the woman -appeared had her seized and thrown into the Nile. On other occasions he -sent guards to private houses to demand by name women whose conduct had -been unfavourably reported, and they were disposed of in the same manner. -It seems almost impossible to excuse Hakim’s conduct at this period -by the supposition that he was an earnest but fanatical puritan: the -frequency of new regulations, the constant changes in so many details, -and the capricious character of his conduct all tend to make the theory -of so many contemporaries that he was insane the more plausible. - -In Syria the prestige of Egypt increased. Mansur, the son of Luʿluʿ at -Aleppo, had to ask Hakim’s help against Abu l-Hayja, the grandson of Sayf -ad-Dawla, and this was given. In Ramadan of this year (404) Hakim issued -a charter granting to Mansur Aleppo and its dependencies which were thus -held as tributary to Egypt. - -Early in 405 the Chief Qadi, Malik b. Saʿid al-Faraki, was put to death -after holding office for six years, nine months and ten days. His income -was estimated at 15,000 pieces of gold. In Jumada the chief minister, -Husayn b. Taher, was put to death and replaced by the two brothers, -ʿAbdu r-Rahim and Husayn, sons of Abu Saʿid. After holding office for -sixty-two days they were put to death and replaced by Fadl b. Jaʿfar, -who held office only five days and was put to death; then ʿAli b. Jaʿfar -b. Fallah. Maqrizi mentions no other holder, but it does not follow that -ʿAli held the post to the end of the reign as, for some reason, he omits -all mention of Hakim’s later years: no doubt the reason is to be found in -his unwillingness to treat the closing phase of Hakim’s strange career, -and to these last years he makes no reference in any part of his work. - -The Chief Qadi was replaced by Ahmad b. Muhammad ibn Abi l-Awwam, who -retained his office until 413, the year following the close of Hakim’s -reign. - -Hakim now increased his habit of riding out. He began to use asses in -preference to horses, and went out clothed plainly in black, wearing on -his head a little linen cap without a turban. Orders were given that when -he went out the officials were to remain in their offices and not form -an escort as had been the custom. As the year went on he went out more -and more frequently until he was usually out six or seven times a day, -sometimes riding on his ass, sometimes borne in a litter, and sometimes -going in a boat on the Nile. He became more lavish than ever with his -gifts, and presented estates to the owners of boats, to subordinate -officials of various kinds, and to the Arab tribesmen of the B. Qorra. -Amongst the gifts he made to these latter was the overlordship of the -city of Alexandria and its suburbs. - -In Syria Saktekin Shams ad-Dawla was made governor of Damascus, and this -office he held until 408. He was a tyrannical and cruel man. Towards -the end of his career he built the “New Bridge” below the citadel at -Damascus, intending himself to be the first to cross it. One day when -it was nearing completion he saw a horseman riding across the bridge. -In great anger he sends down a messenger to arrest him. But the strange -horseman turned out to be a messenger from Egypt with orders for his -deposition from office. - -At Aleppo Murtada ad-Dawla raised up many enemies. The Arabs of the B. -Kalab tribe took up arms against him; he pretended to agree to their -terms and invited them into the city to a feast: as soon as they entered -he had the gates shut, arrested the chief men, and slew about one -thousand. This took place in 402. Salih b. Mirdas, one of the chief men -who had been imprisoned, filed through his irons and escaped in this -year, 405. When he is at large he ravages the whole country, and when -Murtada goes out to check him he is himself taken prisoner by the Arab. -Salih, however, really desired peace, and agreed to liberate Murtada -for a ransom of 15,000 pieces of gold, 120,000 pounds of silver, and -500 pieces of stuff, the freedom of the women and others of his tribe -who were still in prison, the equal division of the towns and lands of -Aleppo between himself and Murtada, and the gift of Murtada’s daughter -in marriage. These extraordinary conditions were granted and Murtada was -set free. But then he proved unwilling to divide the lands and towns of -his principality or to give his daughter in marriage, so Salih makes war -again and blockades Aleppo and starves it into unconditional surrender. - -In 406 a quarrel sprung up between Murtada and Fatah Kalai who was the -governor of the citadel. Murtada considered that he had been instrumental -in fomenting Salih’s rebellion. Finally Fatah openly revolted against -Murtada and sent him the message, “Go out of Aleppo, or I give the -citadel to Salih.” Soon after this, as Murtada was in his palace near the -gate Bab al-Jinan, he heard drums and trumpets and cried out: “Hakim, O -Mansur: Salih, O Mansur,” believing that the citadel was in the hands of -the Arab chieftain: so greatly was he frightened that, without enquiring -what was the real cause of the drums and trumpets, he fled out of the -city with his family and escaped to Antioch, where he was given an asylum -by the Greek Emperor. As soon as Fatah heard of his flight he proclaimed -Hakim as sovereign over Aleppo, made terms with Salih and gave him half -the revenues of the city and its suburbs, and presented to him the ladies -of Murtada’s harim whom he had not taken with him in his flight. Salih -sent all Murtada’s wives and the other ladies to Antioch, retaining only -Murtada’s daughter whom he married. - -Fatah wrote an account of these events to Hakim, and the Khalif was -very well pleased that he was now not merely suzerain over the ruler -of Aleppo but the actual owner of the city. He conferred the title of -_Mubarak ad-Dawla wa-Saidha_ on Fatah. In the following year (407) Hakim -wrote to the citizens of Aleppo abolishing the imposts and various taxes -which had been paid. Fatah was given all the goods which had belonged to -Murtada and was sent as governor to Tyre, after handing over the citadel -of Aleppo to the Emir ʿAziz ad-Dawla, an Armenian slave who had belonged -to Manjutakin. On this slave Hakim conferred the title _Emir ul-Umara_ -or “Supreme Prince,” and presented him with a pelisse of honour, several -horses with harness adorned with gold, and a sword of state. Later on the -Emir revolted against Hakim. - -Meanwhile very curious events were taking place in Egypt. In the course -of 407 (though al-Maqin says 408), a Persian _daʿi_ named Muhammad -b. Ismaʿil Darazi arrived in Egypt, a Batinite who believed in the -transmigration of souls, and hoped to find at the Fatimid court a -congenial atmosphere for his mystic creed. He attached himself to the -Khalif, over whom he soon began to have great influence, and from whom he -received many gifts and favours. In due course he succeeded in persuading -the prince that he was an incarnation of the deity, and wrote a book in -which he taught that the Divine Spirit which God had breathed into Adam -had passed on in due succession from prophet to prophet, through the Imam -ʿAli, until at length it found its abode in the Imam Hakim. So great was -his influence over the Khalif that much of the public business was given -into his hands, and all who desired to approach the Khalif had to pay -court to the _daʿi_. The heir elect seems to have fallen into disfavour -about this time. He was sent away from Cairo but given the important -post of governor of Damascus. After he had been in Syria for some time -he was suddenly attacked by a band of men who, after slaying several of -his companions, put him in a box and carried him to Egypt. There he was -released and, a little later, was sent back to Damascus. No explanation -of this strange event is suggested, but it was generally believed that he -was thus treated by the Khalif’s orders. - -Amongst some of the more advanced Shiʿites many were found to follow -the new doctrines of Darazi, and the _daʿi_ accompanied by a band of -followers went down to the Old Mosque where he read from the book he had -written. According to an account given by al-Masin a Turk, shocked at the -blasphemies which occurred in this reading, fell upon Darazi and killed -him, after which his house was pillaged, and a tumult followed which -lasted for three days. The Turk was arrested and put in prison, and was -then brought to trial on another charge for which he was executed. For -a long time the Turk’s grave was visited by the orthodox who regarded -him as a martyr. But this account is not strictly correct, for Darazi -was not killed at that time. According to Abu l-Mahsin, the most weighty -authority, Hakim did not openly endorse Darazi’s teaching; when the -tumult arose in the mosque Darazi escaped and received money from Hakim, -and with this retired to Syria where he preached in the mountainous -parts where the people were very ignorant, and amongst them he obtained -many disciples and founded a sect, the Druses, which still exists in the -Lebanon. In religion these Druses hold a kind of pantheism, which in -many respects verges upon agnosticism, but has a pure morality, in spite -of the many charges which have been made against this as against every -other religion which keeps its creed a secret from the outside world. - -About the same time, or perhaps a little after, a Persian from Farghana -named Hasan al-Akhram, also appears as using his influence to persuade -Hakim of his deity, or to develop the ideas which Darazi had already -instilled into him. This man formed a party on the conventional lines -of the extremer Shiʿites, entirely discarding all the traditional -observances of the Muslim religion. One day he went with a band of fifty -followers to the Old Mosque, where he found the Qadi sitting and hearing -cases. After treating the by-standers roughly, they present a question to -the Qadi, beginning their words with the form “In the name of Hakim, the -merciful, the compassionate,” applying to him the terms usually applied -to God. The Qadi raised his voice and protested against this with great -indignation. The people were so angry at the blasphemy that they fell -upon Akhram and his followers: of the latter several were killed, but -Akhram escaped. - -The most famous of these duʿat, who at this time advocated the -deification of Hakim, was Hamza b. ʿAli b. Ahmad Hadi, a native of -Zawzan in Persia. The Druses regard him as their founder, and date their -years from the “Era of Hamza,” which is placed in A.H. 408. It seems -that his teaching was earlier than that of Ahmad the Qadi (405), and so -probably he was in private conference with Hakim from somewhere about -405 until he made public declaration of his doctrine in 408. He dwelt in -the Mosque of Bir at Mantarea, originally the tomb of an ʿAlid who had -been put to death in 145, afterwards known as the Mosque of Tibr after a -minister who served under Kafur, and was one of those who had tried to -resist the entry of Jawhar. He preached and invited the people to accept -the teaching already expounded by Darazi, and sent out missionaries of -his doctrines to various parts of Egypt and Syria. Hakim was greatly -influenced by Hamza, and was induced by him to discard all the outward -observances of Islam, ceasing to visit the mosques, or to take part in -prayer. Under the pretext that the Arabs were a danger to travellers -he suppressed the pilgrimage to Mecca and ceased to send the veil to -the “House of God,” all of which caused great disgust to the orthodox. -Hamza and twelve of his disciples, the traditional number of the Shiʿite -_nakibs_, were in constant attendance on Hakim. It seems that Hamza was -the real founder and teacher of Hakim’s deity, and that Darazi was one -of his converts. But the details of the formation of this sectarian -development during the years 405-408 are full of obscurities: it does -not seem safe to follow the sacred books of the Druses who idealised -the whole matter. We do not find ourselves on solid ground until 408, -when the claims of Hakim to deity were publicly proclaimed and admitted -by the Khalif himself. It is said (by Severus) that Hakim claimed to -have a knowledge of secret things, and tried to support this claim by -evidence which he gleaned from his spies. But Severus’ evidence must be -regarded with some suspicion: a Syrian Christian he heard of the events -in Egypt only at second hand, and is very obviously influenced by strong -prejudices. He refers to this claimed omniscience of Hakim the incident -of the letter which read: “We have endured injustice and tyranny, but -we are not willing to endure impiety and folly. If thou knowest hidden -things, say the name of him who wrote this letter,” an incident which -seems to belong to the early days of the Khalif al-Mahdi in Kairawan. -Severus further tells us that when Hakim’s name was mentioned in the -_khutba_ all present rose out of respect; but in Fustat the people made a -prostration at this name. He is referring, no doubt, to reported conduct -of Hamza’s followers. He says further that there were some people who, -when Hakim appeared in the streets, used to prostrate themselves on -the ground and cry out: “O thou only one, thou alone, thou who givest -life and death”: this is exactly what might be expected of the extremer -Shiʿites, and is in no way incredible. At this time all persecution of -Christians and Jews entirely ceased; obviously the Khalif no longer -regarded Islam as in any way superior to those other religions. Persons -who had turned Muslims were permitted to return to their former beliefs; -contrary to Muslim law they were protected from all punishment, but it is -obvious that at this juncture Muslim law was not in any sense observed in -the Fatimid state. Severus tells us that some Christians and Jews came to -the Khalif and said: “My God, I desire to return to my former religion”: -and Hakim replied: “Do as seems good to you.” According to the books of -the Druses: “Although it is a precept to make war with the unbelievers, -our lord has abolished this precept so far as concerns Jews and -Christians.” The Druses refer this to the era of Hamza, _i.e._, 408 A.H., -but Severus puts it in the year 736 of the “era of the Martyrs,” that is -A.H. 411, the closing year of Hakim’s reign, and dates the beginning of -the persecution of Christians from 402, taking the destruction of the -great Church in Jerusalem as the beginning of the persecution, that is to -say, the beginning of the time when active steps were taken which reached -to Syria as well as Egypt, and in this agrees with Abu l-Mahsin, but -Maqrizi puts the destruction of the Church of the Resurrection in 400 so -that the end of the persecution, which lasted nine years, would come in -408-409, when Hakim had assented to the public declaration of his deity -which seems to be the more probable date. - -Towards the end of the nine years of persecution it was reported to Hakim -that some converts from Christianity had been celebrating the rites -of their former religion privately in houses, but he took no steps to -punish them, and this emboldened others to do likewise. If this was so -it would seem that there was no formal decree of toleration but simply -that the penal regulations were permitted to sink into oblivion. Then -some attended on the Khalif and asked permission to revert to their -former religion. Hakim asked where were their girdles, crosses, and -other badges?—they produced them from under their clothes. The Khalif -made no rebuke but told them that they could do as they pleased, and -sent them with an attendant to the office where they obtained letters of -protection. After this many unwilling converts did the same, until most -of those who had changed their religion from fear had returned to their -former faith. - -The monk Yamin next procured the exiled Patriarch Zacharias an interview -with the Khalif, which took place in the monastery of St. Mercurius -at Sahran. In the course of this interview Hakim gave permission to -the Christians to re-open their churches, to restore those which had -been destroyed, to recover building material removed at the time when -churches were being demolished, and to regain possession of gardens -and property attached to the churches and monasteries. The Christians -were no longer required to wear distinctive badges, or rather the -disuse of those badges was tacitly condoned, and were allowed to sound -bells. Ibn Khallikan refers this toleration to 411, which agrees with -Severus and with Bar Hebraeus, who speaks of this change as taking place -shortly before Hakim was killed, and adds that at this time many of the -Christians who had gone abroad returned to Egypt. Probably breaches of -the persecuting laws began to be condoned in 408 or soon after, and these -increased gradually as it was seen that they could be made with impunity. - -Meanwhile the extremes to which the followers of Hamza were prepared -to go also increased. Some of the courtiers on entering the Khalif’s -presence saluted him, “Hail to thee, only and unique one, hail to thee -who givest life and death, who bestowest wealth and poverty.” Having in -view the peculiar religious tendencies of the extremer Shiʿite sects, it -must not surprise us that there were some apparently sincere in their -acceptation of the divine character of the Imam, although the bulk of -the people remained sober and orthodox Muslims. One of the adherents of -Hamza’s doctrines who was at Mecca struck his lance on the sacred Black -Stone and said: “Why, O foolish ones, do you adore and kiss that which -cannot be of any use to you nor injure you, whilst you neglect him who is -in Egypt, who giveth life and death?” - -Ibn Khallikan tells us that one day a Qurʾan reader was reading at court -the verse: “And they will not—I swear by the Lord—they will not believe, -until they have set thee up as judge between them on points where they -differ” (Qur. iv. 68), pointing the while towards the Khalif. Ibn -al-Mushajjar, a devout man who was present, then recited the verse: “O -men, a parable is set forth to you, wherefore hearken to it. Verily, they -on whom ye call beside God, cannot create a fly, though they assemble -for it; and if the fly carry off aught from them, they cannot take it -away from it. Weak the suppliant and the supplicated” (Qur. xxii. 72). At -this the Khalif changed countenance; to Ibn al-Mushajjar he presented -100 dinars, to the reader he gave nothing. But afterwards a friend said -to Ibn Mushajjar: “You know al-Hakim’s character, and are aware of his -frequent prevarications: take heed lest he conceive a hatred for you and -punish you later. You would then have much to suffer from him. My advice -is that you get out of his sight.” Ibn al-Mushajjar took this advice -seriously and set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca, but was ship-wrecked -and drowned. - -The years 408 to 411 were entirely abnormal in the history of Egypt. -It has been suggested that the entire change in Hakim’s conduct during -these years was due to his being now initiated into the higher grades -of the Ismaʿilian sect, and thus he was now disposed to disregard all -forms of religion. But it seems to be very dubious how far the regular -Ismaʿilian system had remained in vigour in Fatimid Egypt. The state -was professedly Shiʿite, the Chief Daʿi held the regular conferences -required by the rules of the brotherhood, and undoubtedly initiates -were admitted: but since the sojourn in Egypt it rather seems that the -sect as a religious organization had greatly weakened, save in the one -respect that it was regarded with loyalty by the extremer Shiʿites in -Persia, and that from Persia more especially there was a constant stream -of pilgrims, enthusiastic sectaries whose enthusiasm was, if anything, a -source of embarrassment to the Egyptian government, whose interests were -now plainly political. Hamza, Darazi, and, later on, the originators of -the sect of Assassins, were all Persian Shiʿites who came to visit Egypt. -It seems more probable that Hakim’s new attitude was entirely due to the -influence of these Persian visitors. - -In the year 409 Hakim was riding in the streets and saw what he supposed -to be a woman standing in the street, a plain breach of the regulations -in force. At once Hakim rode over to her and found that she was holding -out a petition in her hand. He ordered one of his attendants to take the -paper and arrest the woman. When they laid hands on her it turned out -that it was only a guy of paper, and the document she held out was full -of charges against the chastity of the Princess Hakim’s sister. Hakim -went home in a towering rage. He abused his sister for giving ground for -such reflections to be made on her honour, and spoke to her many harsh -words. More than once before this he had treated her harshly when she had -ventured to remonstrate with him on his various cruelties, but this was -an attack graver than he had ever made previously. - -Next day Hakim turned loose his mercenaries, Arabs, Berbers, Greeks, and -negroes, upon the city. For three days they broke open houses, pillaged, -slew those who resisted them, violated women, and carried off maidens of -the best families, and burned a great part of Fustat. Each day Hakim rode -out to the cemetery of Karafa and looked down on the suffering city. Many -of the citizens came around him to implore mercy, but he remained unmoved -and gave no sign of hearing them. On the fourth day the Sherifs assembled -in the mosques lifting Qurʾans to heaven and implored divine assistance. -So piteous was the condition of the people that many of the Turkish -guards were moved and took their part, and in this they were soon joined -by the Berbers, both doing their best to restrain the bestial ferocity -of the negroes, until the whole place was raging in civil war. At length -some of the Turks went to Hakim, and in no measured terms called on him -to interfere and stop this terrible state of affairs. Hakim replied quite -coolly deploring the excesses of the soldiery, and agreeing with the -Turks that it ought to be stopped. He then rode down into the city on his -ass and stopped the conflict. After that he called the Turks and Berbers -round him, expressed the greatest regret for the suffering which the -city had had to undergo, protested that he did not at all desire such an -unhappy event, and that it could not be avoided, and published a general -amnesty. As soon as things settled down it was found that about a third -of the city had been burned, and about a half pillaged. The citizens had -much trouble in recovering their ravished wives, daughters, and sisters, -most of whom had been dishonoured by the negro soldiers. Some of the -women had committed suicide to avoid this shame. Many of the citizens -went to Hakim and asked him to get back their women for them. Hakim told -them to ransom them from their captors and promised to reimburse any -sums which were laid out in this manner. One of the townsmen reproached -him very harshly for this great disgrace to a Muslim community, and -expressed the hope that the women of the Khalif’s own family would suffer -the same as their wives and daughters. Hakim bore this reproach patiently -and made a mild reply. - -Although this atrocious deed had made Hakim feel that he had revenged -himself on those who had reflected on his sister, he had by no means -forgiven her. After upbraiding her in no measured terms he informed her -that he would send some women to examine her and find if she really -were a virgin or not. The Asiatic historians who make most reference -to the Princess describe her as a woman of the noblest character and -of the highest chastity, and represent this as a deliberate and insane -insult offered by her brother. It is not at all clear that this is a -true estimate. Later on we find her as a woman of undoubted ability, -but unscrupulous character. At the same time it is extremely probable -that the members of Hakim’s family had graver reasons for alarm than -anyone else, if indeed it be true that he was now showing plain signs -of a disordered brain. At any rate when Hakim made this threat she was -greatly alarmed; it may be that she feared such an examination, or it -may be that she deeply resented the insult. In her alarm she went to -Yusuf b. Dawwas ad-Dawla. Although one of the great nobles of Egypt Yusuf -abstained from attending the court and had so abstained for some time, -being thoroughly alarmed at Hakim’s conduct, and was careful to meet the -Khalif only at public functions which he could not avoid. One time Hakim -at such a parade asked him to visit him in his palace, but Yusuf did not -make the desired visit. The next time they met in public Hakim reproached -him for this, and Yusuf replied plainly that he would rather not go to -the palace; if Hakim had any evil intention towards him he would rather -wait at home to be summoned to death than to go to the palace, be killed -there, and thrown to the dogs. At this reply Hakim only laughed, but -Yusuf had serious fears that sooner or later the Khalif would have his -revenge, and probably a cruel one. - -The Princess sent to Yusuf and asked for an interview with him at night. -This was arranged and she went to Yusuf’s house and explained to him -the great dangers threatening them both. The best thing to do would -be to arrange Hakim’s death: “You,” she said, “will be made general of -the armies, minister of the empire, and guardian of the young prince. -I shall live quietly in my palace as befits my sex and take no part in -business.” Some reports say that she also promised to marry Yusuf. To -all this Yusuf agreed. She asked him to supply two absolutely trusty -men, and these he provided. A plan of assassination was agreed upon, and -the two cut-throats were presented by her with a Maghrabi dagger each. -With reference to this account, which is given by Bar Hebraeus, and -outlined by al-Makini, Maqrizi says: “No credit should be given to what -the Asiatic writers say in their books, that this prince perished by -the plots of his sister. But God alone knows the whole truth” (Maq. ii. -289). It is important to note that Severus of Ashmunayn, who wrote only -thirty years after these events, makes no mention of the Princess in this -connection, though his tendency is to repeat all gossip unfavourable to -the Fatimids: he simply states that the details of Hakim’s disappearance -were unknown. - -According to Ibn Khallikan, Hakim went out late in the night of 27th -Shawal 411, and spent the whole night going about on the Mokattam hill. -At daybreak he was near the tomb of Fokkai, and thence went east to -Hulwan, about five miles from Cairo, accompanied by two attendants. He -then met a company of Arabs, nine in number, who had a request to make -of him. He told them to go to the palace, and sent one of his attendants -with them. For some time he continued with the second attendant, then -told him to go back also. At that time he was still near the tomb of -Fokkai. The second attendant returned to the palace and left the Khalif -alone on Mokattam. Next morning he did not return, and for three days -no sign of him was seen; then, on Sunday, the 2nd of Dhu l-Zaʿda, the -eunuch Nesim, who was the chamberlain, and a number of other officials, -went out on the hills to make a search. At length they reached the -monastery known as Dayr al-Kosayr, and near there they found Hakim’s ass -with its saddle on but its legs hacked off. Following the footsteps of -the ass, which were accompanied by the footprints of two men they came -to a hollow where they found the Khalif’s clothes with marks of cuts, -but the buttons not undone. No body was ever found. It was assumed that -Hakim had been murdered, and that his arms had been cut off before the -clothes were removed. After the discovery of the ass and of the clothes -had been reported, the Princess considered it expedient to have Hakim’s -infant son proclaimed Khalif, thus avoiding the claims of ʿAbdu r-Rahim, -the heir designated by Hakim, and it seems that the main evidence for her -supposed complicity with the murder rests on this act which assumed that -he must be dead, though it is difficult to see how she could have acted -differently under the circumstances. - -Al-Mahsin is reported as saying that Hakim went out, and that after -sending back Nesim and his squire, he had as companions only a page -and a young slave: at the time he was filled with apprehensions as he -knew from his horoscope that the night was one of great peril to him. -When he was on Mokattam he said: “We belong to God and return to him”: -then clapping his hands together he added, “Thou hast appeared then, -O dismal sign,” referring to the star whose appearance he took as the -warning of his death. Going along the hillside he met ten men of the B. -Qorra who had a request to make to him, and said that they had often -waited in vain at his palace door. Hakim orders them to be paid 10,000 -pieces of silver from the treasury, and directs his page to go with them -and draw the money for them. They objected that it might be that the -Khalif was angry with them for interrupting his walk, and that perhaps -the order in the page’s hand might privately direct that they were to -be put to punishment, so they requested that he would also give them a -safe conduct, and this the Khalif gave. Hakim and the young slave then -go on and enter a valley where the two men sent by Yusuf are lying in -ambush. They came out and fell upon him just as the day was dawning. At -their appearance he cried out, “Wretches, what do you want?” They cut -off his two arms, open his stomach, and tear out the entrails, and wrap -the body in a robe. They then slew the slave, cut the traces of the ass, -and carried off the body to Yusuf. He took it to the Princess, who made -presents to him and to the two murderers. She then sent for the wazir, -revealed to him what had happened, and made him promise secrecy. She -persuaded him to write to ʿAbdu r-Rahim at Damascus, and at the same time -sent an officer named ʿAli b. Dawud to Ferma to seize ʿAbdu r-Rahim on -his way to Egypt and carry him to Tannis; and also she sent instructions -to the governor of Tannis. Next day it was observed that Hakim did not -return. Abu Arus would not allow the gates of Kahira to be opened, -stating that the Khalif had ordered them to be closed the day before, and -no search was made until the following day. The Princess had conferences -with the chiefs of the Katama tribe and other leading persons and, with -the help of lavish presents, induced them to recognise Hakim’s son as his -successor, although they had already given formal recognition to ʿAbdu -r-Rahim. On the seventh day she dressed the child in rich robes and sent -for Yusuf, whom she declared to be ustad or guardian. Then the child -was taken out in state, the wazir proclaimed him as Khalif, and he was -generally recognised. - -The facts of Hakim’s disappearance were never fully known. One report, -as we have seen, was that he was murdered. Of the murder Maqrizi gives -another account which exculpates the Princess. He says: “Masihi relates -that in the year 415 a man of the family of Husayn was arrested after -raising up rebellion in the southern part of Upper Egypt. This man -confessed that it was he who had killed Hakim. He said that there were -four accomplices of the crime, and that they afterwards fled to different -parts. He showed a piece of the skin of Hakim’s head and a fragment of -the piece of cotton with which he had been clothed. He was asked why he -had killed him. He replied: “Out of zeal for the glory of God and of -Islam.” Further questioned as to the way in which he had committed the -crime, he drew out a dagger and striking it to his breast he cried, as he -fell dead, “That is the way I killed him.” His head was cut off and sent -to the Khalif with all that was found in him” (Maq. ii. 290). - -The Druses of course believe that he disappeared like others of the Imams -before him, going away in sorrow from a world which was not worthy of his -pure doctrine and that he lives still in concealment to reveal himself in -due time when the world is ready for him. Other persons believed that -he had hidden himself because he was disgusted at the state of affairs -and weary of the throne, and was living contentedly in obscurity. Bar -Hebraeus tells us of a widespread belief in Egypt that Hakim had been -recognised as a Christian monk at Sketis. Severus says that for sixteen -years there were constant rumours of his return. A certain proselyte from -Christianity named Sherut claimed to be the Khalif and called himself Abu -l-ʿArab. In voice and appearance he very closely resembled Hakim and had -many followers. About 427 he was in Lower Egypt, and a certain Arab who -believed in him provided him with a tent where he lived for some time. -Very often he used to give the Arab rich presents of clothes and arms, -but himself lived in the strictest simplicity. At last the government -heard of him and he fled, after some twenty years’ personation of the -ex-Khalif. Abu l-Feda tells us of a pretender named Sikkin who revolted -in 434, and was seized and hanged (_Annal. Moslem_ iii. 119). De Sacy -thinks that this Sikkin was the same as the Sherut of Severus. Strangely -enough every one of these claimants found enthusiastic supporters, as -though Hakim had been the most popular of all the Khalifs of Egypt. - - - - -XI - -THE SEVENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AZ-ZAHIR - -(A.H. 411-427 = A.D. 1021-1035) - - -On the “Day of Sacrifice,” 411, seven days after Hakim’s disappearance, -his son Abu l-Hasan ʿAli az-Zahir li-ʿizazi-dini-llah (“the triumphant in -strengthening God’s religion”), then a boy of sixteen years of age, was -recognised as Khalif. The heir designated by Hakim, ʿAbdu r-Rahim, was -still in Damascus, but the Princess wrote to him ordering his immediate -return to Egypt. Instead of obeying this summons he declared himself -the independent ruler of Damascus, and made himself popular amongst the -citizens by repealing the many vexatious regulations which Hakim had put -in force. But this popularity did not last long: he soon made himself -odious by his avarice and grasping extortions, and craftily utilising -this, and the discontent of the soldiers who did not receive the -gratuities which they expected, the Princess contrived to gain a party -of supporters, and by their help had him arrested and sent in chains to -Egypt where he was imprisoned for some four years, then fell ill and -died, perhaps poisoned, three days before the Princess herself died. - -For the first four years of az-Zahir’s reign the whole power was in the -hands of his aunt, the Princess Royal. According to Ibn Khallikan the -Princess sent for Yusuf b. Dawwas, the noble who the Syrian writers -describe as having conspired with her to arrange the murder of Hakim, and -made him a present of a hundred slaves. After the wazir had gone home she -sent the eunuch Nesim after these slaves, and conveyed her orders to them -that it was their duty to slay Yusuf, as he was the person responsible -for the late Khalif’s assassination. In consequence of this Yusuf was put -to death. Soon afterwards the Princess contrived the death of two of the -wazirs who succeeded him, and throughout the whole four years of her rule -she showed herself cruel and vindictive. She died in 416, and the chief -control then passed into the hands of a committee of three sheikhs who -paid a daily visit to the Khalif, but excluded him from all participation -in the administration. - -The year of the Princess’ death saw the beginning of a terrible famine -in Egypt as the result of a series of bad Niles, and the resultant -distress lasted all through 416 and 417. In many cases the starving -villages took to brigandage, an evil to which the country is always more -or less exposed. Sometimes outbreaks are due, as in this case, to dire -distress and consequent recklessness; sometimes it means the revival of -ancient feuds between village and village, or family and family, so that -it is no more than an outlet for intermittent inter-tribal feuds and -private quarrels between villages or families; but in time of distress -these become more acrimonious and turn against strangers and travellers. -Even the pilgrims on their way through Egypt were attacked. Regulations -were passed to prevent the slaughter of cattle for fear that they would -be exterminated altogether; camels were scarce as many were killed -because it was impossible to provide them with food, and poultry could -hardly be procured. Crowds assembled before the palace crying, “Hunger, -hunger. O Commander of the faithful, it was not thus under thy father -and grandfather.” Then the slaves, starving and miserable, revolted and -swelled the numbers of brigands on the roads. In many places the citizens -formed themselves into “Committees of safety,” and the government -allowed them to arm and slay revolted slaves in self defence. The state -treasury was practically empty, for it was impossible to collect taxes, -and even the palace slaves and officials were in a starving condition. -The misery reached its height in 418 when ʿAli b. Ahmad al-Jarjarai, -the same whose hands had been cut off by Hakim, was appointed wazir. As -the year began (in the early part of February) the conditions were such -that barricades were erected across the streets of Cairo to keep out the -brigands and slaves, and the wazir himself was for some time a prisoner -in his official palace. Later in the year, however, there was a good -inundation, and this restored plenty, so that in 419 the country was once -more under normal conditions and order was restored. - -A curious event of 416 was a persecution of the Malikite school of -jurists. At that time the Maliki system was the prevailing school of -thought in orthodox Egypt, though now it is for the most part confined -to Upper Egypt, the Shafiʿi system replacing it in Lower Egypt. Neither -of these, of course, was acceptable to the Shiʿites, who demanded that -the problems of canon law should be treated according to the teaching -of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq (cf. p. 96 above). Hakim had, in 400, founded and -endowed a college for instruction in the Malikite system, but in 404 it -was suppressed and its head was put to death. Nothing of this sort was -attempted now, but all the canonists of the Maliki school were banished -from Egypt. No doubt they were regarded as leaders of the Sunni element -as against the Shiʿite Khalifate. - -In 418 when there was every prospect of a return to prosperity as the -result of an abundant Nile, the Khalif was able to make a satisfactory -treaty with the Greek Emperor, Constantine III. It was agreed that the -Fatimid Khalif should be prayed for in the _khutba_ in every mosque in -the Byzantine dominions, and permission was given for the restoration of -the mosque at Constantinople, which had been destroyed in retaliation for -the destruction of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem; whilst, -on the other side, the Khalif agreed to permit the rebuilding of the -Church at Jerusalem. This freed the Khalifate from one source of anxiety. - -At the time of az-Zahir’s accession the authority of the Fatimids was -hardly recognised in Syria, but this was soon altered by the ability -and enterprise of Anushtegin ad-Dizbiri, who was the governor of -Caesarea. His first important action was against Salih b. Mirdas, the -Arab chieftain who had taken Aleppo from Murtada and had now established -himself as an independent prince. In 420 Anushtakin met him at -al-Ochuwana, a village near Tiberias, and defeated and killed him. He had -next to deal with Hasan b. Mufarraj, who was once more in revolt. This -he did so effectually that Hasan was obliged to flee and take refuge -amongst the Greeks. It is worth noting that the old mischief maker, -Husayn al-Maghrabi, who had fled from Egypt in 400, ended a career of -great vicissitudes in 418. After the failure of the revolt under Hakim he -had gone to the court of the Daylamite prince Baha ad-Dawla, and stayed -with his wazir Fakhr al-Mulk. But the Khalif of Baghdad suspected him -of being a Fatimite spy, and ordered Fakhr to get rid of him. Fakhr, -however, pleaded on his behalf, and at length obtained the Khalif’s -favour for the fugitive who was kindly received in Baghdad. - -During the latter part of az-Zahir’s reign Fatimid influence had become -supreme in Palestine and Syria, save only in the few northern districts -which remained subject to the Greek Empire. It seemed indeed to be the -triumph of the Fatimids, but the appearance was fallacious. The Fatimid -Empire in Asia was held together only by the genius of Anushtegin, who -was able to avail himself of the favourable conditions which preceded the -great Turkish storm, which was even then gathering in the east. - -It was the policy of the Princess Royal and of the committee which held -supreme power after her death to keep the Khalif in the background, and -exclude him from all real part in the work of government. It was as well, -perhaps, that his freedom was rather circumscribed for, as he grew up, -he gave signs of a cruel temperament which in some directions surpassed -that of his father. He was wholly occupied with the pursuit of pleasure, -finding his interest in the company of singing girls, buffoons, and -others of like kind, and showed no desire to take part in public affairs. -In 424 he invited the palace girls to the number of some 2,660 to a -festival: when they came to the feast they were led to one of the mosques -and taken inside; the doors were then bricked up and the unfortunate -girls were left to starve. For six months the mosque was left unopened -and the bodies unburied. Many other instances of wanton cruelty are -related of him. - -In 427 az-Zahir fell sick of the plague, and as he grew worse he was -taken to the “Garden of the Strand” at Maqs, then the port of Cairo, -where he died on the 15th of Shaban, leaving the Khalifate to his son -al-Mustansir, then a child seven years of age. - - - - -XII - -THE EIGHTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MUSTANSIR - -(A.H. 427-487 = A.D. 1035-1095) - - -Abu Tamin al-Mustansir bi-llah (“the seeker of aid from God”) was -proclaimed Khalif at his father’s death on Sunday, the 15th Shaban, 427 -(14 June, 1035). His reign has the distinction of being the longest of -all the Khalifates either in Egypt or elsewhere. - -Again we find the influence of a woman of the royal family predominant -in the state, this time of a black ex-slave woman. In Cairo there were -two Jewish merchants, Abu Saʿd Abrahim and his brother Abu Nasr Saʿd -ad-Dahir, sons of Sahl. The Khalif az-Zahir had bought a black Sudani -slave girl from Saʿd ad-Dahir, and she was the mother of al-Mustansir. -During the earlier years of the reign the influence behind the throne -was in the hands of the Sudani Queen Mother and her former master, the -Jewish slave merchant. This influence was restrained so long as the wazir -al-Jarjarai lived, but all check upon it came to an end at his death in -436. - -The old faction fights between Turks and Berbers had now long passed -away. Under Hakim we have seen the formation of new parties, Turks -and negroes, rival groups of mercenaries in the Khalif’s employ; the -Arabs and Berbers, so far as they were not absorbed in the mass of the -population, joining with the Turks in opposition to the negro regiments. -The Queen Mother, herself a Sudani negress, threw the whole weight of her -influence on the side of the black troops. - -The period of al-Jarjarai’s administration was one of prosperity in Egypt -and, for the most part, of success in Syria. Syrian affairs mainly centre -round Aleppo where Hakim had appointed ʿAziz ad-Dawla governor in 406, -but his subsequent conduct was far from pleasing to the Khalif. After -renewing the fortifications and making his own treaty with the Greeks, he -commenced striking an independent coinage and then ceased to pay tribute -to Egypt. Indeed, at the time of his disappearance Hakim was actually -preparing an army to send against Aleppo. ʿAziz ad-Dawla, however, -managed to make peace with az-Zahir and the Princess Royal, and nothing -of importance transpired until his murder in 413 which popular opinion -ascribed to Badr the governor of the citadel. No doubt Badr expected -that getting rid of ad-Dawla would leave him supreme in the city, but -next year he was expelled by the Fatimid government and two entirely -independent governors were appointed, one for the city, the other for the -citadel. - -Within the next few months a formidable rising took place in which all -the Arab tribes of Syria joined. They acted in three bodies, one led -by Salih b. Mirdas, who thought this a good opportunity of recovering -his former fief, attacked Aleppo; a second led by the old agitator -Hasan b. Mufarraj overran Palestine; and a third under Sinan moved -against Damascus. The Khalif sent his general Anushtakin to deal with -these revolts, but he received a serious check, and Salih, after taking -possession of Aleppo, passed on to Hims, Baʿalbak, and Sidon, so that in -416 the Fatimid power in Syria had almost passed away. In 420 Anushtakin -reinforcements had recovered possession of Damascus. Advancing against -Salih he had an engagement at Uqhuwana in which Salih fell, although -Asushtakin was not able to press on to Aleppo. The government of the city -was now divided between Salih’s two sons, Muʿizz ad-Dawla taking the -citadel, his brother Shibl ad-Dawla holding the city. After a short time, -however, Shibl ad-Dawla took command of the citadel as well, compensating -his brother with possessions outside the city. After this he commenced a -series of successful raids against the Greeks, and was able to inflict a -defeat upon the governor of Antioch. These raids became so serious that -the Greek Emperor made an expedition against Aleppo, but was defeated by -Shibl ad-Dawla and forced to retreat. - -When al-Mustansir succeeded to the Fatimid throne in 427 Shibl ad-Dawla -thought it prudent to conciliate him by large gifts of booty won from -the Greeks, and the Khalif confirmed him as governor of Aleppo. Two -years later Anushtakin considered that the time had come to make another -attempt on Aleppo, and advanced against the city with a large army. Shibl -ad-Dawla went out against him, and a battle took place near the Orontes -in the month of Shaban 429, in which the forces of Aleppo were defeated, -Shibl ad-Dawla slain, and his brother Muʿizz ad-Dawla compelled to flee. -After this Muʿizz ad-Dawla went to ʿIraq, leaving deputies in charge of -Aleppo under whose rule the city quickly fell into a state of anarchy, -so that Anushtakin was able to take possession and appoint his own -governors, and thus Aleppo once more became part of the Fatimid empire. - -This was the zenith of the Fatimid power in Syria and was mainly due to -the capacity of Anushtakin, and after this the Fatimid Empire began a -rapid decline. Anushtakin had himself aroused the jealousy and suspicion -of the wazir al-Jarjarai, and had to meet his most serious opposition -from the court at Cairo. Ill-advised by his wazir, al-Muntasir granted -Aleppo as a fief to Muʿizz ad-Dawla, and Anushtakin was compelled to -conduct him to the city to be invested. On the way Anushtakin, already -ill and much mortified by the deliberate destruction of the work he had -so efficiently executed, died (_A.H._ 433), and his successor Nasir -ad-Dawla, whom we shall see afterwards as a sinister character in Egypt, -placed Muʿizz ad-Dawla in possession of the city. - -To survey briefly the subsequent history of Aleppo which now ceased to be -of primary importance to Egyptian history: Muʿizz ad-Dawla was confirmed -in his appointment by the Khalif in 436, and at the same time made good -terms with the Greek Empress Theodora, and with the Saljuk Tughril Beg -who was Sultan at the court of the ʿAbbasid Khalif. In 449 he exchanged -Aleppo for Bairut, ʿAkka, and Jubail, being replaced by two Fatimid -governors at Aleppo. In 452 Mahmud, his nephew, tried to seize the city -and succeeded in occupying it for a short time, after which it was -re-taken by Muʿizz ad-Dawla, who then held it until his death in 453. -Before he expired he appointed his brother ʿAtiya as his successor, but -Mahmud made war against his uncle and, helped by the Greeks, recovered -Aleppo in 457. Soon after this, as Mahmud was convinced that the Fatimid -rule in Syria was in its final decay, he made his submission to the -Khalif of Baghdad and his Sultan Alp Arslan. This change was unpopular -in Aleppo where the people were attached to the Shiʿite sect; there was -no open resistance but clearly expressed discontent. The worshippers -stripped the great mosque of its prayer mats, saying that these had been -bought or given for Shiʿite services; let those who wished to pray in the -Sunni fashion buy others for themselves. - -The wazir al-Jarjarai died in 436, the year following the death of -Anushtakin. His disappearance opened the way to an increase of faction -fighting and court intrigue in Cairo. The next wazir was Ibn al-Anbari, -who soon provoked the enmity of the Queen Mother. It seems that Abu Nasr, -Saʿd ad-Dahir’s brother, was insulted by one of the wazir’s servants, -and when Abu Nasr complained he only obtained a rough answer from the -wazir. By the plots of Sʿad ad-Dahir and harim influence, Ibn al-Anbari -was deposed and replaced by the renegade Jew, Abu Mansur Sadaqa, in whom -the Queen expected to find a docile instrument. But Abu Saʿd continued -his intrigues against Ibn al-Anbari, and finally secured his execution -in 440. But this proved his undoing, for Sadaqa began to fear that the -same fate might lie in store for him also, so he bribed the Turkish guard -to assassinate Abu Saʿd, and Abu Nasr was put to death on the same day. -In retaliation the Queen Mother procured the assassination of Sadaqa. -The next wazir was a mere creature of the Queen and imported more negro -troops in large numbers to counterbalance the Turkish guard, whilst -the Khalif and his supporters brought in more Turks and had the wazir -murdered. The next wazir held office only three months and then was -deposed. For the six years following (436-442) the domestic politics of -Egypt centered entirely in the struggle between the Turkish mercenaries -and the negro troops. - -Then in 442 there came forward once more a capable wazir in the humble -fisherman’s son al-Yazuri, as his name denotes a native of the coast -village of Yazur, near Jaffa, and he held office more or less firmly for -a period of eight years. - -There can be no doubt that he was a perfectly earnest reformer, so far -as his knowledge extended, and that some of his experiments were rash -and unsuccessful does not detract from his personal sincerity. One of -his first measures was to sell the government stores of corn at the -lowest current prices, thus bringing down the price of corn throughout -the country and forcing the merchants to put their stock upon the market -at prices which suited the people. Incidentally this involved a severe -loss to the revenue, and, a more serious result, there was nothing -available when soon afterwards a bad Nile produced general scarcity, -so the country had again an experience of famine and then of plague. -In these circumstances he appealed to the Greek Emperor, Constantine -Monomachos, and arrangements were made for a supply of some two million -bushels which eased the situation. For several seasons when the Niles -were bad this assistance continued until Constantine died in 447. The -next Greek ruler, the Empress Theodora, tried to drive a harder bargain -and stipulated for a full alliance, defensive and offensive, as the -price. To this the wazir was not willing to agree, for shortage in Egypt -might not happen every year, whilst such an alliance would be permanent. -As a result the supplies were stopped and minor hostilities took place in -the neighbourhood of Antioch. The stoppage was not of great importance -as next year there was an exceptionally good Nile and Egypt was filled -with abundance. Taught by experience the wazir bought freely and laid up -stores for next year’s possible requirements. At the same time he took -active measures to prevent money-lenders seizing the standing crops or -merchants buying the unreaped corn as it stood at a low figure, and so -protected the thriftless people from the wrongs which had most preyed -upon them in the past. - -In his dealings with the Copts he was harsh. Again as in the -anti-Christian legislation of Hakim we observe the great unpopularity -of those who were hereditary tax-collectors and who were suspected, no -doubt with excellent reason, of defrauding the revenue. The strict -organization introduced under the first Fatimid Khalif had been allowed -to grow slack, its continuance meant constant effort and unceasing -supervision, and this sustained effort hardly lies within the oriental -character. As wazir Yazuri himself amassed great wealth, far beyond -what could possibly have come to him from the regular emoluments of his -office: a certain amount of perquisites, of a kind which the western -would be inclined to describe as bribery, is known and tolerated in -oriental administration and Yazuri, a minister who must be regarded as -a good and beneficent ruler in spite of this, was not the one to take -a high ground of morality in such matters. He imprisoned the Patriarch -Christodoulos whom he accused of persuading the Nubian king to withhold -tribute, a charge which does not seem to have had any foundation; then -laid heavy fines on the whole Coptic community, no less a sum than 70,000 -dinars, and closed churches until none were left in use, and imprisoned -the bishops, all it would appear in the attempt to make the Copts pay -up the fine or, as Yazuri would no doubt have described it, to disgorge -some part of their plunder filched from the public revenue. It does not -seem that there was any sectarian motive or feeling in these measures, -although they are sometimes made to figure as religious persecution. - -In 450 Yazuri died, poisoned by order of the Queen Mother with the -consent of the Khalif. The ostensible charge was that he had been -detected in treasonable correspondence with the court of Baghdad, but the -real reason seems to have been that his inordinate wealth, which could -only have been attained by defrauding the public revenue on a gigantic -scale, had awakened jealousy and suspicion. - -It is interesting to turn aside for a moment to the Persian poet -Nasir-i-Khusraw, who visited Cairo in the years just preceding the -ministry of Yazuri and who left a most graphic account of the wealth and -splendour of the Fatimid court and the prosperity of Cairo even at that -period of comparative disorder. In the eyes of this traveller, familiar -with the most prosperous and cultured cities of Persia and ʿIraq, the -magnificence of Cairo and its court seemed astonishing, and exactly the -same impression was made years afterwards, after the Fatimids had long -passed the zenith of their glory, on the Crusaders from the west. Under -Fatimid rule, apparently, Cairo surpassed all the cities of the then -known world in its luxury, magnificence, and wealth. As we have already -noted ostentatious display was the besetting fault of the whole Fatimid -dynasty, but this, it must be remembered, is usually popular in oriental -circles. Nasir-i-Khusraw was a devout Ismaʿilian and regarded Cairo as -the metropolis of his religion and the Khalif as the true Imam, religious -beliefs which he expresses freely in his works. He was a secretary under -the government in Khurasan until he experienced a conversion to the -religious life and, resigning his office, became first a pilgrim and then -a _daʿi_ of the Ismaʿilian sect. In his best known work the _Safarnama_ -he describes how, after he had turned to religion, he set out for Mecca -in 437, and relates the experiences of his journey. He reached Mecca in -439 and returned thence to Damascus, then went to Jerusalem, and then by -land to Cairo where he remained two or three years, and during his stay -was initiated into the higher grades of the Ismaʿilian fraternity. As -his work was intended for general reading he is cautious in referring to -the more intimate matters of religion, but makes it quite clear that he -believes in the allegorical interpretation of the Qurʾan, that he accepts -the Fatimid Khalif as the true Imam, and adheres whole-heartedly to the -doctrines of the Fatimite sect. He gives a most glowing description, not -only of the splendours; of the Cairene court, but of the extraordinary -wealth and prosperity of the bazars and their merchants, and this at a -time (circ. 440) which we generally regard as one of the less fortunate -periods of Fatimid rule. It is particularly interesting to note his -observations on the Egyptian army at the time when its factions were at -the bottom of all the domestic troubles of Cairo. He estimates the whole -army as about 215,000 men. Of the cavalry 35,000 came from North Africa, -Berbers and Arabs, 50,000 were Arabs from the Hijaz, and 30,000 were of -mixed composition. Of the infantry, where the racial elements are more -significant, 20,000 were black troops raised in North Africa, 30,000 -were Ethiopians by which we must understand Nubians, Sudanis, etc., -10,000 were Syrians, Turks and Kurds, 30,000 were slaves presumably from -central Africa for the most part, and 10,000 are described as the “palace -guard,” which seems to have been a kind of foreign legion of adventurers -from various parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. We shall have to return -again to Nasir-i-Khusraw, for after leaving Cairo he became a _daʿi_ of -the Ismaʿilians in western Asia, and indirectly played an important part -in the formation of the off-shoot of the Ismaʿilians, which afterwards -became notorious as the “Assassins.” - -Yazuri’s wazirate saw a great limitation of Fatimid control over -North Africa, where in 443 Ifrikiya definitely repudiated the Shiʿite -doctrines. At that time the ruler of Ifrikiya settled now at the town of -Mahadiya which had replaced Kairawan, was Muʿizz al-Himyari as-Sanhaji, -the hereditary chieftain of one of the more prominent Berber tribes, -and more or less hereditary governor of Ifrikiya. Hakim had conferred -on him robes of state with the title _Sharaf ad-Dawla_ (“nobleness -of the empire”) in 407. Up to this time the Hanifite system of canon -law had prevailed through North Africa, for the Shiʿite attempt to -introduce the system ascribed to Jaʿfar as-Sadiq seems to have been a -failure, but Muʿizz introduced the Malikite jurisprudence throughout his -governorate; this, it will be remembered, was the system banned by the -Khalif az-Zahir in Egypt, and by thus acting Moʿizz showed very plainly -his entire disregard of the Fatimid who claimed to be his suzerain. Now, -in 433, Muʿizz formally repudiated Fatimid authority, omitting the name -of Mustansir from the _khutba_, and replacing it with the name of the -ʿAbbasid Khalif of Baghdad. At this Mustansir wrote: “Thou hast not trod -in the steps of thy forefathers, showing us obedience and fidelity?”—but -Muʿizz replied: “My father and forefathers were kings in Maghrab before -thy predecessors obtained possession of that country. Our family rendered -them services not to be rewarded by any rank which thou canst give. When -people attempted to degrade them, they exalted themselves by means of -their swords.” Thus the Fatimids lost what had been the earliest part of -their dominions in Africa, although the loss was not without its benefit, -for Ifrikiya had always been a course of trouble and of little real -profit. - -The defection of Ifrikiya was not followed in all parts of North Africa. -There were still devoted Shiʿites in those parts, and they revolted from -Moʿizz when the Fatimid sent the Arab tribe of Hilal to win back the -country. The Arabs succeeded in recovering Barqa and Tripoli, but were -unable to advance further west. At the same time various independent -states, for the most part professing to be Shiʿite, arose in Maghrab. - -In 448 the Turk, Tughril Beg, was recognised in Baghdad as the Sultan and -lieutenant of the Khalif. The Saljuq Turks were strictly orthodox, and -indeed at this time recognised themselves as the champions of orthodoxy. -When, two years later, the general of the troops in Baghdad, a Turk named -Arslan al-Basasiri, revolted against the Khalif al-Kaʾim and expelled him -from Baghdad, he put the seal on his revolt by causing the _khutba_ to -be said throughout Mesopotamia in the name of the Fatimid al-Mustansir, -and sent him his protestation of allegiance. The expelled ʿAbbasir Khalif -took refuge with the Emir of the Arabs and stayed with him one year, -and then the Saljuq Tughril Beg came to his relief, and having attacked -and slain al-Basasiri, reinstated the ʿAbbasid in Baghdad. The Khalif -made his entry into the city exactly one year after his expulsion, so -that Fatimid al-Mustansir had just one year’s nominal recognition in -Mesopotamia, but this cannot be seriously regarded as an extension of the -Fatimid dominion. - -The proclamation of the Fatimid Khalifate in Baghdad and the exile of -the ʿAbbasid Khalif from his capital raised unduly high expectations -in Egypt. The more so as the official robe and jewelled turban of the -Baghdad Khalif, as well as the iron lectern, were carried off to Cairo, -and remained there until the fall of the Fatimids. Al-Mustansir was -confident that these symbols would be soon followed by the ʿAbbasid in -person, and laid out a large sum, stated to be no less than two million -dinars, in preparing the second palace which stood facing his own -dwelling across the great square in Kahira for the occupation, as he -hoped, of his illustrious captive. - -In fact, however, the Fatimid Khalifate had already passed its happiest -hours and was rapidly approaching its decline. The Arabs still held -Tripoli and Barqa as subjects of Egypt, but this was the western limit -of Fatimid rule and the death of Anushtakin had practically ended its -authority in Syria. - -Just about this time, however, there was a temporary restoration of -Fatimid authority in the Hijaz, and this not due to a rebel like -al-Basasiri, but to the work of a devout and earnest Shiʿite. Abu l-Hasan -ʿAli b. Muhammad b. ʿAli as-Sulaihi was the son of a Qadi of Yemen, a -strict and orthodox Sunni. The son, however, came under the influence -of an Ismaʿilian missionary named ʿAmir b. ʿAbdullah az-Zawwahi who, -concealing his Shiʿite opinions, was received into great favour by the -Qadi, but in private intercourse with the son taught him the Fatimid -system of canon law and the _tawil_ or allegorical interpretation of -the Qurʾan. For fifteen years as-Sulaihi acted as guide to the Meccan -pilgrims along the road between as-Sarat and Taif, then in 429 he broke -out in revolt against the established government and, at the head of -sixty followers, whom he bound by oath, seized upon Mount Mashar. -Secretly he supported the Khalifate of Mustansir, but this he concealed -for fear of Najah, the Chieftain of the Tihama. In 452 he presented Najah -with a beautiful female slave who, acting under his directions, poisoned -Najah and then released from all need of concealment openly proclaimed -the Fatimid Imamate. Three years later we find him the master of all -Yemen, having his headquarters at Sanaʿa, and for nearly twenty years -the _khutba_ in the cities of Yemen, and for part of that time also in -the holy cities of the Hijaz made mention of the name of the Khalif -al-Mustansir. - -After the death of Najah he offered to give the chieftainship of the -Tihama to anyone who would pay him 100,000 dinars of gold. The sum was at -once paid by his wife on behalf of her brother Asaad b. Shihab. “Where -didst thou get this, mistress?” asked as-Sulaih. “From God,” she replied, -“God is bounteous without measure to whom he will (Qur. ii. 208).” -Perceiving that the money came from his own treasury as-Sulaihi smiled -and took it saying, “Here is our money returned to us” (Qur. xii. 65). - -In 473 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, taking with him his wife and all -the princes whom he thought at all likely to revolt during his absence. -Having appointed his son al-Malik al-Mukarram as his deputy at home he -set out with 2,000 horsemen and encamped outside al-Mahjam. Whilst there -he was sought out and found by Saʿid, the son of the poisoned Najah, who -had been roving about the country but had managed to evade the soldiers -of as-Sulaihi. At the very moment when Saʿid entered as-Sulaihi’s tent -5,000 horsemen were out in search of him. Entering his enemy’s tent -Saʿid at once cut off his head and then, escaping, went out and joined -himself to the horsemen who were searching for him; he announced to them -as-Sulaihi’s death, declared who he was himself, claiming to be one of -their own race and simply acting to avenge his father’s death. At once -the horsemen placed themselves under his command, and returning to the -camp fell upon as-Sulaihi’s guards and defeated them. As-Sulaihi’s head -was placed on the top of his own state umbrella and carried round to the -chanting of the verse, “O God, possessor of all power, thou givest power -to whom thou wilt, and from whom thou wilt thou takest it away. Thou -raisest up whom thou wilt, and whom thou wilt thou dost abase. In thy -hand is good; for thou art over all things potent” (Qur. iii. 25). Thus -as-Sulaihi’s kingdom came to an end and with it ceased the recognition of -the Fatimid Khalif in Arabia (Ibn Khall. 512, etc.). - -Thus, from time to time, Muntasir received temporary recognition in -various unexpected quarters and seemed to bulk more prominently than any -of the preceding Fatimid Khalifs in the history of Islam, but meanwhile -his kingdom was on the decline and in Egypt was in evil condition, indeed -the period 450 to 466 shows the nadir of their authority in Egypt itself. - -The death of Yazuri in 450 was a very serious loss as it once more -liberated the factions and forces of disorder, the evil influence being -the Turkish general Nasir ad-Dawla, the same who had succeeded Anushtakin -in Syria. After the murder of Yazuri there were forty different wazirs in -the space of nine years, many of these being put to death at the end of -their term of office, although about this time the more humane practice -came into force of appointing the deposed minister to some minor post, -very often some provincial government, from which it was quite possible -for him to rise to the wazirate again. None of these was a man of any -great weight or marked personality, so that the Khalif fell entirely into -the hands of mere court flatterers, altogether obscure and incompetent -persons, and himself developed a childish and petulant attitude. He was -especially annoyed at the frequent interference of the Queen Mother in -the affairs of the state, but had not the strength or courage to check -her. - -The faction fights between the Turkish mercenaries and the negro troops -became more constant and violent under this weak and incompetent rule. At -length in 454 the Turks, led by Nasir ad-Dawla the Commander-in-Chief, -drove the negro regiments out of Cairo and chased them to Upper Egypt -where they were kept, although for some years they made regular attempts -to recover their footing in Lower Egypt. The victorious Turks dominated -Cairo, held the successive wazirs in subjection, treated the Khalif with -contempt, and used their power to deplete the treasury by increasing -their pay to nearly twenty times its former figure. At last Nasir -ad-Dawla’s tyranny made him offensive even to his own officers, and gave -the Khalif the opportunity of getting rid of him in 462. Though deposed -in Cairo he was able to hold his own in Alexandria where he had the -support of the B. Qorra Arabs and the Lawata Berbers. Thus the Arab and -Berber tribes under Nasir, helped by some of the Turkish mercenaries, -were in command of Alexandria and a considerable portion of Lower -Egypt, whilst the expelled negro troops were in possession of Upper -Egypt, the Khalif’s authority being limited to Cairo and its immediate -vicinity. Added to this was the fact that beginning with 458 there had -been a series of bad Niles followed by a famine of seven years duration -(459-465), whose later period was aggravated by Cairo being practically -isolated by the rebel forces to the north and to the south, the Berbers -in Lower Egypt deliberately aggravating the distress by ravaging the -country, destroying the embankments and canals, and seeking every way to -reduce the capital and the neighbouring districts by sheer starvation. -In the city a house could be bought for 20 pounds of flour, an egg was -sold for a dinar, a cake of bread for fifteen dinars, and even horses, -mules, cats, and dogs were sold at high prices for food. In the Khalif’s -own stable where there had been 10,000 animals there were now only three -thin horses, and his escort fainted from hunger as it accompanied him -through the streets. Many great princes and ex-officials of the court -gladly filled menial offices in the few houses where food was still -found, and sought employment as grooms, sweepers, and attendants in the -baths. Of all the Fatimids Mustansir had at one time enjoyed the largest -revenues and in 442 he had inherited the almost incredible wealth of two -aged ladies descended from his ancestor Moʿizz. But most of this had long -since been plundered by the Turkish guard, and now he also was reduced -to dire poverty. The Queen Mother and other ladies of the Khalif’s -family made good their escape and took refuge in Baghdad. At length the -people of Cairo were reduced to feeding on human flesh, which was even -sold publicly in the markets. Wayfarers were waylaid in the lonelier -streets, or caught by hooks let down from the windows, and devoured. As -an inevitable result of this protracted famine plague broke out, whole -districts were absolutely denuded of population, and house after house -lay empty. - -Meanwhile the Turkish mercenaries had drained the treasury, the works of -art and valuables of all sorts in the palace were sold to satisfy their -demands; often they themselves were the purchasers at merely nominal -prices and sold the articles again at a profit. Emeralds valued at -300,000 dinars were bought by one Turkish general for 500 dinars, and in -one fortnight of the year 460 articles to the value of 30,000,000 dinars -were sold off to provide pay for the Turks. But this selling of the -valuable collections accumulated in the palace was as nothing compared -to the damage done wantonly by sheer mischief or unintentionally by -carelessness. The precious library which had been rendered available to -the public and was one of the objects for which many visited Cairo was -scattered, the books were torn up, thrown away, or used to light fires. - -At length, after the Queen and her daughters had left Cairo, the Turks -began fighting amongst themselves. Nasir ad-Dawla attacked the city -which was defended by the rival faction of the Turkish guard and, -after burning part of Fustat and defeating the defenders, entered as -a conqueror. When he reached the palace he found the Khalif lodged in -rooms which had been stripped bare, waited on by only three slaves, and -subsisting on two loaves which were sent him daily by the charitable -daughters of Ibn Babshad the grammarian. - -After this victory over the unhappy city Nasir ad-Dawla became so -over-bearing and tyrannical in his conduct that he provoked even his own -followers, and so at length he was assassinated in 466. But this only -left the city in a worse condition than ever, for it was now at the mercy -of the various Turkish factions which behaved no better than troops of -brigands. - -At this desperate juncture al-Mustansir was roused to action and wrote to -the Armenian Badr al-Jamali, who had once been purchased as a slave by -Ibn ʿAmmar and was now acting as governor of Tyre, begging him to come -to the rescue. Badr replied that he would do so if he were allowed to -bring his own army with him and were given a free hand. This was granted, -and soon Badr was on his way. With courage quickened by the approach of -rescue the Khalif ventured to arrest Ildeguz, the Turkish governor of -Cairo, and thus put some check on the military tyranny. At his arrival -Badr was well received by the Turkish mercenaries who had no idea that he -had been invited by the Khalif. His first act was to invite the Turkish -leaders to a conference: each of his own chief officers was told off to -deal with one of these leaders and, at a given signal, each slaughtered -the man who had been designated. Badr then set himself to restore order -in Cairo, and this he did efficiently but with the severity rendered -necessary by the desperate condition of the city, and thus re-established -the Khalif as master. The grateful prince could not do too much to show -his appreciation of these services, and Badr was created wazir of the -sword and of the pen, _i.e._, chief minister of affairs military and -civil, Chief Qadi and Chief _Daʿi_. After reducing Cairo to complete -order he proceeded with his troops through Lower Egypt, putting down -brigandage and disorder until he reached Alexandria where he had some -resistance to overcome, but in due course that also was reduced. The -settlement of Cairo and Lower Egypt occupied the greater part of 467: -then in 468 he proceeded to Upper Egypt and succeeded in disbanding the -black troops which held out there, and reduced those parts also to good -order. Thus, once more, Egypt was under an efficient and firm government. -It is true that his efforts were greatly assisted by the fact that the -year 466 saw an exceptionally good Nile, so that prosperity and abundance -once more reigned through the land. It is interesting to note that the -Khalif set himself to the formation of a new library at Cairo as one of -his first tasks; it helps us to realize that the Shiʿites were then as -always the friends of learning. - -Meanwhile difficult problems had arisen in Syria. The Saljuq Turks, -who were now dominant in Baghdad, were fanatically orthodox and set -themselves deliberately to root out the Fatimids from Islam. In 461, -during the period of disorder in Egypt, they had gained possession of -Jerusalem, and in 466 they took Damascus which never again acknowledged -a Fatimid ruler. The Saljuq general Atsiz then planned an expedition -against Egypt itself, and as this threat came just at the moment when -Badr was setting himself to the task of restoring order in Egypt he was -not in a position to attempt an expedition against the Saljuk Turks. -Ships were made ready to remove the court to Alexandria, and messengers -were sent out to attempt to bribe the Turkish general to retire. In -fact Atsiz was not well supported and felt himself not in a position -to press forward, so that this danger was averted. As soon as Badr had -reduced Lower Egypt he sent an expedition to recover Palestine and -Syria, and his army was able to gain possession of Jerusalem, where -Atsiz had been governor since 468. Hard pressed by the Egyptians Atsiz -appealed for help to the Saljuq general Tutush who had entered Syria -with large reinforcements, and at length evacuated from Jerusalem and -marched out to join with him. He met Tutush at Damascus, but the Saljuq -Commander-in-Chief severely rebuked Atsiz for quitting Jerusalem and -arrested and executed him (A.H. 471), and then himself took possession -of the whole of Syria. In 478 Tutush, now ʿAbbasid viceroy in Syria took -Aleppo, but soon after this he found himself opposed by his nephew -Barkyaruk, with whom he was compelled to wage war for some time until -he was slain in battle by his nephew’s forces in 488. Taking advantage -of this civil war Badr made another attempt upon Damascus, but this was -unsuccessful, although the Egyptians recovered Tyre and Akka. Shortly -after this success, in 487, Badr died and was succeeded as wazir by his -son Abu l-Kasim Shahanshah, commonly known as al-Afdal; and the wazir’s -death was soon followed by that of the Khalif Mustansir. - -The rule of Badr was especially associated with a great development -of building, and especially with the construction of new walls and -gates round Cairo. In this work Badr employed Syrian architects who -introduced Byzantine styles of architecture and of fortification, and -made a greater use of stone in place of the brick which predominated in -the older constructions. The existing gates known respectively as the -Bab an-Nasr, the Bab al-Futuh, and the Bab az-Zuwayla, are specimens of -Badr’s work, and show an almost purely Byzantine style in marked contrast -to the native Egyptian work, and so the outpost tower called by the -unintelligible name of the Burg adh-Dhiffir. All these formed part of the -south boundary of the ancient Kahira, but are now included within the -area of the modern city. To the same period belongs the restoration of -the Nilometer in the island of Roda (A.H. 485). - -In 483 Badr made a new assessment and return of taxation for Egypt and -Syria. Under his rule the annual revenue had risen from 2,000,000 dinars -to 3,100,000, and peace and prosperity reigned in all the land of Egypt, -though war prevailed in Syria, the mark of the first waves of Saljuq -invasion. - -Before closing the narrative of the reign of Mustansir we must take -note of a visit to Egypt paid by a Persian missionary in 471, closely -connected with the visit of Nasir-i-Khusraw some years before, and -important in its bearing upon events which followed soon after -Mustansir’s death. - -This Persian missionary, Hasan-i-Sabbah by name, was born in Qum whither -his father had removed from Kufa. Like his father he was a Shiʿite of -the “Twelver” sect, but came under the influence of Nasir-i-Khusraw who -was an active propagandist, although at the time Ismaʿilian doctrines -were not making much progress in Asia. After considerable hesitation he -became a proselyte of the Ismaʿilians and took the oath of allegiance to -the Fatimid Khalif. In 464 he came under the notice of the overseer of -the mission work in the district (_bahr_, literally, “sea”), of Isfahan, -and was advised by him to make a pilgrimage to Egypt. After spending -two years as assistant to the overseer of Isfahan he set out in 467 and -reached Cairo in 471 where he was well received by the Chief _Daʿi_ and -other leading persons, but was not allowed to have an interview with -the Khalif. At the time, it appears, the court was divided into two -factions over the question of the succession, the one party holding to -the Khalif’s elder son Nizar, the other to a younger son named Mustali. -In one place Nasir-i-Khusraw says that the Khalif told him that his -elder son Nizar was to be his heir, and the succession of the older son -would be in accordance with the doctrines of the sect as already proved -by their adherence to Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq. But Badr and -the chief officials were on the side of the younger son Mustali, and -it was probably the knowledge that the Persian visitor was opposed to -them on this question which stood in the way of a personal interview -with Mustansir. After eighteen months in Egypt Hasan-i-Sabbah was forced -to leave because, according to his own statement, he had provoked the -suspicion of Badr. So in 472 he embarked at Alexandria. His ship was -wrecked on the coast of Syria, and after much wandering he at length -made his way overland to Isfahan where he arrived in 473. At once he -commenced propaganda amongst the Ismaʿilians in favour of Nizar as the -chosen heir to the Imamate. In this work he was successful, and in 483 -he obtained possession of the castle of Alamut (“the eagle’s teaching”) -which he made the headquarters of his branch of the Ismaʿilian sect. As -supporters of the claims of Nizar the members of this branch were known -as “Nizarites,” but later the name of “Assassins” became their commoner -designation. This term represents the Arabic _Hashishi_, that is to say, -user of Indian hemp or the “Faqir’s herb” (_cannabis Indica_), as this -was used as a means of intoxication and exaltation to arouse the members -of the sect charged with peculiarly difficult duties. In a later chapter -(cf. pp. 213, etc.) we shall see that these duties, the acts which are -now especially associated with the term assassin, were performed by -quite subordinate members of the sect; but these members entrusted with -the performance of deeds of violence and daring were prepared by being -worked up into a frenzy by the use of this drug whose peculiar influences -are well known in the east. From 473 to the date of Mustansir’s death -in 487 these “Assassins” were occupied in preaching the claims of the -prince Nizar to the Imamate, but they did not definitely separate from -the Ismaʿilian body or from their allegiance to the Fatimid Khalif until, -at Mustansir’s death, the elder son Nizar was formally excluded from -the succession, so that our further consideration of the sect is best -deferred to the next reign. A large literature exists on the history of -the Assassins. The most important authority is the “Adventures of our -master” (_i.e._, of Hasan-i-Sabbah), a lost work included amongst the -books in the great library at Alamut and examined by ʿAta Malik Juwayni -before it was burned with other heretical works, and from it he makes -important citations. - -The longest Khalifate of Muslim history closed with the death of -Mustansir on the 18th of Dhu l-Hijja, 487 (A.D. 1094), and at once the -wazir al-Afdal announced the accession of the younger son al-Mustali. - - - - -XIII - -THE NINTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MUSTALI - -(A.H. 487-495 = A.D. 1094-1101) - - -As soon as al-Mustansir was dead the wazir al-Afdal al-Juyush entered -the palace and placed Abu l-Kasim Ahmad al-Mustali, a youth of eighteen -years of age and the youngest son of the late Khalif on the throne. At -the same time he sent for the other sons of Mustansir who were near at -hand, Nizar the eldest son, and his brothers ʿAbdullah and Ismaʿil, -bidding them come quickly. As soon as they entered the room where the -wazir awaited them and saw their youngest brother enthroned they were -filled with indignation, and when al-Afdal bade them do homage to Mustali -as the new Khalif, Nizar burst out, “I would rather be cut in pieces -than do homage to one younger than myself, and moreover I possess a -document in the handwriting of my father by which he names me successor, -and I shall go and bring it.” At this he went out, presumably to get -the document, but as he did not return the wazir sent after him, and it -was found that he had left the city. Very soon afterwards he appeared -at Alexandria, supported by his brother ʿAbdullah and an emir named Ibn -Massal, and there he assumed the title of Khalif with the surname of -al-Mustafa li-dinillah (“the chosen for God’s religion”), and received -the oath of allegiance from the Alexandrians. He promised Nasir ad-Dawla -Iftikin, the Turkish governor of Alexandria, that he should be wazir. -As we have already seen, there was a party ready to support Nizar even -before Mustansir’s death, and his claims seemed to have fair prospects -of success. No doubt we may say that the sectarian supporters of the -Fatimid Imamate were with him, whilst al-Afdal headed the secularist -party: but there would, no doubt, be many aggrieved with the existing -administration, and even perhaps remnants of those whom al-Afdal’s father -had suppressed with such severity, who were ready to throw in their lot -with the opposition to the wazir’s nominee in Cairo. - -In 488 al-Afdal found it necessary to take the field against Nizar and -his followers, but suffered a sharp repulse in the first engagement. -Encouraged by this the Nizarites laid waste the country north of Cairo. -Again al-Afdal prepared his forces and marched this time to Alexandria -and laid siege to it. During this siege Ibn Massal had a dream in which -he seemed to be riding on horseback and al-Afdal was following him on -foot. He consulted an astrologer as to the meaning of this dream, and -was informed that it signified the ultimate success of al-Afdal, for -those who walk the earth are those who will possess it. Ibn Massal took -this very seriously and thought it prudent to leave Nizar’s party, so -he departed and retired to Lukk near Barqa. This defection marked the -turning point of Nizar’s career for, after losing Ibn Massal and his -men, his fortunes gradually declined. Convinced that resistance could -not endure for long he sent out and asked al-Afdal if he would spare -his life if he submitted. Receiving a favourable answer the gates of -Alexandria were opened to the wazir who took possession of the city and, -after putting an end to all resistance, returned to Cairo with Nizar and -ʿAbdullah. Nizar’s subsequent life is totally unknown. He was either -imprisoned in absolute secrecy, or put to death: stories were told of -both these ends, but nothing was ever known for certain. A certain -Muhammad afterwards claimed to be Nizar’s son, and had a following in -Yemen: he was brought to Cairo and crucified in 523. In all probability -he was an imposter. - -The suppression of Nizar and his partisans meant the triumph of al-Afdal, -and during the rest of Mustali’s reign the Khalif was entirely without -authority in the state, and came out only as required at public functions. - -The suppression of Nizar involved a definite separation between the -Fatimids of Cairo and their court on the one side and the Asiatic -adherents of Nizar’s Imamate on the other, and so from 488 onwards the -Assassins formed a distinct sect, as much opposed to the Fatimids and -their followers as to the orthodox Muslims. The founder, Hasan-i-Sabbah, -had now fully organised that sect on lines which were in general outline -imitated from the traditional system of the Ismaʿilians, but differed in -detail. There were grades and successive stages of initiation, and the -real beliefs of the higher grades were of the same pantheistic-agnostic -type as in the Ismaʿilian body, and similarly the members of those upper -grades were keen students of the science and philosophy which had been -derived from Hellenistic tradition. When the headquarters of the sect at -Alamut were finally taken they were found to contain a vast library as -well as an observatory and a collection of scientific instruments. In -fact we may say with confidence that the Assassins represent the highest -level of scholarship and research in contemporary Asiatic Islam, if we -can indeed regard them as within the Islamic fold; an island of culture -and learning in the midst of reactionary orthodoxy and actual ignorance, -the result of the submerging of Asiatic Islam beneath the flood of -Turkish invasion. Far away in the west a purer culture was beginning -to dawn in Muslim Spain, but in Asia philosophy and science were being -rapidly obscured by the reactionary flood. - -As organised by Hasan-i-Sabbah the Assassins appear in six grades. The -highest of these was filled by the “Chief Daʿi” who recognised the Imam -alone as superior on earth. So long as Mustansir lived he was regarded -as the true Imam; after his death Nizar was his successor, and later on -we find the Chief Daʿi claiming descent from Nizar, but this was as yet -in the future. It was the same development as that which we have already -observed in the history of the Shiʿite sect founded by ʿAbdullah b. -Maymun. Amongst outsiders the Chief Daʿi commonly went by the name of -“Sheikh of the mountain,” _i.e._, of the mountain stronghold of Alamut -which formed the headquarters of the sect, and this is reproduced as “the -old man of the mountain” in the records of the Crusaders. Under the Chief -Daʿi were the “Senior Missionaries” (daʿi-i-kabir), each supervising -a diocese or _bahr_ (“sea”), and under these were the ordinary -missionaries. Thus far the organization merely reproduced that already -prevalent in the Ismaʿilian propaganda. Beneath the missionaries were the -ordinary members in two main grades known respectively as “companions” -(rafiq) and “adherents” (lasiq), the former more fully initiated in the -batimite or allegorical interpretations of doctrine than the latter. -The sixth grade, theoretically the lowest, was peculiar to the Assassin -sect, and consisted of “devoted ones” (fidaʿi) who do not seem to have -been initiated, but were bound to a blind and unquestioning obedience -which has its parallel in the discipline of the various darwish orders, -but was here carried to exceptional extremes. These _fidaʿis_ were -carefully trained and were especially practised in the use of various -forms of disguise, after all only a more perfect refinement of the -methods originally evolved by the Hashimite missionaries; but these were -not disguised for the purpose of acting more efficiently as missionaries -and for penetrating different communities as teachers, but solely for -the purpose of carrying out the specific orders of the Chief Daʿi, and -thus formed a most formidable branch of what soon became an exceptionally -powerful secret society. In many cases the acts entrusted to the -_fidaʿis_ were acts of murder, and it is from this that the name of -“assassin” has received its peculiar meaning in most of the languages of -Western Europe. The _fidaʿi_, trained to the use of disguise, sometimes -as a servant, or as a merchant, or darwish, or as a Christian monk, was -able to penetrate into almost any society and to strike down suddenly -the victim marked out; and counted it a triumphant success if this act -involved his own death as well. A deliberate effort was made to surround -the sect with an atmosphere of terror; a Muslim prince would be struck -down whilst he was acting as leader at prayer, or a Crusading knight as -he was attending high mass at the head of his troops, or if there was -not actual murder, a leader might wake up in his tent to find a message -from the Assassins pinned by a dagger to the ground beside his couch, or -a doctor of the law would find a similar message between the pages of -the text book from which he was lecturing. All this was developed more -elaborately as time went on, but already in the days of Mustali the sect -had rendered itself prominent by getting rid of some leading men whom it -regarded as its enemies, such as in 485 Nidhamu l-Mulk the great wazir -of the Saljuq sultans, in 491 ʿAbdu r-Rahman as-Samayrami the wazir of -Barkiyaruq’s mother, and in 494 Unru Bulka, the rival of Nidhamu l-Mulk -and the emir of greater influence in Isfahan. The higher members of the -sect were domiciled at Alamut, or in some one or other of the various -mountain fortresses they secured in Northern Persia and afterwards in -Syria, but adherents were found everywhere scattered through western -Asia. In its development the sect of Assassins was almost entirely -Asiatic, but as professed adherents of Nizar the eldest son of Mustansir, -the Assassins were, at least nominally, of Egyptian origin. - -So far the danger most threatening to the Fatimids had been the advance -of the Saljuq Turks, pledged to the destruction of the Ismaʿilian heresy, -from the east: but in the fourth year of Mustali’s reign a new danger -appeared. This was the appearance of the Franks embarked on the First -Crusade, who reached Syria in the year 490, when the Saljuq influence was -already on the decline. The great Saljuq leader Tutush had died in the -preceding year, and his two sons at once became rivals, the one, Duqaq, -established at Damascus, the other, Rudwan, at Aleppo. Rudwan was anxious -to obtain Fatimid assistance and inserted Mustali’s name in the _khutba_, -but the Fatimid state regarded the Saljuqs with dread and suspicion, and -was disposed to welcome the Franks as possible allies against the Turks. -Jerusalem remained in Saljuq hands under the control of the sons of Ortuk -b. Aksab who had governed in the name of Tutush, and they formed an -outpost of the Saljuq empire which the Fatimid government regarded as its -chief enemy in the east. - -The Crusaders professed to be the champions of the Christian religion -and declared their aim as being the deliverance of the sacred sites from -the occupation of the Muslims. Before reaching Syria, however, they had -made it plain that this was not to be understood in a literal sense, for -they had shown marked hostility towards the Greek Church, and throughout -the whole of their career they were the uncompromising enemies of all -the eastern churches. No doubt this can be partly explained by a total -lack of understanding or sympathy towards religious bodies whose general -customs and external organisation, and more particularly whose liturgy, -differed so markedly from the forms developed in the west; but the fact -remains that their fellow Christians in the east soon came to regard the -Crusaders with as much dislike as the Muslims. This antagonism towards -the Greek and eastern churches generally was fully defined before their -arrival in Syria. But in fact they were not even the champions of Latin -Christianity. Some, no doubt, were sincere in their desire to rescue -the Holy Land from non-Christian occupation, but for the most part -they were adventurers desirous of carving out principalities in lands -which they were well aware were much richer and more prosperous than -their own countries in the west. From their own point of view the time -at which this Crusade arrived was exceptionally promising: the Saljuq -power was broken and there was a temporary lull in the migration of the -virile and warlike Turkish races westwards, whilst the Muslim community -was divided between ʿAbbasids and Fatimids beyond the possibility of -united resistance. Twenty years earlier, or fifty years later they would -certainly not have been able to establish themselves in Palestine, but -just at the moment circumstances were favourable. - -Arriving in Syria in A.H. 490 the Crusaders under Baldwin (or Bardawil -as he appears in the Arabic writers) took the city of Edessa and then -proceeded to lay siege to Antioch which fell into their hands on the 16th -of Rajab 491 (20th June, 1098). News of their arrival and first successes -had early reached Egypt, and al-Afdal prepared to welcome them as likely -auxiliaries against the Turks: it seemed fully possible that the Franks -and Fatimids might divide Western Asia between them, and such indeed -would have been feasible. Under this impression al-Afdal sent an army -into Palestine and wrested Jerusalem from Sokman the son of Ortuk, who -held it as a part of the Saljuq empire, at the same time sending forward -an embassy to the Franks welcoming them and asking to make an alliance -with them. The Franks absolutely rejected these proposals and declined to -accept any friendly overtures from Muslims. Very soon they proceeded to -attack Jerusalem, and in the month of Shaban, 492, took it, plundering -the mosques, slaughtering the Muslim population, and showing themselves -hostile to orthodox and Shiʿite alike. This disillusioned al-Afdal -and made it clear to him that it was impossible to expect any sort of -alliance with the new-comers. After taking Jerusalem and expelling the -Fatimid government the Franks elected Godfrey king of Jerusalem, a rank -which he held until the following year, and during this time he did his -best to introduce western customs and jurisprudence in the city as well -as the Latin rite in the churches. - -In the following year (493) the Franks attacked the Egyptian army before -Ascalon, which now remained the only important possession of the Fatimids -in Palestine. Before the battle the wazir sent an envoy with a flag of -truce, but this the Franks disregarded and made an assault upon those -who, according to the customary usages of war, should have been sacred. -In the ordinary way such attacks made in disregard of a flag of truce, -reported in practically every war, ought not to be treated too seriously -by the historian: it is almost impossible, even in the best disciplined -army, to make sure that no abuse of this kind shall ever occur, but in -the case of the Crusaders there seems to have been a deliberate intention -to treat the Muslims as outside the ordinary conventions which were -more or less observed amongst Christian nations: although it must be -remembered that we are dealing with times before the rise of chivalry -and the humaner attitude which characterised mediaeval warfare, all more -fully developed after contact with the Muslims who did much to refine -Frankish manners and usages; and, moreover, the very mixed multitude -loosely held together in the Crusading ranks was undisciplined even -beyond the wont of those days. In the succeeding engagement the Franks -defeated al-Afdal and his forces, and he was compelled to embark for -Egypt. Ascalon, however, was not taken as the citizens, alarmed by the -recent savagery of the Franks in Jerusalem and perceiving that they were, -for the most part, simply out for booty, bribed them to leave the city -alone. - -Two years later (495) the Franks gained another victory over the -Egyptians near Jaffa and began seriously to consider the prospect of -invading Egypt. - -At this juncture al-Mustali died. At the moment, fortunately, the wazir -al-Afdal was in Egypt, and on the day of his death proclaimed his son -al-Amir Khalif in his place. - - - - -XIV - -THE TENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-AMIR - -(A.H. 495-524 = 1101-1131 A.D.) - - -At Mustali’s death al-Afdal at once proclaimed Abu ʿAli al-Mansur al-Amir -bi-ahkami-llah (“the ruler by the decrees of God”), then only in his -fifth year, as Khalif, retaining the government in his own hands as had -now become the established custom at the Fatimid court. Al-Afdal was -an able and efficient ruler, whilst the young Khalif was of the type -so common in oriental courts, a mere votary of pleasure and an idler. -The wazir restrained the indulgence of his tastes and kept him closely -confined in the palace. Al-Amir does not seem to have been at all -aggrieved at being excluded from the government, but he certainly chafed -at the restrictions which the wazir considered suitable to apply to his -pleasures. - -The centre of interest still lies in the Crusaders who had now -established a firm hold in Palestine and were threatening Egypt. In 497 -they took possession of Akka (Acre), and this increased the anxiety -felt in the Fatimid court. In the same year al-Afdal sent his son in -command of an army to Palestine, and he was successful in inflicting a -severe defeat on the Franks: many were put to flight, and Baldwin, who -had succeeded Godfrey as king of Jerusalem, was compelled to hide in a -haystack. The Egyptians then advanced and took Ramla and, after slaying -a large number of the vanquished, sent three hundred knights prisoners -to Egypt. Later in the year both sides were reinforced, the Egyptians -receiving an accession of four thousand cavalry as well as the support -of a fleet, but no decisive step was taken and no progress made on -either side. At this time nearly all Palestine was in the hands of the -Franks save the coast towns, and the struggle centered round Ramla. The -Fatimids had the advantage of an alliance with Tughtegin, the Saljuq -governor of Damascus, for the Turks had at last perceived that it was -necessary for all Muslim powers to unite against those who had proved to -be a common enemy. A battle took place between Ascalon and Jaffa, but -without any important result. - -Nothing of marked importance took place during the next three years, -but in 502 the Franks succeeded in taking the important coast town of -Tripolis on Monday, the 11th of Dhu l-Hijja. When they entered the town -they plundered and slaughtered indiscriminately and seized many of the -inhabitants for slaves; they destroyed the library of the college and -tortured their prisoners in a barbarous manner. The Egyptian wazir had -sent an army to the relief of the town, but it arrived too late to be of -any service. - -After the fall of Tripolis the Muslim forces centered at Tyre. In the -following year (503) the Franks took Bairut, and in the year after Sidon, -so that the Fatimid possessions were reduced to a precarious hold on -Ramla. - -Thus affairs stayed for some six years, then in 511 Baldwin attempted -the invasion of Egypt. He took Farama, burning the mosques, houses, and -suburbs, and then advanced to Tinnis. Near this town he was taken ill, -and shortly afterwards died at al-Arish. At his death the projected -invasion was abandoned and the Frankish army retired, bearing with it the -king of Jerusalem’s body which was ultimately buried in the Church of the -Resurrection. - -Egypt had practically lost all hold upon Palestine, but yet the -threatening horde of Franks was held off from Egypt itself, and this -check was in no small degree creditable to the wazir al-Afdal, who -meanwhile maintained a firm though not absolutely pure government at -home. But gradually the Khalif became more and more restive under the -severe tutelage of his wazir, and always there were intrigues of the -aggrieved and the ambitious to urge him on, as well as the ever present -influence of the harim which, in almost all oriental countries, is the -centre of intrigues against the established powers. In 515 the Khalif -began to plot definitely against his wazir, and one day as al-Afdal rode -out towards the Nile he was attacked and severely wounded, so that he -was carried home to die. The Khalif visited him on his death-bed and -expressed great sympathy and regret for the accident which had befallen -him, an accident whose real nature was perfectly well known to both: as -soon as the wazir breathed his last the Khalif commenced plundering his -house which was the depository of enormous wealth, and this occupied him -forty days (Ibn Khall. i. 614, cf. Jamal ad-Din). - -After al-Afdal’s death al-Amir appointed Muhammad b. Abi Shujaa b. -al-Bataihi al-Maʾmun as wazir. This new officer was a capable financier -but harsh and tyrannical, and restrained the Khalif more rigorously than -his predecessor had done. He was the builder of the “grey mosque” (Jamiʿ -al-Akmar), so called from its being one of the earliest buildings in -which stone was used almost exclusively, and completed the “Mosque of the -Elephant” (Jamiʿ al-Fil) which had been commenced by al-Afdal in 498. He -held office until 518 when he was arrested and his property confiscated. -Three years later, in 521, he and five of his brothers, as well as the -pretender who claimed to be Nizar’s son, were put to death. - -After the fall of Ibn al-Bataihi the Khalif determined to act as his own -wazir, and in this was assisted by the Christian monk Abu Najah b. Kanna, -who undertook the department of finance. The monk’s method was to farm -out the taxes to Christian collectors for a net sum of 100,000 dinars, -which he paid in to the treasury. But Abu Najah made himself extremely -offensive by his arrogant airs and by being the scape-goat of the harsh -exactions of the collectors, the inevitable result of this system, and -after a brief try the Khalif was persuaded to depose him, and he was -flogged to death. Al-Amir continued, however, to act as his own wazir -until his death in 524, and this made his office universally detested and -justifies the custom of appointing a wazir or deputy on whom the odium of -the harsher details of the executive should lie, and against whom there -might be, at least in theory, an appeal to the throne. Indeed, during -these years 519 to 524 the Khalif seems to have been more heartily hated -than any other of his dynasty before or after. At length the end came in -524 by the hands of Ismaʿilian Assassins who had undertaken the duty of -ridding the country of the tyrant. On Tuesday, the 3rd of Dhu l-Qaʿdah, -the Khalif proceeded to Fustat and thence to the island of Roda, where -he had built a pleasure house for a favourite Baidawi concubine. “Some -persons who had plotted his death were lying there concealed with their -arms ready; it being agreed among them that they should kill him as he -was going up the lane through which he had to pass in order to reach the -top of the hill. As he was going by them, they sprang out and fell upon -him with their swords. He had then crossed the bridge and had no other -escort than a few pages, courtiers, and attendants. They bore him in a -boat across the Nile, and brought him still living into Cairo. The same -night he was taken to the castle and there he died, leaving no posterity -... al-Amir’s conduct was detestable: oppressed the people, seized on -their wealth and shed their blood: he committed with pleasure every -excess which should be avoided, and regarded forbidden enjoyment as the -sweetest. The people were delighted at his death” (Ibn Khall. ii. 457). - -During the latter part of al-Amir’s reign the Franks continued to -consolidate their kingdom in Palestine. On Monday, the 22nd of Jumada II. -518, they took Tyre, and only Ascalon remained to the Fatimids of their -former possessions in Asia. About this time the Franks began to strike -their own coinage, after issuing coins in the name of the Fatimid Khalif -for three years. - - - - -XV - -THE ELEVENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-HAFIZ - -(A.H. 524-544 = A.D. 1131-1149.) - - -The Khalif al-Amir left no son, but at the time of his death one of his -wives was pregnant, and it was possible that she might give birth to -an heir. Under these circumstances Abu l-Maymun ʿAbdu l-Hamid al-Hafiz -li-dini-llah (“the guardian of the religion of God”), son of Muhammad, -one of the brothers of Mustali, and consequently cousin to the late -Khalif, was declared regent, and as such received the oath of allegiance -from the citizens of Cairo on the very day of al-Amir’s murder, and on -the same day the wazir Abu ʿAli Ahmad, son of al-Afdal, received the -oath of allegiance from the troops. The regent al-Hafiz expressed his -confidence that the child about to be borne to the deceased Khalif would -be a son. “No Imam of this family,” he said, “dies without leaving a -male child to whom he transmits the Imamate by special declaration” (Ibn -Khall. 430). Although the late Khalif’s cousin was thus declared formal -regent the wazir Ahmad put him in confinement and took the whole power -into his own hands, and this received the ready acquiescence of the court -and of the troops and people, for everyone regarded the late experiment -of the Khalif acting as his own wazir as disastrous. The new wazir -ruled justly and well, and restored to each the property which had been -confiscated by al-Amir, so that as a ruler he was greatly esteemed. - -In other respects, however, his conduct throws a strange light on the -conditions prevailing in the Fatimid state at this period. The Fatimids -claimed to be not only rulers of Egypt, but the legitimate Khalifs in -true descent from the Prophet, and also Imams divinely appointed as -guides and teachers of Islam. The whole Fatimid state was bound up with -this religious theory, although it was one which did not command the -sympathy of the bulk of the subject population, and a distinct tendency -had more than once appeared to discard it for frankly secular claims. -Under the wazir Ahmad this theory on which the Fatimid claim rested was -formally discarded by the government. Ahmad himself was a Shiʿite, but -of the sect of the “Twelvers” and so a follower, not of the Fatimid Imam -under whom he held office, but of the hidden and unrevealed Imam who, -under the name of Muhammad al-Muntazir, had disappeared in 260. For the -present, therefore, the Friday prayer in the mosques was offered for the -invisible “al-Kaʾim,” and his name appeared on the coinage. To us such -a condition seems almost incredible, even though during the time the -titular head was merely regent and not fully recognised as Khalif. When -al-Amir’s wife was delivered her child was a daughter, but for all that -al-Hafiz remained simply regent until 526. - -Dissatisfied with his dubious position and the restrictions imposed by -the wazir Hafiz plotted against him, and Ahmad was assassinated in the -“Great Garden” as he was on his way to play polo on the 15th of Muharram -526 (Dec., 1131). At his death Hafiz received the oath of allegiance as -Khalif, and was acclaimed by his bodyguard, the “Young Guard,” although -his reign is usually dated from the date of his cousin’s death. At this -time al-Hafiz was fifty-seven years of age. - -He appointed as wazir an Armenian named Yanis who had been a slave of -al-Afdal, one of the Armenian mercenaries whom he had brought from Syria. -Yanis turned out to be a severe and hard ruler, and in the following -year he was poisoned by the Khalif’s order. In spite of the warning of -al-Amir’s reign al-Hafiz then resolved to act as his own wazir, and in -this he did well and was generally regarded with respect and attachment. -His court was, however, divided into factions as the result of quarrels -about the heirship between his two sons Hasan and Faʿiz, each supported -by one of the two great bodies of negro mercenaries, the elder Hasan by -the Rayhaniya regiment, the younger by the Juyushiya. At length these -quarrels resulted in open warfare, and the victorious Juyushiya to the -number of 10,000 assembled before the royal palace and demanded the -head of the prince Hasan. The Khalif was not in a position to refuse -this demand and sent for one of the court physicians, a Jew named Abu -Mansur, and asked him to poison Hasan, but the Jew prudently declined the -dangerous task. He then sent for a Christian physician named Ibn Kirfa -who performed it, and the dead prince’s head was given to the rebels. -But the Khalif never forgave Ibn Kirfa for what he had done, and before -long an excuse was found to imprison the Christian physician, and in due -course he was executed. - -After their successful revolt the troops elected as wazir the Armenian -Bahram. But he very soon made himself unpopular by showing marked -favouritism towards his fellow countrymen who, for the most part, had -entered the country in the company of the Armenian Badr al-Jamali. As -a result he was deposed and most of the Armenians expelled from the -country. Bahram ended his life as a monk. - -In 532 Rudwan was appointed wazir and was the first official in Egypt to -assume the title of “king.” But he held office only for a few months, and -in 534 was cast into prison. - -Meanwhile the Franks had met with several checks. The Turks under Zengi -defeated them at Atharib in 525, and in 539 took Edessa from them. -Thus the Franks began to be threatened from the north-east, and their -opponents were consciously making plans for their final subjugation or -expulsion. In 541 Zengi died and was succeeded by his son Nur ad-Din, -who becomes the decisive factor in the affairs of western Asia and Egypt -within the course of the next few years. At this time the Franks were -distinctly on the decline, and the hopes built on the foundation of -Jerusalem and other Latin kingdoms in Palestine and Syria were not being -realised. The West began to feel that the First Crusade had failed in -its effort, and so the Second Crusade, mainly the work of St. Bernard -whose aims and intentions were above question, set out in 542 and -attacked Damascus in the following year, the Crusaders then marching on -Jerusalem. But the Second Crusade was an immediate and marked failure. -Conditions were greatly changed from what they had been when the former -Crusade arrived: there was now a strong Turkish power in Syria, and -this was inclined and prepared to be aggressive. The Second Crusade was -necessarily a failure. The only important result of Frankish invasion was -the kingdom of Jerusalem which had been the work of the First Crusade. - -At this period of Egyptian history we are able to avail ourselves of -the very interesting record which Osama has left of his own experiences -in Syria and Egypt, a record which has been rendered accessible in the -French translation of Derenbourg (_Vie d’Ousama_, Paris, 1886-93). Osama -left Damascus in 538 and went to Cairo, where he was well received by -al-Hafiz, who gave him a robe of honour and a house and other gifts. So -long as Hafiz ruled Osama took no part in the public affairs of Egypt, -but has left observations upon the course of events, but in the next -reign he comes forward prominently as an adviser, and usually as an -adviser of evil. - -When the ex-wazir Rudwan had been ten years in prison he contrived to -bore his way out through the prison walls by the help, it is said, of a -rusty nail, and, joined by many of his friends, went to Gizeh intending -to seize the wazirate by force. There was a great ferment in Cairo; -many persons went out to join themselves with him, whilst the Khalif’s -guards prepared for defence. At the head of a large band of followers he -forced his way across the Nile, defeated the Khalif’s army, and marched -into Cairo where he made his headquarters in the Grey Mosque. There he -was joined by many of the emirs who brought supplies of men, arms, and -money. The Khalif assembled his negro troops, treated them to wine and -then, in a half intoxicated state, they marched out and demanded the head -of Rudwan. A great tumult ensued in which the emirs, frightened by the -apparent ferocity of the negro guard, left Rudwan, and his supporters -were scattered. Rudwan himself was alarmed and went out of the mosque -intending to escape, but his horse which should have been at the gate was -missing. A young guard offered his horse, and as the ex-wazir approached -to avail himself of this offer, he cut him down. Very soon the negroes -came up and finished him, then “the people of Misr share the morsels of -his flesh which they eat to give themselves courage” (Derenbourg: _Vie -d’Ousama_, p. 212). - -This took place in 543 and led to a period of general disorder, for the -negro troops called out by the Khalif soon passed beyond his control, -the streets became unsafe, and faction fights between the Rayhamites who -were loyal to the Khalif and the Juyushites, Alexandrians, and Farhites -once more broke out just as sixteen years before. Again the Juyushites -were victorious, greatly to the annoyance of al-Hafiz who determined to -revenge himself upon them. But this resolve he was not able to carry out -as he died in 544. - -Al-Hafiz was an old man at the time of his decease, fully seventy-six -years, and for some time had been in failing health suffering from -colic. It is said that Shirmah the Daylamite, or else Musa an-Nasran, -made for him a drum of seven metals, each welded at the moment when the -appropriate planet was in the ascendant, and that this drum when beaten -relieved the wind from which the Khalif suffered. After his death this -drum was preserved in the treasury, but was incautiously tapped by a -Turkish soldier at the time of Sala d-Din’s conquest, and that he, -astonished at the surprising result produced, dropped it and it broke to -pieces. - -The writer Abu Salih describes Hafiz as particularly well disposed -towards the Christians, and especially fond of visiting the gardens of -some of the monasteries near Cairo, where he showed his goodwill by many -gifts and acts of kindness. He even visited the Christian churches, but -was careful to enter backwards lest the stooping necessitated by the low -door-ways might appear to be an act of reverence to the cross which stood -within. - - - - -XVI - -THE TWELFTH FATIMID KHALIF, AZ-ZAFIR - -(A.H. 543-549 = A.D. 1149-1154) - - -At the death of Hafiz in October, 1149, _i.e._, A.H. 543, his youngest -son Abu Mansur Ismaʿil az-Zafir li-ʾAdai dini-llah (“the conqueror of -the enemies of God’s religion”) was proclaimed Khalif in accordance -with the late sovereign’s orders. The new Khalif was then only sixteen -years of age, frivolous in his tastes, and much given to the society of -concubines and to listening to vocal music. One of his first acts was to -select Najm ad-Din b. Masal as his chief minister, thus displacing the -Emir Sayf ad-Din Abu l-Hasan ʿAli as-Sallar, whom he sent to a provincial -administration. This new minister Ibn Masal was a native of Lukk, near -Barqa, where he and his father had been horse breakers and falconers. - -But Ibn Sallar was not disposed to take his deposition from office -tamely, and soon assembled a band of armed supporters to help him to -recover the wazirate. When the news of this revolt was brought to -Cairo the Khalif assembled a council of all the emirs of the state and -discussed with them the measures necessary to be taken. All professed -unqualified loyalty to the Khalif’s nominee Ibn Masal, until a certain -aged emir proposed that, if this profession represented their real -attitude, they should join in passing a decree of death against the -ex-wazir Ibn Sallar. This they unanimously refused to do. “Very well,” -said the old emir, “then act accordingly.” At this the council broke up, -all the emirs leaving the city and joining themselves to the party of Ibn -as-Sallar. The Khalif gave large sums of money to his nominee Ibn Masal, -but it was impossible to raise any supporters in Cairo. Meanwhile Ibn -as-Sallar was gathering his forces at Alexandria and advanced along the -left side of the Nile until he reached Giza on the 14th of Ramadan, 544, -and the following day entered Cairo without meeting with any resistance -and established himself in the official residence of the wazir, taking -over the control of the affairs of state. At Ibn as-Sallar’s advance Ibn -Masal fled, having held office only fifty days, and went to the Hawf east -of the capital where, with the help of the funds supplied by the Khalif, -he raised a force of supporters. As soon as he was firmly established -in Cairo Ibn as-Sallar went out to deal with his rival, but Ibn Masal -evaded him and took refuge in Upper Egypt whither Ibn as-Sallar followed -him. A pitched battle took place at Dilas, south of Wasta, in which -Ibn Masal was killed, his forces scattered, and his head cut off to be -carried to Cairo as a trophy. Thus Ibn as-Sallar was left without rival, -and the Khalif was compelled most reluctantly to recognise him as wazir. -Naturally the young sovereign had no love towards such a minister, and -almost immediately began to make plots to rid himself of him. - -Although wazir under a Fatimid Khalif, Ibn as-Sallar was strictly -orthodox and gave the whole of his patronage to orthodox teachers of -the Shafiʿite school. This position in Alexandria gained him many -adherents, and their attachment was still more secured by his foundation -of a Shafiʿite college there. He continued the same attitude after his -assumption of office at Cairo, so that he was regarded by the people of -Egypt as an orthodox champion against the heretical Khalifate. By nature -he was cruel and vindictive. An anecdote is related of him that when he -was in the army in the days before he held office he had to apply to Ibn -Masum, the Secretary of War, for help to defray extraordinary expenses -incurred by him in the administration of the province of Gharbiya, as -the result of which he found himself heavily in debt. The Secretary only -replied: “By God, thy discourse entereth not my ear,” and Ibn as-Sallar -left his presence full of indignation. Long afterwards, when he had -risen to a high position, he made search for Ibn Masum, who hid himself -fearing retaliation from the one whom he had treated contemptuously as -a petitioner. At last the Secretary was found and brought before the -wazir who had him lain on a board and a nail driven through his ear, Ibn -as-Sallar asking him at each cry he uttered, “Doth my discourse yet enter -thy ear or not?” (Ibn Khall. ii. 351). - -In the plots against the wazir, az-Zafir’s chief confidant was a young -man of his own age, Nasir ad-Din Nasir, the son of the general ʿAbbas -who, next to the wazir, was the most powerful man in Egypt. About this -time ʿAbbas was setting out with an army against the Franks taking with -him his son Nasir. For a moment we must pause to consider the position -of this son, the favourite of the young Khalif. Many years before, in -503 Bullara, the wife of Abu l-Futuh had come to Egypt with a child -ʿAbbas. Some time afterwards the wazir as-Sallar married her, and in due -course his step-son ʿAbbas grew up and became a general in the Egyptian -army, and had a son, Nasir, who was brought up by his grand-mother in -the house of Ibn as-Sallar. Now this youth went with the army which Ibn -as-Sallar was sending against the Franks in the company of his father -and the Syrian Osama. At Bilbays, on the point of quitting the land of -Egypt, ʿAbbas can only talk about the delightful climate of Egypt, its -many beauties, and regret that he is being exiled to the comparatively -unattractive land of Syria. But Osama interrupted his discourse and asked -him why, if he liked Egypt so much, did he not get rid of the wazir Ibn -as-Sallar and take the wazirship himself, then he would be settled in -Egypt permanently. ʿAbbas gave serious attention to these proposals and -brought in his son Nasir, and the project was discussed by the three, the -father ʿAbbas presumably being well aware of his son’s plotting with the -Khalif against the wazir who had sheltered that son in his home and was -the husband of his grand-mother. It was finally agreed that Nasir should -go back to Cairo and murder the wazir. He, as an inmate of the house, -would be the best able to get into his presence and do the deed without -premature discovery. So the army remained at Bilbays and Nasir returned. -The wazir’s house was guarded, but Nasir was well aware of the minister’s -habits and went direct to the harim which was in a detached building. -He had brought a small body of men with him, and together they went -through the grounds to the harim, where Nasir found the wazir asleep -and murdered him. As soon as the guards learned what had happened they -broke out in disorder and began to search for the assassins, but Nasir -and his men had made good their escape, and the household guards seem to -have lacked any one to direct their plans, now the master was dead. This -murder took place on the 6th of Muharram, 548. - -As soon as the news was brought to ʿAbbas he returned with his forces -to Cairo where he soon restored order, and was without delay invested -with the office of wazir. The change does not seem to have aroused any -other feelings than relief amongst the people at large, for Ibn as-Sallar -had been a harsh and cruel ruler, and many had suffered for suspected -partisanship with the defeated Ibn Masal. Early in his period of office -he had suppressed the Khalif’s bodyguard of young men, and put most of -them to death, and this had been the inauguration of an almost constant -series of executions. - -Thus ʿAbbas was made wazir, but this appointment resulted in the Khalif’s -own assassination within the next few months. In the circumstances which -led to this it is clear that the chief factor was a close friendship -between the Khalif and the wazir’s son Nasir, and with this was the evil -influence of Osama. It is said that the Khalif made overtures to Nasir -to slay his father ʿAbbas, presumably intending to make the son wazir -in his place; but the details of this are obscure and seem to be very -much open to question. It is, however, clear that Osama took a leading -part in stirring up the feelings of ʿAbbas and his son and inducing them -to proceed to this murder, and it is he who definitely states that the -Khalif had made overtures to Nasir to assassinate his father, and it -seems likely that he says this to excuse his own bad advice. - -Both the Khalif and Nasir were of exceptional beauty, of about the same -age, and living in close intimacy,—so close as to provoke the scandalous -comments of censorious tongues. It seems that Osama was the first to -draw attention to these evil rumours. The Khalif had presented Nasir -with the fief of Qaliub immediately north of Cairo, and in the presence -of his father and Osama Nasir announced this in the words, “Our master -has given me the province of Qaliub”: at which Osama remarked, “That is -not splendid as a wedding gift.” This remark sounded offensive to ʿAbbas -and his son, and in consequence they decided to slay the Khalif. Osama -gives the further account that Ibn Munqidh said to ʿAbbas: “How can you -endure the evil reports I hear about your son?” “What are they?” asked -ʿAbbas. Osama then interposed: “People say that az-Zafir has commerce -with thy son and suspect the Khalif of doing with him what one does with -women.” ʿAbbas was aroused and asked indignantly, “But what can I do?” -Ibn Munqidh replied, “Assassinate the Khalif, then the dishonour will -be purged from thee.” Ibn Khallikan (i. 222), in his life of az-Zafir, -states that ʿAbbas said to his son, “You are ruining your reputation by -keeping company with az-Zafir; your familiarity with him is the subject -of public talk; kill him then, for it is thus that thou wilt vindicate -thy honour from these foul suspicions.” - -When Nasir had made up his mind to the murder he invited the Khalif to -visit him in his house in the Armourers’ Market, and there he concealed -a band of confederates. On Thursday, the last day of Muharram, 549 (15th -April, 1154), the Khalif went privately with a single black slave to -Nasir’s house and there the conspirators fell upon him, slew him, and -buried his body beneath the floor of the room; according to Osama they -slew the black slave at the same time, but this does not seem to have -been the case as we find the slave afterwards showing the place where the -body was buried. The same night Nasir went to his father and informed him -of what he had done. - -Next morning ʿAbbas went to the palace and asked for the Khalif with -whom, he said, he had important business. The household slaves went -in search of him but could not find him either in his own rooms or in -the harim, and brought the wazir word that they were unable to find -where he was. At this ʿAbbas, who had remained at the palace gate, -dismounted and went into the palace with a band of trusty followers -and asked for the Khalif’s two brothers, Jibrila and Yusuf, who were -soon brought. According to one account he bade one or the other then -assume the Khalifate as the state could not go on without a head, but -they declined. “For,” they said, “we have no share in the government, -az-Zafir’s father disinherited us when he passed it to az-Zafir: after -him it is to his son that the authority belongs” (Osama, _op. cit._). -According to the much more likely account given by Ibn Khallikan ʿAbbas -asked the two brothers where az-Zafir was, and they replied that he -ought rather to ask his son, thus making it clear that they knew whither -he had gone the night before. At once he declared, “These two are his -murderers,” and at his command they were beheaded. ʿAbbas then sent for -the late Khalif’s son al-Faʿiz, then aged five (or two) years, set him -on his shoulder and sent for the emirs. As soon as they had assembled -he said, “Here is the son of your master: his uncles have murdered his -father, and I put them to death as you may perceive. What is essential -now is, that the authority of this infant should be fully recognised.” -The emirs reply, “We hear and obey.” They then gave a great shout -which so troubled the infant on the wazir’s shoulder that he was ever -afterwards subject to fits of trembling (Ibn Khall. ii. 425-6). ʿAbbas -then took charge of the government, but subsequent events rather belong -to the reign of al-Faʿiz. - -Az-Zafir was only twenty-two years of age at his death. His tastes -had been frivolous, and it would not seem that there was much reason -to regret him, but the circumstances of his murder and the general -detestation of ʿAbbas threw round his memory a halo of loyalty. He was -the founder of a mosque known as the az-Zafiri mosque, near the Bab -Zawila. - - - - -XVII - -THE THIRTEENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-FAʿIZ - -(A.H. 549-555 = A.D. 1154-1160.) - - -In spite of ʿAbbas’ attempt to throw the guilt of the Khalif’s murder -upon his two brothers, it was well known both in the palace and in the -city that the wazir was the culprit, and both were aroused to the deepest -indignation. The emirs in the palace almost at once began to conspire -against the wazir, and decided to appeal to as-Salih b. Ruzzik the -Armenian, who was then governor of Munya Bani Kharib in Upper Egypt. The -letter they sent was coloured black as a sign of their deep mourning, and -with it they sent their hair cut off, the ancient Arab symbol of dire -distress. As soon as as-Salih received this message he assembled the -soldiers who were with him, and read the letter to them asking whether -they were ready to support him. They all declared their readiness to -follow his lead in avenging the Khalif’s murder and in liberating the -young successor from the baleful influence which at present overshadowed -the throne. With his men as-Salih then marched to Cairo. As he approached -the city all the emirs and their henchmen came out to join him as well -as many of the citizens, so that ʿAbbas found himself deserted. At -this ʿAbbas took to flight, accompanied by his son Nasir and the evil -counsellor Osama, and betook himself to Syria. - -As-Salih was thus able to enter Cairo without opposition, which he did on -the 14th of Rabiʿ I. 549 (May, 1154), and took charge of the government. -Guided by the young eunuch who had been present at the murder of az-Zafir -he went to Nasir’s house and lifted up the stone under which lay the -body of the late Khalif. This he removed and buried in the midst of a -whole city in mourning. Az-Zafir’s sister wrote a letter to the Franks -at Ascalon, a town which they had captured in 548 when the army setting -out from Egypt under ʿAbbas failed to appear, and offered them a reward -of 60,000 dinars for ʿAbbas and his son. This reward induced the knights -Templars to go out and stop ʿAbbas on his way to take refuge with the -Turks in the north: an engagement ensued in which ʿAbbas was killed and -Nasir taken prisoner. The prisoner was put into an iron cage and sent -with an escort and an accredited envoy to Cairo, and the promised reward -was at once paid. Nasir’s ears and nose were cut off and he was paraded -through the city and then crucified at the Bab Zawila, after which his -body was burned (on the 10th Muharram 551 = March, 1156 A.D.). Osama who -really was the prime instigator of the mischief escaped any punishment. - -In the year of Faʿiz’s accession (549) the Turks under Nur ad-Din took -Damascus and thus began pressing on the Franks from the north. The -Egyptian wazir was very anxious to enter into alliance with Nur ad-Din -and employed Osama as an intermediary, sending to the Turkish Sultan -flattering messages, volumes of his own poetry, and the promise of -substantial assistance. But in spite of all these efforts Nur ad-Din -was extremely cautious and deeply suspicious of the Egyptians, as well, -no doubt, as unsympathetic towards the Shiʿite sect. The Egyptian -advances received their best endorsement from a victory gained by the -Fatimid general Dirgham over the Franks in 553, but even then Nur ad-Din -hesitated and would not enter into any definite engagement. This was -undoubtedly a mistake, for united action between the Turks and Egyptians -would probably have definitely cleared out the Frank settlers, and any -further effectual Frankish invasion was impossible in the face of the -Turkish power now firmly established in the north. - -In 555 the Khalif al-Faʿiz died (on Friday, 17th Rajab = July, 1160) -whilst in an epileptic fit. - - - - -XVIII - -THE FOURTEENTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-ʿADID - -(A.H. 556-567 = A.D. 1160-1171) - - -At the death of al-Faʿiz at the age of eleven years his cousin Abu -Muhammad ʿAbdullah al-ʿAdid, son of Jibril, one of the murdered brothers -of az-Zafir, and then a child of nine, was proclaimed Khalif. He was -treated simply as a prisoner of state, as indeed had been the case -with his predecessor, and the government was entirely in the hands of -the wazir as-Salih. But as-Salih was not a good ruler; he forestalled -provisions and artificially raised prices, levied frequent fines, and -managed to contrive the execution of various of the great officers of -state whose property was forthwith confiscated. Indeed his besetting sin -was avarice, and the resources of the country were greatly exhausted -by his constant speculations. At length, in 559, “seduced by long -prosperity, he neglected the precautions of prudence” (Ibn Khall. 336), -and plots were formed against him. These plots received the support of -the Khalif, which means in plain words that they were the result of harim -intrigue as is the case with the majority of plots in oriental courts, -and the Khalif’s guard was told off to act as executioners. One day an -attempt was made, but one of the guard accidentally locked a door he -was trying to open, and so the attempt failed. A few days later another -attempt was made, this time with more success, and the wazir was severely -wounded. His attendants managed to kill the attackers and carried the -wounded wazir to his palace, where he died on Monday, the 19th Ramadan, -559 (Sept., 1161). The Khalif visited him on his death-bed, and he gave -the sovereign the final messages of his office: he regretted most that he -had not succeeded in taking Jerusalem and expelling the Franks, as they -formed the most serious problem before the country: and he warned his son -to beware of Shawar, the governor of Upper Egypt, for he was the most -dangerous and unscrupulous rival to the wazir. - -As-Salih was succeeded in office by his son Abu Shuja al-ʿAdil Ruzzik, -but within a year he was deposed and executed by Shawar, whose ambition -had been rightly gauged by as-Salih. But Shawar, who was an Arab by -birth, was distinctly unpopular, and within a few months he was driven -out by Dirgham, who was the favourite of the soldiery and commanded the -Barqiya brigade. Expelled from Egypt Shawar went to Damascus and opened -negotiations with Nur ad-Din: he represented to him that Egypt was -inadequately defended, that it would be an easy conquest, and that the -union of the Muslim world would be the best means of effectually getting -rid of the Franks, all the arguments already urged by as-Salih with the -added attractive detail of conquest instead of alliance. But Nur ad-Din -was ever extremely cautious, and moreover he distrusted what he saw of -Shawar, who was very evidently a wily and treacherous man, but the ideas -suggested seem to have sunk into his mind. Meanwhile circumstances began -to force the Egyptian question on Nur ad-Din’s attention by making it -more or less inevitable that Egypt must fall into the hands either of -the Nur ad-Din, or else into those of the Frankish king of Jerusalem. It -seems that a subsidy had been paid by the Fatimids to the Franks, though -when this began is not recorded. Lane-Poole says that it “must have -been recently instituted, for Ibn-Ruzzik, who died in 1161, assuredly -would have paid no such subsidy to the ‘infidels.’ Probably Shawar began -the payment in 1162, but the fact cannot be proved” (_Egypt in the -Mid. Ages_, p. 177, note). At any rate Dirgham, seeking for increased -popularity and confident in the military resources of his country and -in the decadence of the Franks, stopped this payment to Amalric, who -was at this time king of Jerusalem. As a result Amalric invaded Egypt -in the following year (560). Dirgham went out to meet the invaders and -was severely defeated at Bilbays. But it was then the time of the Nile -inundation, and Dirgham had the dykes cut so that the whole country -was very soon under water. This made the Franks ready to listen to some -sort of compromise, and they accepted such payment as Dirgham offered -and withdrew to Palestine. Shortly after their retirement Dirgham was -informed of Shawar’s intrigues at Damascus, and he at once perceived that -his wisest plan was to conclude an alliance with Amalric so that he could -count on Frankish help against a Turkish invasion. No doubt this project -was known to Nur ad-Din, although Amalric’s recent attempt was enough -to force his hand, and he decided to take Shawar’s advice and send an -expedition into Egypt. At the head of the army despatched by Nur ad-Din -was the Turkish general Shirkuh, with his nephew Salah ad-Din (Saladin), -as his lieutenant, and with him was Shawar as guide and adviser. - -Dirgham held Bilbays against the Turks, but was defeated, though able to -re-assemble his forces for the defence of Cairo. Shirkuh was able to gain -possession of Fustat, but the fortified Kahira was held by Dirgham and he -was able to resist all the Turkish attacks made upon it. Then Dirgham, -who relied most on the popularity he enjoyed amongst the soldiers, -sorely pressed for funds, laid hands on the _waqf_ or “pious bequests,” -a comprehensive term which in a Muslim land includes all property left -in trust for religious and allied purposes, the salaries of the mosque -officials, the alms bequeathed for distribution amongst the widows and -orphans and pilgrims, the lands left for the upkeep of the mosques and -schools, even the copies of Qurʾans presented to a mosque for the use of -worshippers and teachers contain on the fly-leaf an inscription declaring -them _waqf_ for such and such a mosque; indeed the term includes -everything held in trust for religious, charitable, or educational -purposes, and in a country like Egypt this implies a very vast total, -to-day administered under the supervision of an important department of -the state. The actual seizure of this property by Dirgham, an act almost -without precedent in Islam, caused a general revulsion of feeling amongst -soldiers and people and practically ruined Dirgham’s cause at once. The -army deserted him and the Khalif followed their lead; only a bodyguard -of 500 men was left to the wazir. Conscious of his mistake Dirgham sought -too late to try to repair it. For hours he stood in the great square -before the Khalif’s palace with his faithful bodyguard and called out -like a petitioner for the Khalif’s pardon and help, but without any reply -being sent out to him. Then he noticed that even as he stood there his -men were gradually stealing away from him, until at last only thirty were -left. Suddenly a cry was raised that the besiegers had broken through the -fortifications and had entered the royal city, which indeed was the case, -the Turkish host riding in by the Bab al-Qantara leading from Jawhar’s -bridge over the canal into Kafur’s garden, and at this news Dirgham -turned away and rode out through the Bab az-Zuwila on the south. But -this road took him through part of the old city and he was recognised by -the citizens, pulled from his horse, and beheaded. His head was paraded -through the streets and reviled by all, for the mediaeval Muslim had no -sympathy with ecclesiastical disendowment, whilst the body was left lying -on the ground until it was eaten by the city dogs. - -The expedition, though led by Shirkuh, had professedly been to restore -Shawar to the wazirate, and now established in office Shawar only -desired to get rid of the Turks. He kept Shirkuh out of the royal city, -entirely refused to allow him any share in the results of the conquest, -and declined to pay the expected indemnity. He felt, no doubt, that the -decisive factor had been the revolt against Dirgham rather than the help -of the Turks. But Shirkuh was not a likely person to suffer this conduct -with impunity, and sent his nephew Saladin to occupy Bilbays and thus -hold the Sharqiya or eastern province, one of the four great divisions -of Egypt, the other three being Gharbiya or the western province, Qus -or Upper Egypt, and Alexandria or Lower Egypt. This move on the part -of Shirkuh moved Shawar to appeal to Amalric, and an army of Franks -marched down to besiege Bilbays. The siege lasted three months and then -Amalric was obliged to retire and call an armistice as the Turkish hosts -of Nur ad-Din were proceeding south to the relief of Saladin. It was -agreed that the body of Syrians occupying Bilbays should be allowed -to evacuate without interference, and they marched out between the -armies of the Egyptians and the Franks. For the moment matters had -produced a stale-mate, but Shirkuh was fully convinced that Egypt could -be conquered without much difficulty, and that this would be the right -way to check the Franks effectually. Nur ad-Din, with characteristic -caution, hesitated over so great an undertaking which would necessitate -the employment of his forces in the far south and leave the Frankish -kingdom of Jerusalem between his capital and the bulk of his army, but -the project was warmly espoused by the Khalif of Baghdad, and at length -Nur ad-Din acquiesced and a new expedition started from Damascus in the -early part of 562. - -This new force was under the command of Shirkuh who had his nephew -Saladin with him as before, but this time he was free from the presence -of the treacherous Shawar. They took the desert route so as to avoid the -Franks by a long detour and thus reached the Nile at Atfih some forty -miles south of Cairo, the ancient Aphroditopolis just north of Wasta, -and there crossed the river and commenced the journey down along the -west side. Hardly had Shirkuh crossed than the Franks who had heard of -the expedition and followed close after appeared on the other side of -the Nile and, not venturing to cross in face of the enemy marched along -the east side, the two armies keeping pace one with the other, the river -between. Both pushed on to Cairo where Amalric encamped near Fustat, -Shirkuh at Gizeh. The Frankish king took advantage of these circumstances -to insist on a clearer understanding with Shawar, and to see that the -terms of the agreement made with him were duly ratified by the Khalif. -It was contrary to all precedent for a foreign and non-Muslim prince to -pay a personal visit to the Imam, but Amalric insisted, and at length -the wazir assented. William of Tyre has left a graphic description of -that visit, and of the astonishing splendours of the palace to which -Amalric and his companions were admitted. There he had an interview with -the Khalif, a young Egyptian of dark colour, the terms of the treaty -were recited, that Egypt was to pay 200,000 pieces of gold at once, -and 200,000 pieces later, whilst Amalric on his side was to expel the -Syrians. Both parties assented and then Amalric held out his right hand -to grasp that of the Khalif whilst a shudder passed round the court at -this apparent profanity. After a brief hesitation the Khalif also held -out his hand covered with a glove. But Amalric exclaimed that as an -honest man he preferred to take the prince’s bare hand; at this again the -court suffered a shock of horror, but the Khalif drew off his glove and -grasped the rough hand of the Frankish king. - -Amalric desired now to come to grips with the Syrians immediately and -began constructing a bridge of boats across the Nile, but this was easily -prevented by the Syrians. Amalric then marched his men by night down the -river to where it divided at the commencement of the Delta, and there he -managed to cross without great difficulty, appearing next morning on the -west or left side. At once Shirkuh began retreating southwards towards -Upper Egypt closely followed by the Franks. Amalric overtook the enemy -at al-Babayn near Oshmunayn about ten miles south of Minia, and there -Shirkuh halted and made ready for battle. In the middle he placed his -baggage and on the flank he stationed Salah ad-Din with orders to retreat -as soon as the Franks commenced the attack, so that they might be drawn -off and the Egyptians dealt with alone whilst the Franks were separated -from them. These tactics were followed, and whilst Saladin was leading -away the Franks and skilfully evading them, the Egyptians were completely -routed by the main body of Syrians. As soon as the Franks perceived that -their allies were defeated they began to retreat and abandoned their -baggage to the Syrians, so this was a definite victory for Shirkuh. - -The Syrian leader now began marching back along the left bank of the -river but did not continue to follow that route, breaking westwards along -the desert route to Alexandria which in due time he reached and took, -appointing Saladin governor and leaving an adequate body to support him -whilst he retired towards Upper Egypt which he began to lay waste. The -Franks had followed as soon as they could, and the allied Franks and -Egyptians laid siege to Alexandria. For some time Saladin defended the -city with vigour, but the citizens of Alexandria were very soon in revolt -against the military occupation and the inconveniences inevitable from a -state of siege. Alexandria was then, as now, a cosmopolitan town, largely -Levantine in population, and essentially a community of merchants, the -type least likely to be patient in enduring the restrictions and dangers -of a siege. When their discontent broke out in open revolt Salah ad-Din -sent to his uncle Shirkuh for relief, and in response he laid siege to -Cairo. The news of this counter move induced Amalric to raise the siege -of Alexandria and march to the relief of Cairo, first making terms with -Salah ad-Din. It is very difficult to discover the real nature of the -terms under which Alexandria was abandoned by the Franks as both sides -claimed that the operations ended in a victory for themselves. It seems -clear that Alexandria was handed over to Shawar which was a score for -the Franks: at the same time Amalric paid 50,000 pieces of gold. So far -it probably was a bargain struck between the two forces in which we may -regard the city as ransomed for 50,000 pieces of gold. But it seems that -the Franks left a garrison there and increased the subsidy paid by the -Egyptians to 100,000 pieces of gold. No doubt the right interpretation is -that, after the bargain had been made between Amalric and Saladin, the -Syrians made these new terms with Shawar to his disadvantage. - -After this, in the latter part of the year, Shirkuh retired to Damascus. -This seems to suggest that the Turks and Syrians had abandoned the -projected conquest of Egypt. But Amalric saw quite clearly that the -possession of Egypt was the crucial point in the struggle between the -Franks and the Muslims, and himself planned to steal a march on Nur -ad-Din and conquer Egypt for himself. With this end in view he raised new -forces and again entered Egypt in 564, taking Bilbays and slaughtering -the inhabitants. This was a more serious danger to the Egyptians than -anything which had happened before, and at once the grouping of parties -was changed by new alliances. Now Shawar made alliance with Nur ad-Din -and invited the Turkish-Syrian army to come to the rescue. Before any -result could be arranged the Franks had pressed on and were threatening -Cairo. To save the city from falling into the hands of the enemy the -Egyptians determined to set fire to the ancient Fustat and abandon it, -the newer Kahira was strongly fortified and could hold out on its own -account. This plan was carried out. For fifty-four days the fire raged -in Fustat abandoned by all its population, and nothing lay before the -invaders but charred ruins and the Old Mosque, and a few other buildings -which more or less resisted the conflagration. - -Meanwhile Amalric obtained possession of the country and encamped before -Cairo. The crafty Shawar managed to deceive him and induced him to -consider suggested terms which served to delay operations whilst Shirkuh -was collecting a new force and preparing to come to the relief of the -Egyptians, nor was Amalric undeceived until Shirkuh arrived and joined -the Egyptians. At this the Franks retired and Shirkuh entered Cairo and -then made camp outside. Day by day visits of compliment were exchanged -between Shawar and the Turkish leader, but Shawar constantly postponed -the payment of the money expected and promised for Shirkuh’s help and, -judging from his knowledge of the man Shirkuh was convinced that he was -trying to play off the Frank and the Syrian against one another. At a -conference of his generals Shirkuh announced that it was of primary -importance to put an end to this state of affairs and recommended that -Shawar should be seized and held prisoner. No one was ready to take the -first step in the execution of this proposal until Saladin volunteered to -do it with his own hands. Soon afterwards Shawar was seen coming with a -train of attendants to pay one of his customary visits. Salah ad-Din with -his guard rode out to meet him, and as they rode side by side he suddenly -grasped Shawar’s collar and pulled him off his horse, at the same time -ordering his men to fall on the attendants of the wazir. Shawar was then -taken to a tent and held prisoner. For some time Shirkuh was doubtful -what the result of this measure would be, then an embassy came from the -Khalif bringing the official pelisse, the outward badge of the wazirate, -to Shirkuh and asking for the head of Shawar. This was equivalent to -appointing Shirkuh as ruler of Egypt, and was a final and definite -step in ending the independent existence of the Fatimid Khalifate and -establishing the suzerainty of Nur ad-Din, whose servant Shirkuh was. On -Wednesday, the 17th of Rabiʿ II. 565, Shirkuh was formally invested as -wazir, and aroused popular enthusiasm by permitting a general looting of -Shawar’s palace. Shirkuh, however, held office only two months and died -on Saturday, 28th of Jumada II., being succeeded in his office by his -nephew Saladin. Soon afterwards Aiyub, Saladin’s father arrived in Egypt, -and his son offered to resign his appointment to his father, but Aiyub -refused to accept this sacrifice and urged his son to continue in the -exercise of the functions which he had received as the most trusty and -efficient lieutenant of his uncle Shirkuh. - -Two years later (567) a message was received from Nur ad-Din ordering the -_khutba_ in Egypt to be changed and the name of the ʿAbbasid Khalif to be -used in place of the Fatimid. Saladin hesitated fearing a revolt of the -people at this termination of the Egyptian Khalifate and proclamation of -their being incorporated in the Khalifate of Baghdad. But fresh orders -from Damascus insisted. In Cairo there was much reluctance amongst -Saladin’s officers to venture on this change, but at length a Persian -visitor named al-Amir al-Aahin offered to ascend the pulpit next Friday -and pronounce the new _khutba_, and this was accepted. On the following -Friday the Persian did so, and no single word of protest was uttered: -the Fatimid dynasty fell without being the object of more than private -comment, and Egypt acquiesced in the change without discussion or even -taking any particular notice. At the moment the Khalif al-ʿAdid was -ill and confined to his rooms. The members of Saladin’s suite debated -whether he ought to be informed of the change, but it was agreed that if -he recovered it would then be time enough to tell him, and if he did not -recover he might as well die in peace without knowing that his dynasty -had fallen. Shortly afterwards he died in this peaceful ignorance. - -This surprisingly commonplace end of the Fatimids is a striking comment -on their history. As organised by ʿAbdullah b. Maymun the Ismaʿilian sect -was a secret society, and this society had established an empire in which -it ruled over subjects who, though loyal to their rulers as political -sovereigns, were totally out of sympathy with the society’s known or -supposed aims. So far as these had become prominent from time to time -they had only produced difficulties and friction, most pronounced in -the incidents connected with al-Hakim; the wiser and saner advisers of -the throne undoubtedly made it their aim to push the sectarian element -into the background, or get rid of it altogether. Yet all through the -history of Egypt, at least up to the time of al-Mustansir, that sectarian -element was very distinctly present and the Fatimid Khalif as the -pontiff of the Ismaʿilians was visited by pilgrims from Persia, Arabia, -and other parts. As a sectarian movement the Fatimid adventure had two -off-shoots which are still to some extent living forces. The Druses of -the Lebanon still form a vigorous and flourishing community of no small -political importance. Their religious tenets have been long a secret, -though many details have leaked forth; but now there is a “modernist” -party, chiefly of the younger men, amongst the Druses, and these desire -to reveal their religious beliefs more fully feeling that secrecy has -only tended to misrepresentation of their community, and believing that -the moral ideals which they hold together with their combination of -agnostic and pantheistic doctrine furnishes a religious system likely to -gain many converts at the present time. How far these modernists will -succeed in divulging their beliefs, and how far their movement will -receive the sympathy of the heads of the sect remains to be seen. It is -understood that Dr. Bliss of Beirut will be the probable intermediary of -communication with the western world if this disclosure takes place. - -The second important off-shoot is that of the Assassins. The Syrian -branch of the Assassins was completely exterminated, and the great -headquarters at Alamut was destroyed by the Turks, but besides these two -greater branches there were many minor groups of the sect which have -lived out a secluded existence scattered in various parts of central Asia -and India, and undoubtedly exist at the present day. As late as 1866 -an English judge in Bombay was called upon to decide a succession case -according to the jurisprudence of the Assassins. Prof. Browne states, -“remnants of the sect, as I was informed by a very intelligent and -observant Babi dervish of Kirman, of whom I saw a great deal when I was -in Cairo in the early part of the year 1903, still exist in Persia, while -in India (under the name of ‘Khojas’ or ‘Khwajas’) and Chitral (under -the name of ‘Mullas’), as well as in Zanzibar, Syria, and elsewhere, -they still enjoy a certain influence and importance, though it requires -a great effort of imagination to associate their present pontiff, the -genial and polished Agha Khan, with the once redoubtable Grand Masters -of Alamut and the ‘Old Man of the Mountain’—‘Le Vieux’ of Marco Polo’s -quaint narrative” (Browne: _Literary Hist. of Persia_, p. 460). - -As a political force the Fatimids rapidly vanished. In the great struggle -between Franks and Turks they had for a while hindered the co-operation -of the Muslims under Turkish leadership, and perhaps had contributed to -the weakness which had allowed the establishment of a Frankish kingdom -in Jerusalem, though this weakness would be sufficiently explained by -the fact that the earlier Turkish migration westwards had just ceased, -and the greater movement which followed had not yet begun. When Saladin -swept aside the remnants of the Fatimid Khalifate it disappeared without -leaving any appreciable mark on contemporary history. - -On the religious history of Islam the Fatimids left even less impression. -They were entirely excluded from the theological life of the Muslim -community, save that they probably contributed to the strong disfavour -with which the orthodox regarded philosophical and scientific studies as -these took a suspected colour by reason of the sympathy with which the -Shiʿites generally, and the Ismaʿilians in particular had regarded them. - - - - -XIX - -THE FATIMID KHALIFATE IN ITS RELATION TO GENERAL HISTORY - - -A few words may be added to define more plainly the part taken by the -Fatimid Khalifate in the general course of history. So long as the -Fatimite movement merely took the form of a sectarian body in Asia it had -hardly more than a local interest, and even the formation of a Fatimid -Khalifate at Kairawan does no more than illustrate the disintegration of -the empire of the Khalifs of Baghdad. But the conquest of Egypt brought -the Fatimids into relation with a wider world and induced them, unwisely -no doubt, to venture on the conquest of Syria. It is a question how -far the power ruling in Egypt ever can be free from Syria: the ancient -Pharaohs were drawn into Egyptian expeditions, and the two lands have -been closely involved one with the other ever since: nearly always Syria -has proved the grave in which the prospects and hopes of Egypt have been -buried. In the days of the Fatimids Syria was the battle ground of the -Near East, and every country from Byzantium to the Oxus was more or less -drawn into the conflicts there, whilst in the later part of the period -the whole of Christendom, except Spain, was involved: and every power -of East or West found there either severe loss or total ruin. The whole -course of the history of the 9-12th centuries of the Christian era shows -the gradual sucking in of Muslim and Christian powers to this maelstrom, -and in every case with disastrous results. - -The whole period of the Fatimid Khalifate, from the first formation of -the parent sect or conspiracy to the final downfall before Salah ad-Din, -may be divided conveniently into three periods; (i) the rise of the -Ismaʿilian sect and the establishment of a Khalifate claiming Fatimid -descent at Kairawan, (ii) the conquest of Egypt and the period of more or -less prosperous rule over Egypt and Syria, and (iii) the period of decay -under the attacks of the Saljuq Turks and the Crusaders to its final -downfall. - - -(i) _The Formation of the Fatimid Khalifate._ (A.H. 260-356 = A.D. -873-966.) - -This was the period during which the Ismaʿilian sect was founded, spread -to North Africa, and a Khalifate was established at Kairawan. It was a -time during which the Khalifate of Baghdad was passing through a course -of rapid decay: under no other circumstances would such progress on the -part of the Ismaʿilis have been possible. The Khalif Harunu r-Rashid died -in 193 (= 808) whilst actually proceeding against a rebellious son in -Khurasan. His death was followed by a civil war at the end of which his -rebellious son was established as Khalif, but soon afterwards in 205 (= -820) Khurasan was practically lost to the Khalifate and passed into the -hands of the independent dynasty of the Tahirites, who ruled nominally in -the Khalif’s name but paid him no obedience. Tahir himself was an Arab, -but his supporters were mainly Persians, and this begins the period of -Persian political supremacy which lasted until the rise of the Turks in -the middle of the 4th cent. The Saffarids who ruled in Khurasan from 260 -to 290 A.H. were purely Persian, and so were the Samanids who arose in -288 and ruled until 400. All these maintained themselves in the east, but -in 320 (= 932) the Buwayhids, a Daylamite tribe from the shores of the -Caspian Sea came down into the very heart of the Khalifate, and from 344 -until 447 controlled Baghdad, holding the Khalif as an ornamental figure -to adorn the pageant of state. Not only were these Buwayhids Persians -but, like the Saffarids and Samanids, they were Shiʿites, not themselves -recognising the Khalif as the true ruler of Islam, but using him simply -as a tool to give effect to their rule over those who did. This was the -golden period of Arabic philosophy and literature. - -In North Africa the Aghlabid dynasty of Zairawan went down before the -followers of the Fatimid Mahdi, who increased in power and prosperity -until they conquered Egypt in 356. Only in the far West the rival -Khalifate of Cordova held its own, minor independent states were formed -in the further parts of North Africa, and in Sicily a popular movement -declared for the orthodox Khalif of Baghdad. - -During all this time Islam hardly enters into the political history of -Europe, save in Spain. The Byzantine Empire held its own owing to the -weakness of Islam: the Latin Empire was in process of disintegration and -new states were being formed in the west. Almost contemporaneously two -sturdy races begin to appear at points far removed, the Turks who are -gradually filtering across the Oxus into Persia and becoming Muslims, -and the Northmen who are settling on the sea-board of the North-West of -Europe and becoming Christians. - - -(ii) _The Golden Age of the Fatimids._ (A.H. 356-469 = A.D. 966-1076.) - -During the period of the decay of the Abbasid Khalifate the Fatimids -were able to seize an important part of the Abbasid dominions and make -themselves rulers of Palestine and Syria, with more or less intermittent -control over Arabia. At this time the three leading powers in the Near -East were the Khalifate of Baghdad, the Fatimid Khalifate of Egypt, -and the Byzantine Empire, but of these three the Fatimid Khalifate of -Egypt was the most vigorous and aggressive. Under Karl the Great the -Western Empire had assumed a kind of protectorate over the Christians in -Palestine, but in Fatimid times this had become obsolete. The two rival -Khalifates were separated by a wide gulf of religious difference, how -wide cannot be appreciated without following the history of the formation -and development of the Fatimid Khalifate. Both made overtures to the -Greeks, but the relations of Byzantium with the Muslim world generally -turned on questions connected with Fatimid rule: Fatimids and Greeks -faced one another in North West Syria, and it was only in Sicily that -the Greeks had to deal with the Baghdad Khalifate. Before the beginning -of this period Crete which had fallen into the hands of the Muslims in -A.D. 825, was recovered (in A.D. 961): Sicily, conquered by the Muslims -between A.D. 827 and 878, remained in their hands but, after the Fatimid -conquest of North Africa it revolted and gave in its allegiance to the -Khalifate of Baghdad. North Africa was divided amongst various Muslim -groups, and Spain was fully occupied with its own problems. In A.D. 1038 -Byzantium lost control over North Syria, so that on the whole the Greeks -were receding before the Muslims. In A.D. 1029 (= A.H. 419) there was, -however, a _modus vivendi_ reached between the Fatimids and the Greeks -by which, in return for help during famine, the Muslims were allowed to -have a mosque in Constantinople provided prayer was offered there for the -Fatimid Khalif, and, apparently, the Christians were allowed freedom to -visit Jerusalem. The persecution of Christians under Hakim had culminated -in the destruction of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in A.D. 1009, -but this was re-built soon afterwards: the persecution was an isolated -incident: in Muslim lands generally neither Christians nor Jews suffered -any serious disabilities, the penal laws were long obsolete, and the only -penalty enforced was against a Muslim who became a convert to another -religion. An additional tax had to be paid by non-Muslims, but this was -in lieu of military service from which they were exempt. - -The real stirring of history lay in the extreme east and west, in the -rise of the Turks and of the Normans, both gradually converging upon -western Asia and at the close of this period are both approaching -Syria, bringing even greater disasters to their co-religionists than to -those whom they regarded as their foes. During the period under present -consideration both were already in this arena in small numbers, employed -as mercenaries by all the three Near Eastern powers, Turkish soldiers -of fortune serving under the Khalifs of Baghdad and under the Fatimids -of Egypt, Northmen serving in the employ of the Emperors of Byzantium, -but neither Turks nor Northmen had as yet moved in in sufficiently large -numbers to become independent factors in politics. - -The first assertion of the Turks appears in the career of Mahmud of -Ghazna. Turkish soldiers had been employed by the Samanide of Khurasan, -and one of these, Alptekin, was made governor of Khurasan, but at a -disputed succession in the house of Samani he unfortunately took the -side of the candidate who proved unsuccessful and so had to flee the -country. With a body of followers he established himself in the mountain -fortress of Ghazna (in A.H. 350 = A.D. 961), and there he and his son -Sebektakin held their own, nominally as vassals of the Samanids, really -as an independent brigand state. The third ruler of Ghazna, Mahmud, -declared himself independent in 390 (= 999), and received investiture -directly from the Khalif of Baghdad, assuming the title of Sultan, a -title which he was the first to introduce into the community of Islam. -Mahmud of Ghazna is one of the brilliant figures of history, but one -whose importance can easily be over-estimated. In a series of twelve -expeditions to India he won both fame and booty, but was not in any -real sense a conqueror of India. In A.H. 407 (= A.D. 1016) he extended -his power northwards to the shores of the Caspian Sea, and here before -long he was brought into contact with other kinsmen of his own, Turks -living across the Oxus, and it was the advance of these Turks led by -the Saljuq tribe which, in his son’s days, cut off the Sultanate of -Ghazna from Persia and the West and compelled the Ghazni dynasty to -turn its attention eastwards. This led to the foundation of a Muslim -state in India which, under the successive rule of Turks, Afghans, and -Mongols, had a continuous existence to the time of the Indian Mutiny in -the 19th cent. Although Mahmud and his followers were Turks he gave the -civil administration mainly into the hands of Persian officials, and -thus Persian became the court language of Muslim India, though Arabic -was sometimes employed in important charters,—both foreign languages to -rulers and subjects; and thus, when the native Hindi began to be used -as a literary medium it appeared as a language which, though thoroughly -Hindi in structure and grammar, had a vocabulary full of Persian and -Arabic words, and in this form is known as Urdu or Hindustani. Thus -Indian history, through the pushing eastwards of the Ghazni Turks by the -advance of the Saljuqs, connects with the history of the West. - -The Persian dynasties of the Saffarids, Samanids, and Daylamites were -Shiʿite in religion, but the Turks were Sunni, that is to say “orthodox” -in the sense of adhering to the traditional school which was in -communion with the official Khalifate of Baghdad, so that when they came -westwards they came as its champions, in contrast to the Normans who were -unfriendly towards the Greek Church. - -The Saljuq Turks migrated from Turkistan to Balkh about 345 (= A.D. 956), -and there accepted Islam. They settled on the farther side of the Oxus -about 20 parasangs from the town of Balkh, and there they were found -by Mahmud of Ghazna. He removed then to the near side of the Oxus and -distributed them through the province of Khurasan where, as they were -broken up into small groups, they were harshly treated, and plundered -until a body of 2,000 fugitives fled to Ispahan for protection. The -governor there wished to employ them in the army, but Mahmud sent orders -that they were to be imprisoned and their property confiscated, and -followed up these orders by sending a force to scatter them. After this -they took to brigandage under a leader named Tughril, and finally were -pardoned by Mahmud on condition that they reduced the whole province -of Khurasan to obedience to him. This work they took in hand but, in -the days of Masud, the successor of Mahmud, they were able to establish -their own independence and compelled the Sultan of Ghazna to abandon all -control over Persia and turn his attention eastwards (Ibn Khall. iii. -224-226x). - -The Saljuqs were now so prominent that al-Qaʾim the Khalif of Baghdad -sent to Tughril as a loyal Sunni to deliver him from the tyranny of the -Buwayhids. In response Tughril marched to Baghdad and formally restored -the temporal power of the Khalif in 447 (= A.D. 1055), though this soon -meant simply that the Khalif was under the guardianship of a Saljuq -Turk instead of a Daylamite Buwayhid; though there was this much gain, -that the Saljuqs were theoretically orthodox supporters of the Abbasid -Khalifate. - -The Saljuqs were now established as the champions and defenders of the -Baghdad Khalifate. Under Tughril’s successor, Alp Arslan, they came into -direct conflict with both the Fatimids and the Greeks. By 457 (= A.D. -1068) they were in possession of Georgia and Armenia, and had become a -very serious and pressing menace to the Byzantine Empire. A few years -later the Emperor Romanus IV. was totally defeated by them in 460 (= -A.D. 1071), and all Asia Minor lay open to the Turks, though the Saljuq -position there was insecure until they took Antioch from the Greeks. -Alp Arslan was succeeded by Malah Shah who, in the course of 467-477 (= -A.D. 1074-1084) established the Saljuq power in Asia Minor, and in 469 -conquered Jerusalem from the Fatimids, so that practically the Saljuq -Sultan, theoretically the Commander-in-Chief serving under the Khalif of -Baghdad, was the master of all Western Asia. This brings us to the close -of the second period and to the end of the golden age of the Fatimids. - -Meanwhile in the West the Normans, destined to be the protagonists of -the Saljuq Turks, were becoming a leading power in another way. In 1038 -we find them serving in Sicily, in 1040 they were conquering Apulia, and -soon afterwards they began minor encroachments on the Byzantine Empire. -Their chief settlement, Normandy, dates from 911, and it is significant -that this was one year after the foundation of the Abbey of Cluny, -from which proceeded a religious reformation which found its warmest -supporters in the Normans. When Pope Leo IX. made an expedition against -the Normans in Apulia and was defeated by them, his greatest surprise -came in finding his victorious enemies ready to pay him a reverent -loyalty far beyond anything he had previously experienced. The recently -converted Normans were no less definite in their orthodoxy as Christians -than the recently converted Saljuqs in their orthodoxy as Muslims. - -It is, no doubt, impossible to regard the Crusades as entirely religious -in their spirit and character, but it is equally impossible to ignore -the fact that religious motives played a very large part in their -history. We may venture to say that they commenced under the influence -of the Cluniac reformation, and that most of those who took part in the -First Crusade, if they had any regard for religion at all, accepted the -Cluniac standards: whilst the Second Crusade was still more definitely -associated with the Cistercian order, itself an after-math of the Cluniac -reformation. The attitude of the Latin clergy towards the Greek Church -was exactly the same as that of the Cistercian missionaries towards the -native Keltic clergy of Ireland a few years later: wherever religion -enters into the programme of the Crusaders it is always treated according -to Cluniac standards, and everything is disapproved which does not -conform to those standards. The Normans and Burgundians formed the most -loyal contingent of those who contended for Cluniac ideals, and they, the -Normans especially, formed the real nucleus of the First Crusade. The -Crusading movement cannot be separated from the Cluniac reformation. - -In referring to the Cluniacs we do not confine the term to those who were -actually monks in the Abbey of Cluny, nor even to those in the priories -which were in obedience to Cluny, but extend it to all those portions of -the Latin Church which followed the leadership of Cluny in the way of -church reform and saw the ideal Christianity in the Cluniac programme, an -ideal of which we have the fullest expression in the writings of S. Peter -Damian. These reformers were loyal to the Papacy, but to an idealised -Papacy reconstructed on Cluniac lines; they were outspoken in their -criticism of the actual Papacy and its entourage as it existed in the -10th cent. Incidentally Rome ceased to be the chief place of pilgrimage, -not because there was any repugnance felt towards Rome or the Papal -court, but because, in conformity with the spirit of Cluny, a greater -emphasis was laid upon the suffering Christ, and thus greater prominence -was given to the sites connected with the Passion: thus Palestine tended -to become a “Holy Land,” and Jerusalem itself the chief object of the -pilgrim’s devotion. Thus, early in the 11th century, the thoughts of -the leading and most vigorous element in the Latin Church began to turn -towards Jerusalem and predisposed men to regard the liberation of the -holy sites of Palestine from infidel rule as a work of piety. - -In 1074 Pope Gregory VII., himself a product of the Cluniac movement, -laid a programme of reform before a council assembled at Rome; the -liberation of Jerusalem did not actually figure in this programme, but -later in the same year (on Dec. 7) we find it expressed in a letter to -Henry IV. (cf. Gregor. Pp. VII. _Epist._ II. 31, in Jaffe: _Mon. Greg._, -pp. 14415, but a previous suggestion had been made by Silvester II. as -far back as 999). No doubt the news of the Saljuq advance into Asia -Minor had something to do with his proposal, the report of vast numbers -of “Christians living beyond the seas” slain by “the pagans” so that -the Christian community was reduced to nothing (id. p. 145), but the -chief point was that Gregory and his party looked at the world through -a Cluniac medium and so to them Palestine was the “Holy Land,” and it -was a terrible thought that the sacred sites of Christ’s passion were in -the hands of unbelievers. The violent storms aroused by the reforming -programme of 1074, however, prevented any action being taken in this -direction. - - -(iii) _Third Period. Fatimid decline._ (A.H. 469-564 = A.D. 1076-1168.) - -When Urban II. became Pope in 1087 events had moved forward with -startling rapidity. In 1076 Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of the -Saljuqs, and the Byzantine Empire was practically deprived of all its -Asiatic possessions, so that both Egypt and Byzantium were at bay. In -this desperate crisis the Greeks made an appeal to the West, and this was -laid before two councils assembled in the year 1095, the one at Piacenza -in March, the other at Clermont-Ferrand in November, and from these -councils proceeded the First Crusade. - -At the moment the three great powers in the Near East were the Byzantine -Empire, the Fatimid Khalifate, and the Saljuq Sultanate, but of these -the two former were on the defensive and steadily losing ground; the -Fatimids had just suffered the loss of Jerusalem, the Greeks had lost -North-West Syria and practically all of Asia Minor. The Saljuqs were the -leading military power and held the Khalifate of Baghdad absolutely in -subjection, but they already showed signs of decline, their empire was -beginning to be divided amongst provincial rulers known as _atabegs_, -and these were getting to be more or less independent of the central -authority: it was the old story of the Khalifate over again. Both in -Cairo and in Baghdad the real power was in the hands of the wazir or -prime minister. - -In 1097 the First Crusade came east: its advent was hailed by Byzantium -and by the Fatimids, both believing that it would prove a check to the -Saljuqs. The Greeks were the first to be undeceived, and soon found -that the Crusaders were extremely undesirable neighbours. The Fatimids -were anxious to join in alliance with the Crusading forces but wanted -to recover Jerusalem. It was a purely religious motive which prevented -this,—the Crusaders were unwilling to leave the Holy Sepulchre in Muslim -hands. - -So far as the history of Western Asia is concerned the Crusaders produced -very great results, but these were purely destructive in character. They -checked the Saljuqs and effectively broke their power, though that power -had already commenced its decline before the Crusaders’ arrival: but -this only made way for a new Kurdish power. The Crusades as a religious -war provoked an anti-Crusading movement, quite distinctly religious in -its character, on the Muslim side,—a Holy War to resist the champions of -the Cross. The first mover in this was Zengi atabeg of Mosul, and it was -continued by his son Nur ad-Din. In the employ of these atabegs of Mosul -was a Kurdish soldier named Ayyub who, at the death of Zengi in 541 (= -A.D. 1146) moved to Damascus, and eight years later became governor of -the city. From him were descended the Ayyubites, Shirkuh and his nephew -Salah ad-Din, the instruments by which the Fatimid Khalifate was finally -destroyed. It was not the rise of a new power but merely the development -of one of the minor local states formed from the disintegrating Saljuq -empire. - -The immediate result of the Crusades lay in the formation of Latin states -in Palestine and Syria, at Jerusalem, Edessa, and Antioch, and in the -final exclusion of the Fatimids from Syria, but none of these states -had any stable foundation. Only in quite minor issues can we find any -permanent traces of the Crusaders’ presence in Asia. In the East their -memory lives as a legend of tyranny and religious intolerance, whilst a -few Arab tribes preserve a tradition of Crusading blood. In the West it -may be possible to argue that only the Carmelite Friars show any enduring -trace of the Crusades: almost every influence which has been traced to -the Crusades seems to have been due to intercourse between Muslim and -Christian in Spain, or to Frederick II. in Naples and Sicily,—though, of -course, it might be argued that Frederick himself was a product of the -Crusading age: yet it must be remembered that Frederick came more under -the influence of Jews and Muslims expelled from Spain by the intolerance -of the Muwahhid rulers. - -The work of Salah ad-Din who put an end to the Fatimid Khalifate of -Egypt and to the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, restored the semblance -of authority to the ʿAbbasid Khalifate of Baghdad, but the following -period 567-656 (= A.D. 1171-1258) saw no real reconstruction of the -Khalifate: existing conditions were merely bolstered up whilst internal -decay proceeded on its course. In 656 (= A.D. 1258) the Khalif finally -went down before the Mongol invasion which was simply destructive in its -results. It was not until two centuries later that the Ottoman Turks -sweeping westwards evolved a new order from these elements of decay and -founded an empire which has lasted some 500 years, receiving from the -last exiled representative of the ʿAbbasids such title as he could give -to the historic Khalifate, and practically re-organising the Sunni Muslim -world on strictly orthodox and traditional lines so that, in spite of -occasional dissentients, it generally won the esteem and loyalty of the -world of Islam. - - - - -XX. - -THE LATER HISTORY OF THE ISMAʿILIAN SECT - - -The Fatimid Khalifate had its origin in a religious sect which professed -to represent the true Islam transmitted through a line of seven Imams -who alone understood the real meaning of the religion proclaimed by the -Prophet Muhammad: the first of these was the Prophet’s son-in-law ʿAli, -and the last Ismaʿil the son of Jaʿfar as-Sadiq or his son Muhammad, -with whom, according to the earlier teaching, the line ended as the Imam -passed into concealment, the leaders of the sect keeping the teaching -alive and preparing the way for his return to the visible world. At a -later date the leaders claimed themselves to be the Imam’s descendants, -the “concealment” being no more than a hiding from the persecuting -Khalifs of Baghdad, and so they were the continuers of the sacred -tradition, and on this claim rested the Khalifate of Kairawan and of -Egypt. It is, of course, extremely difficult to make anything like a -fair estimate of the religious work and influence connected with such -a movement, and especially because it professed to cover its religious -teaching with a veil of secrecy, and also because, during the duration -of the Fatimid Khalifate in Egypt, the historians are almost exclusively -occupied with recording the political activities of the rulers and make -only occasional and allusive references to the sect as a religious body. -It seems possible to distinguish three different elements in the sect, -(i) the philosophical element which is one of the results of Greek -philosophy and especially of the teaching of Aristotle as interpreted by -the neo-Platonists and represented in an oriental dress after passing -through a Syrian and Persian medium. Such teaching is traditionally -associated with Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, and seems to have been the real -doctrine of the sect at its first formation, but that was revealed only -to the initiated, and apparently it was never checked or restated in the -light of the more accurate study of the text of Aristotle which was the -work of the “philosophers” of the fourth century A.H. (ii) The definitely -Shiʿite doctrine of the incarnation of the divine spirit in the Imam -passed on by transmigration from ʿAli to his descendants. And (iii) -the purely political element which cared nothing about philosophical -speculation or Shiʿite doctrine, but saw in the sect promising elements -of a conspiracy against the ʿAbbasid Khalifate. But it does not seem true -to say that the whole movement was wholly political, as though there were -no reality in the attachment to philosophical or Shiʿite ideas. - -When the Ismaʿilian sect emerged first into the open arena in the -Qarmatian rising the doctrinal element, especially (i), had effectively -undermined all adherence to orthodox Islam; how long the Qarmatians -remained attached to Shiʿite claims we do not know, but they do not seem -to have attached much importance to them. In history the Qarmatians -appear as simply anti-Muslim and offensively irreligious: they give -evidence of no ideals whatever beyond the ordinary aspirations of -brigands, though we must bear in mind that the only account of them is -such as their enemies have given us. In fact they seem to have been -simply a robber band released from all pretence of religious beliefs and -inspired by a hatred of Islam due, no doubt, to oppression at the hands -of Muslim rulers. - -The Khalifate at Kairawan and Cairo presents a much better test of the -religious tendencies of the Ismaʿilian sect. In this case the sectarian -leaders established a strong government and, on the whole, ruled well. -The government was founded by those who seem to have believed sincerely -in the Fatimid claims, but the great majority of the subject population -had no sympathies in that direction: they were quite willing to be -ruled by Shiʿites, but had no inclination to turn Shiʿite themselves. -The extravagant claims of incarnation etc. which made so strong an -appeal to the Persians found the Berbers and Egyptians irresponsive. The -Ismaʿilians made an attempt to press them into their sect when first the -Mahdi was established at Kairawan, but this policy was soon abandoned -and very rarely tried again, though it seems that the regular meetings -of the sect and the instructions given by the duʿat were continued until -some time after the reign of Hakim. For the most part the Fatimids -were quite content with political power and did not interfere with -the religious convictions of the people. The condition seems to have -been that the Ismaʿilians formed a kind of free-masonry which was, to -some extent, the “power behind the throne,” though it was by no means -necessary for the officers of state to be members of that brotherhood -themselves, and in later times, when the wazirs were practically -independent princes, cases occur in which the official government is -actually unfriendly towards it. In the later part of the Fatimid period -the only mark which distinguished its rule from that of the orthodox -Khalif at Baghdad seems to have been that the _khutba_ before the Friday -sermon was said in the name of the Fatimid, and that of the ʿAbbasid was -not mentioned. The whole sectarian teaching seems to have evaporated -steadily in an Egyptian atmosphere which was one of steady indifference. -The philosophical teaching which had been the first object of the sect, -died away in Asia, and was then transmitted to Spain which formed a kind -of _orbis ulterior_ of Islam, leaping over Egypt altogether, as though -its premature development in the Ismaʿilian sect had inoculated the -Fatimite community against it. The characteristically Persian doctrines -of incarnation and transmigration took no hold in Egypt or Ilfrikiya: -when they were vigorously preached by Persians in Hakim’s time they only -provoked a riot. - -We can hardly treat religion as a matter of race, for there seems no good -evidence for extending heredity so as to include matters of cultural -development: culture, which includes religion, is transmitted by contact -not by descent, it is learned not inherited: and it is very doubtful how -far psychological pre-dispositions can be inherited. But culture exists -in different areas with distinctive characteristics so that it is not -easy for persons of one culture-area to appreciate the outlook of those -of another, although there is a constant culture-drift passing between -the two. In North Africa there is a tendency to pay exaggerated honour, -which might be described as actual worship, to the _murabits_ or saints, -but it is quite independent of the incarnation theories which prevail -in Persia and India, and so we may say that this, the characteristic -tenet of the Ismaʿilis as Shiʿites, found itself in Egypt and North -Africa in an unsympathetic atmosphere, and was gradually starved out. -Perhaps we may take the accession of al-Hafiz in A.H. 524 = A.D. 1131, -when the wazir in office was antagonistic to the Ismaʿili doctrines, -as the probable date by which the doctrines of the Ismaʿili sect had -ceased to have any meaning in Egypt, and consequently that in which the -parent Ismaʿili sect was practically obsolete. Whatever may have been the -sincerity of its first founders, of those whom we credit with a desire -to spread the philosophical theories learned from Greek philosophers and -formed into a body of doctrine subversive of the traditional teaching -of Islam, or of those who were attached to the incarnation theories of -the Persians, it is clear that the purely political element finally -gained the upper hand, and in due time discarded all the religious and -philosophical thought which, from their point of view, had outlived its -utility. In Fatimid Egypt the sect was rather like a free-masonry under -royal patronage, and when this patronage came to an end the sect died -a natural death. That the teaching of Duruzi and Hamza in the reign -of Hakim met with such violent opposition is convincing that Shiʿite -teachings were uncongenial to the Egyptians, though it does seem that -under Fatimid rule Cairo was much frequented by Persian visitors and -pilgrims. - -The subsequent influence of the Ismaʿili sect shows itself in off-shoots -which do not connect with Egypt or North Africa. So far as we know the -first Ismaʿili propaganda in India took place about A.H. 460 = A.D. 1067, -about the time when the Fatimid Khalifate in Egypt was just coming to the -end of its flourishing period. At that time a missionary named ʿAbdullah -came from Yemen and preached in North-West India, and is claimed as the -founder of a sect known as the Bohras which is found scattered through -many of the trading centres of the Bombay presidency, though some -attribute its foundation to a later teacher, the Mullah ʿAli. Many of the -Bohras, however, have become Sunni (cf. Nur Allah ash-Shushtari, quoted -in Arnold: _Preaching of Islam_, pp. 275-7). - -The Khojah sect proper was founded by a daʿi named Nur ad-Din who was -sent from Alamut about A.H. 495 (= A.D. 1101), or perhaps later, and so -is an off-shoot of the Assassins (cf. p. 214 supra), Nur ad-Din changed -his name to the Hindu Nur Satagar and made many converts from the lower -castes of Gujerat. About A.D. 1430 the head of this Khojah sect was Pir -Sadr ad-Din who adapted its teachings to suit Hindu ideas; according -to him Muhammad was Brahma, ʿAli was Krisna in his tenth incarnation -(avatar), thus accepting the previous nine incarnations of Hindu -mythology and adding this extra one as an adaptation to Shiʿite ideas, -and Adam was Siva. This Hindu rendering of Ismaʿilian ideas was detailed -in a book which he produced and called the _Dasavatar_, which serves as -the sacred book of the modern Khojahs and is read beside any member of -the sect on his death-bed. In this semi-Hindu teaching it is difficult to -trace any real continuity with historic Islam, and it is rather grotesque -to find that the members of the sect, numerous in the chief trading towns -of western India, have in recent years taken a leading part in Islamic -agitations against British rule. - -These Indian Khojahs represent the Assassin branch of the Fatimite wing, -but there are other representatives of the same branch scattered all over -the Muslim world, though nowhere forming an established community quite -in the same way as in West India. The Bohras, or such of them as have not -turned Sunni, represent the older parent stock of the Ismaʿilians. The -Druzes of Mount Lebanon maintain the off-shoot formed during the later -years of al-Hakim, and these show a clearer continuity than any other -relic of the sect which set the Fatimid Khalifate upon the throne of -Egypt. - - - - -BIBLIOGRAPHY - - -(A.) Original authorities accessible in translations or extracts. - - -Abraham the Syrian. - -Leroy: Histoire d’Abraham le Syrien patriarche copte d’Alexandrie. (In -“Revue de l’Orient Chrétien”: 1909, pp. 380 sqq.) - - -Ibn Adhari (d. 662). - -Histoire de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne. Dozy. Leide. 1848. - - -Ahmad b. Yahya al-Baladuri. - -Liber expugnationis regionum. Lugd. Batav. 1863-6 (in 3 parts). - - -Arib b. Saʿd of Cordoba (circ. 366). - -Nicholson: Account of the establishment of the Fatemite dynasty -(translation), Tübingen and Bristol, 1840. (The history goes down to the -end of al-Muqtadir’s reign, A.H. 320.) - -Edition in Arabic, by de Goeje. (Supplement to Tabari’s history.) - - -Ibn al-Athir (ʿAli b. Muhammad). - -Dozy: Hist. Abbadidarum, vol. ii. - -Jornberg: Ibn-el-Athir’s Chronika. Lund. 1851. - - -Baha ad-Din (Muhammad b. Husayn). - -Vita Saladini. Ed. Schultens. Lugd. Batav. 1732. - - -Eutychius. - -In Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vol. ci. pp. 889, etc. - -Edit. in Corpus Script. Christ. Orientalium, vol. i. 1906—vol. ii. 1909. -Ed. Cheiko and Carra de Vaux. - - -Abu l-Feda (Ismaʿil b. ʿAli, king of Hamat in 743, died 749). - -Wrote Tarikh Mukhtasir. Ed. Constantinople, 2 vols. A.H. 1329. Text and -Latin trans. by Reiske: Annales Moslemici, 5 vols., Copenhagen, A.D. -1789-1794. - -Also Taqwimu l-Buldan, ed. with Lat. trans., Graevius, 1650. Republished, -ed. Hudson, Oxford, 1712. - - -Fihrist. The _Fihrist_ of Muhammad b. Ishaq an-Nadim. - -Ed. Fluegel, Leipzig, 1871. Written circ. 378 (= A.D. 988), invaluable -for earlier Shiʿite history. Many authors such as Akhu Muhsin, Ibn -Razzam, etc., are known only by citations in the Fihrist. - - -Gregory Bar Hebraeus _or_ Abu l-Faraj. - -d. A.D. 1286. His great history was planned in three parts, of which part -i. “the history of the dynasties” deals with political history. Syriac -text edited by Bedjan, Paris, 1890. The Arabic translation by the author -is enriched with matter which does not occur in the Syriac, ed. Pococke, -Oxford, 1663; Arabic text Beirut, 1890. - - -Al-Kairawani. Muhammad b. ʿAli r-Rayni al-Kairawani. - -Ed. Pellisier et Rémusat, Sciences hist. et géogr. vii. Paris, 1845. -(Explorat. scientifique de l’Algérie.) - - -Kamal ad-Din. - -History of Aleppo. Ed. and trans. as “Regnum Saad aldawlae.” G. W. -Freytag, Bonn, 1820. - - -Ibn Khaldun, Wali ad-Din Abu Zayd Abdu r-Rahman ibn Khaldun. - -d. 809. Ed. Bulaq, 1284 (= 1867) in 7 vols. Prolegomena, text and French -tr. in vols. 16-21 of Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la bib. nat. - -De Slane, Histoire des Berbères, Alger, 1851-2. - -Noël des Vergers, Hist. de l’Afrique, Paris, 1841. - -Jornberg: Ibn Khaldunnarr de expedit. Francorum in terras Islamismo -subjectas. Upsala. 1840. (Text and Latin trans.) - - -Ibn Khallikan. Shams ad-Din Abu l-Abbas. - -d. 681. Wrote Wafiat ul-Aiyan (Biographical Dictionary), strongly -anti-Fatimid. Ed. Wüstenfeld, Göttingen, 1835. Eng. Trans. (cited in -references) by De Slane, 1835-40. - - -Khandemir (Khwand Amir). - -Persian. Ed. (with German tr.) Die Geschichte Tabaristans, etc., St. -Petersburg, 1850. - - -Abu l-Mahasin. - -d. 875. Ed. J. D. Carlyle, Maured Allatafet Jemaleddim. Cambridge, 1792 -(very defective). - -Annals, ed. T. G. J. Juynboll, Leiden, 1861. - - -Al-Makini. - -d. 672. Ed. Erpenius. Historia Saracenica, Lugd. Batav., 1625. - - -Maqrizi, Ahmah b. ʿAli b. ʿAbdu l-Qadir al-Maqrizi (dz. 845). - -Chief authority for the history and antiquities of Cairo. Favourably -disposed towards the Fatimid Khalifs from whom he claimed descent. - -Ed. Bulaq, A.H. 1270. Portions translated in De Sacy’s Chrestomathie. -Part by Bouriant (but nothing relating to the Fatimids as yet reached in -this translation. Pub. 1895, etc. in progress). Ed. Wiet, Cairo, 1911, -etc. (a corrected text). - -Wuestenfeld: Macrizi’s Geschichte der Copten. (Text and trans.) 1845. - - -Nasir-i-Khusraw. - -Sefer Nameh, Relation du voyage de Nasir i Khosrau, ed. and tr. C. -Schefer, Paris, 1881. - - -An-Nuwairi, Ahmad b. ʿAbdu l-Wahhab. (d. 733). - -Only portions accessible, no full text published. - -Dozy, Historia Abbadidarum, ii. 1846. - -Dozy, Historia Siciliae, Arabice et Latine, 1790. - -Hist. de la Sicilie, trad. par J. J. A. Caussin, Paris, year x (1802). - - -Osama. - -Derenbourg, Vie d’Ousama, Paris, 1886. - -(Contains Osama’s own memoirs: invaluable for the reign of az-Zafir and -the history immediately following.) - - -al-Qalqashandi. - -Al-Kalkashandi, tr. Wüstenfeld, Die Geographie, etc. Göttingen, 1879. - - -(B). Modern Writers. - -De Goeje: Mémoires sur les Carmathes du Bahrain et les Fatimides. Leide, -1886. - -Dozy: Essai sur l’histoire de l’Islamisme. Leide, 1879. - -Dussand, R.: Histoire et religion des Nosairis. Paris, 1900. - -Guyard: Fragments relatifs à la doctrine des Ismaélis. Paris, 1874. - -Von Kremer: Kulturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen. 1875-7. - -Lane Poole: Story of Cairo. Lond., 1906. - -” History of Egypt. Middle Ages. Lond. New ed. 1914. - -” Moslem Dynasties. 1894. - -” Art of the Saracens in Egypt. 1886. - -” Coinage of Egypt A.H. 358-922. (Vol. ii. of Catal. of Brit. Mus. -Oriental Coins). 1892. - -Mann, J.: The Jews in Egypt and Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs. -Oxford, 1920. - -Quatremère: Sur la dynastie des Khalifes Fatimites. (Journal asiat. for -August, 1836. 3rd series, No. 2.) - -Ravaisse: Essai sur l’histoire etc. d’après Makrizi. - -Rivoira: Moslem architecture. Eng. trans. Oxford, 1918. - -De Sacy: Exposé de la religion des Druzes. Paris, 1838 (2 vols.). - -De Sacy: Chrestomathie (vols. i. and ii.). - -Wuestenfeld: Geschichte d. Fatimiden Chalifen. Göttingen, 1881. (A series -of extracts, not a connected history.) - -Wuestenfeld: El-Macrizi’s Abhandlung. 1847. - -Zaydam, G.: Umayyads and Abbasids. Lond., 1907. - - - - -INDEX - - - A - - ʿAbbas, 229 - - —wazir, 230 - - Abdan, 45 - - ʿAbdullah, founder (or reformer) of Ismaʿilite sect, 16, 17, 21, 32 - - ʿAbdullah b. Essaig, minister to the Aghlabids, 66 - - Abu ʿAbdullah, missionary in N. Africa, 57 sqq. - - —suspected, 69 - - —executed, 71 - - Abu Khatam’s sect, 48 - - Abu Najah, the monk and minister of finance, 220 - - Abu Raqwa, Umayyad claimant in - - —invades Egypt, 149 sqq. - - —N. Africa, 147 sqq. - - —defeated, 151 - - —death, 152 - - Aghlabid dynasty in N. Africa, 59, 247 - - Ahmad, son of Abdullah, 33 - - Ahmah, wazir to al-Hafiz, 222-223 - - Al-Adid, 235 - - Al-Afdal, 216-220 - - Al-Amir, Khalif, 218 - - —assassinated, 220-221 - - Al-ʿAziz, Khalif, 115 sqq. - - —death, 121-122 - - Aleppo, 175, 176, 195 - - Al-Faʿiz, Khalif, 233 - - Al-Hafiz, Khalif, 222 - - Al-Hakim, Khalif, 121, 123 sqq. - - —peculiarities, 133 - - —mosques, 137-8 - - —disappears, 185 sqq. - - —reports that he is still alive, 188 - - ʿAli, 4, 5 - - ʿAli Allahi, 16 - - ʿAlid lines of descent, 5, 11 - - Al-Jarjarai, 193, 196 - - Al-Mahadiya founded, 77 - - Al-Mansur, Khalif, 90, 91 - - Al-Moʿizz, Khalif, 93 sqq. - - —goes to Egypt, 109 - - —his rule in Egypt, 113 - - Al-Mustali, Khalif, 210 sqq. - - Al-Mustansir, Khalif, 88 - - Al-Qaʾim, Khalif, 88 - - Al-Yazuri, 196, 197, 198, 200, 203 - - Amalric, 239-242 - - Anushtegin, 191-196 - - Arab race, 1 - - Armenians in Egypt, 206, 223-224 - - As-Salih, 233, 235-236 - - Assassins, sect of, 209, 210 sqq., 244-245 - - Az-Zafir, Khalif, 227 - - Az-Zahir, Khalif, 189 - - - B - - Babists, 15 - - Badr the Armenian, 206, 208 - - Bahrayn taken by the Qarmatians, 49-50 - - Baldwin, 218-219 - - Barjawan, 124, 126, 130 - - —assassinated, 131 - - Barqa taken by Abu Raqwa, 148-149 - - Batinite doctrines, 7, 12, 176 - - Berbers, 55-56, 74 sqq. - - B. Qorra, 147-148 - - Buraniyya sect, 48 - - Byzantium, treaty with, 191 - - - C - - Cairo founded, 102 sqq., 114 - - Christians, 2, 116, 141, 143-145, 155-158, 170, 179-180, 197-198, 226 - - —allowed to emigrate, 171 - - Cluniac movement, 252-254 - - “Companions” cursed, 142 - - —cursing stopped, 154, 169 - - Crusades, 216-218, 224, 236, 238-239, 241, 255 - - - D - - Daʿi or missionary of Shiʿite sect, 6, 7 - - —arguments used by Ismaʿilian daʿi, 21 sqq. - - —Chief Daʿi, 135 - - Darazi, Persian teacher who visited Egypt, 176 - - Daylamites, 83 - - Daysan, 18 - - Dirgham, 236, 238 - - Druses, 43, 178-179, 187, 244 - - - E - - Egypt attacked, 78, 94 - - —Shiʿites in, 79 - - —disorder in Egypt, 97-98 - - —invaded by the Fatimids, 99 sqq. - - - F - - Fadl, general under al-Hakim, 149, 152-153 - - Famine in Egypt, 190, 204-205 - - Fatimid claims, 34 sqq.; cf. ʿAlid lines of descent - - —claims ridiculed, 116 - - —manifesto against, 166 - - Fatimid architecture, 106 - - —decline of Fatimids, 254 - - —end of Fatimid rule, 243-245 - - Forbidden vegetables, 141-142, 164 - - Fustat, 102 - - —fired by al-Hakim, 183 - - - H - - Haftakin, 111 sqq. - - —prisoner, 119 - - Hamdan, 39, 40, 43 - - Hamza, 178, 179, 181 - - Hasan al Akhram, 178 - - Hasan b. Mufarraj revolts, 163 - - Hasan-i-Sabbah visits Egypt, 208 sqq., 212 - - Hasan Qarmatian leader, 47 - - Hashimites, 5 - - Hijaz, recognition of Fatimids in, 202-203 - - “House of Wisdom,” 139-140 - - Husayn Ahwazi, 39 - - Husayn b. Jawhar, 131, 132, 153-160 - - - I - - Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, 18 - - Ibn ʿAmmar, 124 - - —downfall, 126-127 - - Ibn Hawshab, 51 sqq. - - Ibn Killis the Jew, 99, 114, 120 - - Ibn Nestorius, 120 - - Ibn Sallar wazir, 227 - - —revolts, 227-229 - - —murdered, 229-230 - - Idrisids, 76, 99 - - Ikhshids, 81, 83, 93, 107 - - Ikhwanu s-Safa, 139 - - Ismaʿil, 9 - - Ismaʿilian sect, 12 sqq., 29 - - —doctrine, 257-258 - - —off-shoots, 212, 260 sqq. - - - J - - Jaʿfar as-Sadiq, 16, 37, 45, 161, 257 - - Jawhar, 98 - - —invades Egypt, 99 sqq. - - Jerusalem, church of the Resurrection destroyed, 157 - - —city taken by the Turks, 207 - - —by the Crusaders, 216 - - —kingdom of, 216, 255 - - “Jewish legend,” 34, 47, 68 - - Jews, 2, 155-160, 170, 179-180 - - - K - - Kafur, 93 sqq. - - —a patron of literature, 95 - - Kahira, cf. Cairo - - Kairawan, 61, 64, 76, 85 - - —Khalifs of, 74 sqq. - - Kasam, 47 - - Katama tribe, 57 - - Kaysanite sect, 5 - - Khalif, title of, 3 - - Kharijites, 56, 75 - - —revolt of, 88-89 - - “King” as title of the wazir, 224 - - - L - - Legitimist ideas of the Persians, 3, 14, 15 - - Licence issued by al-Hakim to non-Muslims, 145 - - - M - - Madina officials sent to remove articles from, 161 - - Maghrab, 55 - - Mahmud of Ghazna, 168, 249-250 - - Mani, 19 - - Mansuri sect, 7 - - Marcion, 19 - - Maymun, 18, 20 - - Muslim expansion, 2 - - - N - - Nasir ad-Dawla, 204-205 - - Nasir ad-Din, 229 - - —murders az-Zafir, 230-232 - - Nasir-i-Khusraw visits Egypt, 198 sqq., 209 - - Nizar’s revolt, 211-212 - - North Africa, 52 sqq. - - —deserts the Fatimids, 200-201 - - Nuwayri’s account of oath taken by Ismaʿilis, 30 - - - O - - Okayl Arabs revolt, 164 - - Oman resists the Qarmatians, 50 - - Osama, 225 sqq., 230 - - - P - - Patriarch imprisoned by al-Hakim, 158 - - —released, 180-181 - - Persians, 3, 7 - - Princess Royal al-Hakim’s sister, 182-184, 189 - - Palestine and Syria lost to the Fatimids, 219 - - - Q - - Qadi, office of, 134 - - - R - - Raqada, 64 - - —taken by Abu ʿAbdullah, 67, 69 - - Rudwan, 224-225 - - - S - - Sabʿiya, Ismaʿilian sect, 10, 17 - - —grades, 21 sqq. - - Saladin, 238-239, 243, 256 - - Saljuq Turks, 201, 207, 215, 219, 251, 254 - - “Seveners,” cf. Sabʿiya - - Shawar, 236-243 - - Shiʿites, 4, 16 - - —sects, 6; cf. Ismaʿilians - - —claims, 42 - - Shirkuh, 236, 238, 239, 241 - - Sicily revolts, 77 - - Syria, 102, 117, 126-127, 129, 136, 163, 174, 175, 191-195, 234 - - —lost to the Fatimids, 219 - - - T - - Tekin, 79 sqq. - - Transmigration, 14 - - Tripoli, 77 - - Turks, cf. Saljuq - - “Twelvers,” 10 - - - U - - ʿUbayd Allah, 33, 61 sqq. - - —journey to N. Africa, 62 - - —imprisoned, 62 - - —liberated, 67 sqq. - - - W - - Wine, laws against, 165 - - - Y - - Yahya’s sect, 48 - - Yemen, Ismaʿilians in, 51 sqq. - - Yusuf, 184 - - - Z - - Zaqruya, 46 - - Ziadat Allah, 60, 62 sqq. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of the Fatimid -Khalifate, by De Lacy O'Leary - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT HISTORY--FATIMID KHALIFATE *** - -***** This file should be named 63391-0.txt or 63391-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/3/9/63391/ - -Produced by Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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