al-Mustansir Billah

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For other people with the same name, see al-Mustansir (disambiguation). For the penultimate Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, see al-Mustansir I.
al-Mustansir Billah
المستنصر بالله
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Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Mustanṣir biʾllāh (

Muslim rulers.[10] His reign was the twilight of the Fatimid state. The start of his reign saw the continuation of competent administrators running the Fatimid state (Anushtakin, al-Jarjara'i, and later al-Yazuri), overseeing the state's prosperity in the first two decades of al-Mustansir's reign. However, the break out of court infighting between the Turkish and Berber/Sudanese court factions following al-Yazuri's assassination, coinciding with natural disasters in Egypt and the gradual loss of administrative control over Fatimid possessions outside of Egypt, almost resulted in the total collapse of the Fatimid state in the 1060s, before the appointment of the Armenian general Badr al-Jamali, who assumed power as vizier in 1073, and became the de facto dictator of the country under the nominal rule of al-Mustansir.[2][1][4]

The caliph al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh was the last Imam before a disastrous split divided the Isma'ili movement in two, due to the struggle in the succession between al-Mustansir's older son,

Musta'li
branch.

Biography

Al-Mustansir was born in

Shaban, 427/June 13, 1036 at the age of 7. During the early years of his Caliphate, state affairs were administered by his mother. His rule lasted for 60 years, the longest of all the caliphs, either in Egypt or elsewhere in Islamic states. However, Fatimid power was confined to Egypt due to conquests of the Seljuks in the Levant, Normans in Sicily and Malta, and by Arab tribes destabilizing Fatimid control over Tunisia and Tripoli.[1] Al-Mustansir was considered incapable[citation needed] and as such his court was dominated by military strongmen and his mother's favourite officials, while the treasury was exhausted by factional infighting.[12]

He had constructed a special

Fatimid
era ending with the phrase 'Ali-un Wali-u Allah, meaning "Ali is the steward of God".

al-Mustansir's court

Prominent Dais/Vizirs of his era are as follows:

  • Ali bin Ahmad Jarjarai
    , vizier (d. 1045)
  • Badr al-Jamali, vizier (d. 1094)
  • dā‘i al-dū‘at) from 1059 to 1078[13]

Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi, and went to India to propagate the faith.[14]

The Ismaili da'wa

During the reign of the Imam al-Mustanṣir, the

Ismaili da'wa (“invitation”) was led, in the eastern regions, by Abd al-Malik ibn Attash, who was based in Iṣfahān. He also enjoyed good relations with the Druze community which were persecuted by the two previous Fatimid caliphs as they were seen as a heretical offshoot of Ismailism
.

Ibn al-Athīr (a Sunni historian) describes Abd al-Malik (Ibn Attash) as being interested in works of literature, and being a professional calligrapher
. He continues by describing him as a clever, intelligent and quick thinker, and an ethical man.  

One of Ibn Attash's most notable students,

Nizari sect.[15]

Architecture

The mihrab made in honour of al-Mustansir Billah in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun with the phrase ʿalī-un-walī-u-allāh at the end, Cairo.

Prominent buildings constructed during the reign of al-Mustansir are as follows:

Famine

Main article: Mustansirite Hardship

Between 1065 (457 AH) and 1072 (464 AH), famine degraded the conditions in Egypt from bad to worse. Meanwhile, in 1062 (454 AH) and again in 1067 (459 AH), the struggle between the Turkish and Sudanese soldiery deteriorated into open warfare, ending in a victory for the Turks.

During this same period, Berber nomadic tribes from lower Egypt deliberately aggravated the distress by ravaging the countryside, destroying the embankments and canals of the Nile. The ten thousand animals that al-Mustansir's stables once held reportedly declined to the point where only three thin horses were left; it is said that eventually al-Mustansir alone possessed a horse, and that when he rode out, the courtiers followed on foot, having no beast to carry them; it is also said that his escort once fainted from hunger as it accompanied him through the streets. As long as the calamity lasted, the condition of the country continued to decline. The protracted famine was followed inevitably by plague; whole districts were absolutely denuded of population and house after house lay empty.

Turkic mercenaries

Concurrently, the Turkish mercenaries had drained the treasury; many of the works of art and valuables of all sorts in the palace were sold to satisfy their demands---often they themselves were the purchasers, at merely nominal prices, and resold the articles thus gained at a profit.

Nasir al-Dawla ibn Hamdan, the general of the Turks, had invested the city, which was defended by the rival faction of the Turkish guard; after burning part of Fustat
and defeating the defenders, he entered as conqueror. When he reached the palace, he found al-Mustansir lodged in rooms which had been stripped bare, waited on by only three slaves, and subsisting on two loaves which were sent him daily by the daughters of Ibn Babshand, the grammarian.

The victorious Turks dominated Cairo, held the successive viziers in subjection, treated al-Mustansir with contempt, and used their power to deplete the treasury by enhancing their pay to nearly twenty times its former figure. Nasir al-Dawla became so overbearing and tyrannical in his conduct that he provoked even his own followers, and so at length he was assassinated in 466/1074.[contradictory] Unfortunately, this left the city in a worse condition than ever, for it was now at the mercy of the various Turkish factions, who behaved no better than brigands. Conditions in Egypt continued to deteriorate, and unabated violence raged in the streets and countryside alike.

Descendants

Using the genealogical information of the members of the Fatimid dynasty imprisoned by Saladin, and contemporary documents, the historian Paul E. Walker estimates that al-Mustansir had "at the minimum seventeen sons whose names we can recover".[16] Indeed, he suggests that it was precisely the great number of offspring he sired during his long reign that created the succession crisis after his death.[17]


  • al-Mustansir's mihrab at the Ibn Tulun mosque, Cairo
    al-Mustansir's mihrab at the Ibn Tulun mosque, Cairo
  • Stone inscription from al-Mustansir's time near al-Mustansir's mihrab
    Stone inscription from al-Mustansir's time near al-Mustansir's mihrab
  • Detail of al-Mustansir's mihrab
    Detail of al-Mustansir's mihrab
  • al-Mustansir's name engraved on the mihrab
    al-Mustansir's name engraved on the mihrab

See also

Notes

  1. ^ While the year 1035 is cited by some historians as the year in which he ascended the throne,[1][2] the year 1036 is cited more frequently, particularly by Muslim scholars.[3][4]
  2. ^
    Western calendar, is sometime given as 6 January 1095,[4] but 29 December is the date commonly used.[3][5][6][7]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0333631420
    .
  2. ^ a b O'Leary, De Lacy (1923). A Short History of the Fatimid Caliphate. p. 193.
  3. ^ a b c "MÜSTA'LÎ-BİLLÂH el-FÂTIMÎ - TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi". TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish).
  4. ^ a b c d e "MUSTANSIR BILLAH I (427-487/1036-1095), 18TH IMAM". ismaili.net. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  5. ISBN 9781400853588
    .
  6. ISBN 9781860646904
    .
  7. ISBN 9781351680141
    .
  8. ^ Daftary 2007, p. 246.
  9. ^ al-Maqrizi, Ette'aaz al-honafa be Akhbaar al-A'emma Al Fatemeyyeen Al Kholafaa, part 2, p. 45. Qairo. 1973
  10. ^ "al-Mustanṣir" Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved 31 January 2015
  11. ^ Holt, P. M., and M. W. Daly. "A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day." Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. 16
  12. ISBN 978-0-521-37019-6
    .
  13. ^ Klemm, Verena (2004). "MOʾAYYAD FI'L-DIN ŠIRĀZI". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  14. ^ [1] 12.0 The Fatimid Da'i Al-Mu'ayyad: His Life, by: Dr. Abbas Hamdani, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (U.S.A.): ..In this village there were two .men who acquired knowledge, then proceeded from India, in the time of al-Mustansir, to Egypt and joined the lsma'ili faith at the bidding of Sayyidna al-Mu'ayyad from whom they acquired much knowledge. Their names were (Ba)Lam Nath(known as Moulai Abadullah) and Rup Nath (later called Mawla'i Nurad-Din). Both of them returned from Egypt to their native village...."
  15. ISSN 2468-2462
    .
  16. ^ Walker 1995, p. 249.
  17. ^ Walker 1995, pp. 248–249.

Sources

al-Mustansir
Born: 2 July 1029 Died: 29 December 1094
Regnal titles
Preceded by
al-Zahir
Fatimid Caliph

13 June 1036 – 29 December 1094 		Succeeded by
Shia Islam titles
Preceded by
al-Zahir
Isma'ilism

13 June 1036 – 29 December 1094 		Succeeded by
Musta'li Isma'ilism
Succeeded byas Imam of Nizari Isma'ilism
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