Reign under al-Afdal's tutelage

Al-Musta'li died on 11 December 1101, and on the same day, at the age of five, al-Amir was proclaimed caliph by al-Afdal.^[1][2] Al-Afdal was already al-Amir's maternal uncle, and further strengthened the familial ties with the young caliph by marrying him to his own daughter.^[3] This was a departure from usual practice, as the Fatimid caliphs had until then had children with concubines and never legally wed. The formal marriage was evidently an attempt by al-Afdal to secure the succession of any progeny of this union over other children of the caliph.^[4] A decree, dictated by al-Afdal, renewed his appointment as vizier with plenipotentiary powers and ensured his ascendancy over the child-caliph.^[3] The first twenty years of al-Amir's reign were thus dominated by al-Afdal, who controlled government and restricted al-Amir to a few ceremonial duties.^[1][5]

Under al-Afdal's rule, the Fatimid state was chiefly occupied with the conflict with the Crusaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This holy war also served as the main legitimization device for al-Afdal's rule and for the dynasty itself. During the previous decade, both the Fatimid state (the dawla) and the Fatimid Isma'ili mission (the da'wa) had suffered setbacks: much of the Levant had been lost to the Sunni Seljuk Turks, while al-Afdal's coup that installed al-Musta'li on the throne resulted in the breaking away of the Nizari Isma'ilis from Fatimid allegiance. As the historian Michael Brett writes, the struggle against the Crusaders "had given the dynasty fresh purpose".^[6] Despite al-Afdal's continuous campaigns, most of Palestine was lost to the Crusaders, along with the Levantine coastal cities of Tartus (1102), Acre (1103), Tripoli (1109), and Sidon (1111). Egypt itself was briefly invaded by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1117.^[1] The Fatimids largely fell back on the coastal city of Ascalon, which developed into a major fortress and outpost (ribat) of the holy war: for the next half-century it was to remain a centre for raids against the Crusader territories, and a guard of the route from Palestine into Egypt.^[7] Medieval Muslim historians often blame al-Amir for these disasters, but in reality he played no role in the Fatimid government during those years.^[5]

Vizierate of al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi

Al-Afdal's tutelage ended with his assassination on 11 December 1121, on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr.^[5][8] The deed was officially blamed on Nizari agents,^{[lower-alpha 1][1][9]} but both medieval historians^{[lower-alpha 2]} and modern scholars are skeptical: given his own resentment at the subordinate figurehead role to which al-Afdal had relegated him, al-Amir is suspected of having been the true instigator of the assassination.^[5][11]

While engaging in a public display of grief for his vizier and father-in-law and arranging a public burial ceremony in the caliphal palace,^[12] al-Amir moved quickly to imprison al-Afdal's sons and confiscate al-Afdal's enormous fortune, houses, and estates, while the moveable items were brought from the vizieral palace to his own palace.^[5][13] During their long rule over Egypt as quasi-sultans, al-Afdal and his father, Badr al-Jamali, had accumulated an enormous treasure,^[13] "the extent of which no one knew apart from God", according to the 13th-century encyclopaedist Ibn Khallikan.^[10] It was considered to have been larger than that of any previous king, and it took forty days to move it.^[5]

As al-Amir had been left out of government and was unfamiliar with its intricacies, he selected al-Afdal's long-time chief of staff, al-Qa'id al-Bata'ihi, as vizier.^[5] The sources that blame al-Amir for al-Afdal's murder also implicate the ambitious al-Bata'ihi in the deed, or at least in concealing al-Afdal's death until al-Amir could arrive at the vizieral palace to designate al-Bata'ihi as al-Afdal's successor.^[14] After supervising the transfer of al-Afdal's treasures, al-Bata'ihi was formally proclaimed vizier on 13 February 1122, and given the honorific al-Ma'mun ('the trusted one'), by which he is known.^[15]

Al-Bata'ihi formally assumed the same plenipotentiary powers that al-Afdal had possessed,^[16] and was a capable administrator, but his position was much weaker vis-à-vis the caliph than his old master's: al-Amir resumed many of the old caliphal functions that al-Afdal had arrogated to himself, and he henceforth had a voice in government.^[5] Most importantly, al-Amir ensured that all tax income and precious textiles would be kept in the caliphal palace, and distributed from there.^[17] As ruler, al-Amir is portrayed in the sources as "unusually intelligent and knowledgeable", and was said to have memorized the Quran.^[5]

In the aftermath of the assassination of al-Afdal, the threat of the Nizaris, who were implacably hostile to the rule of al-Amir and his father, was a major concern of the government, in view of the widespread network of agents they had established. In December 1122 al-Amir convened a meeting of officials in Cairo in which the Nizari claims to the imamate were publicly denounced, and the legitimacy of the Musta'li claims affirmed. A proclamation to that effect, the al-Hidaya al-Amiriyya, was issued on this occasion and has been preserved to the present day.^[1][5] Al-Amir also paid attention to courting the remaining pro-Fatimid Musta'li communities abroad, especially in Yemen, where he sent rich gifts to the Sulayhid queen Arwa bint Ahmad in 1123.^[5] In the same year, the Zirid emir of Ifriqiya, Abu'l-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali, also sent envoys to Cairo to announce his return to recognizing Fatimid suzerainty, and sought Fatimid assistance in repelling a possible Norman invasion.^[5]

In 1123, the Luwata Berbers invaded Egypt and reached as far as Alexandria, before they were driven back by al-Ma'mun.^[1] The war against the Crusaders continued with the loss of Tyre in 1124.^[1][5]

Personal rule

Political map of the Levant in c. 1135

By 1125, al-Amir began to resent al-Ma'mun's attempts to restrict his authority, and in October 1125 had him, his brother, and his chief aides arrested. They were executed in 1128.^[5] Instead of appointing a new vizier, al-Amir now ruled in person, relying on the heads of the various administrative departments for governance.^[5] One of them, the Christian Abu Najah ibn Fanna, quickly rose to prominence due to his ability to provide the caliph with money through confiscations from Christians, Jews, and eventually Muslims as well. His ascendancy lasted for three years before he was denounced, arrested, and executed.^[5] Having ignored the matter for so long, al-Amir's own reputation was left tarnished from the affair, as well as from his extravagance and profligacy: it is said that the palace consumed 5,000 sheep per month, and the rich gifts he made to his favourites were unfavourably remarked upon.^[5]

In February/March 1130, al-Amir finally had a son, who was named al-Tayyib. His birth was celebrated with public festivals, and letters were sent abroad announcing his birth, and his designation as successor.^{[5][18][19][20]}

Murder and aftermath

On 7 October 1130, al-Amir was assassinated by Nizari agents. He left only his six-month-old son, al-Tayyib, to succeed him, with no designated regent or serving vizier.^[19][20][21] Al-Amir's murder not only undid his attempts to once again concentrate power in the caliph's hands instead of over-mighty generals and ministers, but also, given the fragility of succession, endangered the very survival of the Fatimid dynasty.^[21]

Al-Tayyib was quickly sidelined, and his fate is unknown;^[5] it is unclear whether he died in infancy or was killed.^[22][23][24] A new regime was installed under the regency of al-Amir's cousin, Abd al-Majid, which at first claimed to rule in the name of an unborn son by one of al-Amir's concubines.^[25][26][27] Within a fortnight, an army mutiny brought al-Afdal's last surviving son, Kutayfat, to power. Kutayfat abolished the Fatimid imamate and imprisoned Abd al-Majid, but was himself assassinated by Fatimid loyalists in December 1131.^[28][29][30] With no other heir available, Abd al-Majid took over as imam and caliph with the regnal name al-Hafiz li-Din Allah in January 1132, proclaiming that he had secretly received the designation by al-Amir before he had died.^[31][32][33]

Al-Hafiz' succession broke a continuous line of father-to-son succession of ten generations, something extremely rare in the Islamic world and much remarked upon by medieval authors.^[5] Al-Hafiz' accession thus represented an unprecedented departure from the accepted norm, and caused yet another schism in Isma'ilism, as the Musta'li sect was divided into those who accepted al-Hafiz's succession (the "Hafizis") and those who did not, upholding instead the imamate of the vanished al-Tayyib (the "Tayyibis").^[34][35] The Hafizis were mostly concentrated in the Fatimid-controlled territories in Egypt, Nubia, and the Levant, while the Tayyibis resided in the Yemen, where Queen Arwa took up a leading role in forming a separate Tayyibi da'wa that survives to the present day.^[34][35]

The Tayyibis hold that al-Tayyib was entrusted by al-Amir to a certain Ibn Madyan, and that Ibn Madyan and his helpers hid the infant when Kutayfat came to power. Ibn Madyan was killed by Kutayfat, but his brother-in-law escaped with al-Tayyib, who went into concealment. Al-Tayyib is held to have died while still in concealment, and his offspring have continued as hidden imams to the present day. The public leadership of the Tayyibi community was instead assumed by a succession of 'absolute missionaries' (da'i al-mutlaq).^[36][37]