Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah

Al-Mu'izz Li-DiniLlah المعز لدين الله
Gold dinar of Caliph al-Mu'izz, Cairo, 969.
Imam–Caliph of the Fatimid Dynasty
Reign	19 March 953 – 21 December 975
Predecessor	Al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah
Successor	Al-Aziz Billah
Born	26 September 931
Died	21 December 975 (aged 44)
Issue	al-Aziz Billah
Names Kunya: Abu Tamim Given name: Ma'ad Laqab: al-Mu'izz Li-Din Allah
Dynasty	Fatimid
Father	Al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah
Religion	Isma'ili Shia Islam

Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah (Template:Lang-ar; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid caliph and the 14th Ismaili imam, reigning from 953 to 975. It was during his caliphate that the center of power of the Fatimid dynasty was moved from Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia) to Egypt. The Fatimids founded the city of al-Qāhirah (Cairo) "the Victorious" in 969 as the new capital of the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt.

Political career

After the Fāṭimids, under the third caliph, al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah (r. 946–953), had defeated the Khārijite rebellion of Abu Yazid, they began, under his son al-Mu‘izz, to turn their attentions back to their ambition of establishing their caliphate throughout the Islamic world and overthrowing the Abbasids. Although the Fāṭimids were primarily concerned with Egypt and the Near East, there were nevertheless campaigns fought by General Jawhar as-Siqilli against the Berbers of actual Morocco and the Umayyads of Spain. At the same time, Fatimid raids on Italy enabled naval superiority in the Western Mediterranean to be affirmed, at the expense of Byzantium, even capturing Sicily for a period of time.

The way to Egypt was then clear for the Fāṭimids, the more so given the state of crisis that the incumbent Ikhshidid dynasty found itself in and the inability of the Abbasids to counterattack. The country fell to Jawhar in 969 without any great resistance. After he had secured his position, al-Muʻizz transferred the royal residence from Al-Mansuriya to the newly founded city of Qāhirat al-Muʻizz "al-Muʻizz's Victory", i.e., Cairo, thereby shifting the centre of gravity of the Fatimid realm eastwards. In Africa, the Zirids were installed as regents. In Egypt, several attacks by the Carmathians had to be fought off (972-974) before the restructuring of state finances under Yaqub ibn Killis could be embarked upon. Al-Muʻizz was succeeded by his son Al-Aziz (975-996).

Cultural achievements

Al-Muʻizz was renowned for his tolerance of other religions, and was popular among his Jewish and Christian subjects. He is also credited for having commissioned the invention of the first fountain pen. In 953, al-Muizz demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir. As recorded by Qadi al-Nu'man al-Tamimi (d. 974) in his Kitāb al-Majālis wa 'l-musayarāt, al-Mu’izz commissioned the construction of the pen instructing:

…not more than a few days passed before the craftsman, to whom the construction of this contrivance had been described, brought in the pen, fashioned from gold. He then filled it with ink and wrote with it, and it really did write. The pen released a little more ink than was necessary. Hence al-Mu'izz ordered that it should be adjusted slightly, and he did this. He brought forward the pen and behold, it turned out to be a pen which can be turned upside down in the hand and tipped from side to side, and no trace of ink appears from it. When a secretary takes up the pen and writes with it, he is able to write in the most elegant script that could possibly be desired; then, when he lifts the pen off the sheet of writing material, it holds in the ink. I observed that it was a wonderful piece of work, the like of which I had never imagined I would ever see.

Fatimid literature rose to a certain degree of prominence in the period of Al Muizz with the emergence of skilled poets like Ibn Hani al Andalusi and Ali al Tunusi. Ibn Hani was often compared to Al Mutanabbi and hailed as the Mutanabbi of the West. Da'a'im al-Islam, the canon law of the Fatimid Caliphate, was completed under Al Mu'izz.

Relationship with Coptic Christians

Coptic Christians were allowed a degree of freedom under al-Muizz. Copts were among those appointed to the highest offices of the empire and were allowed to freely practice their religion. Under Al-Muizz, the viceroy of Syria was Quzman ibn-Nima, a Copt who remained a Christian. The Nayrouz festival, the celebration of the Coptic New Year, was permitted, though prohibitions on some of the activities, such as fire illumination and water splashing, were instituted.

The relationship between al-Muizz and the Copts of Egypt has been the subject of a number of legends written later by Coptic Christians. One such legend involves al-Muizz challenging Pope Abraham of Alexandria to move the Mokattam mountain in Cairo, recalling a verse in the Gospel of Matthew which says:

If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

According to Coptic sources, Pope Abraham of Alexandria ordered the Coptic community to keep vigil and to pray for three days and nights. On the third night, Pope Abraham had a dream in which Mary directed him to search for Simon the Tanner. The legend continues that with the prayers of the Coptic community, led by the Pope and Simon, the Mokattam mountain moved. This story is recounted in the book History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, written by Severus Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ.

Later Coptic sources would further assert that this miracle led al-Muizz to convert to Christianity, and that he was baptized at the church of Saint Mercurius in Cairo in a baptismal font that continues to exist to this day, known today as the "Sultan's Baptistry". According to this legend al-Muizz abdicated the throne in favor of his son, and spent the rest of his life in a monastery. This story is rejected by influential Muslim historians such as Ahmad Zaki Pasha and Muhammad Abdullah Enan.

Family

Sources differ on al-Mu'izz's consorts. According to one version, he married a cousin of his, who gave him two sons, including his successor al-Aziz. Other sources report that his main consort (al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya), and mother of al-Aziz, was a Bedouin slave-girl from Arabia named Durzan, who due to her beautiful singing voice (although this may simply reflect a common stereotype about Arabian women) was nicknamed taghrīd ("twittering"). Al-Mu'izz had several other sons, but two are known by name: Tamim and Abdallah, who was the designated heir-apparent but died before his father. He also had seven daughters, of whom three are known with some detail: Sitt al-Malik, Rashida, and Abda. The last two died in their nineties in 1050, leaving behind enormous fortunes.

See also

• List of Ismaili imams
• List of rulers of Egypt
• List of Shi'a Muslims
• Ali ibn Muhammad al-Iyadi

Sources

• Brett, Michael (2001). The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Tenth Century CE. The Medieval Mediterranean. Vol. 30. Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill. ISBN 90-04-11741-5.
• Cortese, Delia; Calderini, Simonetta (2006). Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-1733-7.
• Dachraoui, F. (1993). "al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume VII: Mif–Naz. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 485–489. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_5447. ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
• Halm, Heinz (1991). Das Reich des Mahdi: Der Aufstieg der Fatimiden [The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids] (in German). Munich: C. H. Beck. ISBN 3-406-35497-1.
• Jiwa, Shainool, ed. (2009). Towards a Shi'i Mediterranean Empire: Fatimid Egypt and the Founding of Cairo. The Reign of Imam-Caliph al-Muʿizz, from al-Maqrīzī's Ittiʿāẓ al-ḥunafāʾ. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0-8577-1742-9.
• Jiwa, Shainool (2013). The Founder of Cairo: The Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu'izz and his Era. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0-8577-2223-2.
• Jad Hatem, Le Traité christologique du Calife al-Mu‘izz, le druzisme et le nusayrisme, Paris, Éd. du Cygne, 2013

Family tree of the Fatimid dynasty

Abu Muhammad Abdallah al-Mahdi bi'llah (r. 909–934) Abu'l-Qasim Muhammad al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah (r. 934–946) Abu Ali Ahmad Other children al-Qasim§ Abu Tahir Isma'il al-Mansur bi'llah (r. 946–953) Other children Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (r. 953–975) Abd al-Rahim§ Tamim Abdallah§ Abu Mansur Nizar al-Aziz bi'llah (r. 975–996) Other children Amina Abu Ali Mansur al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 996–1021) Sitt al-Mulk Other children Abu'l-Hasan Ali al-Zahir li-I'zaz Din Allah (r. 1021–1036) Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Mustansir bi'llah (r. 1036–1094) Abu Mansur Nizar§ Abu Abdallah Abdallah Isma'il Abu'l-Qasim Muhammad Other children Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad al-Musta'li bi'llah (r. 1094–1101) al-Husayn Nizari imams (claimed descent) Abu'l-Maymun Abd al-Majid al-Hafiz li-Din Allah (r. 1132–1149) Abu Ali Mansur al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah (r. 1101–1130) Ja'far Other children Sulayman§ Haydara§ Hasan§ Abu Mansur Isma'il al-Zafir bi-Amr Allah (r. 1149–1154) Yusuf Other children Abu'l-Qasim al-Tayyib§ Abu'l-Qasim Isa al-Fa'iz bi-Nasr Allah (r. 1154–1160) Abu Muhammad Abdallah al-Adid li-Din Allah (r. 1160–1171) Tayyibi hidden imams (claimed descent) Dawud Sulayman § denotes designated heirs who did not accede to the throne    denotes ruling Fatimid caliphs (with regnal names in bold and regnal dates)