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Not all stories take place in full light: some of them hold mysteries which, until today, remain unsolved, wrapped in thick shadows. Among these, certainly, is that of al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh, sixth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, whose reign lasted from 996 to 1021.
Closely linked to this historical figure is princess Sitt al-Mulk, his half-sister who, at the time of the decline of her brother’s reign, became one of the most powerful women of the time. How did this rise to power come about? What mysteries are related to these two figures? What was the end of the “mad caliph”, whose insane restrictions earned him the nickname “Nero of Islam”?
The rise of al-Ḥākim
The story of the reign of Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr, the real name of the caliph, has a daring beginning. Son of the third wife of Caliph al-Aziz Billah, he lived a relatively peaceful childhood, destroyed, however, by her father’s sudden illness. In a few days, the ruler was broken by painful kidney stones; Abū ʿAlī received the news of his father’s death while he was playing, not suspecting the serious event: at only eleven years old, in 996, he became the sixth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, too young to reign independently.
The very young monarch took the name of al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (“ruler by order of God”) and was entrusted to the care of Abū’l-Futūh Barjawān al-Ustādh, a eunuch who quickly became prime minister and then actual regent for the child caliph.
With powerful allies and all the power in his hands, Barjawan soon let control over the young caliph slip out of his hands, who began to tire of his ways: Barjawan continued to treat as a student what, to all intents and purposes, was his king. For this reason, the latter had him assassinated in the year 1000: thus began, for the now fifteen-year-old caliph, about twenty years of unchallenged reign.
The relationship with Sitt al-Mulk
Al-Hakim’s reign is remembered as a time of great imbalance, if not terror. The “Nero of Islam” soon revealed his lack of tolerance towards Jews and Christians, laying the foundations on the basis of which the first Crusades would soon take place. Memorable are his campaigns of destruction towards sacred buildings, from synagogues to one of the most famous historical events in the history of Christianity, the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 1009, a place built on the site of Christ’s passion.
Not only for religious reasons, the ruler created increasingly stringent rules: from the prohibition of singing in public to the segregation of women at home, who were only allowed to go out during the night prayers of the month of Ramadan, provided that their presence was announced by a young man carrying a fanous, the lanterns typical of this period of prayer and fasting, which have now become a real symbol.
This period of fear and destabilization brought forward a figure who, until then, had preferred to remain in the shadows: Sitt al-Mulk. Half-sister of the caliph, fifteen years older, the Fatimid princess was born from an incredible love story: the one between the caliph al-Aziz Billah and a woman commonly known under the name of al-Sayyida al-Aziziyya (“the lady of al-Aziz”), a Christian slave who refused to convert to Islam, but who was deeply loved by the ruler, who in turn deeply loved the daughter they had together.
Sitt al-Mulk, out of love, at the time of his father’s death, tried to have a cousin act as a ruler instead of little al-Hakim. The plan failed: the princess then did her best to keep relations with her half-brother peaceful; in fact, the exchanges of rich gifts between the two are well known, as is the timely warning by Sitt al-Mulk of an assassination attempt against the young caliph.
But the increasingly stringent policies of the caliph gradually led to the separation between the two. Even more, al-Hakim began to trust less and less in anyone, even suspecting his generals, afraid that they might prove their loyalty to his half-sister. The act that totally separated the two half-brothers was the caliph’s decision to nominate a cousin as heir rather than his own son: the princess welcomed the child and his mother into her palace, arousing the wrath of al-Hakim.
The end of al-Hakim
The situation became increasingly unstable until early 1021: on the night of February 13, al-Hakim suddenly disappeared. A few days later, traces of blood were found on his mount and on some of his clothes: for this reason, the “mad caliph” was declared dead, and his son ʿAlī became ruler with the name of al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allah.
The new caliph was very young; so, the figure of regent to whom he was entrusted was none other than his aunt, Princess Sitt al-Mulk. For this reason, the woman became as powerful as a caliph, a position to which a woman of the time he could hardly have aspired. Many of his half-brother’s restrictions disappeared: women were allowed to go outside again, and the places of worship destroyed on al-Hakim’s orders were allowed to be rebuilt.
The princess’s regency, however, did not last long: in February 1023, exactly two years after the disappearance of her half-brother, Sitt al-Mulk died of dysentery, for reasons that were never fully explained. This event brought down the curtain on a story that still divides historians today: was it Sitt al-Mulk who had al-Hakim killed?
The answer, in reality, is not yet clear. In fact, more than one member of the Fatimid dynasty resented the “mad caliph”, and wanted his death. The princess, therefore, may never have taken part in this conspiracy. What is certain, a millennium later, is that all traces of al-Hakim’s remains have been lost; the woman, on the other hand, is remembered as one of the most important historical figures of a twenty-year period made up of lights and shadows.
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