Ghanima Atreides (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atreideslioness) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2012-03-28 09:38 am
atreideslioness) wrote in fandomhigh2012-03-28 09:38 am
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Mad Kings & Queens: Raving Royals and How To Survive Them (Wednesday, 4th Period)
"Good morning, students," Ghanima said, carefully looking them over as they assembled to make sure no one was still wee and tiny. "Today we cover Abu ‘Ali Mansur Tāriqu l-Ḥākim, called bi Amr al-Lāh," she said, writing it out on the board. "Which literally means "Ruler by God's Command". He was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam."
"Born in 985, Abu ‘Ali 'Mansur' succeeded his father Abū Mansūr Nizār al-Azīz at the age of eleven on 14 October, 996 with the caliphal title of al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah. He was the first Fatimid ruler to be born in Egypt."
"Arguably the most controversial member of the Fatimid dynasty, Hakim confronted numerous difficulties and uprisings during his relatively long reign. While he did not lose any important territories in North Africa, the Ismaili communities there were massacred by Sunni mobs led by their influential Maliki jurists. Relations between the Fatimids and the Qarmatians of Bahrain also remained hostile. On the other hand, Hakim’s Syrian policy was successful as he managed to extend Fatimid hegemony to the emirate of Aleppo. Above all, the persistent rivalries between the various factions of the Fatimid armies, especially the Berbers and the Turks, overshadowed the other problems of Hakim’s caliphate."
"While he had many political and territorial successes, rumors of his madness come from his tendency to issue strange decrees, and then later abandon them," Ghanima said. "Al-Ḥākim issued a series of seemingly arbitrary laws, including the prohibition of Mulūkhiyya, a characteristic Egyptian dish, grape eating, watercress eating as well as the prohibition of chess. He forbade the fisherman from catching any fish that had no scales and forbade people from selling or eating such fish. In 1014, he ordered women not to go out at all, and ordered the shoemakers not to make any women's shoes."
"Al-Ḥākim killed many of his officials both high and low in rank," she continued. "His tutor Abū l-Qasim Sa‘īd ibn Sa‘īd al-Fāriqī, most of his viziers, judges, poets, physicians, bathhouse keepers, cooks, cousin, soldiers, Jews, Christians, intelligence gatherers and even cut the hands of female slaves in his palace. In some cases, he did the killing himself."
"In 1009, he destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, then under Fatimid control. The church was later rebuilt by his successor with help from the Byzantine Empire. Another strange edict was that although Christians were not allowed to buy slaves, male or female, and had few other privileges, they were allowed to ride horses on the condition that they rode with wooden saddles and unornamented girths."
"Towards the end of his reign he became increasingly erratic and feared by his officials, soldiers and subjects alike. Muslim and Christian dignitaries alike went to his palace kissing the ground, and stood at the palace gates asking him for forgiveness, and not to listen to any rumors that were spreading. They raised a petition to al-Ḥākim and he forgave them, seemingly uncaring about whatever he had been angry about mere hours before."
"In the final years of his reign, Hakim displayed a growing inclination toward asceticism and withdrew for meditation regularly. On the night of February 1021 and at the age of 36 , Hakim left for one of his nocturnal outings to the Muqattam hills outside of Cairo, but never returned. A futile search was conducted for the 36 year old caliph-imam; only his riding donkey and his bloodstained garments were found. The mystery of Hakim’s disappearance was never solved. Al-Ḥākim was succeeded by his young son Ali az-Zahir under the regency of his sister Sitt al-Mulk."
"Born in 985, Abu ‘Ali 'Mansur' succeeded his father Abū Mansūr Nizār al-Azīz at the age of eleven on 14 October, 996 with the caliphal title of al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah. He was the first Fatimid ruler to be born in Egypt."
"Arguably the most controversial member of the Fatimid dynasty, Hakim confronted numerous difficulties and uprisings during his relatively long reign. While he did not lose any important territories in North Africa, the Ismaili communities there were massacred by Sunni mobs led by their influential Maliki jurists. Relations between the Fatimids and the Qarmatians of Bahrain also remained hostile. On the other hand, Hakim’s Syrian policy was successful as he managed to extend Fatimid hegemony to the emirate of Aleppo. Above all, the persistent rivalries between the various factions of the Fatimid armies, especially the Berbers and the Turks, overshadowed the other problems of Hakim’s caliphate."
"While he had many political and territorial successes, rumors of his madness come from his tendency to issue strange decrees, and then later abandon them," Ghanima said. "Al-Ḥākim issued a series of seemingly arbitrary laws, including the prohibition of Mulūkhiyya, a characteristic Egyptian dish, grape eating, watercress eating as well as the prohibition of chess. He forbade the fisherman from catching any fish that had no scales and forbade people from selling or eating such fish. In 1014, he ordered women not to go out at all, and ordered the shoemakers not to make any women's shoes."
"Al-Ḥākim killed many of his officials both high and low in rank," she continued. "His tutor Abū l-Qasim Sa‘īd ibn Sa‘īd al-Fāriqī, most of his viziers, judges, poets, physicians, bathhouse keepers, cooks, cousin, soldiers, Jews, Christians, intelligence gatherers and even cut the hands of female slaves in his palace. In some cases, he did the killing himself."
"In 1009, he destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, then under Fatimid control. The church was later rebuilt by his successor with help from the Byzantine Empire. Another strange edict was that although Christians were not allowed to buy slaves, male or female, and had few other privileges, they were allowed to ride horses on the condition that they rode with wooden saddles and unornamented girths."
"Towards the end of his reign he became increasingly erratic and feared by his officials, soldiers and subjects alike. Muslim and Christian dignitaries alike went to his palace kissing the ground, and stood at the palace gates asking him for forgiveness, and not to listen to any rumors that were spreading. They raised a petition to al-Ḥākim and he forgave them, seemingly uncaring about whatever he had been angry about mere hours before."
"In the final years of his reign, Hakim displayed a growing inclination toward asceticism and withdrew for meditation regularly. On the night of February 1021 and at the age of 36 , Hakim left for one of his nocturnal outings to the Muqattam hills outside of Cairo, but never returned. A futile search was conducted for the 36 year old caliph-imam; only his riding donkey and his bloodstained garments were found. The mystery of Hakim’s disappearance was never solved. Al-Ḥākim was succeeded by his young son Ali az-Zahir under the regency of his sister Sitt al-Mulk."
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Class Discussion
"As always, the truth is somewhere in between. Looking at your handouts, what do you think?"
"Remember - religious persecution is not always madness. Sometimes it simply is, and has nothing to do with a person's sanity." Mohiam was making cruel comments in her Other Memory about the irony of such a statement passing the lips of Muad'dib's daughter, and Ghanima raised her mental walls higher. "Especially during this era of the planet's history. While some of you many view it as wrong or inhuman, it was simply a fact of life during this time period, no matter who was on the throne or where."
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