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.