There is a tendency in popular history
to characterize famous rulers as either unilaterally good or evil. Characters like Marcus
Aurelius are often portrayed as virtuous and wise, while characters like Nero are depicted as
twisted and cruel. Rarely does a leader exist in both camps, and yet, in the case of the Islamic
world, one Caliph does. This man was Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah of the Fatimid dynasty: to some,
the enlightened philosopher King of Shi’a Islam, and to others, a mad tyrant responsible for
untold cruelty and persecution. In this video, we will examine the life of Caliph Al-Hakim,
exploring the Ismaili society he was raised in, and determining how the world remembers him
both as the quintessential enlightened despot, and tyrannical dictator of the Islamic world.
Such absolute judgements are rarely accurate in real history, but rulers of good and evil
certainly exist in fantasy - where you might just be able to become one yourself, with
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description to score $60 worth of bonus gifts. Today, the Twelver Shiism is the most widespread
branch of Shia Islam. But during the apex of the Fatimid Dynasty’s power, Ismailism, another
branch of Shia Islam, was the most popular. When the Fatimid state was established in
910, its primary goal was to promote the spread of Ismailism. This was done in part
by preaching the rise of a messianic figure, al-Mahdi, who would destroy all tyranny in the
world and establish a just and peaceful order. This powerful message ensured significant
support for the Fatimids in the Islamic world, but also brought a huge burden of expectations.
As various Fatimid rulers failed to dislodge the Abbasid usurpers or defeat the Byzantine
infidels, their Empire gradually turned into an ordinary state with its own problems and
challenges amidst unfulfilled expectations of the return of al-Mahdi. Amongst these challenges
was social and religious friction. The majority of the people ruled by the Fatimids were still
Sunni, and the influence of Christians and Jews in the administration of the Empire was major
causing discontent among them. Moreover, there was a major rivalry between the al-Maghariba: the
native Berbers of North Africa and al-Mashariga: the Turks and Daylamites in the Fatimid army.
It was amidst these troubles that the sixth Imam Caliph, Al-Hakim, started his reign in 996 at the
age of 11. Born as Al-Mansur, he was the first Fatimid ruler to be born in Cairo, the seat of
the Fatimid power since they had conquered Egypt. Al-Hakim faced trouble right at the beginning
of his reign. On the day of his coronation the leader of Kutama Berbers, al-Hasan ibn Ammar,
demanded the dismissal of the Christian wasita of the Fatimid Empire, Isa ibn Nasturus, in favour
of his own chosen appointment to the position. Al-Hakim did not have any other choice but
to accept this demand. During early Fatimid expansion, the North African Berbers had
been the principal power behind the state, but later, they started facing competition
from Turks and Daylamites in the Fatimid army and Christians in the state administration.
To restore his peoples’ lost influence, ibn Ammar immediately started appointing his kin to
important military and administrative positions. Major privileges such as precedence at official
ceremonies, vast sums of money, slaves, properties and horses were granted by the state to the
Kutama Berbers. This naturally caused discontent among the rest of the Fatimid elite. One of
those unhappy with the situation was Barjawan, the tutor of Al-Hakim, and a eunuch with vast
experience of governance and palace intrigue. He contacted Manjutakin, the Turkic
governor of Fatimid controlled Damascus, persuading him to move against ibn Ammar and
restore the Imam Caliph’s rule in the Empire. Manjutakin moved towards Egypt with some 6,000
men. Ibn Ammar countered by sending the Berber commander Sulayman ibn Falah with 10-15k men
against Manjutakin. In the ensuing battle, the Berbers were victorious. Despite this, seeing
court intrigue slowly tilt against him, ibn Ammar tried to make his political approach more
inclusive, but this would prove to be his undoing. When he dismissed Jaysh ibn al-Samsa, the Berber
governor of Tripoli, Jaysh and several Kutama chiefs allied with Barjawan against him. This
was a crack in the united front of al-Maghariba. Barjawan incited riots in Cairo in 997, which
ultimately led to ibn Ammar going into hiding. With his main political enemy eliminated, Barjawan
restored stability in the Empire by pacifying the Berber elite, ensuring the return of their
looted property and promising security for them. Thereafter, the eunuch became
de-facto ruler of the Fatimid Empire. But Al-Hakim was growing restless with the
increased influence of his former teacher. Several sources note that Barjawan continued
treating Al-Hakim as a child and several times disrespected him in the palace setting. In March
of 1,000, Barjawan was killed in a plot organized by Al-Hakim. Now 15 year old, Al-Hakim was ready
to rule himself, which he would do unchallenged for the next 21 years. To avoid civil turmoil
like that caused by Barjawan and ibn Ammar, the Caliph appointed 15 different wasitas in this
period so no one vizier was in office long enough to gain enough power to oppose him. These wasitas
were drawn from the Empires’ Christian population, or the Caliph’s personal slaves, so
as to deny the influential position to the caste of Fatimid Elites who
had traditionally dominated it. Before talking about various aspects of
Al-Hakim’s reign in the Fatimid Empire let us briefly describe his character according
to his contemporaries. Chroniclers have described him as both ruthless and generous. Both as brave
and cowardly. Both as a tyrant and just ruler. His voice was apparently so powerful that
in one anecdote, he once shouted at a man who died on the spot from fright. We need to
approach all such accounts with a grain of salt as often Shia chroniclers would glorify him,
while Sunni and Christian accounts demonized him. With that said, let us now examine deeds
that created such a polarizing figure. Ismaili Dawa, ergo proselytizing, was always
a key factor behind Fatimid expansion, but it gained more prominence during Al-Hakim’s
reign. Previously Dawa was mostly assigned to Qadi - the chief judge of the Empire, but Al-Hakim
decided to establish a separate position for this purpose called Da’i al-Duat. This person was in
charge of training of Dai’s: Ismaili missionaries, who would be sent to different corners
of the Muslim world to spread the Ismaili version of Islam and invite people to recognize
Al-Hakim as the rightful ruler of the Ummah. During Al-Hakim’s reign, the foundation of Dar
al-Ulum or Dar al-Hikma (the House of Science or the House of Wisdom) in 1005 enabled for an
improved training of a higher number of Dai’s and in general turned Cairo and the Fatimid Empire
into one of the centers of education in the Muslim world. While the primary purpose of Dar al-Hikma
was to ensure a higher quality of Dai’s training, it also became a major university attracting
people from all over the Islamic world: teaching subjects like medicine, astronomy,
languages, mathematics, philosophy and Muslim theology. Al-Hakim, who proved himself
a consummate patron to scholars, would sometimes attend the sessions of Dar al-Hikma
personally and engage in discussions. The young Imam Caliph took steps to enhance the knowledge
on Ismaili Dawa among his own subjects as well, who were still mostly Sunni. Special public
sessions were held for ordinary people, including women, who were given a chance to become Dai’s as
well in order to proselytize among other women, and perhaps more importantly, their children.
During the reign of Al-Hakim it looked as if the Dawa was the primary weapon of struggle against
the traditional Sunni Caliphs- the Abbasids. In 1010, the discontent of the Shia population
in the heart of the Abbasid Empire - Iraq, led the Uqaylid governor of Mosul, Anbar and
Kufa, to recognize Al-Hakim as the sovereign of these territories. In the same year, the chief of
the Banu Asad tribe pledged allegiance to A-Hakim and recognized him as the ruler of Hilla. But
since Al-Hakim was unable to support these developments with military force, the Abbasids
quickly regained control over these areas. Until the end of his reign, a cold war between the
Fatimids and the Abbasids developed as Al-Hakim struggled against his Sunni rivals to win the
allegiance of various rulers in the Islamic World. Diplomacy and bribery was employed by Al-Hakim
on several occasions to reach his foreign policy goals. For instance, when the Sharif of Mecca
declared himself the Amir al-Muminin and refused to read khutba in Al-Hakim’s name, the Imam Caliph
used lavish gifts to persuade the dignitaries of Mecca to support his claim over Mecca, which
ultimately resulted in the deposition of the Sharif and restoration of the Fatimid control
over the area. But overall, during Al-Hakim, the Fatimid Empire failed to ensure major
geopolitical change in the Islamic World. In the early period of his reign Al-Hakim
took up an aggressive anti-Sunni stance. In 1004 he ordered the public cursing of some of
the Prophet’s companions, who he claimed usurped Ali’s right to become the caliph, including the
first three caliphs and Prophet’s wife Aisha. Moreover, Al-Hakim instructed these curses to be
etched on the walls of all mosques and available public spaces. Obviously, this did not sit
well with the majority Sunni population of the Fatimid Empire. Dissatisfaction with these
policies pushed some Fatimid subjects to support Abu Rakwa’s rebellion in 1005, which almost
toppled the Fatimid dynasty. Seeing this, Al-Hakim reversed his anti-Sunni policy in 1008
and publicly praised the previously cursed Sahaba. From then on, Sunnis were able to live
in the Fatimid Empire without any fear. But despite the reversal, Al-Hakim’s actions
could not be undone, and they gave the Abbasids an invaluable source of propaganda. In 1011, the
Abbasid Caliph al-Qadir bi-’llah gathered Muslim theologists to his court, Sunni and Twelver Shia
alike, and ordered them to prepare a manifesto, which accused the Fatimids of lying
about their Alid descent. This was called the Baghdad Manifesto, and was read at
all mosques on Abbasid territory during sermons. Just like the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimid
Empire also had a considerable Christian and Jewish population. Ahl al-Dhimma - the
people of the book and their religious views were generally tolerated in the Islamic realm,
since they believed in the same Abrahamic God. Al-Hakim, however, initiated a series of
persecutions against his non-Muslim subjects which ultimately would be what earned him
his infamous moniker: ‘The Mad Caliph.’ Despite being naturally disadvantaged on a
societal level, Christians and Jews under Islamic rule were often able to prosper. In
Fatimid society, they engaged in medicine, banking, financial and public administration,
and had major experience in these fields often making them best options for various high
ranking positions in the Fatimid Empire. The sources note that when Al-Hakim’s father
Al-Aziz dismissed and arrested his Jewish Vizier Yaqub ibn Killis, the administration
of the state came to the brink of disaster, causing the Imam Caliph to release and reappoint
him. Employment of Jews and Christians in such financially-rewarding positions made many of them
rich. Hence, a general discontent among the Muslim majority emerged regarding the prosperous life
of the Christian minority living among them. Some modern historian claim that Al-Hakim's
anti-Christian and anti-Jewish policies started right after he took full control over the state
administration after the execution of Barjawan, citing the execution of a high ranking Christian
official named Fahd ibn Ibrahim, the arrest of several Jewish and Christian clerks, and the
destruction of two churches in Cairo in 1002. Others argue that these were outlying incidents
that do not represent systematic oppression, and Al-Hakim continued the tolerant policies of
his father at the beginning of his reign. However, the year 1004 marked the beginning of
Al-Hakim’s descent into persecution, when he began visually segregating his subjects.
He ordered almost all Jews and Christians to wear a black garment with black belts in public,
following this up with an order for Jews to wear bells and for Christians to wear crosses. He
prohibited slaves from being sold to non-Muslims, and in 1007, confiscated all Church revenue,
putting it under the supervision of the state. It should be pointed out that the chronicler Ibn
al-Muqaffa, who was himself a Christian bishop, justifies this by pointing out
the ubiquitous corruption and nepotism in the Church. Another christian
chronicler, Yahya of Antioch, states that after the governance of churches was improved,
the state returned the confiscated money. In any case, the biggest anti-Christian decision
by Al-Hakim was his order to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in 1009,
one of the holiest sites of Christianity. According to Muslim laws, people of the
book were prohibited from holding religious ceremonies in public spaces, praying
loudly, and ringing church bells loudly. These rules were often ignored in the Fatimid
Empire and not punished. Despite his orders on the prohibition of religious parades during
Easter and Epiphany, in 1007, the Christians of Jerusalem held a large procession during that
holy day. This happened amidst the backdrop of continued social tension, as both wealthy and poor
Muslims resented the prosperous life of Christians in the Fatimid Empire. Therefore, anti-Christian
policies were the easiest shortcut to popularity for the Imam Caliph. The destruction of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 enabled Muslim mobs to destroy many other churches on the Fatimid
territory and to loot their possessions. In 1012 Al-Hakim rubbed salt in the wound when he
prohibited Jews and Christians from riding horses, ordering them to use only donkeys or mules with
undecorated saddles. They were also prohibited from riding on boats with a Muslim crew on it
or taking Muslim girls as concubines. Moreover, the breeding of pigs, and selling of wine and beer
was prohibited. These discriminatory policies and most importanty, the destruction of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre won al-Hakim the moniker Mad Caliph in the Christian World. With that said,
it is interesting that despite his anti-Christian policies, during Al-Hakim’s reign there was
no military conflict with the Byzantines, who had been fighting a border war with the
Fatimids for decades. Even the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre did not cause a
conflict, as evidently neither side trusted that their respective militaries were capable of
achieving any major success against each other. Meanwhile, in his religious fervor, or on the
quest to gain more popularity among his Muslim subjects Al-Hakim severely restricted
access to barley, dates, honey, grapes, raisins and any other fermentable fruits.
Eating fish without scales was forbidden. In attempt to curb prostitution he forbade
women from going outside of their homes, with widows, midwives, court witnesses,
and women preparing for pilgrimage, being some of the few exceptions to this
rule. Some of the prohibitions ordered by Al-Hakim were truly ridiculous. It is tough to
see why he, for instance, banned playing chess. On two occasions dogs were massacred in
Cairo, possibly as an anti-rabies policy. Towards the end of his reign Al-Hakim became
more and more ascetic, which made him appear more mysterious and down to earth, aiding his image as
a just, but divine ruler. Before, Al-Hakim was a very hands-on ruler, who would frequently walk
in the city and talk to commoners, listening to their grievances and petitions. But later on,
his public appearances became extremely rare. He refused to ride horses and only used donkeys
for transportation. He wore ordinary clothes and was accompanied only by a few servants. Al-Hakim
would make frequent trips to Mount Muqatfam, where he would pray alone through the night.
It is on this somber note that the reign of the Mad Caliph comes to a quiet end. On 13 February
1021, Al-Hakim went to Mount Muqatfam once more, and this time, he never came back. The
search party found his donkey and clothes, but there was no trace of Al-Hakim. Some claim
that he was killed by his half-sister Sitt al-Mulk over the complex issue of succession, others look
for more mysterious causes such as occultation. We still don’t know the
exact reason for his death. Al-Hakim is the most prominent Fatimid
Imam-Caliph. Such was the level of his reverence among his supporters that after his death, some
Ismailis created a new religion, the Druze Faith, which saw Al-Hakim as the manifestation of God on
Earth. Such was the level of hatred towards him that he was called a Mad Caliph. He was a
controversial ruler who would both discriminate against Christians and Jews, and reward them for
good public service and appoint them as Wasitas. Where one day he would order the cursing of major
personalities of the Sunni theology, another day he would call for resolution of all religious
disputes through civilized discussion and academic argumentation. He was compared to Nero and was
blamed for burning of Fustat, but he also turned his capital Cairo into the center of science and
academia in the Islamic World. His mysterious death only added to the colorful personality of
the Fatimid Imam Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. More videos on Islamic history are on the way, so
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