Part 19

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.