The Fatimids

Paul E. Walker (Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1974) was director of the American Research Center in Cairo for over ten years (1976-86). He is currently Deputy Director for Academic Programs, Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago.

Contents


List of Abbreviations





Introduction





Part 1: Institutions of Government


1 The Role of the Imam-caliph as Depicted in Official Treatises and Documents





2 Was the Fatimid Amīr al-Juyūsh in fact a Wazīr?





3 The Relationship between Chief Qāḍī and Chief Dāʿī





4 The Responsibilities of Political Office in a Shīʿī Caliphate and the Delineation of Public Duties





5 Kutāma, Kalbids and Other Westerners: The Maghāriba in Cairo





6 Egyptian Popular Festivals





7 Alexandria as an Entrepôt in the East-West Exchange of Islamic Scholarship





8 Royal Libraries and the Production of Texts





Part 2: Society and Culture


9 Social Elites at the Court





10 The Caliph al-ʿAzīz and His Daughter Sitt Al-Mulk: A Case of Delayed but Eventual Succession to Rule by a Woman





11 Intellectual Currents and Traditions





12 Literary Culture





13 The Pitti Palace Rock Crystal Ewer and the Sordid Story of How and Why It Came to Exist





14 Al-Ḥākim and the Dhimmīs





Part 3: Religious Appeal


15 The Doctrine of Ta‌ʾwīl in Fatimid Ismaili Texts





16 To What Degree Was Classical Ismaili Esotericism Based on Reason as Opposed to Authority?





17 Techniques for Guarding and Restricting Esoteric Knowledge in the Ismaili daʿwa





18 Science in the Service of the Fatimids and Their Daʿwa





19 An Ismaili Answer to the Problem of Worshiping the Unknowable, Neoplatonic God





Part 4: Rivalries


20 Ismaili Polemics Against their Opponents





21 Islamic Ritual Preaching (Khuṭbas) in a Contested Arena: Shīʿīs and Sunnīs, Fatimids and Abbasids





22 Portrayals of the Umayyads in Official Pronouncements and in Daʿwa Literature





23 Conflict with the Ibāḍīs and the Ibāḍī Version of the Imamate in North Africa and in the East





24 The Abbasid-Fatimid Rivalry for Control of the Holy Cities and the Hijāzī Response


Bibliography of Works Cited in the Text or Notes




Index