Ridwan ibn Walakhshi

Ridwan ibn Walakhshi (

He remained in confinement in the palace until he managed to escape by digging a tunnel in May 1148. Ridwan once again raised his followers into revolt, and managed to enter Cairo, but was assassinated shortly after by soldiers of the Caliph's bodyguard.

Origin

Ridwan ibn Walakhshi was a

When the Armenian Bahram became vizier in 1135, Ridwan emerged as the leader of the Muslim reaction to Bahram's pro-Christian policies. Bahram tried to dispose of him by sending him to govern Ascalon in May 1135, but there Ridwan busied himself with blocking the Armenian immigration, earning plaudits from the Muslim street of Cairo. As a result, Bahram recalled him in November 1136 and sent him to govern his own former province at Gharbiyya (the western Nile Delta).^[5][6]

The move backfired, as Ridwan was now placed in possession of an independent power base close to the capital: leading Cairene officials began making contact with him, and Ridwan did not hesitate to preach jihād against Bahram from the pulpit of the mosque. Finally, in early 1137, Ridwan raised an army from the local Bedouin and marched on Cairo. Echoing the Battle of Siffin in 657, his soldiers hung copies of the Quran from their lances. Bahram set out from Cairo to confront him, but his Muslim soldiers deserted for Ridwan, and Bahram had to withdraw to the city. On 3 February, the Armenian vizier fled Cairo with 2,000 Armenian soldiers, making for Qus, where his brother Vasak was governor.^[5][6]

At Qus, Bahram found his brother killed and defiled by the local townfolk. After plundering the city, Bahram made for Aswan on the southern border of the Fatimid realm, but the local governor barred his gates to him, and Bahram was forced to retreat to Akhmim.^[5][10] There Bahram accepted an offer of amnesty and protection (amān) by the Caliph, and entered a monastery near Akhmim.^[5][11]

Vizierate

The Caliph's leniency towards Bahram is not surprising, as the Christian vizier was by far not as threatening to his own position as the Sunni Ridwan, who, in the words of the historian

Now vizier, Ridwan launched an anti-Christian persecution. Christian officials were replaced with Muslims, their properties confiscated, and some were even executed.

Ridwan intended to emulate Kutayfat, who had used the vizierate as a means to depose the dynasty and ruled Egypt himself before his assassination by Fatimid loyalists, in order to depose the Fatimid dynasty outright and install a Sunni regime in Egypt under his leadership.[20] In 1138, Ridwan began to cautiously move towards that goal, by consulting a Sunni (the head of the Alexandria madrasa, Ibn Awf), a Twelver (Ibn Abi Kamil), and an Isma'ili jurist (the chief dāʿī Isma'il ibn Salama) on the possibility of deposing al-Hafiz. Their answers were fairly predictable: Ibn Abi Kamil argued that the claim to the imamate by al-Hafiz and his ancestors was false, Ibn Salama supported the Caliph, and Ibn Awf took a more cautious stance and advised vaguely that the deposition should be handled in accordance with the law.^[21][20] Ridwan began arresting and executing members of the Caliph's entourage,^[21] while al-Hafiz demonstratively recalled Bahram from exile and allowed him to settle in the palace.^[22] Ridwan in turn appeared in public on Eid al-Fitr on 31 May wearing a robe in a style normally reserved for monarchs.^[22]

Matters came to a head on 8 June, as al-Hafiz, enthroned atop the Golden Gate of the palace, engaged in a heated exchange with Ridwan below. The vizier then ordered the palaces surrounded by troops, and brought forth one of the Caliph's sons, aiming to place him on the throne. This failed as the palace remained closed to him, and due to the resistance of Ibn Salama, who insisted that only the imam could sanction his successor by conferring

Aided by the Bedouin in his employ, Ridwan fled to Ascalon and the Burid domains. The Burid governor of

Kumushtakin, gave him a force of Turks, with whom he returned to Egypt. Rallying the Bedouin around him, he marched on Cairo, but was repulsed before the city gates in 28 August 1139. A month later, al-Hafiz led his army, comprising the Ḥāfiziyya and Āmiriyya regiments and his own bodyguard, to defeat Ridwan's forces. Like his rival Bahram, Ridwan fled to Upper Egypt, but soon had to surrender himself to the Caliph's forces in exchange for an amān. Al-Hafiz had Ridwan interned in the palace, in the room next to Bahram's, until the latter's death in November 1140.^[24][25]

Rebellion and death

In May 1148, Ridwan managed to escape from the palace by means of a 35-

Luwata Berbers from the Western Desert.^[28] With this army he marched once more on Cairo, defeated the Caliph's troops at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, and pursued them into the city itself.^[29] Al-Hafiz barred the gates of the palace, but pretended to be cooperative, and even sent some money when Ridwan asked for it to pay his men. At the same time, the Caliph selected ten black African members of the caliphal bodyguard to assassinate Ridwan. Near the Aqmar Mosque they started shouting "al-Hafiz, the Victorious". When Ridwan rose from his saddle to see what the commotion was about, they attacked and killed him and his brother. Their severed heads were brought to the Caliph, ending the uprising.^[29]

For the remainder of his reign, al-Hafiz no longer appointed any viziers, but rather chose secretaries (

Salim ibn Masal, was appointed as "supervisor of affairs" (nāẓir fi'l-umūr) or "supervisor of the public interests" (nāẓir fi'l-maṣāliḥ), but the vizieral title was deliberately avoided, and Ibn Masal would be named vizier only after al-Hafiz's death.^[31][32][33] This was a deliberate attempt to reverse the progressive transformation of the vizierate into a sultanate: unlike the viziers, these secretaries were civilian bureaucrats, often non-Muslim, and utterly dependent on the Caliph.^[34]

References

1. ^ al-Imad 1990, pp. 169, 193.
2. ^ Halm 2014, p. 179.
3. ^ Brett 2017, pp. 263, 272.
4. ^ Brett 2017, p. 265.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} Brett 2017, p. 272.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Halm 2014, p. 192.
7. ^ Halm 2014, p. 186.
8. ^ Brett 2017, p. 269.
9. ^ Canard 1965, pp. 857–858.
10. ^ Halm 2014, pp. 192–193.
11. ^ Halm 2014, pp. 193–194.
12. ^ Brett 2017, pp. 272–273.
13. ^ ^{a b c d} Halm 2014, p. 194.
14. ^ Brett 2017, pp. 273–274.
15. ^ Canard 1965, p. 858.
16. ^ ^{a b c} Brett 2017, p. 274.
17. ^ Halm 2014, pp. 194–195.
18. ^ Brett 2017, pp. 274–275.
19. ^ Halm 2014, p. 198.
20. ^ ^{a b} Halm 2014, p. 195.
21. ^ ^{a b c d} Brett 2017, p. 275.
22. ^ ^{a b c} Halm 2014, p. 196.
23. ^ Halm 2014, pp. 196–197.
24. ^ Brett 2017, pp. 275–276.
25. ^ Halm 2014, pp. 197–198.
26. ^ Halm 2014, p. 220.
27. ^ Brett 2017, p. 277.
28. ^ Halm 2014, pp. 220–221.
29. ^ ^{a b} Halm 2014, p. 221.
30. ^ Halm 2014, pp. 216–217.
31. ^ Brett 2017, p. 276.
32. ^ Canard 1971, p. 868.
33. ^ Halm 2014, p. 223.
34. ^ Halm 2014, p. 218.

Sources

• al-Imad, Leila S. (1990). The Fatimid Vizierate (979-1172). Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag.
  ISBN 3-922968-82-1
  .
• Brett, Michael (2017). The Fatimid Empire. The Edinburgh History of the Islamic Empires. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-7486-4076-8
  .
• OCLC 495469475
  .
• OCLC 495469525
  .
• ISBN 978-3-406-66163-1
  .

Preceded by Bahram al-Armani

Vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate 5 February 1137 – 12 June 1139

Vacant Personal rule by Caliph al-Hafiz Title next held by Ibn Masal