Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah was the sixth Fatimid caliph (996-1021).
He was only eleven when he acceded to the caliphate, so for the first five years of his reign effective power lay in the hands of his subordinates. However, in April 1000 he had Barjuwan, his tutor and the current wasitah (prime minister), killed, and from then on he reigned as absolute ruler of the Fatimid state in Egypt and Palestine. His reign was characterized by numerous executions and the promulgation of unpopular and seemingly bizarre legislation, the latter often followed by the mitigation or abolition of said laws, followed by their reintroduction, apparently according only to his whims. He took measures against Sunnis, women (including his own sister and wives), and dogs; prohibited various foods, questionable pursuits, and the game of chess; and most importantly for crusade studies, enacted several measures against Christians and Jews. These included forcing them to wear distinctive dress, demolishing churches or converting them into mosques, banning processions on holy days, and confiscating the property of monasteries. In 1009-1010, he had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem demolished, an event that sent reverberations through Christendom and probably contributed to the buildup of support for the First Crusade (1096-1099).
At times al-Hakim also legislated in favor of Sunnis, Christians, and Jews. For example, in 1013 he allowed Christians and Jews to emigrate to Byzantine territory; in 1021 he allowed Christian converts to Islam to celebrate Mass, restored monasteries, and returned their possessions; and at times he authorized the use of the Sunni fasting practices and adhan (call to prayer).
Toward the end of his reign, he became increasingly ascetic, wearing ragged clothes, abstaining from food and bodily pleasures, riding only a donkey, and forbidding his subjects from prostrating themselves before him. Then in February 1021 he vanished while wandering in the Muqattam hills on the outskirts of Cairo. Various explanations have been given for this. Some believe that he was murdered at the instigation of his sister, Sitt al-Mulk, with whom he was at odds. However, the Druze, a Shi‘ite sect regarding him as a manifestation of the Divinity, believe that he entered occultation and will return at the end of the world.
Scholars have remained divided on the issue of al-Hakim’s sanity. Some regard him as having been a dangerous lunatic, while others maintain that his actions had sensible motivations. Whichever is correct, his reign was filled with inconsistent attitudes toward his subjects that defy full explanation.
-Niall Christie
Bibliography
Canard, Marius, “La destruction de l’Eglise de la Resurrection par le calife Hakim,” Byzantion 35 (1965), 16-43.
Daftary, Farhad, The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
De Smet, Daniel, “Les interdictions alimentaires du Calife fatimide al-Hakim: Marques de folie ou annonce d’un regne messianique?,” in Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras, ed. Urbain Vermeulen and Daniel de Smet (Leuven: Peeters, 1995), pp. 53-69.
Kennedy, Hugh, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates (London: Longman, 1986).
Makarem, Sami Nasib, “Al-Hakim bi-Amrillah: An Essay in Historical Reinterpretation,” in Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Orientalists, 1967 (Paris: Maisonneuve: 1971), pp. 229-230.
Vatikiotis, P. J. “Al-Hakim bi-Amrillah: The God-King Idea Realised,” Islamic Culture 29 (1955), 1-8.
World History
