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The Institute of Ismaili Studies

Ismaili Texts and Translations Series, 16
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Editorial Board: Farhad Daftary (general editor), Wilferd Madelung
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1. Ibn al-Haytham. The Advent of the Fatimids: A Contemporary
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2. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī. Struggling with
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3. Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman. The Master and the Disciple: An
Early Islamic Spiritual Dialogue. Arabic edition and English
translation of Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman’s Kitāb al-ʿālim waʾl-
ghulām, by James W. Morris (2001).
4. Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn. The Fatimids and their Successors in Yaman:
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7, by Ayman F. Sayyid, in collaboration with Paul E. Walker and
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5. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī. Paradise of Submission: A Medieval Treatise
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tion of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī’s Rawḍa-yi taslīm, by S. J. Badakhchani
with an introduction by Hermann Landolt and a philosophical
commentary by Christian Jambet (2005).
6. al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān. Founding the Fatimid State: The Rise of
an Early Islamic Empire. An annotated English translation of
al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s Iftitāḥ al-daʿwa, by Hamid Haji (2006).
7. Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn. ʿUyūn al-akhbār wa-funūn al-āthār. Arabic
critical edition in 7 volumes by Ahmad Chleilat, Mahmoud
Fakhoury, Yousef S. Fattoum, Muhammad Kamal, Maʾmoun
al-Sagherji and Ayman F. Sayyid (2007–2009).
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8. Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī. Degrees of Excellence: A
Fatimid Treatise on Leadership in Islam. A new Arabic edition
and English translation of Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī’s
Kitāb ithbāt al-imāma, by Arzina Lalani (2010).
9. Ḥamīd al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Kirmānī. Master of the
Age: An Islamic Treatise on the Necessity of the Imamate. A criti-
cal edition of the Arabic text and English translation of Ḥamīd
al-Dīn al-Kirmānī’s al-Maṣābīḥ fī ithbāt al-imāma, by Paul E.
Walker (2007).
10. Orations of the Fatimid Caliphs: Festival Sermons of the Ismaili
Imams. An edition of the Arabic texts and English translation of
Fatimid khuṭbas, by Paul E. Walker (2009).
11. Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī. Towards a Shiʿi
Mediterranean Empire: Fatimid Egypt and the Founding of Cairo.
The reign of the Imam-caliph al-Muʿizz, from al-Maqrīzī’s
Ittiʿāẓ al-ḥunafāʾ bi-akhbār al-aʾimma al-Fāṭimiyyīn al-khulafāʾ,
translated by Shainool Jiwa (2009).
12. Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī. Ittiʿāẓ al-ḥunafāʾ bi-akhbār
al-aʾimma al-Fāṭimiyyīn al-khulafāʾ. Arabic critical edition in 4
volumes, with an introduction and notes by Ayman F. Sayyid
(2010).
13. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī. Shiʿi Interpretations of Islam: Three Treatises
on Theology and Eschatology. A Persian edition and English
translation of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī’s Tawallā wa tabarrā, Maṭlūb
al-muʾminīn and Āghāz wa anjām, by S. J. Badkhchani (2010).
14. al-Muʾayyad al-Shīrāzī. Mount of Knowledge, Sword of Eloquence:
Collected Poems of an Ismaili Muslim Scholar in Fatimid Egypt. A
translation from the original Arabic of al-Muʾayyad al-Shīrāzī’s
Dīwān, translated by Mohamad Adra (2011).
15. Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī. A Code of Conduct: A Treatise
on the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission. A critical
Arabic edition and English translation of Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm
al-Naysābūrī’s Risāla al-mūjaza al-kāfiya fī ādāb al-du‘āt, by
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Inside the
Immaculate Portal
A History from Early Fatimid Archives
A new edition and English translation of Manṣūr
al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī’s biography of al-Ustādh
Jawdhar, the Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar
Edited and Translated by

Hamid Haji
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements xvii
Chronology xix
Map 1: North Africa (4th/10th century) xxiii
Map 2: Sicily (4th/10th century) xxiv
Table 1: The Fatimids of Ifrīqiya xxv
Table 2: The Kalbids of Sicily xxvi
Introduction 1
Translation of the Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar
part one: biography 19

1 Jawdhar begins to serve al-Mahdī 21
2 Jawdhar acquires al-Mahdī’s blessing 24
3 Jawdhar left in charge of al-Qāʾim’s palace 26
4 Jawdhar becomes official at the Treasury 27
5 Jawdhar made privy to al-Manṣūr’s designation as
heir apparent 27
6 A letter from al-Manṣūr, heir apparent, to Jawdhar 28
7 The first written directive from al-Qāʾim to Jawdhar 31
8 al-Qāʾim shuns forbidden goods 32
9 al-Qāʾim’s advice to al-Manṣūr regarding Jawdhar 32
10 Jawdhar left to govern the entire country 33
11 Letter of al-Manṣūr proclaiming his victory over
Abū Yazīd 34
ix
x inside the immaculate portal
12 Letter of al-Manṣūr announcing the death of

al-Qāʾim 36
13 Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning money that Jawdhar
had offered to him 37
14 Letter of al-Manṣūr to Jawdhar 37
15 The defeat of Abū Yazīd Makhlad b. Kaydād 38
16 Jawdhar is freed from bondage and receives his
honorific title 42
17 Jawdhar’s name is inscribed on embroidered
garments and carpets 43
18 al-Manṣūr honours Jawdhar 43
19 al-Manṣūr’s treasure stores entrusted to Jawdhar 44
20 Sermon of al-Qāʾim delivered by al-Marwazī 45
21 Sermon of al-Manṣūr announcing the death of
al-Qāʾim 47
22 al-Manṣūr gifts newly minted coins to Jawdhar 53
23 Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning a gift for the
Byzantine emperor 54
24 Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning the inhabitants of
the palace 55
25 Another letter concerning the inhabitants of the
palace 56
26 Letter from al-Manṣūr concerning his uncles and
brothers 59
27 Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning certain trouble-
makers 64
28 Letter of al-Manṣūr regarding the rebels of Sicily 66
29 Last letter of al-Manṣūr to Jawdhar 68
30 Letters of al-Muʿizz informing Jawdhar of the death
of al-Manṣūr 69
31 Letter of al-Muʿizz in reply to a request that Jawdhar
had made to him 71
32 Sermon of al-Muʿizz announcing the death of
al-Manṣūr 73
contents xi
33 A note from Jawdhar to al-Muʿizz and the latter’s

reply 81
part two: documents 86

1 On the transportation of barley to Sicily 86
2 al-Muʿizz’s instructions to have a prayer mat made
for a Slav 87
3 Jawdhar’s letter about the conduct of a Slav, and
al-Muʿizz’s reply 89
4 Disagreement between the Treasury director and an
official of the mint 91
5 al-Muʿizz’s reply to a personal note from Jawdhar 92
6 Horses gifted by Jawdhar to the Banū Abī al-Ḥusayn
al-Kalbī 93
7 Jawdhar’s offer of money to al-Muʿizz, and the
latter’s reply 93
8 Another personal note from Jawdhar regarding his
plea, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 94
9 A governor’s complaint against some Berbers 95
10 Jawdhar seeks permission to accept a gift from the
governor of Barqa, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 96
11 Jawdhar’s request for a pass to cover expenses for
the upkeep of camels, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 97
12 Jawdhar’s note about a pledge by a Slav to pay for
houses administered by him, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 98
13 On litigation about pastures 98
14 Another request from Jawdhar, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 100
15 Jawdhar’s request regarding a son of his secretary,
and al-Muʿizz’s reply 100
16 On materials for shipbuilding 100
17 Interception of letters of two sons of Qāsim, son of
al-Qāʾim, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 101
18 Jawdhar’s complaint about a governor, and
al-Muʿizz’s instructions to the commander Jawhar 102
xii inside the immaculate portal
19 On surveillance of correspondence between some

members of the Fatimid family 103
20 Abū ʿAbd Allāh, son of al-Qāʾim, forbidden to
engage in wailing 103
21 Jawdhar authorised to have sāmān mats made for
himself 104
22 al-Muʿizz attempts to reconcile Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b.
Ḥamdūn and Yūsuf b. Zīrī 104
23 The director of the naval storehouses forbidden to
store supplies in a mosque 106
24 Order to expedite the purchase of maritime provi-
sions 107
25 Another request from Jawdhar, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 107
26 A shroud for an official’s son 108
27 Condolences for the death of a servant 108
28 Order to execute captains of ships which left for
Sicily in breach of instructions 108
29 Jawdhar’s reminder regarding his request, and
30 Jawdhar’s complaint about a Slav sent to procure
slaves for the palace, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 110
31 Jawdhar’s note concerning Aḥmad, son of al-Mahdī,
32 Jawdhar’s reminder concerning his request, and
33 Another note of Jawdhar concerning his request,
34 Jawdhar’s request for an order to expedite maritime
supplies, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 113
35 Jawdhar’s indisposition, and al-Muʿizz’s concern for
Jawdhar’s health 114
36 Rumours that Jawdhar would be appointed to
govern Ifrīqiya after al-Muʿizz’s departure for Egypt 115
37 Concerning permits for officials travelling to Egypt 116
contents xiii
38 al-Muʿizz sends to Jawdhar spring water and Fatimid

dinars minted in Egypt 118
39 Jawdhar’s illness, his renewed appeal, and al-Muʿizz’s
reply 119
40 On the building of a wall around Zawīla 119
41 Jawdhar’s reminder regarding his request 120
42 al-Muʿizz gives Jawdhar leggings worn by al-Manṣūr
and himself 120
43 Jawdhar’s note regarding the salary of his protégé,
44 Jawdhar’s concern for al-Muʿizz’s health, and the
latter’s reply 121
45 Complaint about the commissioner of al-Mahdiyya,
46 Concerning disagreements between some members
of the Kalbī family 123
47 A shroud for an employee of the maritime admin-
istration 125
48 The use of revenues from the domains of Muẓaffar
the Slav 125
49 Regarding a letter from the governor of Sicily, and
50 Concerning a drunken secretary 127
51 Letter from the governor of Tripoli about expendi-
ture for the fleet, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 128
52 Jawdhar’s offer to provide wood for shipbuilding,
53 Jawdhar’s request concerning the son of a secretary
to receive his father’s emoluments 130
54 Prince Tamīm’s companionship with Ṭāhir, son of
Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan 130
55 al-Muʿizz pays tribute to a secretary after his death 131
56 al-Muʿizz accepts a gift of wood from Jawdhar 132
xiv inside the immaculate portal
57 A land dispute between Jawdhar’s agent and a man

of the Kutāma 132
58 Jawhar’s request relating to inheritance and
purchase of property 133
59 Jawdhar’s complaint about abuses committed by a
district governor, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 134
60 Jawdhar’s report on the activities of an Umayyad
agent in al-Masīla, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 135
61 Jawdhar’s wish not to importune al-Muʿizz 136
62 On the release of Muslim prisoners from Byzantine
custody 137
63 Jawdhar’s note relating to maritime supplies, and
64 Jawdhar’s request to grant a domain to a secretary’s
son, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 138
65 The treatment of some slaves who apostatised after
having embraced Islam 139
66 On Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman’s financial predica-
ment and al-Muʿizz’s help to him 139
67 Jawdhar’s request for a ship to replace one that
perished, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 140
68 Concerning the death of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī in Sicily 141
69 Finances of the governor Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn 142
70 al-Muʿizz allows Jaʿfar to continue to administer the
province in spite of lower financial returns to the
Treasury 143
71 Jawdhar’s note to al-Muʿizz defending the interests
of the Treasury, and al-Muʿizz’s reply 144
72 Concerning rumours about Jawdhar’s concern for
the Kalbī brothers 145
73 Concerning alienation between Jawdhar and
Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Kalbī 148
74 al-Muʿizz binds Jawdhar to Jawhar by a pact of
brotherhood 149
contents xv
75 About an agreement between Jawdhar and the

governor of Sicily regarding his ship’s cargo 150
76 Jawdhar asks al-Muʿizz’s permission to gift a
precious rug to Prince ʿAbd Allāh 151
77 al-Muʿizz expresses regret at the loss of Jawdhar’s
ship which perished 152
78 Concerning a request to turn a house adjoining Dār
al-Baḥr into a storehouse for naval equipment 152
79 Concerning a request by al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī’s mother to
buy a house near the palace 153
80 Concerning a promise made by al-Muʿizz to
al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār 153
81 Jawdhar’s request to al-Muʿizz for an item of his
clothing to serve him as a shroud, and al-Muʿizz’s
reply 154
82 Jawdhar is received in al-Manṣūriyya by al-Muʿizz’s
sons, brothers and dignitaries of the state 155
83 Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn’s correspondence regard-
ing raising revenue for the Treasury, and al-Muʿizz’s
reply 158
84 Prince ʿAbd Allāh replies to Jawdhar’s letter request-
ing mules, with al-Muʿizz’s response 159
85 Account of Jawdhar’s final journey, his frail condi-
tion, and his last meeting with al-Muʿizz at Ajdābiya 160
86 Jawdhar enters Barqa gravely ill; Prince ʿAbd Allāh’s
letter to Jawdhar on al-Muʿizz’s behalf; Jawdhar’s
death and burial 162
Bibliography 167
English Index 177
Arabic Index
Arabic Text
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Farhad Daftary,

Co-Director and Head of the Department of Academic Research and
Publications at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, for inviting
me to undertake this project as well as for his support during the
course of my work. I am grateful to the staff of the library of the
Institute for providing access to its rich collections of manuscripts
and printed materials indispensable for the project.
I am particularly indebted to Professor Wilferd Madelung for
meticulously going through the entire manuscript of my Arabic
edition and translation. His invaluable comments have ameliorated
the quality of my work. Finally, I would like to thank Kutub Kassam
for his painstaking editorial review of my manuscript.
xvii
Chronology
297/910 (20 Rabīʿ II/6 January) al-Mahdī enters Raqqāda

triumphantly.
297/910 (21 Rabīʿ II/7 January) al-Mahdī proclaimed caliph at
Raqqāda, al-Qayrawān and al-Qaṣr al-Qadīm.
297/910 Jawdhar retained by al-Mahdī to serve his heir appar-
ent.
298/911 al-Qāʾim’s expedition against the Kutāma who had
rebelled following the killing of Abū ‘Abd Allāh
al-Shīʿī.
301/914 al-Qāʾim’s first expedition to Egypt.
301/914 Birth of al-Manṣūr at Raqqāda.
303/916 (Dhū al-Qaʿda/May) Beginning of the construction of
al-Mahdiyya.
306/919 al-Qāʾim’s second expedition to Egypt.
306/919 Completion of al-Mahdiyya.
307/920 Sulaymān al-Khādim and Yaʿqūb al-Kutāmī
command a naval squadron sent by al-Mahdī as rein-
forcement to al-Qāʾim during his second expedition
to Egypt.
308/921 (8 Shawwāl/20 February) al-Mahdī moves to his new
capital al-Mahdiyya.
312/924 Birth of commander Jawhar.
313/925 Sālim b. Abī Rāshid, governor of Sicily (313–325/925–
936), reinforced by troops from Ifrīqiya, makes an
incursion in southern Italy.
xix
xx inside the immaculate portal
315/927 (Ṣafar/April–May) al-Mahdī dispatches al-Qāʾim

on an expedition to the Maghrib. On his return, he
founds the town of al-Masīla, which becomes the resi-
dence of the Banū Ḥamdūn.
316/928 al-Qāʾim, while conducting operations against Berber
tribes in the Maghrib, learns from a letter he receives
from his son Qāsim of rumours that al-Mahdī has
designated Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad as heir apparent.
319/931 (19 Ramaḍān/5 October) Birth of al-Muʿizz.
322/934 (14 Rabīʿ I/4 March) Death of al-Mahdī.
322/934 (10 Jumādā II/27 May) al-Mahdī’s death announced.
His successor al-Qāʾim entrusts to Jawdhar the affairs
of the Treasury.
323/935 Maysūr al-Ṣaqlabī’s expedition to the Maghrib to
restore Fatimid rule.
325/936 Khalīl b. Isḥāq appointed governor of Sicily (325–
329/936–940) by al-Qāʾim.
326/938 ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī is killed during the
siege of Jirjent.
328/940 Muḥammad b. Rumāḥis, commander of the
Umayyad fleet at Almeria, is appointed governor of
Bajjāna (Pechina).
332/943 Beginning of Abū Yazīd’s revolt.
334/946 (13 Shawwāl/18 May) Death of al-Qāʾim.
335/947 (1 Shawwāl/25 April) Rebellion in Sicily; the Banū
al-Ṭabarī attack the governor ʿAṭṭāf and kill some of
his men.
336/947 Rebellion in Sicily quelled by al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī
al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī.
336/947 (22 al-Muḥarram/13 August) Defeat and death of
Abū Yazīd.
336/948 (Ramaḍān/March–April) al-Manṣūr returns to
al-Mahdiyya after his victory over Abū Yazīd.
337/948 (Rabīʿ I/September): al-Manṣūriyya becomes Fatimid
capital.
chronology xxi
337/949 (Rajab/January) Birth of Tamīm, eldest son of

al-Muʿizz.
341/953 Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus
sends an ambassador to the court of al-Manṣūr.
341/953 (29 Shawwāl/19 March) Death of al-Manṣūr.
Beginning of the reign of al-Muʿizz.
341/953 (10 Dhū al-Ḥijja/28 April) al-Muʿizz announces the
passing of al-Manṣūr.
342/953 al-Muʿizz’s expedition in the Awrās to establish
Fatimid authority over the former allies of Abū Yazīd.
347/958 Jawhar’s campaign to re-establish Fatimid authority
in the Maghrib.
349/960 Qayṣar and Muẓaffar executed.
350/961 Rashīq, Jawdhar’s secretary, dies. Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr
al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī, the author of Sīrat al-Ustādh
Jawdhar, enters the service of Jawdhar as his copyist.
351/962 Taormina taken by Muslim forces under the
command of Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan after a siege lasting
seven and a half months.
353/964 (Dhū al-Qaʿda/November) Death of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī.
354/965 Rametta, the last remaining Christian stronghold in
Sicily, falls.
357/968 Death of Kāfūr.
358/969 (Rabīʿ I/February) Jawhar sets out for Egypt from
al-Qayrawan.
358/969 (17 Shaʿbān/6 July) Jawhar enters al-Fuṣṭāṭ, the capital
of Ikhshīdid Egypt.
358/968 al-Muʿizz orders the razing of Taormina and Rametta.
358/969 (Shawwāl/September) al-Muʿizz’s expedition against
Abū Khazar.
359/970 (Jumādā I/April) Jawhar lays the foundations of
al-Azhar in Cairo.
xxii inside the immaculate portal
359/970 Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan appointed commander of the

Fatimid fleet which participated in the conquest of
Egypt. On arrival at Tripoli, he becomes ill and dies
at the end of Dhū al-Ḥijja/end of October.
360/971 Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn switches allegiance to the
Umayyad caliph of Spain.
361/972 (22 Shawwāl/6 August) al-Muʿizz departs from
al-Manṣūriyya for Egypt.
362/973 Death of Jawdhar in Barqa.
Palermo
Almeria
Ceuta Banzart Sicily
Būna
Tangier
Melilla Oran Sétif Syracuse
Constantine Tunis
Ashīr al-Masīla Sousse
Fās Tlemcen Qalʿat Kiyāna M
al-Qayrawān al-Mahdiyya
Miknās Ṭubna ED
Biskra
IT Crete
Gafsa Sfax ER
RA
Gabès SEA
Jerba
NEAN
Tripoli
Barqa
Sijilmāsa Alexandria
Wargla
Cairo
Ajdābiya
Map1:
MapNorth Africa
1: North (4th/10th
Africa (4th/10thcentury)
century)
lāṣ
Mī ilazzo
M Massīna
ās Messina
hy si Qarīnash Balarm Ramṭa
Jabal Ḥ Ak ini mo a Rametta
āmid C Carini Paler niy
Erice ūdh Q ārūia Nāṣū Baqṭush Libīrī
Barṭinīq a Jufl falù - n Naso Patti Oliveri
Aṭrābinush ʿAlqam Q Partinico Th irmini Ce
al aro
C San Marco
Trápani er m
Alcam a Calʿat Aw al-T
a T Qalʿat al-Qawārib
o alat b r b
ubo ī Trab īʿa
ía Qalʿat al-Ṣirāṭ Sto Stephano di
Qalʿat Fīmī Collesano Camastra Vecchio al-Randāj
Calatafimi Qurliyūn Randazzo Ṭabarm
Marsā ʿAlī Corleone
Marsala Qalʿat Abī Thawr Jabal al-Nār Taorminīn
a
Caltavuturo Baṭarliyya
Barṭanna Balja Petralia
Qaṣr Nūbū Mt Etna
Māzar Partanna Sta Margherita di Belice
Castronuovo
Mazara Qalʿat al-Ballūṭ Qaṣryānnih Liyāj
del Vallo Caltabellotta Castrogiovanni/ Acireale
Baṭarnū
Enna Paternò
a Qalʿat al-Nisāʾ Qaṭāniya
āqq Catánia
al-Shciacca
S Caltanissetta
al-Ḥajar al-Mathqūb
al-Qaṭṭāʿ Pietraperzia
Canicatti
Jirjant/Kirkant Nārū Lantīnī
Girgenti/Agrigento Naro Buthīra Ḥiṣn al-Janūb/ Lentini
Butera Qalʿat al-Khinzāriyya
Caltagirone Qalʿat Abī Shāma Siraqūsa
Linbiyādha Buscemi Syracuse
Licata
Raghūṣ
Ragusa ṭus
Nū to
No
Shikla
Scicli
Map 2: Sicily (4th/10th century)

Map 2: Sicily (4th/10th century)
(1) al-Mahdī bi-llāh
(d. 322/934)
(2) Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad Mūsā Abū Ṭālib Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿĪsā Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn Abū Sulaymān Dāwūd (seven daughters)
al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh (d. Egypt, 382/993) (d. Egypt, 360/971) (d. Raqqāda, 382 or 362) (d. al-Maghrib in the reign of al-Qāʾim) (d. al-Maghrib, 341/952)
(d. 334/946)
Qāsim (3) Abū al-Ṭāhir Ismāʿil Abū ʿAbd Allāh Jaʿfar Ḥamza ʿAdnān Abū Kināna Yūsuf Abū al-Fūrāt ʿAbd al-Jabbār (four daughters)
al-Manṣūr bi-llāh (d. during al-Muʿizz’s reign) (all three d. al-Maghrib) (d. Barqa, 362/973) (d. Egypt, 337/949 or 367/978)
(d. 341/953)
Hāshim Ḥaydara Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn Abū Jaʿfar Ṭāhir five daughters:
(4) Abū Tamīm Maʿadd
al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh (d. Egypt, 368/978) (d. Egypt, 382 or Jum. 372) (d. al-Maghrib) (d. al-Maghrib 357 or 359) (Hiba, Arwā, Asmāʾ, Umm Salma, Manṣūra)
(d. 365/975)
Table 1: The Fatimids of Ifrīqiya
Table 1: The Fatimids of Ifrīqiya
Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī
ʿAlī
(d. 326/938)
(1) Abū al-Ghanāʾim al-Ḥasan Jaʿfar ʿAmmār

(336-353/947-964) (d. 345/956)
(2) Abū al-Ḥusayn Aḥmad Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad Abū al-Futūḥ Mūsā (3) Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan
(d. 359/970) (d. 363/974) (d. 372/982) (d. 390/1000)
Ṭāhir (6) ʿAbd Allāh (4) Jābir

(5) Jaʿfar (372-373/982-983)
(d. 375/985) (d. 379/989)
(7) Abū al-Futūḥ Yūsuf

(379-388/990-998)
ʿAlī (10) al-Ḥasan Ṣamṣām al-Dawla (8) Jaʿfar (9) Aḥmad al-Akḥal
(d. 405/1014-1015) (431-445/1040-1053) (388-410/998-1019) (410-427/1019-1036)
Table 2: The Kalbids of Sicily

Table 2: The Kalbids of Sicily
Introduction
In the year following the flight of the last Aghlabid emir, Ziyādat
Allāh III (r. 290–296/903–909), to the East, the first Fatimid caliph-
imam al-Mahdī bi-llāh (r. 297–322/909–934) entered Raqqāda trium-
phantly on 20 Rabīʿ II 297/6 January 910, and settled in his palace in
the former Aghlabid capital. The military exploits of his dāʿī, Abū
ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī (d. 298/911), had subdued for him vast regions
of the Maghrib as well as the former Aghlabid domains in Sicily.
He inherited everything that belonged to the Aghlabids, includ-
ing their slaves. Among them was al-Ustādh1 Jawdhar, a eunuch of
Slavic (Ṣaqlabī, pl. Ṣaqāliba) origin, who subsequently served all four
Fatimid caliph-imams in Ifrīqiya and rose to become one of the most
eminent statesmen of the early Fatimid period.
Ṣaqāliba eunuchs, who had gained prominence in Ifrīqiya during
the Aghlabid period, originated mostly from the Balkans, especially
the Dalmatian coast. They were supplied by Venice or captured
during raids or fighting with the Byzantines whose ranks included
Slavs. Being cut off from their land of origin, without any relatives
in their new abode, made them very dependent on their patrons and
loyal to them. Jawdhar’s life in the service of the Fatimids for over
sixty years and his exemplary loyalty to his patrons is well docu-
mented in his Sīra or biography compiled by his private secretary,
Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī, who served him diligently
for twelve years from 350/961 until Jawdhar’s death in 362/973. His
work in Arabic, edited and translated here, brings together oral state-
1. The term ustādh has a wide range of meanings. It designates a highly

esteemed person, a master and, euphemistically, a eunuch. On eunuchs and
terms used for them in the sources, see David Ayalon, ‘On the Eunuchs
in Islam’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, I (1979), pp. 67–124, and
reprinted in his Outsiders in the Lands of Islam: Mamluks, Mongols and
Eunuchs (London, 1988), article III.
1
2 inside the immaculate portal
ments and archival material from the reigns of the first four Fatimid
caliph-imams which allow us to follow the stages of Jawdhar’s life,
from his entering the service of the Fatimids until the final days of
his life under the reign of al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh (r. 341–365/953–
975), the last Fatimid caliph-imam to rule in Ifrīqiya, and the first
one of the dynasty to rule in Egypt.
Jawdhar was still a boy when al-Mahdī entered Raqqāda. He
was among slaves of the old order assembled before al-Mahdī, who
apportioned them to their tasks in the new administration. Jawdhar
was selected by al-Mahdī to serve his heir apparent al-Qāʾim
bi-amr Allāh (r. 322–334/934–946). He impressed al-Mahdī with
his simplicity and enjoyed, from the very beginning, the favour of
al-Mahdī, who predicted that he would be pious and diligent in his
service. Jawdhar began to serve as head servant of al-Qāʾim’s palace
during al-Mahdī’s reign, and he was left in charge of al-Qāʾim’s
palace while the latter was away on a military expedition. Upon
his return from the expedition, al-Qāʾim praised his services and
increased his favours to him. Subsequently, Jawdhar also accompa-
nied al-Qāʾim on at least one of his expeditions to the East, for the
Sīra relates that al-Qāʾim, annoyed at the behaviour of his soldiers
who frequently pillaged the belongings of those who had sought
protection, instructed Jawdhar to eat only meat provided from his
own kitchen so that it would not contain anything impermissible.2
After al-Mahdī’s death, his successor, al-Qāʾim, entrusted to
Jawdhar the affairs of the Treasury, as well as the warehouses of
cloths and garments. He made him an intermediary between himself
and his followers and all his slaves. The extent to which Jawdhar
had won the confidence of his master was such that when al-Qāʾim
was about to bury al-Mahdī, he called Jawdhar aside and made him
privy to the designation of his son Ismāʿīl, the future caliph-imam
al-Manṣūr bi-llāh (r. 334–341/946–953), as his heir apparent. He
exacted a promise from Jawdhar to pledge allegiance to the heir
apparent and observe complete secrecy about it until he himself
made the appointment public. Accordingly, Jawdhar kept the matter
secret for seven years.3
Already during the reign of al-Qāʾim, al-Manṣūr had great sympa-
2. See Part One, Section 8 below.

introduction 3
thy and concern for Jawdhar. He would often stop by Jawdhar’s house
to visit him. The Sīra has preserved an interesting letter addressed
to Jawdhar from al-Manṣūr, who was then heir apparent, on the
subject of controlling one’s anger, in which he cites Galen’s advice.
Jawdhar had the authority to punish those under him. It happened
one day that he punished and imprisoned some young Slav eunuchs
for a crime they had committed and for which they deserved to
be disciplined. They implored the heir apparent and sought his
intercession on their behalf. Jawdhar was unaware of this until he
received the letter in which al-Manṣūr conveyed to him that he had
somewhat exceeded the limit and that he should be compassionate
towards those whom he punished.4 These Slav eunuchs subsequently
provided outstanding services to the Fatimids under al-Manṣūr
and his successor, al-Muʿizz, when they had already been set free.
Subsequently, two of them, Qayṣar and Muẓaffar, were executed in
349/960 under al-Muʿizz when they had become too powerful and
abused their authority.5
During the last two years of al-Qāʾim’s reign and the early part
of the reign of al-Manṣūr, the Kharijite rebel Abū Yazīd (d. 336/947)
acquired a large following among the Ibāḍī Berbers of the Awrās
mountain region and began his rebellion against the Fatimid
state in 332/943. He conquered all of southern Ifrīqiya, including
al-Qayrawān, and laid siege to the capital al-Mahdiyya. Such was
the extent of his rebellion that Fatimid writers identify him with the
Deceiver (al-dajjāl), an apocalyptic figure similar to the Antichrist.6
When al-Qāʾim was on his deathbed, during the course of the rebel-
lion, he summoned al-Manṣūr and made special recommendations
to protect Jawdhar.7
With the beginning of the reign of al-Manṣūr, Jawdhar assumed
greater eminence. When al-Manṣūr set out in pursuit of Abū
Yazīd, he invested Jawdhar with authority over the palace and the
entire country and left him in charge of the safes of the Treasury.
Jawdhar thus became, with regard to rank, the third most important
5. See note 53 and Document 48 below.
6. See, for example, al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān b. Muḥammad, Iftitāḥ al-daʿwa,
ed. Wadād al-Qāḍī (Beirut, 1970), p. 275; tr. Hamid Haji as Founding the
Fatimid State: The Rise of an Early Islamic Empire (London, 2006), p. 225.
person of the Fatimid state after the imam and the heir apparent.
Abū Yazīd was eventually defeated by al-Manṣūr in 336/947, who
had kept secret the news of his father’s death till then. After this
victory, al-Manṣūr manumitted Jawdhar and, to honour him, he
designated him as ‘Client of the Commander of the Faithful’ (mawlā
amīr al-muʾminīn), and instructed him on the protocol to follow in
his correspondence, which confirmed his highest rank after the heir
apparent.8 He honoured Jawdhar by having his name and designa-
tion inscribed on bands of embroidered fabrics and carpets manu-
factured in al-Mahdiyya; he clad him in robes of honour and gave
him mounts to ride. On his return to his palace after his victory,
when food was served, al-Manṣūr ordered Jawdhar to sit at the table
with him. This was the first time that he had the honour to sit at
the table with the imam.9 Al-Manṣūr founded, near al-Qayrawān,
his new residential capital al-Manṣūriyya to mark his victory. When
he was presented with the first mintage of the coins bearing his
name, he sent from these, as a blessing, 1,000 dinars to Jawdhar who
continued to operate for some time from al-Mahdiyya.
Al-Manṣūr used to collect the finest treasures of all kinds. He
considered the books of his ancestors to be his richest treasure. One
day he sent to Jawdhar a selection of books of his ancestors for safe-
keeping and transcribing. Among these books was Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ
(The Book of Elucidation) by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān (d. 363/974), and
al-Qāʾim’s and his own sermons.10 On another occasion, when an
envoy from the Byzantine emperor brought a gift to al-Manṣūr, he
wished to send in return more beautiful and lavish gifts. Therefore,
he wrote to Jawdhar, ordering him to bring, from the treasure stores
which were in his custody, items which he described to him and
which were suitable to be sent to kings.11
During his last illness, al-Manṣūr instructed his heir apparent,
al-Muʿizz, to respond to Jawdhar’s letters. Then, sometime after
his accession to the imamate, al-Muʿizz summoned Jawdhar to
al-Manṣūriyya and lodged him beside him in his palace complex.
Jawdhar needed exquisite mats to furnish his new home and, even

introduction 5
though the mat makers were under his authority, he asked the imam
that he be allowed to have mats made and that he would bear the
expenses incurred on them. The imam instructed him to have
the best mats of finest craftsmanship made, which he offered him
graciously as a personal gift.12
After he moved to al-Manṣūriyya, Jawdhar became responsible
for conveying to the imam letters and pleas addressed to him, and
he received from the imam replies indicating the decision to imple-
ment, the advice to give to the correspondent and the manner in
which he should write to him. Jawdhar would receive letters from his
subordinates whom he left behind in al-Mahdiyya as well as others in
the service of the state. They corresponded with him to let him know
what they needed, consulted him for advice and kept him informed.
He extracted from their letters passages containing points on which
advice was sought, leaving a blank on the roll of paper between every
two extracts. Then under each extract al-Muʿizz wrote the reply in
his own hand, advising what action to take.
Letters and directives of al-Muʿizz addressed to Jawdhar and
preserved in his biography reveal with what care the imam attended
to matters addressed to him and how closely Jawdhar was involved
in dealing with all matters. These included the defence of the realm,
financial administration, the affairs of Sicily, the construction
and equipping of the Fatimid fleet, and preparations for the final
departure for Egypt. Among matters referred to al-Muʿizz included
disputes relating to land and grazing pastures, complaints against
officials, drunkenness of a secretary, apostasy of slaves, and rivalries
between his allies in the Maghrib. He personally ordered a prayer
mat for a Slav prisoner and a shroud for an official’s son who had
died. Al-Muʿizz was caring towards those who served him and gave
orders to look into the welfare and education of children of officials
to prepare them to serve the Fatimid state. When Jawdhar made
him aware of the dire financial situation of the eminent dāʿī Jaʿfar b.
Manṣūr al-Yaman, he promptly rescued him from his predicament.13
Among al-Muʿizz’s greatest personal concerns was the conduct of his
relatives, and in particular his eldest son, Tamīm (d. 374/985).
Indeed, the imam also received letters from individuals directly,
12. See Document 21 below.

without being channelled through Jawdhar. The latter, on the other

hand, often took the initiative to write to the imam to inform him or
seek an opinion from him or an order, without reference to anyone
else’s letter. He also wrote to the imam to inquire about his health
and well-being. Similarly, the imam himself also wrote to Jawdhar
on his own initiative to express his concern for his health and well-
being or to send him a memento. Once, when Jawdhar became ill,
al-Muʿizz wrote to him to recommend a theriac produced by his
physician, and sent him some with instructions on how to use it.
On another occasion he sent him a pair of leggings which were worn
by al-Manṣūr and then by himself, because Jawdhar liked to wear
leggings.
Jawdhar knew well the family of Banū Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī
which provided outstanding military services to the Fatimids and
ruled Sicily on their behalf. This family adopted early the Fatimid
cause and was in favour from the reign of al-Mahdī. ʿAlī b. Abī
al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, son-in-law of Sālim b. Abī Rāshid, gover-
nor of Sicily (313–325/925–936), was killed in 326/938 during the
siege of Jirjent (Agrigentum) fighting for the Fatimids. While ʿAlī
was away fighting, Jawdhar had the care of two of his sons on the
orders of al-Qāʾim. One of them, Abū al-Ghanāʾim al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī
(d. 353/964), then played a leading role in the military campaigns
waged by al-Qāʾim and al-Manṣūr against Abū Yazīd, and he was
sent in 336/948 to Sicily as governor to restore order and reassert
Fatimid authority on the island following a rebellion there. He
became the first of a succession of governors of Sicily from the Banū
Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī family. A document in the Sīra yields details
on the rebellion, quelled by al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī, which complements the
account of Ibn al-Athīr on these events.
Jawdhar had domains, including one granted to him by al-Mahdī
in Jazīrat Sharīk, a fertile peninsula to the east of Tunis, whose
farthest point in the north is the nearest point of Africa to Sicily. His
chief source of income, however, was not from his domains but from
his business enterprise in Sicily. He owned ships and conducted
business in his private capacity with the island, notably the importa-
tion of wood which he offered sometimes generously to the imam for
his naval shipyard for the construction of warships. Once, when his
ship brought him a large consignment of wood from Sicily and the
introduction 7
imam’s arsenal needed wood, he offered it respectfully to the imam

and wished that he would accept it. Jawdhar’s close ties with the
ruling family of Sicily allowed him, with the approval of al-Muʿizz,
to borrow funds from the Treasury in Sicily for his business transac-
tions, and reimburse the sum to the Treasury in al-Manṣūriyya. The
imam considered his own wealth to belong to Jawdhar as well.14
Shipping was not without its hazards and Jawdhar did suffer
losses at sea. Once, when al-Muʿizz learnt that one of Jawdhar’s
ships had perished with all its cargo while coming from Sicily, he
wrote to him, on his own initiative, to express his grief at the loss.15
On another occasion when Jawdhar’s ship perished and he could
not find any that he could buy to transport his cargo to the East,
he requested al-Muʿizz to grant him one of the two ships that had
been purchased for the imam from the Byzantines. He feared out
of respect to make this request, but the imam asked him to take any
ships that he needed, for he did not consider his own goods to be
other than Jawdhar’s.16
Jawdhar was well aware of confidential matters within the
Fatimid family, including disputes on which general historical
sources remain silent. In fact al-Muʿizz considered him to be part of
his family and allowed him to visit him whenever he wanted. He was
informed of salaries and allowances of the inhabitants of the palace
in general and of the imam’s entourage in particular. We learn from
his biography that the sons of al-Mahdī and al-Qāʾim who resided in
al-Mahdiyya in the palaces of their fathers had refused to acknowl-
edge al-Manṣūr’s excellence and denied his right to the imamate.
They were also making false accusations against Jawdhar. They
demanded to be able to go freely in the markets with the common
people, whereas Jawdhar forbade them and prevented them from
doing so because of their shameful behaviour. In this connection
al-Manṣūr wrote a letter to his heir apparent, al-Muʿizz, in which
he calls certain sons of al-Mahdī and al-Qāʾim ‘the Cursed Tree in
the Qurʾan’ (17:60), because, like the Umayyads of yesterday, they
had refused to recognise him.17 The imam promised to send him a

book composed by himself on the matter to guide the believers and

put an end to doubt in their minds. The origin of all disputes within
the family is traced back to Qāsim, al-Qāʾim’s son, who is blamed in
particular by al-Manṣūr for instigating a dispute between al-Mahdī
and al-Qāʾim. The Sīra does not elaborate on what Qāsim did, but
Ibn ʿIdhārī reports that in 316/928, while al-Qāʾim was conducting
operations against Berber tribes in the Maghrib, he learnt from a
letter he received from Qāsim that there were widespread rumours
about al-Mahdī having designated as heir apparent his son Abū ʿAlī
Aḥmad, and that the latter had led the prayers of the feast of break-
ing the fast (al-fiṭr) and the feast of sacrifice (al-aḍḥā). This troubled
al-Qāʾim who returned promptly to al-Mahdiyya without engag-
ing the enemy.18 Then Qāsim’s sons, who resided in al-Mahdiyya,
continued to display their ill will towards al-Manṣūr and al-Muʿizz.
The threat posed by them was such that Jawdhar had previously
submitted to al-Muʿizz the idea of intercepting correspondence
exchanged between the two palaces in al-Mahdiyya and the house
of Tamīm, al-Muʿizz’s son, but al-Muʿizz had been reluctant to do
so. Eventually, he himself wrote to Jawdhar expressing his agree-
ment with his suggestion and authorised the interception of mail.
Jawdhar’s deputy in al-Mahdiyya also wrote to him enclosing
notes of two of Qāsim’s sons which he had intercepted and which
contained offensive material which Jawdhar relayed to the imam to
keep him informed.
Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad himself was still alive when al-Muʿizz was
preparing to leave Ifrīqiya permanently to move to Egypt. He was
accused of making slanderous remarks. It was said of him that he
intended to remain behind and delay his departure with al-Muʿizz.
Jawdhar sought information about Aḥmad from his deputy Nuṣayr,
governor of al-Mahdiyya, and reported back to the imam what was
being said.19
Some time after the conquest of Egypt, just as al-Qāʾim had
previously made Jawdhar privy to the designation of al-Manṣūr
as heir apparent, al-Muʿizz made him privy to the designation of
his second son ʿAbd Allāh as his heir apparent, at a time when it
was generally believed that al-Muʿizz’s eldest son Tamīm already
18. See note 261 below.

introduction 9
held that status. Jawdhar kept ʿAbd Allāh’s appointment secret for
seven months. ʿAbd Allāh was designated heir apparent, rather than
Tamīm, because the latter was in touch with his cousins, the sons
of Qāsim, who intrigued against the imam. Moreover, Tamīm, it
seems, led a dissolute life.
Jawdhar paid his due respects to Prince ʿAbd Allāh, and the
prince visited Jawdhar when the latter was ill. After the prince’s visit,
he wrote a note to al-Muʿizz expressing how honoured he felt by the
visit of the heir apparent. He followed up this note by dispatching a
precious rug, and asked the imam to allow the prince to accept it.
When al-Muʿizz decided to leave for Egypt, there was an exchange of
letters between Jawdhar and Prince ʿAbd Allāh in which the prince
expressed his concern for Jawdhar.
When preparations were being made to leave for Egypt, it was
even rumoured that Jawdhar would be left behind to govern Ifrīqiya.
When he heard what was being said, he wrote to al-Muʿizz request-
ing him not to leave him behind because his happiness lay beside
the imam. The imam replied to him, assuring him not to worry
about these unfounded rumours, for he had not thought of leaving
him behind for several reasons. Besides, he had to try to reconcile
his two ambitious allies in the Maghrib, Bulukkīn b. Zīrī, chief of
the Ṣanhāja, and his bitter rival Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn, who sided
with their enemies the Zanāta.20 Subsequently, Bulukkīn b. Zīrī was
appointed by al-Muʿizz to govern Ifrīqiya, while Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī, who
was governor of the province of al-Masīla, switched allegiance to the
Umayyads. Jaʿfar and his brother Yaḥyā were raised at the Fatimid
court, and their father ʿAlī played an important part in 315/927 with
the foundation of the town of al-Masīla which al-Qāʾim had charged
him to construct. Jaʿfar was particularly close to Jawdhar. When
provincial governors were seeking to outbid Jaʿfar for his governor-
ship by offering to raise more revenue for the Treasury, al-Muʿizz
turned down their bids in consideration for Jawdhar’s friendship
with Jaʿfar. Jawdhar was troubled that the imam had favoured him
to the detriment of the Treasury. He beseeched the imam to disre-
gard his friendship for Jaʿfar and dismiss him from governorship and
accept a rival bid so as not to deprive the Treasury of higher revenues,
but the imam would not withdraw a favour once it was granted.

Jawdhar himself was actively engaged in making preparations

for the Fatimid departure to Egypt. Members of the Kalbī family
had arrived in Ifrīqiya to depart with al-Muʿizz and his entourage.
Jawdhar became aware of disputes between some members of the
Kalbī family. He refrained from appearing to take sides so as not
to expose himself to blame, and he informed the imam about his
decision. On al-Muʿizz’s instructions, he helped them to secure their
travel permits from the Fatimid commander Jawhar. At that time
al-Muʿizz was engaged actively in dispatching troops to the East and
had to incur considerable expenses. Jawdhar mentioned that he had
gathered some money following his successful venture to sell some-
thing from the state warehouses and by securing the outstanding tax
to which he added some of his own fortune which he offered as a gift
to al-Muʿizz.
Jawdhar had previously dealt with Jawhar regarding a share
in a property that Jawhar had asked to be granted and a share in
a domain he wished to purchase. Correspondence was exchanged
between the two after Jawhar conquered Egypt and was manumit-
ted by al-Muʿizz. When Jawdhar sought al-Muʿizz’s advice on how
to address Jawhar after the latter was manumitted, the imam estab-
lished a pact of brotherhood between the two former slaves, invok-
ing the pact established by the Prophet between his companions,
and he advised Jawdhar on the protocol to follow in his correspond-
ence with Jawhar to reflect this special bond between them.
When al-Muʿizz left for Egypt, Jawdhar, who was frail, departed
at the same time. Anxious about his condition, Jawdhar wrote a note
to the imam, asking for an item of his clothing which could serve
him as a shroud and a blessing when he died. In response al-Muʿizz
wished him a long life so that he would witness further bounties,
and he sent him items from his own wardrobe as well as from the
wardrobes of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
When Jawdhar and his party arrived at Ajdābiya, in Cyrenaica
(present-day Libya), he wanted to see al-Muʿizz. As he was too weak,
he was brought to al-Muʿizz’s tent in a litter. The imam leaned into
the litter and hugged him and comforted him. This was the last time
that they said farewell. Then, as Jawdhar was approaching Barqa, his
weakness increased. The following morning he began to be in agony
and died at the time of the midday prayer. In the night, his body
introduction 11
was carried from the town of Barqa to the palace where al-Muʿizz
was staying, at a place called Mayāsir. The imam ordered the body
to be washed. This ritual was carried out by the illustrious al-Qāḍī
al-Nuʿmān, Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān the secretary and Manṣūr
al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī, the author of the Sīra. The imam performed
the prayer for him the following day and he was buried in a local
mosque. Jawdhar’s name is still preserved in a quarter of Cairo,
al-Jūdariyya (al-Jawdhariyya), established by a group of individuals
who bore the nisba al-Jawdharī, among them the author of the Sīra.21
The author
The author of Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar, Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī

al-Jawdharī, was a private secretary of Jawdhar who took him in his
service after the death of his former secretary Rashīq in 350/961.
Manṣūr served Jawdhar from that year until Jawdhar’s death in
Barqa in 362/973 while he was on his way to Egypt at the same time
as al-Muʿizz’s definitive departure from Ifrīqiya. During the course
of Manṣūr’s service, Jawdhar made him an intermediary between
himself and the servants who were under his command. Jawdhar
treated him kindly and with familiarity. He often confided secrets to
him and showed him letters he received from the imams.
After Jawdhar’s death, al-Muʿizz appointed Manṣūr to succeed
Jawdhar. He had easy access to archives held by Jawdhar. He cher-
ished the memory of his mentor and benefactor, and wished to
preserve his memory. He wanted to convey how virtuous Jawdhar
was and how highly he was regarded by the imams. With this end
in view, he compiled the Sīra as a memento to Jawdhar, occasion-
ally relating accounts of his own personal experiences with him.
His compilation is extremely interesting and precious because it not
only gives a biographical account of an outstanding statesman of the
early Fatimid period, but more importantly it also brings together
oral statements and archival material from the period which spans
over sixty years from the reign of al-Mahdī up to Jawdhar’s death
in 362/973 during al-Muʿizz’s reign. The bulk of the archival mate-
21. Muḥyī al-Dīn Abū al-Faḍl ʿAbd Allāh Ibn ʿAbd al-Ẓāhir, al-Rawḍa
al-bahiyya al-zāhira fī khiṭaṭ al-Muʿizziyya al-Qāhira, ed. Ayman Fuʾād
Sayyid (Cairo, 1996), p. 54.
rial, however, is from the reign of al-Muʿizz. Manṣūr wrote his

work during the time of al-Muʿizz’s successor, al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh (r.
365–386/975–996), and he lived up to the time of al-Ḥākim bi-amr
Allāh (r. 386–411/996–1021), during which he held several impor-
tant offices, including the office of director of endowments and
market inspector. Then his son Jābir (d. after 390/1000) also held
some of these functions during the reign of al-Ḥākim.22
The work
The Sīra is divided into two parts. The first part contains an account
of the stages of the life of Jawdhar from his entering the service of
the Fatimids under al-Mahdī until his installation at al-Manṣūriyya,
during the reign of al-Muʿizz. Documents in the first part include
sermons of the Fatimid caliph-imams and their letters to Jawdhar
on different subjects. The author introduces each item with a brief
explanatory note. Documents quoted in the work, including the
preamble which accompanies them, are of variable length. Some
are quite short. The longest are sermons. The second part contains
replies of al-Muʿizz to letters of Jawdhar or his replies to letters trans-
mitted to him by Jawdhar on behalf of others. The compiler gives
only a summary of the letters to which al-Muʿizz replied; hence it is
not always possible to follow allusions made to the details of these
letters in al-Muʿizz’s replies.
Editions and manuscripts
The integral text of the Sīra was first established by Muḥammad

Kāmil Ḥusayn and Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Hādī Shaʿīra.23 Their
edition is based on two manuscripts. The first is a manuscript from
the collection of the Ismaili Society, Bombay. This manuscript has
191 pages and was copied apparently in India in the late 13th/19th
century. It ends with Document 67, leaving a lacuna. The other
manuscript is from the Fyzee Collection. This manuscript, which is
22. Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī, Kitāb al-Muqaffā al-kabīr, ed.
Muḥammad al-Yaʿlāwī (Beirut, 1991), vol. 3, p. 9.
23. Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī, Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar, ed.
Muḥammad Kāmil Ḥusayn and Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Hādī Shaʿīra (Cairo,
1954).
introduction 13
not dated, is slightly older than the first manuscript. It contains 76

folios with 15 lines of text per page.24 Several valuable notes provided
by the editors deal with the peculiarity of the language of the Sīra.
An annotated French translation, based on the edition was
produced by Marius Canard,25 who in his previous study on Sicily
under the early Fatimids highlighted the significance of the work,
particularly with reference to the importation of wood from Sicily.26
Two more studies based on the Sīra are worth mentioning here. They
are Umberto Rizzitano’s study of new Arabic sources relating to the
history of Islam in Sicily in which relevant excerpts from the Sīra
were translated into Italian,27 and Takashi Uhara’s study in Japanese
on the early Fatimid court.28 More recently, while working on this
edition and translation of the Sīra, I contributed a study on Jawdhar
in a collective volume in honour of Farhad Daftary.29
Besides the manuscripts used by the editors, several other manu-
scripts of the Sīra are held in private libraries of Ismaili communities
in India and Pakistan.30 The Institute of Ismaili Studies in London
has two manuscript copies in its collection, as well as a photocopy of
the manuscript of the Sīra in the Fyzee Collection.
This new edition is based on the following three manuscripts:
24. Muʿizz Goriawala, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Fyzee Collection of

Ismaili Manuscripts (Bombay, 1965), pp. 35–36.
25. Marius Canard, Vie de l’Ustadh Jaudhar (Algiers, 1958).
26. Marius Canard, ‘Quelques notes relatives à la Sicile sous les premiers
califes fatimites’, in Studi Medievali in onore di Antonino De Stefano
(Palermo, 1956), pp. 571–573, reprinted in his L’expansion arabo-islamique
et ses répercussions (London, 1974), article IV.
27. Umberto Rizzitano, ‘Nuove fonti arabe per la storia dei Musulmani
di Sicilia’, Rivista degli Studi Orientali, 32 (1957); being Scritti in onore di
Giuseppe Furlani, pp. 531–555.
28. Takashi Uhara, ‘The Inside Affairs of the Early Fatimid Court
according to the Sira al-Ustadh Jawdhar’, Bulletin of the Society for Near
Eastern Studies in Japan, 31, no. 2 (1988), pp. 18–33.
29. Hamid Haji, ‘A Distinguished Slav Eunuch of the Early Fatimid
Period: al-Ustādh Jawdhar’, in Fortresses of the Intellect: Ismaili and other
Islamic Studies in Honour of Farhad Daftary, ed. Omar Alí-de-Unzaga
(London and New York, 2011), pp. 261–273.
30. Ismail K. Poonawala, Biobibliography of Ismāʿīlī Literature (Malibu,
CA, 1977), p. 91.
1. A manuscript previously owned by the Ismaili Society (abbrevi-

ated as alif in the edition). It has 191 pages of Arabic text and 12
lines per page. The manuscript is incomplete at the end, just like
the manuscript of the Society used by the editors in the Sīra.
Page size measures 20.5 x 13 cm, and text area measures 14.5
x 8 cm. It is not dated, but is estimated to have been copied in
the late 13/19th century.31 There are two additional cover pages
preceding the Arabic text. The first cover page bears the stamp
‘Property of the Ismaili Society’. The second cover page bears the
same stamp and another marked ‘Private Library of President,
Recreation Club Institute. No. 44’, with the number inserted in
handwriting. The Recreation Club Institute was the precursor of
the Ismaili Society.
2. A photocopy of manuscript 48 of the Fyzee Collection (abbrevi-
ated as fāʾ in the edition).
3. A manuscript from the Zāhid ʿAlī Collection (abbreviated as
zāʾ in the edition). The Zāhid ʿAlī Collection is now part of the
collection of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, where the manu-
script bears the reference Ms. 1193 (ArI, ZA). The manuscript
was copied in 1341/1923. It has 92 leaves and 17 lines per page.
Folio size measures 20.2 x 12.5 cm, and text area measures 15 x
8.5 cm.32
The title of the work and the name of its author appear clearly
in all the manuscripts, but rubrics to separate all the individual
sections and documents cited are seldom marked in the manu-
scripts. The headings and numbering introduced by the previous
editors of the work have been largely preserved in this edition to
make the text more readable and accessible. Several quotations from
the Sīra are to be found in the ʿUyūn al-akhbār of the Yemenite dāʿī
Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn (d. 872/1468). I have compared these quotations
with the manuscripts while establishing this new edition together
with the first integral English translation of the work.
31. Adam Gacek, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of The

Institute of Ismaili Studies (London, 1984–1985), vol. 1, p. 121.
32. For details see Delia Cortese, Arabic Ismaili Manuscripts: The Zāhid
ʿAlī Collection in the Library of The Institute of Ismaili Studies (London,
2003), pp. 174–175.
introduction 15
The translation of the Sīra allows non-Arabist readers to access

this interesting primary source of inestimable value for our under-
standing of the early Fatimid period. I have attempted to be as close
to the original Arabic text as possible, but at the same time made
allowance for modern English idiom and expressions. The transla-
tion of verses from the Qurʾan draws upon Yusuf Ali’s and Pickthall’s
translations with some adaptation. I have explained in the footnotes
several toponyms, names of individuals and tribes and events, and
also supplied ample references wherever necessary for further read-
ing. The publication includes genealogical charts of the Fatimids in
Ifrīqiya and the Banū Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, maps of North Africa
and Sicily, as well as a chronology summarising relevant events.
Translation of the
Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar
The Biography of al-Ustādh Jawdhar
part one: biography
The Biography of al-Ustādh Jawdhar

compiled by Manṣūr the Secretary
In the name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All
praise is due to God who is not limited by modality, who is not
defined by localisation in space, who alone is eternal and who is
unrivalled in precedence. May [our] praise lead to His complete
satisfaction and obtain His abundant bounties. May God bless the
most noble of His messenger-prophets and the most excellent of
His distinguished chosen ones, Muḥammad, His servant and His
messenger, as well as the best of his pure progeny, and may He grant
them salvation.
Manṣūr al-Jawdharī the Secretary said: My master al-Ustādh
Jawdhar, may God be satisfied with him, took me in his service as
secretary after the death of his secretary Rashīq,33 which was in the
33. He was apparently Rashīq al-Rayḥānī al-Kātib who, towards the

end of al-Qāʾim’s reign, commanded black slaves defending al-Mahdiyya
during its siege by the Kharijite rebel Abū Yazīd. See Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn,
ʿUyūn al-akhbār wa-funūn al-āthār fī faḍāʾil al-aʾimma al-aṭhār, partial ed.
Muḥammad al-Yaʿlāwī as Taʾrīkh al-khulafāʾ al-Fāṭimiyyīn bi-al-Maghrib:
al-qism al-khāṣṣ min kitāb ʿUyūn al-akhbār (Beirut, 1985), pp. 307, 343,
351–354. Then, at the beginning of his reign, al-Manṣūr sent Rashīq at
the head of a naval force to relieve Sousse, which was being ravaged by
Abū Yazīd. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh Ibn
Khaldūn: Dīwān al-mubtadaʾ wa-al-khabar fī taʾrīkh al-ʿarab wa-al-barbar
wa-man ʿāṣarahum min dhawī al-shaʾn al-akbar, ed. Khalīl Shiḥāda, rev.
Suhayl Zakkār (Beirut, 2000–2001), vol. 4, p. 55, partial French trans. W.
MacGuckin de Slane, Histoire des Berbères et les dynasties musulmanes de
l’Afrique septentrionale (Paris, 1978), vol. 2, pp. 535–536.
19
year 350/961. Ever since then, he preferred me by the considerable

dignity and the noble status which he conferred upon me. He made
me an intermediary between himself and the servants who were
under his command. He confided to me the secrets between himself
and our master and lord, the Imam al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh, may God
bless him, contained in decrees or transpiring by word of mouth, as
well as that contained in letters coming to him from all the regions.
This was accompanied by his abundant generosity and considerable
beneficence towards me so that whereas I was nothing, he made me
bring forth important things. He opened to me the doors of benevo-
lence and led me to the highest degrees in religion, so may God be
satisfied with him and grant him satisfaction. May He, on the Day
of Resurrection, gather him in the company of his masters, the pure
imams and noble lords.
Among the marks of his generosity, gratitude, graciousness and
benevolence towards me was that he treated me kindly and with
familiarity, and he ordered me to sit in his company and converse
with him. Hence I was moved to ask him how he began to serve
our lords the pure, righteous, noble and excellent imams, may God
bless them all, what was the cause of his close association with them,
and the reasons which caused him to attain this situation whereby
he secured manifest worldly power, religious knowledge and pious
deeds for the Hereafter, aspiring to attain the highest rank. He
conveyed to me on this subject information which I have retained
from him and which I cherish. Hence I praise God, the Blessed, the
Exalted, for the favour which He bestowed upon me, by allowing me
to hear what I heard from a mentor who is well known among the
entire community for his status in his religion, his flawless integ-
rity, his piety, his temperance and the sincerity of his loyalty. We
shall mention in this book what we have heard from him succes-
sively. When he died, may God have mercy upon him, after having
surrounded me with good deeds and granting me favours contin-
uously to such an extent that I was unable to express gratitude at
certain times during his lifetime, the feeling of honour and faithful-
ness to him obliged me, after his death, to mention in this book all
his virtues and the honour bestowed upon him by his masters, the
pure imams, may God bless them, the nobility that he gained during
the period of each one of them, and the special favours accorded to
part one : biogr aphy 21
him. I shall relate this and transmit it according to available decrees

and oral statements, doing this as a man who believes in God, his
Lord, and fulfils his trust, without changing anything to what he
heard, neither adding anything to it nor subtracting anything from
it, so that whoever peruses this [book] will understand the great
favour that (Jawdhar) enjoyed with our masters, and thereby be
considered worthy of invocation of God’s mercy upon him. Maybe
by this action I shall have discharged my obligation towards him.
God alone grants success.
1
[Jawdhar begins to serve al-Mahdī]
Here is the first thing that he informed me when I asked him about
the cause which led him to his situation: One day, as I was sitting
before him, someone happened to mention the imams, may God
bless them, saying that they had genuine powers of insight and real
faculties of divination, and that they saw with the light of God, the
Mighty, the Exalted, in all their circumstances. (Jawdhar) said:
The first time that I found out the veracity of the insight of the Imam
al-Mahdī bi-llāh,34 our lord and master, may God sanctify his spirit
and bless him, is when for the first time his eyes fell on me, and this
was the cause of my attaining the position that I hold. When God,
the Mighty, the Exalted, destroyed the kingdom of the Aghlabids
and rendered their dynasty powerless because of their insolence
and immoral behaviour, and because they committed sinful and
criminal acts, using criminal means, infringing upon the rights of
God, the Mighty, the Exalted, suspending the application of penal-
ties prescribed by God, [when] God purged the earth of their filth
and impurity by the advent of the pure dynasty and radiant days,
by the coming of the pious imams to the land of the Maghrib, when
the Imam al-Mahdī bi-llāh, the best blessings upon him, arrived at
Raqqāda,35 and I gathered before him together with all the Slavs and
34. On al-Mahdī (r. 297–322/909–934) see al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol.

4, pp. 523–570; Farhat Dachraoui, ‘al-Mahdī ʿUbayd Allāh’, Encyclopaedia
of Islam, 2nd ed. (Leiden, 1960–2006), hereafter cited as EI2, vol. 5, pp.
1242–1244; and Heinz Halm, The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the
Fatimids, tr. M. Bonner (Leiden, 1996).
35. Raqqāda, about six miles south of al-Qayrawān, was founded in
263/876 by the Aghlabid emir Ibrāhīm b. Aḥmad. It became the centre
others. He apportioned us in the service of his warehouses. Then he

looked at me and said, ‘This boy is graceful; it may be that there is
some goodness in him. Take him to Abū al-Qāsim, may God protect
him’, meaning al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh,36 our lord and master, who at
that time was heir apparent of the Muslims. Subsequently each one
of us remained in the place assigned to him.
After a few days, al-Mahdī bi-llāh ordered us to be gathered
before him and clothes to be brought, which he distributed to us
to wear. The clothes were diverse, of various colours and different
kinds. When we appeared before him, he told us, ‘Let each one of
you choose a garment for himself according to his taste.’ All this
happened because God created him with a natural disposition for
compassion and mercy of which he was worthy. My companions
chose tustarī garments.37 I, for my part, stretched my hand and took
an ʿattābī garment,38 saying that it was the one I liked. The Imam
al-Mahdī bi-llāh looked at a Slav who was before him, one of the
chiefs of his Slav slaves called Sulaymān,39 and told him, ‘This is a
of Aghlabid dominion, replacing al-ʿAbbāsiyya. See Georges Marçais,

‘Raḳḳāda’, EI2, vol. 8, pp. 414–415; and Yāqūt, Muʿ jam, vol. 3, pp. 55–56.
36. On al-Qāʾim (r. 322–334/934–946) see al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol.
6, pp. 169–186; and Farhat Dachraoui, ‘al-Ḳāʾim bi-amr Allāh’, EI2, vol. 4,
pp. 458–460.
37. Tustarī, from Tustar (Shushtar), a town in south-western Persia
in the medieval province of Ahwāz, now in Khūzistān, where the fabric
was manufactured. The term was then applied to similar types of fabric
manufactured elsewhere, particularly in Maḥallat al-Tustariyyīn, a quarter
of Baghdad, and residence of merchants and notables of Khūzistān. Tustar
was particularly renowned for the manufacture of brocade (dībāj). Abū
al-Qāsim Muḥammad Ibn Ḥawqal, Ṣūrat al-arḍ (Beirut, 1979), p. 231.
38. The name of this fabric is derived from a quarter of Baghdad
inhabited by descendants of ʿAttāb b. Asīd (d. 23/644), great-grandson of
Umayya, who was appointed governor of Makka by the Prophet. Fabrics
called ʿattābī in silk and cotton of various colours were manufactured in
that quarter. The term ʿattābī was particularly applied to striped fabrics.
On ʿattābī fabrics, see Reinhart Dozy, Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes
(Leiden-Paris, 1967), vol. 2, p. 93; and E. Sims, ‘ʿAttābī’, Encyclopaedia
Iranica (London-New York, 1982–), vol. 3, p. 20.
39. He was Sulaymān al-Khādim (the eunuch), also known as
Sulaymān al-Ṣaqlabī, who, together with Yaʿqūb al-Kutāmī, commanded a
naval squadron sent by al-Mahdī in 307/920 as reinforcement to the future
al-Qāʾim during his second expedition in Egypt. This naval force was
defeated by the Abbasid fleet before Rashīd (Rosetta) on 20 Shawwāl 307/14
March 920. Sulaymān and Yaʿqūb were taken prisoners and exhibited in
graceful servant, diligent in his service. Advise him to take a tustarī

garment for it will be more hard-wearing for him and more useful’.
Sulaymān advised me to take another (garment), but I said, ‘I do not
like other than this one’. Al-Mahdī bi-llāh looked at me and at his
companions and said, ‘This one will be a pious slave. Do you not see
that he did not go beyond the garment of the pious and chose the
one which most closely resembles shrouds? [My] insight about him
will not fail. Indeed, he will be a slave who prefers the things of the
Hereafter to the things of this world.’ Then he added, ‘Cut for him
the cloth that he has chosen and another cloth like the one chosen
by his companions.’ So they cut for me two cloths. My companions
retired one by one. This was the first time that I became aware of
the veracity of the insight of the imam and the blessing conferred by
his glance and his favour that I had gained.
Let it be known to anyone who peruses my book, or to whomever it

is read, that the speech of the rightly-guided imams, may the bless-
ings of God be upon them all, in everything that they express, be it
by indication, clear statement or allusion, there is profound wisdom,
refinement and usefulness for those who are steadfast in their devo-
tion to them and who are sincere in their affection for them with
veracity of conscience and pure intention. Indeed, this is [like] the
glorious Book of God: ‘No falsehood can approach it from before or
behind it: It is sent down by One full of wisdom, worthy of all praise’
(41:42). Heretics deviated from it, misguided negators doubted in it,
and disbelievers rejected its favour. ‘Truly it is not their eyes that are
blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts’ (22:46). God, the
Mighty, the Exalted, says: ‘So they rejected (the Message) and turned
away. But God can do without (them): and God is free of all needs,
worthy of all praise’ (64:6). O God, let not our hearts swerve from
the truth after having guided us. Help us by giving us sound faith in
the preceding [imams] and in their successor, the master of the age,
the holder of the commandment, the servant of God and His friend,
chains in Egypt. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 646–647, vol. 6, p.

173. According to Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, p. 234, Sulaymān was
later executed in Baghdad. However, according to ʿIzz al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan
ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil fī al-taʾrīkh (Beirut, 1967), vol.
6, p. 161, and Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ
al-ḥunafā bi-akhbār al-aʾimma al-Fāṭimiyyīn al-khulafā, ed. J. al-Shayyāl
and Muḥammad Ḥ. M. Aḥmad (Cairo, 1967–1973), vol. 1, p. 71, Sulaymān
died in captivity in Egypt.
the best of His creatures, Nizār Abū al-Manṣūr, the Imam al-ʿAzīz
bi-llāh,40 Commander of the Faithful, our lord and master, may God
bless him and his ancestors and noble sons. O God, You do as You
will and You are omnipotent.
2
[Jawdhar acquires al-Mahdī’s blessing]
(Jawdhar) related to me on this subject something which all believ-

ers who hear it will find extraordinary, and which will increase their
understanding of loyalty to the imams, the rightly-guided guides.
He said:
When the Imam al-Mahdī bi-llāh moved from Raqqāda to
al-Mahdiyya41 which he named after himself—and it happened as
ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Iyādī42 said: ‘The capital of a kingdom called
Mahdiyya and thus it will be known as long as eternity lasts’—
there occurred between some of his Kutāma followers43 dissension,
inequity and quarrels because of the allotment of irrigated lands
which (al-Mahdī) had granted them as fiefs. They presented their
grievance and case before him. Having learnt of their complain-
ing about each other, he considered dispatching one of the trusted
Slavs to investigate the matter and to report back to him the truth
of what he learnt and what became apparent to him. The Slav left
and arrived at the place and investigated the matter with the judge
and the trusted elders of the region. He became aware of the facts of
40. The Fatimid caliph-imam al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh (r. 365–386/975–996).

Marius Canard, ‘al-ʿAzīz Bi’llāh Nizār Abū Manṣūr’, EI2, vol. 1, pp. 823–825.
41. al-Mahdī moved to his new capital, al-Mahdiyya, in Shawwāl 308/
February–March 921, two years after its completion. See Mohamed Talbi,
‘al-Mahdiyya’, EI2, vol. 5, pp. 1246–1247; and Lucien Golvin, ‘Mahdiya à
l’époque fātimide’, Revue de l’Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, 27
(1979), pp. 75–98.
42. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Tūnisī al-Iyādī was the most famous poet of
Ifrīqiya at the time of al-Qāʾim and al-Manṣūr. He joined al-Muʿizz in Egypt
and died during his reign. On him see M. Yalaoui, ‘ʿAlī b. Muḥammad
al-Tūnisī al-Iyādī’, EI2 Supplement (Leiden, 1980), pp. 62–63. See also Part
One, Section 15 below for his poem on the capture of the rebel Abū Yazīd.
43. The Kutāma Berbers played a central role in the establishment
of Fatimid dominion in North Africa. On them see al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān,
Iftitāḥ, Index; Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 6, pp. 195–200 (trans. Berbères,
vol. 1, pp. 291–299); and René Basset, ‘Kutāma’, EI2, vol. 5, p. 540.
the matter and returned to the Immaculate Portal.44 He communi-

cated what he had learnt to the Imam al-Mahdī bi-llāh. The imam
summoned the complainants in the presence of an assembly of
their elders and their cousins and calmed the matter between them.
They retired from him most gracefully, thanking and praising him
for having favoured them by settling their affairs and bringing to
an end all inequity among them. Then turning towards the Slav,
who had been away to conduct the investigation, he said, ‘You have
discharged the task entrusted to you. Retire. May God bless you.’
When the Slav came out, gloomy and agitated, I was sitting near
the blessed palace. I had never met him before his coming to our
lord. I rose to pay my respects and greeted him, but I found out from
what he said that he was annoyed, so I asked him, ‘How is it that
I see you coming out agitated even though the imam blessed you
and dismissed you, thanking you for your endeavour?’ He replied,
‘I would have preferred that instead of this blessing he would have
given me something which I would enjoy on my return to my house.’
I told him, ‘Beware, for the blessing of our lord, peace be upon him,
is better for you than this world and everything it contains if it were
given to you.’ I made him understand this as a believer ought to do
towards his fellow believer, but he did not agree and said, ‘O master
(ustādh), I informed you what I had in mind and what I wanted.’
When I saw that he preferred the ephemeral things of this transi-
tory world to such blessing through which one gains access to the
eternal abode, I resolved to do something in which God caused me
to see its fine benefits which I could gain. He prompted me to ask
him, ‘Would you like to sell me this blessing with a sincere convic-
tion on your part to sell it and a sincere conviction on my part to
buy it from you?’ He said, ‘How will that be?’ I replied to him, ‘I will
give you something that you can enjoy, provided that the blessing
intended by the imam for you will belong to me and not you.’ So
he said, ‘Give me ten dinars. May God bless you with this blessing
which he intended for me.’ I paid him twenty dinars and he left. I
said, ‘O our Lord! truly Thou dost know what we conceal and what
we reveal, for nothing whatever is hidden from God (14:38). Bless me
for that which I have bought from him and make me among those
who are thankful.’ 45 Then (the Slav) returned to his house and I
remained in my place in the blessed palace. Three days later, what
44. The expression ‘the Immaculate Portal’ (al-bāb al-ṭāhir) is used

here and elsewhere in the work for the imam’s palace.
45. Cf. Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, Zahr al-maʿānī, excerpts edited and
translated by Wladimir Ivanow in his Ismaili Tradition Concerning the Rise
of the Fatimids (London, etc., 1942), pp. 70–71 (trans. p. 264).
happened between us came to the attention of the Imam al-Mahdī

bi-llāh, our lord and master, through someone who had probably
heard us without us seeing him, for news does not remain hidden,
and as it has been said that the most hidden thing is that which
has not taken place. (The imam) ordered me to be summoned. I
appeared before him, after the departure of his companions, and he
asked me, ‘O Jawdhar, is it true what I have heard regarding what
happened between you and so-and-so’—he meant the Slav—‘that
you bought from him for yourself the blessing which we granted
to him, because he was not satisfied with it and preferred to it the
ephemeral things of this world, and that he asked to exchange the
best thing for the meanest thing?’
I replied, ‘The matter is as my lord and master has learnt.’
(The imam) said, ‘I ask God, Creator of the heavens and the earth,
that He bless you for what you have bought and that He bless you
until you meet God, the Mighty, the Exalted, for devotion to us.’
He ordered that I be awarded 100 dinars and a precious robe of
honour, which I accepted. I joined this (favour) to the blessing of his
insight and the good fortune of his divination.
3
[Jawdhar left in charge of al-Qāʾim’s palace]
(Jawdhar) related to me that his circumstances continued to advance

and his rank continued to rise until the day when al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh set out for the Maghrib at the head of the army,46 and he left
Jawdhar in charge of his palace and all members of his harem and
his family who resided therein. He accomplished the task assigned to
him commendably. Upon his return from the expedition, al-Qāʾim
bi-amr Allāh thanked him for his effort and praised his services and
increased his generosity and favours towards him. All this happened
during the lifetime of our lord the Imam al-Mahdī bi-llāh.
46. The first time al-Qāʾim led an expedition to the Maghrib, after
al-Mahdī assumed power in Raqqāda, was when al-Mahdī dispatched him
at the head of troops to fight those Kutāma who had rebelled following
the killing of the Ismaili dāʿī Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī in 298/911. See
al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Iftitāḥ al-daʿwa, p. 273 (trans. p. 227); and al-Maqrīzī,
al-Muqaffā, vol. 4, p. 561.
4
[Jawdhar becomes official at the Treasury]
When God took the Imam al-Mahdī bi-llāh to the abode of His
generosity and the place of His mercy47 and entrusted the authority
after him to his proof (ḥujja),48 the Imam al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh,
(Jawdhar) said:
(The imam) entrusted to me the affairs of the Treasury as well as the
warehouses of cloths and garments, and he made me an intermedi-
ary between himself and his followers and all his slaves. Whenever
he wanted to investigate any matter in his presence he conveyed the
matter to me.
5
[Jawdhar made privy to al-Manṣūr’s
designation as heir apparent]
Then he bestowed upon me a favour whereby he preferred me to
everybody and singled me out from among all the missionaries
and believers. Indeed, when he wanted to bury al-Mahdī bi-llāh, he
summoned me to the exclusion of everybody and said to me, while
I was alone with him on the edge of the grave in which he wanted to
lower al-Mahdī bi-llāh, ‘O Jawdhar, it is not permissible to the ḥujja
succeeding the imam to bury the imam until he has appointed his
own ḥujja. Thus it is not permissible for me to do so until I have
appointed my ḥujja. I am satisfied with you to confide you this
trust to the exclusion of everybody.’ He recited the following verse
from the word of God, the Mighty, the Exalted: ‘We did indeed offer
the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they
refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof; but man undertook it;
he was indeed unjust and foolish’ (33:72). Then he told me, ‘Come
near me!’ I went near him, and he said, ‘Give your hand.’ I extended
my hand, filled with fear and awe because of the reverence for him
which God, the Mighty, the Exalted, had put in my heart, so that
47. al-Mahdī died on 14 Rabīʿ I 322/4 March 934. His death was
announced on the morning of Tuesday 10 Jumādā II 322/27 May 934. See
al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Iftitāḥ al-daʿwa, p. 276 (trans. p. 230).
48. Ḥujja, a rank in the spiritual hierarchy (ḥudūd al-dīn), is applied
here to the heir apparent designated by the imam. On the meaning of
ḥujja in Shīʿī terminology see M. G. S. Hodgson, ‘Ḥudjdja’, EI2, vol. 3, pp.
544–545.
he no longer appeared to me to be the master with whom I behaved

informally while addressing him and in other situations during
the lifetime of al-Mahdī bi-llāh. Then he said to me, ‘I am exact-
ing before God a promise from you and a solemn pledge from you
that you will keep secret whatever I will make plain and reveal to
you.’ I said, ‘Yes, my lord.’ He continued, ‘My son Ismāʿīl49 is my
ḥujja and my heir apparent, so recognise his rights and observe
complete secrecy about his status until I myself make it public when
God wills and at the time He will chose.’ 50 Then he buried al-Mahdī
bi-llāh and covered him with earth in his grave and offered a prayer
for him. I kept the secret concerning al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, and nobody
received any information from me regarding the matter for seven
years.
Abū al-Ḥasan Jawhar51 the secretary related to me that he had heard

this account from the very mouth of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh in exactly the
same terms.
6
[A letter from al-Manṣūr, heir apparent, to Jawdhar]
(Jawdhar), my master, related to me that al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, during

the lifetime of al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh, had great sympathy for him
to the exclusion of others, and that he often stopped by him at his
house. At that time, said (Jawdhar), the people were overwhelmed
with confusion, for each one adhered, without a valid reason, to one
49. Abū al-Ṭāhir Ismāʿīl who succeeded al-Qāʾim as al-Manṣūr bi-llāh (r.
334–341/946–953). On him see al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 129–180;
Georges Marçais, ‘al-Manṣūr Ismāʿīl’, E. J. Brill’s First Encyclopaedia of
Islam 1913–1936, hereafter cited as EI1 (Leiden, 1987), vol. 5, p. 257; and
Farhat Dachraoui, ‘al-Manṣūr bi’llāh’, EI2, vol. 6, pp. 434–435.
50. Cf. Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, Zahr al-maʿānī, p. 72 (trans. p. 265).
51. Jawhar (d. 381/992) was born in 312/924 in Byzantine territory and
brought as a slave to Ifrīqiya. He served al-Manṣūr as his personal attendant
and distinguished himself as one of the great Fatimid commanders during
the reign of al-Muʿizz. He died during the reign of al-ʿAzīz. See al-Maqrīzī,
al-Muqaffā, vol. 3, pp. 83–111; Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. ʿAlī
al-Maqrīzī, al-Mawāʿiẓ wa-al-iʿtibār fī dhikr al-khiṭaṭ wa-al-āthār, ed.
Ayman Fuʾād Sayyid (London, 2002), vol. 2, pp. 255–260; Shams al-Dīn
Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʼ abnāʼ
al-zamān, ed. Iḥsān ʿAbbās (Beirut, 1968–1972), vol. 1, pp. 375–380; H.
Monès, ‘Djawhar’, EI2, vol. 2, pp. 494–495.
of the sons of our lord,52 whereas (Jawdhar) was certain about the
purport of the promise that he had made. He said:
One day I punished some Slavs under my authority for a crime
they had committed and for which they deserved to be disciplined.
They were Qayṣar, Muẓaffar,53 Ṭāriq54 and other Slavs of the group.
I punished them and imprisoned them. This happened during the
reign of al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh while al-Manṣūr bi-llāh was veiled
(mastūr) and nobody was aware of his status. When al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh passed through the place in which they had been detained,
they implored him and sought his intercession on their behalf. I had
no knowledge of this until I received a letter from him in his hand.
My master informed me about the letter and I saw clearly from it

what great concern (al-Manṣūr) had for (Jawdhar), as well as his
wish for his welfare, before his assuming office. Here is the text of
the letter:
52. al-Qāʾim had eight sons of whom the sources list seven: Abū
al-Ṭāhir Ismāʿīl who succeeded him as al-Manṣūr bi-llāh; Abū ʿAbd Allāh
Jaʿfar who died in Egypt during the reign of al-Muʿizz; Ḥamza, ʿAdnān and
Abū Kināna (d. 340/951–952) who all died in the Maghrib; Yūsuf who died
in 362/973 in Barqa; and Abū al-Furāt ʿAbd al-Jabbār who died in Egypt.
See Jamāl al-Dīn ʿAlī Ibn Ẓāfir, Akhbār al-duwal al-munqaṭiʿa, ed. A. Ferré
(Cairo, 1972), p. 16; al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 646–647, vol. 6, p.
179; and al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p. 86. Qāsim, son of al-Qāʾim, omitted
from the list, is mentioned in the Sīra. See Document 17 below and note
261 below.
53. Subsequently, these Slavs became prominent under al-Manṣūr and
al-Muʿizz. Qayṣar fought alongside Zīrī b. Manād against the Berbers who
had rallied around Abū Yazīd. He was appointed governor of Bāghāya and
its dependencies. He and Muẓaffar shared between themselves authority
over Fatimid provinces in the Maghrib. See Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 4, pp.
57, 59–60 (trans. Berbères, vol. 2, pp. 539, 542, 544); and Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn,
ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 416, 424, 434–435, 462. Both Qayṣar and Muẓaffar
were put to death in 349/960 under al-Muʿizz because they had become
too powerful. (Ibn Ẓāfir, Akhbār, p. 22, and al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p.
101.) They are reviled in a passage in al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, al-Majālis wa-al-
musāyarāt, 2nd rev. ed. Muḥammad al-Yaʿlāwī (Tunis, 1997), pp. 401–403.
On Muẓaffar see also Document 48 below, relating to his domains.
54. Ṭāriq participated in fighting Abū Yazīd’s forces under al-Manṣūr.
Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 424–426. He was one of the
notables present at the bedside of al-Muʿizz during his last illness together
with Jawhar. See al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p. 229.
May God forgive you. May He be benevolent towards you and

complete His grace to you. God knows that I avoid things and I
loathe speaking about any matter. However, when I remembered
your righteousness, your affection and my closeness to you, I
considered that endearment erases bashfulness and requires that
I be not stingy with you in giving sincere advice. Regarding the
matter of these young eunuchs, even though you wished by your
action to punish them and discipline them, you have somewhat
exceeded the limit. The believer has an obligation, like the duty
to observe the prayer and the fast, that he should be compassion-
ate towards the lowly as well as the noble; that he should be kind
towards believers as well as disbelievers; that he should be kind to
those who are near him as well as those who are far, for anger is a
dreadful force and rarely can one master it when it is aroused, or
break it when it boils over. Galen, speaking of one of his compatri-
ots, said, ‘He was a noble, intelligent and cultured man whose only
shortcoming was his intense anger. He could not control his anger
when it was aroused.’ Speaking of this man, with whom he had trav-
elled a long way, he said, ‘I saw him getting angry with one of his
slaves and strike him a blow with his sword with which he almost
killed him. Then he regretted his action and said, “O Galen, be kind
to me and treat this temperament which affects me. Perhaps it will
diminish my anger.”’ (Galen) said to him, ‘This ailment cannot be
treated by drugs and medicines. It can only be treated by the tongue
and goodly exhortation.’ He admonished him and made him aware
that there was nothing more harmful to the intellect and no worse
enemy of the soul than anger. (The man) accepted his advice and
benefited from it.55
I also want you to accept my exhortation just as this man accepted
Galen’s exhortation, and that you abate your anger little by little, so
that there be no trait of blameable character in you. Let the first
gesture to show that you have accepted [my exhortation] be that
you release these young slaves whom you have imprisoned, and
that you do so of your own accord, without their knowing that I
have implored you on their behalf, because they requested me to
intervene in the matter and complained to me of injustice. However,
55. The passage of Galen alluded to here is found in his work Περὶ
διαγνώσεως καὶ θεραπείας τῶν ἐν τῇ ἑκάστου ψυχῇ ἰδίων παθῶν [= De
Propriorum Animi Cuiuslibet Affectuum Dignotione et Curatione], ed.
Wilko de Boer, Corpus Medicorum Graecorum (Leipzig and Berlin,
1937), vol. 5, 4,1,1, pp. 13–15; trans. as The Diagnosis and Cure of the Soul’s
Passions in Paul W. Harkins, tr., On the Passions and Errors of the Soul
(Columbus, OH, 1963), pp. 39–41.
I swear that I have not promised them that I would speak to you
about them and I would not like them to know that I have inter-
vened. By God, if I did not recognise the familiarity which exists
between you and me, I would not have mentioned to you anything
about the matter, regardless of the good that I wish for you and in
spite of my desire that you be characterised only as having compas-
sion and kindness, not rigour and harshness, God willing.56
7
[The first written directive from al-Qāʾim to Jawdhar]
(Jawdhar) related to me that the first written directive (tawqīʿ)57 by

which God honoured him was a directive which was addressed to
him, written in the hand of al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh, which he showed
to me and made me read. It was sent in the following circumstances:
al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh was sitting in his reception chamber when
he heard loud yelling, crying and wailing. He asked, ‘What is this
crying?’ He was told that it was from the house of a Muslim. ‘Call
Jawdhar,’ he ordered. The courier was sent to him and found him
alone in the Treasury arranging a sum of money which was spread in
front of him and he could not leave this task. So the courier returned
to al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh and informed him of this situation. He
said, ‘Leave him to his work and bring me the inkwell!’ God wanted
to honour him and elevate him, for (al-Qāʾim) sent him a written
directive whose text is as follows:
O Jawdhar, we inquired about the crying and were told that it
emanated from the house of a Muslim man. May God forgive this
poor man. I have been informed that they cry for him in the street.
It is not befitting that such should happen for anyone at a time when
one is mourning the Commander of the Faithful and master of all
creatures. May the blessings of God be upon that pure and sinless
56. Cf. the long quotation from the Sīra in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn
al-akhbār, pp. 252–255, which includes events from the death of al-Mahdī,
al-Qāʾim entrusting to Jawdhar the affairs of the Treasury, Jawdhar being
made privy to al-Manṣūr’s appointment as heir apparent, and his letter to
Jawdhar on the treatment of the Slavs.
57. Here tawqīʿ (plural tawqīʿāt) is used in the sense of a written order or
directive from a sovereign, bearing his signature, and often containing his
formal reply to a written request made to him, as is the case in the second
part of the book.
soul! Express condolences to (the man’s) poor son and to his family
and command them to stop mourning tomorrow, God willing.58
8
[al-Qāʾim shuns forbidden goods]
(Jawdhar) related to me that when he travelled to the East with

al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh, the soldiers frequently pillaged the belong-
ings of the subjects who had sought protection through submission
and that al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh censured their acts. He punished
them for their deeds and carried out executions. When this matter
overwhelmed him, he instructed the person responsible for buying
meat for his kitchen to proceed in such a way that the meat he bought
in the towns during his passage through them should come only
from trustworthy individuals. (Jawdhar) said:
He looked at me and said to me, ‘O Jawdhar, do not eat any meat
other than the permissible meat that we provide for you from
our kitchen, for all that is sold in the markets of the army is foul,
because the soldiers commit impermissible acts and have found
ways to perpetrate plunder.’ 59
9
Our lord al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allah’s advice to our lord
al-Manṣūr bi-llāh regarding Jawdhar
A trustworthy person reported to me that when al-Qāʾim bi-amr

Allāh was on his deathbed, he summoned al-Manṣūr bi-llāh and
said to him, ‘O my dear son! Receive what God has commanded me
58. The practice of excessive lamenting of the dead, considered to be a

legacy of paganism, was condemned by the Prophet. See T. Fahd, ‘Niyāḥa’,
EI2, vol. 8, pp. 64–65. According to al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, al-Majālis wa-al-
musāyarāt, pp. 95–96, it is related from al-Muʿizz that al-Manṣūr, on his
deathbed, seeing him cry, reminded him of this interdiction. Among the
exceptions to the rule, al-Nuʿmān mentions the cases of Ḥamza, uncle of
the Prophet, the Imam al-Ḥusayn, and the Fatimid caliph-imam al-Mahdī.
As al-Mahdī’s death was announced on 10 Jumādā II 322/27 May 934,
al-Qāʾim’s letter must date from that year.
59. al-Qāʾim conducted two expeditions to Egypt, in 301/914 and in
306/919, during al-Mahdī’s reign. Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, pp. 147,
149–150, 161, and al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, pp. 68–69, 71–72.
to deliver to you. May God help you to accomplish what pleases Him
and what brings near to Him. May He facilitate for you [the affairs
of] the country. May He unite the hearts of believers in submission
to you and affection for you. However, O my dear son, I am entrust-
ing to you a trust which I would like you not to lose after me.’
(Al-Manṣūr) said to him, ‘Say, my lord; I hope that God will delay
your term and will give us and to all the community of your ancestor
the gift of your health.’
(Al-Qāʾim) replied, ‘No! The book has come to its term. The trust
I want to confide to you is poor Jawdhar. Protect him. May he not be
humiliated after me.’
Al-Manṣūr bi-llāh said, ‘O my lord, is not Jawdhar one of us?’
(Al-Qāʾim) replied, ‘Indeed, he is one of us because I am happy
with him.’ 60
10
[Jawdhar left to govern the entire country]
When al-Manṣūr bi-llāh resolved to set out in pursuit of the cursed

Deceiver61 Makhlad b. Kaydād,62 he invested the ustādh with author-
60. Cf. Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 343–344.
61. On the Deceiver (al-dajjāl), an apocalyptic figure similar to the
Antichrist, see Armand Abel, ‘al-Dadjdjāl’, EI2, vol. 2, pp. 76–77. Fatimid
writers identify the Kharijite rebel Abū Yazīd Makhlad b. Kaydād as the
Deceiver.
62. Abū Yazīd Makhlad b. Kaydād acquired a large following among
the Ibāḍī Berbers of the Awrās and began his rebellion in 332/943 during
the reign of al-Qāʾim. He conquered all of southern Ifrīqiya, including
al-Qayrawān, and laid siege to al-Mahdiyya. He was eventually defeated
by al-Manṣūr in 336/947. On this Kharijite rebel, see Samuel M. Stern, ‘Abū
Yazīd al-Nukkārī’, EI2, vol. 1, pp. 163–164; Roger Le Tourneau, ‘La révolte
d’Abû Yazîd au Xme siècle’, Les cahiers de Tunisie, 1 (1953), pp. 103–125;
H. Halm, ‘Der Mann auf dem Esel. Der Aufstand des Abū Yazīd gegen
die Fatimiden nach einem Augenzeugenbericht’, Die Welt des Orients,
15 (1984), pp. 144–204; Abū Zakarīyā Yaḥyā b. Abī Bakr al-Warjalānī,
Kitāb Siyar al-aʾimma wa-akhbārihim, ed. Ismāʿīl al-ʿArabī (Algiers,
1979), pp. 116–123; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, pp. 302–311; Abū ʿAbd
Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAlī Ibn Ḥammād, Akhbār mulūk Banī ʿUbayd
wa-sīratuhum, ed. and French tr. M. Vonderheyden (Algiers-Paris, 1927),
pp. 18–37 (trans. pp. 33–58); al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 131–161, vol.
6, pp. 176–179; al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, al-Majālis wa-al-musāyarāt, Index; and
ity over the royal palace and the entire country and gave him the
keys of the safes of the Treasury. Letters of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh would
come to him from the city of al-Qayrawān. These letters, detailing
all the events and battles which took place during the terrible wars,
after the death of the Commander of the Faithful al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh, were [still] drawn up in the name of al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh.63
11
[Letter of al-Manṣūr proclaiming his victory over Abū Yazīd]
Among the letters which (Jawdhar) made me read is a letter [of

al-Manṣūr] in the name of al-Qāʾim which elucidates the news of the
battle of Friday in the city of al-Qayrawān, describing the difficul-
ties and terror of that battle until God granted to His friend His fine
benefits, and gave him a manifest victory over his misguided, stray-
ing enemies, the confederates of the devils. It was a clear, eloquent
letter written in his hand from the beginning to the end. Here is
the text of the letter as I mentioned before, word for word, after the
basmala and the invocation of blessings on the Prophet Muḥammad:
God is great. God is great. There is no god but God. God is great.
God is great. To God all praise is due. All praise is due to God
for His countless favours and unparalleled kindness. There is no
god but God. God is great. This is the glorification pronounced
by the heir apparent of the Muslims, sword of the Commander of
the Faithful, helper of religion, to express gratitude for the favour
accorded to him by the Lord of the worlds. O heir of the prophets!
O master of the Muslims! O caliph of the Lord of the worlds! O
the best of all creation!64 O friend of the Lord of the worlds! Today
Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, Index.

63. al-Qāʾim died on 13 Shawwāl 334/18 May 946. Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad
b. Muḥammad Ibn ʿIdhārī al-Marrākushī, Kitāb al-Bayān al-mughrib fī
akhbār al-Andalus wa-al-Maghrib, ed. G. S. Colin and E. Lévi-Provençal
(Leiden, 1948–1951), vol. 1, p. 208. However, al-Manṣūr kept his death
secret for a year and three months and did not style himself ‘Commander
of the Faithful’ until al-Muḥarram 336/August 947, after his victory over
Abū Yazīd. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 130, 148, 159, vol. 6, p.
179; al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, pp. 82, 86; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, p.
317; and Ibn Ḥammād, Akhbār, pp. 21, 36 (trans., pp. 37, 57).
64. The expression ‘the best of all creation’ (khayr al-khalq ajmaʿīn)
generally refers to the Prophet.
God has glorified the religion of your ancestor Muḥammad, His

Messenger, the Chosen. May God bless him and his family. [God
has glorified] his sunna and his community. He has reinforced
the pillars of religion and has made manifest the decisive proof
(burhān) of the Commander of the Faithful. He has granted victory
to His proof (ḥujja). He has raised His word and has helped His
supporters. Today the whole world has been conquered. Today the
light, the brilliance and the nobility of the truth has increased. All
praise is due to God, Lord of the worlds, who helped His servant
and strengthened his army and who alone defeated the confed-
erates. By God, O Commander of the Faithful, our master and
our lord, never since the time of your ancestor, the Chosen, the
Messenger of God, has one heard of a day more glorious in terms
of God’s help, assistance, victory and conquest following the rebel-
lion of the impious, the vicious, the disbelievers who were sure to
die, who invited death, declared hostilities and rebelled. But God,
the Mighty, the Exalted, willed that His light be completed and His
word be promoted to the dislike of the disbelievers and to the aver-
sion of the humiliated. On the whole, the good news that I want to
convey to our master and our lord, the Commander of the Faithful,
is that their dead covered the earth and the victorious army as well
as the city of al-Qayrawān were satiated with booty seized from
them. Everything that the followers (awliyāʾ)65 could not carry and
found to be heavy was set on fire and burnt. We captured the camp
of the cursed one, including whatever it contained in small or large
quantity. Therein we killed countless (enemies) apart from those
who were killed in battle. There is no way to count their dead, so
large was their number. The cursed one defended himself with
determination, but I confronted him by myself. Assailed before me
by swords and lances, the cursed one was left with only a tunic on.
May God clothe him with the garments of hell. It is said that he
fell in the battle. I ordered a search for him and I hope he did fall.
However, if he fled with his last breath, then he is a prisoner by
today or tomorrow. I am leaving this very night, after midnight or
before dawn, to scour the whole country. I will trample the houses
of the impious and by your sword I will obliterate their trace by the
might, the power, the glory and the help of God.
I sent this letter of mine to the Commander of the Faithful, our
65. The term awliyāʾ here refers to fighters loyal to the Fatimids. The
translation of awliyāʾ as ‘followers’ renders only one of the meanings of the
word which generally also means protectors, patrons, clients, defenders,
partisans, officers, companions and friends.
lord,66 may the blessings of God be upon him and his pure ancestors,
with three of his slaves who witnessed the fortunate battle under my
stirrup so that they may report personally to the Commander of
the Faithful what they saw with their own eyes, however difficult it
may be to describe the favour and however helpless one may be to
express thanks. All praise is due to God, Lord of the worlds. May
God bless Muḥammad His prophet, the best of messengers, and his
excellent and pure family. Written on Thursday 13 of al-Muḥarram
of the year 335/14 August 946.67
12
[Letter of al-Manṣūr announcing the death of al-Qāʾim]
Al-Manṣūr bi-llāh left at daybreak on that day in pursuit of the cursed

one. His letters brought news to the ustādh from time to time. A
letter from al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, which the ustādh received, contained
directives, decisions and exigencies. I read in this letter a passage in
which al-Manṣūr bi-llāh announced the death of al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh.68 Specifically, he recommended in the letter to provide main-
tenance for individuals whom al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh left behind
and to pay their wages as usual. Here is the text of the passage:
Having expressed patience and anticipation of reward, I say that all
praise is due to God in all circumstances. You know, O God, that
often in the dark of the nights I have confided in You, seeking Your
help and beseeching You, praying to You not to make me witness his
loss and not to make me live after him. Your accomplished decree
and effective judgement did not grant [me my request]. Give me the
strength to bear my pain and accept that which You have decreed.
May the blessings of God, His mercy and His grace be on his puri-
fied body and his sanctified spirit in this world and the Hereafter.69
Thereupon the people learnt that al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh had died.
66. The text of the letter, with some omissions, is quoted up to here in
Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 381–382.
67. The battle began on Thursday 5 al-Muḥarram 335/6 August 946
and lasted several days. It resulted in Abū Yazīd retreating from besieging
al-Qayrawān. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 136–138.
68. On the timing of the announcement of al-Qāʾim’s death see note 63
above.
69. Cf. Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, p. 422.
13
[Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning money that Jawdhar
had offered to him]
I read in a passage from the letters of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh in reply to

what the ustādh had written to him concerning money which he
had offered him and some (charitable) act that he had performed,
for every time the ustādh had collected some money he would offer
it to his masters the imams. This sum of money amounted to 10,000
dinars. The reply to him is contained in this passage:
O Jawdhar, the money which you sent has arrived. May God purify
(zakkā) your endeavour70 and perfect your reward. However, you
have burdened yourself with a heavy load, while God, the Mighty,
the Exalted, says: ‘God tasketh not a soul beyond its ability’ (2:286).
Ability (wusʿ) is beneath capacity (ṭāqa). I accept 1,000 dinars from
it, which is a lot. I am returning them to you. With this 1,000 dinars
have manufactured for us light, gilded travel lamps for less than
1,000 dirhams. Choose for them wide wood of excellent quality.
With the rest of (the money), have manufactured swords together
with baldrics, having blades forged in al-Mahdiyya bearing its
impress, not those of Frankish, Yemenite or any other. Indeed, these
swords in use are sharper than all the swords that we have seen. We
have tested them and tried them several times. Let the ornamenta-
tion of each sword be worth fifty dinars, so that you may have a
twofold reward: a reward for what you offered to God, the Mighty,
the Exalted, and a reward for participating with those who fight in
the way of God before me with these swords, God willing. As for the
rest of your money, spend it for your benefit. May God increase it
for you and make you satisfied with it.
14
[Letter of al-Manṣūr to Jawdhar]
This happened while the Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh was in the city
of al-Qayrawān and had not yet left in pursuit of the cursed one.71
70. The money offered here by Jawdhar to the imam includes probably
the fifth (khums) on any gain (kasb) which is due to the imam according
to Shiʿi and Fatimid jurisprudence. al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Kitāb al-Himma fī
ādāb atbāʿ al-aʾimma, ed. Muḥammad Kāmil Ḥusayn (Cairo, [1948]), pp.
68–70.
71. After his victory in al-Muḥarram 335/August 946, al-Manṣūr
When the ustādh read the letter he was filled with a sense of loneli-
ness and distress at the thought of the imam’s departure. Al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh learnt of this and wrote to him:
O Jawdhar, may God be kind to you. May He complete and bestow
abundantly His favours upon you. What I know of your firmness,
perseverance and competence gives me the best opinion of you and
the best hope in you. I have been informed that our departure has
filled you with undue loneliness and distress. Let not your heart
suffer the least because of our being away from you. Indeed, you are
with me, from me and towards me as long as you observe the divine
prescriptions and work for your Lord and wish to be sincere to His
covenant. Abraham, upon whom be peace, said: ‘He who follows me
is truly of me’ (14:36). We pray to God that He may help you and
grant you success in achieving that which pleases Him and which
brings near to Him.
15
[The defeat of Abū Yazīd Makhlad b. Kaydād]
The Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh left in pursuit of the cursed one, with
stopover after stopover until he penetrated deeper into the land of the
Maghrib. Occasionally (Jawdhar) received letters from him contain-
ing his directives and the good news of success that God bestowed
upon him and gained by him. He supported him by granting him
victory and triumph over his enemies, the Azraqī72 dissenters, the
heretics, the enemies of this household since the very beginning
of this religion during the lifetime of the Messenger of God, the
murderers of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. Eventually the cursed one established
himself in a fortress on a well-defended rugged mountain, where it
was almost impossible to reach those who occupied it. This fortress
remained in al-Qayrawān for some time, and then left in pursuit of Abū
Yazīd in the last days of Rabīʿ I 335/October 946. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā,
vol. 2, p. 139.
72. The Azraqīs (al-Azāriqa) formed one of the main branches of the
Kharijites and owe their name to Nāfiʿ b. al-Azraq (d. 65/685). On them
see R. Rubinacci, ‘Azāriḳa’, EI2, vol. 1, pp. 810–811. The Azraqīs were
known as the most extreme Kharijites, and it is probably because of this
that the author uses this name. Abū Yazīd belonged to the Nukkārī branch
of the Ibāḍī Kharijite sect. See Tadeusz Lewicki, ‘al-Nukkār’, EI1, vol. 9
(Supplement), pp. 172–174.
is known by the name of Kiyāna73 and is as described by the poet ʿAlī

b. Muḥammad al-Iyādī74 in the poem describing the fortress where
he mentions Abū Yazīd, the cursed one, and his descent from it:
The cursed one ascended for fear of him on peaks, high, elevated
and steep.
On that high mountain among smooth, desolate peaks there is no
journey’s end.
A mountain above which there is God and under which was
al-Manṣūr with an army well equipped.
Al-Manṣūr ascended [it] with the sword and it was for him a day of
stabbing like the downpouring of hail.
Confident in God of his departure from the Banū Aḥmad,75 he jour-
neyed alone in a land faraway.
Suddenly Makhlad was in the reach of destruction, with (his) neck
tied with a rope of twisted strands.76
War threw him from its peak, tottering at the base having meagre
support.
Like a new born delivered by its mother, being only the throbbing
of vein and body.
Out of generosity al-Manṣūr extended hospitality [to him] in a
spacious shelter in ease and comfort.
Seeking to preserve his spirit, for the lingering of the spirit is more
73. Kiyāna denotes the citadel and also the massif about seven leagues
to the north-east of al-Masīla where Abū Yazīd made his last stand (Ibn
Ḥammād, Akhbār, pp. 30ff, trans. pp. 50ff). Later it became Qalʿat Abī
Ṭāwil (Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Bakrī, al-Masālik wa-al-
mamālik, ed. and French tr. W. MacGuckin de Slane (Paris, 1965), p. 49,
trans. p. 105). Then, on the same massif, Qalʿat Banī Ḥammād was built
(Lucien Golvin, ‘Ḳalʿat Banī Ḥammād’, EI2, vol. 4, pp. 478–481.) After his
victory over Abū Yazīd near al-Qayrawān in al-Muḥarram 335/August 946,
al-Manṣūr remained in al-Qayrawān for some time. Then, in Rabīʿ I 335/
October 946, he left the city in pursuit of Abū Yazīd. After several battles
in the Jabal Sāllāt near Bū Saʿāda, where Abū Yazīd had sought refuge, and
then in the region of al-Masīla, the fortress of Kiyāna was taken on 22
al-Muḥarram 336/13 August 947.
74. On al-Iyādī see note 42 above.
75. The sons of Aḥmad, meaning the descendants of the Prophet, here
refers to the family of al-Manṣūr.
76. Cf. Qurʾan 111:5, where the expression is used in connection
with Abū Lahab (d. 2/623), the Prophet’s uncle and one of his staunchest
opponents.
effective for distressing.77

But God willed to hasten his term, for God’s punishment inflicted
upon the body was yet more shattering.
(al-Manṣūr) stripped off from him his filthy skin in which he had
been immoderate and rebellious.
Like the skin of the male goat when its odour is foul, it is stripped
and set aside.
The skinners stuffed (his skin) with dry palm leaves78 filling it from
the heels to the shoulder blades.
Then he raised him on a thoroughbred horse, high and steady; there
was no strain on it.79
Al-Manṣūr bi-llāh attacked the cursed one when he sought refuge in

this mountain with his army in autumn. He besieged him for some-
time. There were fierce battles and terrible wars the likes of which
had not been seen in Islam and nothing similar had taken place
since time immemorial. A reliable person related to me that he was
present on one of these battle days at a battle known as the battle of
Quṣūr al-Ḥītān (Castles of the Whales), in the territory of the Zāb.80
He reports: ‘When the army departed and the troops set out on foot
on the same day, I saw all of a sudden that the vanguard was retreat-
ing and the army was in disarray. “What is happening?” I asked. I
was told that the enemy had appeared just in front of us. The troops
sought refuge with the Commander of the Faithful. He ordered: “Set
up camp and let each platoon go to its position.” Hardly had the men
taken their battle gear when I saw a valley surrounded by troops on
all sides, except the side where the enemy was facing us. By God, we
had not planned this. The battle was fierce and it was a painful day.
Then God granted victory to His friend and the descendant of His
prophet, and the immoral Azraqīs were routed. Al-Manṣūr bi-llāh
77. al-Manṣūr wanted to capture Abū Yazīd alive to parade him

in al-Qayrawān, but the rebel died from his wounds four days after his
capture, on 22 al-Muḥarram 336/13 August 947.
78. Elsewhere cotton is mentioned: Ibn Ḥammād, Akhbār, p. 35 (trans.
p. 56); Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol. 1, p. 220; Ibn Ẓāfir, Akhbār, p. 18; or straw,
as in al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 159, and Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol.
6, p. 311.
79. Cf. the quotation of the poem in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār,
pp. 453–454.
80. This refers to the fighting in the region of al-Masīla. al-Maqrīzī,
al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 140–142.
ordered to decapitate [them]. The number of them decapitated is

indescribable and beyond limit and description.’ (The narrator) said:
Regarding this day al-Manṣūr bi-llāh said:
I received in exchange for saffron and its perfume the rust of the
armour plate firmly secured.
Do you not see that I bartered the life of quiet stay for travelling by
night, and the softness of padding for lean horses?81
Excellent heroes who know no malice among them assail [the
enemy] impetuously like lions from dens.
Show me a hero able to take my place and confront battle like me,
when the stamping of hooves raises the dust of the valley!
I am the pure, the victorious (al-manṣūr) of the lineage of Aḥmad.
With my sword I chop off the heads under the helmets.82
He sent these verses to the sublime presence [of al-Qāʾim] in a letter

from him. There were great battles after this. He wrote these other
verses in a letter. The verses were addressed to al-Muʿizz li-dīn-illāh:
I send you this letter from the farthest westward land, filled with
deep and earnest longing [to see you].
I roam across deserts and cross the sands and I place myself in every
danger.
Thereby I wish to gain the satisfaction of God and glorify the reign
of the family of the Prophet.
Until the journey has exhausted our bodies, spent our mounts and
the guide is lost.
O painful exile, O painful solitude! But with regard to God this is
just little.
I never felt anxious, but I left with a patient, enduring heart.
And the Possessor of the Throne by His grace granted a manifest
victory and sublime glory.
Every day God grants me a new gift and a splendid favour.
God be praised for what He has decreed. My Lord suffices me and
how excellent a guardian is He!83
81. Cf. the lines of al-Manṣūr b. Abī ʿĀmir (d. 392/1002) in Abū Manṣūr
ʿAbd al-Malik al-Thaʿālibī, Yatīmat al-dahr, ed. ʿAlī Muḥammad ʿAbd
al-Laṭīf ([Cairo], 1934), vol. 2, p. 54.
p. 402.
pp. 402–403
16
[Jawdhar is freed from bondage and receives his honorific title]
After the cursed Deceiver was routed and the [imam’s] followers had
taken possession of most of his supplies, the siege was tightened on
the impious Azraqīs and there was a battle in which the cursed one
was taken prisoner and God caused His friend and the descendant
of His prophet to triumph over him, as has been mentioned by ʿAlī b.
Muḥammad [al-Iyādī] in his poem that we have cited before. Then
al-Manṣūr bi-llāh ordered his slave Jawhar the secretary to send
by post official letters to all the regions announcing the victory.84
He (also) wrote to the ustādh a significant document in which was
enclosed a letter in the hand of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh expressing the
following:
O Jawdhar, may God help you to be obedient to Him and may He
grant you His protection. As a mark of our thankfulness to God,
the Mighty, the Exalted, for the favour He has granted us by giving
us this great victory of sublime value and of considerable impor-
tance, we have imposed on ourselves the obligation of manumit-
ting, almsgiving and doing charitable deeds. Therefore, we have
commanded all provincial governors to take such measures within
their jurisdictions according to our instructions to them. Our direc-
tive to you, may God protect you, is to comply with disbursing to the
poor of al-Mahdiyya and its surrounding region the alms that we
have determined. However, with regard to manumitting we did not
find a deed more pious and more pleasing to God, the Mighty, the
Exalted, than manumitting a pure, virtuous, believing slave such
as you. Hence you are free for the sake of God, the Magnificent.
In anticipation of His immense reward, I free your body and your
spirit in this world and the Hereafter, and to honour you we will
designate you as ‘Client of the Commander of the Faithful’. Begin
your correspondence to everyone, high or low in rank, thus: ‘From
Jawdhar, Client of the Commander of the Faithful, to so-and-so son
of so-and-so.’ Do not designate anyone by their filionymic (kunya).
Your name should not be preceded by anyone else’s name other
than the name of your master Abū Tamīm,85 may God take him
84. These letters as well as the one addressed to Jawdhar are most likely
to be dated from al-Muḥarram 336/August 947. For an account of the
decisive battle and Abū Yazīd’s capture, see al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2,
pp. 150–152.
85. ‘Abū Tamīm’ refers to al-Muʿizz, who by this time, 336/947, had
as shepherd (for His flock) and may He bless him with longevity.86
(Jawdhar) continued to adhere to this protocol in his correspond-

ence with everyone throughout his days until he returned to the
mercy of God.
17
[Jawdhar’s name is inscribed on embroidered
garments and carpets]
Subsequently (al-Manṣūr) instructed (Jawdhar) to have his name

inscribed on bands of embroidered fabrics (ṭirāz) in gold thread
executed by slave embroiderers, which adorn the garments worn by
the imams, as well as on those manufactured by mat weavers, who
produce wonderful articles and who are of unrivalled craftsmanship.
He told him, ‘Write to them that they should inscribe on embroi-
dered fabrics and carpets: “Manufactured through Jawdhar, Client
of the Commander of the Faithful, at al-Mahdiyya the Pleasing [to
God]”.’
All this was done to honour him and to enhance his position. May
the blessings of God be upon our lord and master the Commander of
the Faithful, the Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh. (The imam) admired the
artefacts made by these slaves and often ordered to look after them
saying: ‘Their artefacts are exquisite gardens.’
18
[al-Manṣūr honours Jawdhar]
When the Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh arrived at his capital,

al-Mahdiyya,87 al-Ustādh Jawdhar received him in the finest attire
and most complete outfit, at the valley known as al-Māliḥ.88 When
already been designated heir apparent. Regarding this filionymic of

al-Muʿizz see note 157 below.
86. Cf. the quotation of the letter in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār,
p. 444.
87. al-Manṣūr returned to al-Mahdiyya after his victory over Abū Yazīd
in Ramaḍān 336/March–April 948. See al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p. 86, and
Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, p. 311.
88. al-Wādī al-Māliḥ lies between Tumājir and al-Mahdiyya. It was the
scene of a fierce battle in which the forces of al-Qāʾim were routed by the
his eyes fell upon (Jawdhar), he was delighted with him and was
filled with joy at his sight. Thereupon he said, ‘I do not know how
to conceal Jawdhar from death. If youthfulness could be bought, we
would expend for it the priceless from what we possess.’
Then he greeted him perfectly and advanced towards him most
gracefully, and clad him promptly with robes of honour which he had
prepared for him. He gave him for a mount a piebald horse selected
from among his mounts and known as Ablaq b. Nuyūṭ,89 and had
other mounts with heavy saddles led before him. Then, when he
arrived at his palace and food was served, he ordered (Jawdhar) to sit
at the table with him. This was the first time that (Jawdhar) sat at the
table with (al-Manṣūr).
19
[al-Manṣūr’s treasure stores entrusted to Jawdhar]
Al-Manṣūr bi-llāh used to collect at his place the most precious

things found in his dominion and the richest treasures of all types
and kinds. One day he sent to (Jawdhar) several books containing
various exoteric and esoteric sciences, and wrote to him at the same
time a letter whose text is as follows:
I am sending you my books and the books of the imams, my pure
ancestors, which I have selected. Keep them with you, protected
from everything. One of them has been damaged by water. I
have no treasure more precious than these books. Instruct your
secretary Muḥammad90 to transcribe for you a copy of three of
the books which contain sciences and rules of conduct by which
rebel Abū Yazīd in 333/944. On al-Wādī al-Māliḥ, see al-Bakrī, al-Masālik,

p. 29 (trans. pp. 65–66); Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-Ḥimyarī, Kitāb
al-Rawḍ al-miʿṭār fī khabar al-aqṭār, 2nd ed. Iḥsān ʿAbbās (Beirut, 1980),
p. 136; Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol. 1, p. 218 (where it is referred to as Wādī
al-Milḥ). On the battle, see Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 4, p. 53 (trans.
Berbères, vol. 2, pp. 531–532).
89. One of the Prophet’s horses was named al-Ablaq. Taqī al-Dīn Abū
al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī, Imtāʿ al-asmāʿ bi-mā lil-nabī min
al-aḥwāl wa-al-amwāl wa-al-ḥafada wa-al-matāʿ, ed. Muḥammad ʿAbd
al-Ḥamīd al-Numaysī (Beirut, 1999), vol. 7, p. 200.
90. Abū ’Abd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān was one of the three
secretaries of Jawdhar.
God will gladden you. They are the Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ91 and two books
which contain two sermons, one composed by al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh, which he commanded al-Marwazī92 to deliver at the time
of the cursed one, the Deceiver Makhlad b. Kaydād; the other was
composed by ourselves and which we delivered in the year 336/947
after our return from the Maghrib.93 We announced in it the death
of al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh and spoke about the great misfortune
which we suffered by (his loss).
20
[Sermon of al-Qāʾim delivered by al-Marwazī]
I have recorded in this book of ours that which is necessary to

mention and that which God and His friend have allowed to disclose.
We have left out everything else out of aversion to committing sins
and going beyond what is prohibited. We have transcribed fully
both the sermons one after the other. They contain life for the hearts
of those who are wise. I have started with the sermon of al-Qāʾim
bi-amr Allāh, which he ordered al-Marwazī to deliver during the
days of the siege94 and in which he said, after thanking and prais-
91. A collection of legal traditions by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, of which only
a portion has survived: al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān b. Muḥammad, Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ,
ed. Muḥammad Kāẓim Raḥmatī (Beirut, 2007). On this work see Wilferd
Madelung, ‘The Sources of Ismāʿīlī Law’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 35
(1976), pp. 29–40, reprinted in his Religious Schools and Sects in Medieval
Islam (London, 1985), article XVIII.
92. He is Abū Ja’far Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Marwazī (al-Marwarrūdhī
in some sources), a qāḍī and poet of the first three Fatimids. He accompanied
al-Manṣūr during the campaign against Abū Yazīd (Ibn Ẓāfir, Akhbār, p.
19; al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 179–180; al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1,
pp. 88–89; al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, pp. 51–52, 59, trans. pp. 110, 112, 125).
Aḥmad’s father, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar (d. 303/915–916), was appointed
qāḍī of al-Qayrawān in 296/909 by the dāʿī Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī (al-Qāḍī
al-Nuʿmān, Iftitāḥ, p. 215, trans. p. 177). On the nisba al-Marwarrūdhī
(which is contracted to al-Marrūdhī) and the nisba al-Marwazī, see Abū
Saʿd ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Muḥammad b. Manṣūr al-Tamīmī al-Samʿānī,
al-Ansāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Yaḥyā al-Muʿallimī al-Yamānī et al.
(Cairo, 1980–1984), vol. 11, pp. 253–258, 260–261.
93. This was the year in which al-Manṣūr defeated Abū Yazīd. He
delivered the sermon in that year on the feast of breaking the fast (ʿīd al-fiṭr).
94. This refers to the siege of al-Mahdiyya by Abū Yazīd in 333/945. Ibn
al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, pp. 305–308.
ing God and invoking blessings upon the Prophet Muḥammad, may
God bless him and his pure posterity:
O people! Truly this accursed Nukkārī95 persists in his insolence.
His pasture is unwholesome. His deceptive hopes and the self which
incites to evil have induced him to despise the bounty of God to
him. The devil, who is his companion, has suggested to him that
no one will vanquish him; but the Commander of the Faithful has
loosened his bridle only so that it may cause him to stumble in the
loose end of his halter. May God curse him dreadfully and may He
put him to shame for a long time. May He consign him to a raging
fire ‘which only the most wretched must endure, who deny the truth
and turn away’ (92:14–16).
You know, O assembly of Kutāma, that your fathers and your
ancestors always observed faithfully the obligation to obedience.
They held fast to its rope96 and sought shelter under its shade, and
truly strove in battle for the sake of God. You are the hidden force
of God for this rightly-guided Muḥammadan, Fatimid truth, until
God caused it to triumph and exalted it, and granted to you its glory
and brilliance. You are like the disciples of Jesus, peace be upon
him, and the helpers of Muḥammad, may God bless him and his
family.
O sons of the first, early emigrants and helpers who have drawn
near [unto God], was it not through you that God put an end to
the reigns of oppressors who had persisted for long years until God
caused them to become as a field mown down, still and silent as
ashes (21:15)? Did He not cause you to inherit their land and dwell-
ings, and thus you became conquerors after having been conquered?
The cursed Deceiver has set up camp facing you with a misguided
band who lead others astray. They have not sought enlightenment
from the light of guidance. They are like abandoned livestock,
phantoms, (hollow) pieces of timber propped up97 and frightened
95. On Nukkārī see note 72 above.

96. Cf. the expression ḥabl Allāh (Rope of God) in Qurʾan 3:103.
The word ḥabl is used here in the sense of ‘covenant’ (ʿahd) (Abū Bakr
Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim al-Anbārī, al-Ẓāhir fī maʿānī kalimāt al-nās, ed.
Ḥātim Ṣāliḥ al-Ḍāmin, 2nd ed. (Baghdad, 1987–1989), vol. 2, pp. 306–307).
It is worth noting that the Fatimid dāʿī Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman interprets
holding fast to the ‘Rope of God’ in Qurʾan 3:103 as loyalty and obedience
to the Fatimid imam, in his al-Shawāhid wa-al-bayān, IIS Library, MS 734,
pp. 12, 50, 177, and al-Riḍāʿ fī al-bāṭin, IIS Library, MS 1143, pp. 140, 170.
97. Meaning ‘unable to stand on their own’. Cf. the expression khushub
musannada used for the hypocrites in Qurʾan 63:4. See, for example, Abū
asses.98 If they linger they will perish and if they are pursued they
will be caught. Do not retreat after having advanced, for you are the
party of God, while they are the party of the devil. Your fallen will
be in paradise, while their fallen will go to hellfire. Which truth
could you seek apart from this truth and with which imam other
than your imam shall you fight? Fight, may God be merciful to you,
the party of error, wolves of greed, moths that fly into the flame.
Pursue them in the regions of the land, in the farthest countries
and all horizons, until God causes the truth to prevail and abolishes
falsehood, however hateful this might be to the polytheists.99
When the followers heard the sermon, they said, ‘We are at your
command.’ Voices were raised, mingled with weeping and commo-
tion. Then they departed from their place of prayers to the battle
and gained their first victory over the Ḥarūriyya,100 over the cursed
Makhlad and his misguided companions. All praise is due to God,
Lord of the worlds.
21
Sermon of the Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh announcing the
death of al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh
Praise be to God from one who thanks for His limitless boun-
ties, seeking to receive more from His inexhaustible generosity. [I
declare that] there is no deity except God, proclaiming sincerely
His oneness, and that there is no deity except God, glorifying
His sublime and glorious name. Glory be to the One who takes as
witness of His power His signs, the One whose essence is incompat-
ible with any attribute, whose sight is inaccessible and which intel-
lects are incapable of defining. The One who possesses greatness,
glory, majesty, might, praise and magnificence. To Him belong the
Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān fī taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān

(Beirut, 1405/1984), vol. 28, p. 107.
98. Cf. Qurʾan 74:50, where the expression ‘frightened asses’ (ḥumur
mustanfira) is used of those who turn away from all admonition.
99. Cf. the text of the sermon as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn
al-akhbār, pp. 311–312, and its translation in Paul E. Walker, ed. and tr.
Orations of the Fatimid Caliphs: Festival Sermons of the Ismaili Imams
(London, 2009), pp. 93–94.
100. A name applied to the early Kharijites and derived from Ḥarūrāʾ, a
locality near al-Kūfa. L. Veccia Vaglieri, ‘Ḥarūrāʾ’, EI2, vol. 3, pp. 235–236.
ighest heavens and the lowest earths, that which is beyond the heav-
h
ens and the earths and that which is beneath the soil. Everything
bows before His greatness, is humbled before His might, submits to
His will and falls under His power. I bear witness that there is no
deity except God, the One without associate, and I bear witness that
Muḥammad is His servant and messenger, whom He has chosen,
distinguished, honoured and elected, to whom He has given His
preference and approbation, whom He has sent with right guidance,
the religion of the truth professed by the angels brought near [to
God] who are in the heavens and those of the jinns and humans
who are on earth. The Prophet assumed the mission given to him
and conveyed the message with which he was sent. He carried out
his task and bore misfortune and adversity with patience for His
cause, until such time when God caused His religion to triumph
over others and when His truth completely annihilated the false-
hood of idolatry. May God bless him and grant him salvation, may
He ennoble and honour him.
Servants of God! I commend you to fear God, obey Him, hold
Him in awe, dread His anger and carry out what satisfies Him to
gain proximity to Him. Indeed, He knows what is in your hearts
and He is well aware of and perceives your actions; nothing is
hidden from Him; not even an atom’s weight in the heavens and
the earth escapes Him. Nothing saves from His wrath and gains
His mercy except obedience to Him. ‘Whosoever obeys God and His
messenger, he verily has gained a signal victory’ (33:71).
Indeed, God has made this day for you a greater day of celebra-
tion than all other days. He has completed on this day a month
more honoured than the others and He has opened the days of the
months of pilgrimage to the revered House of God, which He has
magnified and honoured, making it the direction of the prayer, the
seat of blessings, the sojourn of mercy, a place of refuge and secu-
rity, and a beacon and a signpost for the people. Draw near unto
God on this day by paying your fiṭra, which is the alms of your fast
and the sunna of your Prophet, the master of the prophets. Every
man among you (must pay) for himself and for every member of
his family, male or female, child or adult, one ṣāʿ of wheat or one
ṣāʿ of dates or one ṣāʿ of raisins or one ṣāʿ of barley from your food
and that of your family, and not from anything else.101 Only this
101. Ṣāʿ is a measure of grain. On it see Alfred Bel, ‘Ṣāʿ’, EI2, vol. 8, p. 654.
On details of zakāt al-fiṭr in Fatimid jurisprudence see al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān
b. Muḥammad, Daʿāʾim al-islām, ed. A. A. A. Fyzee (Cairo, 1963), vol. 1,
pp. 266–267; tr. A. A. A. Fyzee, rev. I. K. H. Poonawala, The Pillars of Islam
(New Delhi, 2002–2004), vol. 1, pp. 331–332.
will be accepted from you. Increase invocations and be fearful and

hopeful. ‘O ye who believe! Fear God, and let every soul look to what
(provision) he has sent forth for the morrow’ (59:18). (That day) is
near; by God, it is as if it has already come.
Indeed, God the Exalted has not abandoned you like a herd with-
out a shepherd. He has imposed no difficulties on you in religion
and you have no excuse after the path has been clearly charted and
the arguments have been reinforced through His prophet and the
imams of right guidance from his descendants. May God’s peace
and mercy be upon them. May God grant us as well as you success
in accomplishing what satisfies Him and brings near unto Him.
May He bring us and you unto Him, for we are by Him and to Him.
May God bless the master of the messengers and the rightly-guided
imams, who have judged and judge according to the truth, and by it
have been and are just.
Then he sat and rose again for the second sermon102 and said:
Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds. Reward is for those who fear
Him. May His continuous, increasing, growing and permanent
blessings be upon Muḥammad and upon the excellent members of
his family, the rightly-guided imams, the noble masters, the pure,
the pious. Praise, praise! Thanks, thanks! You have fulfilled Your
promise and helped Your servant in spite of the disbelievers, the
miserable heretics, those who have gone astray, the perverts, the
companions of the cursed Deceiver. He and his companions are in
error; they are the object of God’s anger. They are the abhorrent, the
impure, the wicked, the unfortunate, the miserable and the humili-
ated. They are the accursed on earth and in heaven. Praise, praise!
Thanks, thanks! repeated ceaselessly, amply and at length, cannot
requite Your bounties or repay Your favours, (for we are) aware of
our incapacity to thank You, even if every tongue did so all the time.
May the peace of God, His benedictions, His mercy, His bless-
ings and His salutations descend upon you two, O Commanders
of the Faithful, O vicegerents of the Lord of the worlds, O sons of
the guiding and rightly-guided imams, O you my father and my
grandfather, O sons of Muḥammad, Messenger of God! Greetings
from the one who surrenders to God in what He has decreed to
102. The khuṭba consists of two sermons which the khaṭīb delivers while
standing; at the end of the first sermon, he sits for a moment, and then rises
to deliver the second sermon. See a description of the ceremonial on the ʿīd
al-fiṭr under the Fatimids in al-Maqrīzī, al-Khiṭaṭ, vol. 2, pp. 478–494, and
al-Qalqashandī, Ṣubḥ al-aʿshā fī ṣināʿat al-inshā (Cairo, 1383 [1963]), vol.
3, pp. 508–511.
befall upon him by the loss of you both. He bears with steadfastness
the trial which He has sent upon him after (the departure of) you
two, at a time when distress afflicted you, and when tears choked
you, O my father, O Muḥammad, O Abū al-Qāsim, O Master! O
Sovereign!103 O my longing! O my suffering! By the Creator of the
heaven and the earth, who resurrects the dead and causes the living
to die, I have not the slightest doubt that God chose you and that
He transported you to the abode of His generosity, to the sojourn
of His mercy, the abode which He prepared for Muḥammad, His
messenger, peace be upon him, your ancestor; for the Commander
of the Faithful ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, peace be upon him, your father; for
Fāṭima the Resplendent, the Chaste (al-batūl),104 your mother; for
your rightly-guided and noble fathers, the pious. But the suffering
of the one afflicted is a cause of grief and makes the eyes weep. ‘We
belong to God and to Him is our return’ (2:156). We submit to Him.
We praise Him whatever our circumstances. We thank Him for His
favours, for God, the Mighty, the Exalted, has bestowed consider-
able favours and doubled blessings by granting me patience and by
honouring me by the power and help which have established the
basis of Islam, and have illuminated the hearts of the believers
which had sunk into darkness and despair because of the prolonged
misery brought about by the terrible rebellion, with its horrors and
agitation, this blind, deaf, ignorant revolt of the Deceiver of hypoc-
risy and of his renegade supporters, enemies of religion and helpers
of the accursed devil. God has granted them respite only to punish
them by degrees105 and has tolerated their misdeeds for long, and
they have become even more stubborn in their illusions. This is ‘in
order that God may separate the impure from the pure’ (8:37), so that
people of understanding see the confirmation of God’s promise:
‘Alif Lām Mīm. Do men think that they will be left alone on saying,
“We believe”, and that they will not be tested? We did test those before
them, and God will certainly know those who are true from those who
are false’ (29:1–3). This is a promise of God which He will never fail
103. On the use of the expression ‘O Sovereign!’ (yā jabalāh, also

wājabalāh) see al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Daʿāʾim, vol. 1, p. 226 (trans. Pillars,
vol. 1, p. 280), and Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, tr.
M. M. Khan (New Delhi, 1987), vol. 5, p. 395.
104. The term al-batūl is applied to the Prophet’s daughter Fāṭima,
meaning that she was distinct from the other women of her age by her
chastity and piety, or that she was detached from things of this world.
Muḥammad b. Mukarram Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿarab (Beirut, 1955–1957),
s.v. BTL.
105. Cf. Qurʾan 7:182, 68:44.
to keep, and a decree for the ancients as well as the moderns which
He will never change until the Day of Judgement. By the grace of
God and His favour, it was a rebellion which turned against our
enemies, making them blind and deaf. It caused their ruin and loss,
and it upset them, humiliated them and shamed them. Whereas for
us and our followers it was a trial which made us gain a reward and
a reserve, and whose result for us was power and glory. Its face was
ugly, but its outcome was excellent, because God, the Mighty, the
Exalted, wished thereby to restore our reign and strengthen us, to
show us His favour to us, to give us the guarantee of His support
for us, wipe out the sins of our followers and eradicate our enemies.
Therefore, when this (rebellion) was at its height and reached its
utmost point, and when Satan, having been confused retreated,
having talked in vain, having kindled his fire, having persisted for
long in his enterprise and enraged God, God allowed vengeance
to be inflicted upon him by giving supremacy to His servant and
friend. He dissipated the obscurity of (this rebellion), illuminated
its darkness, unveiled its blindness, and by me and my intermedi-
ary, He removed its adversity, as a mark of generosity from God, a
distinctive favour which He granted me, a bounty which He had set
aside for me and with which He gratified me only, granting me yet
more favours added to the ones that He had already granted to my
pure forefathers and favours that He had already granted my ances-
tors, the rightly-guided imams.
Swords were drawn to prevent that [victory], and He broke them;
enemy lines were advancing upon me and He overwhelmed them;
the armies of the infidels helped each other against me and He left
them in the lurch. [Their] eyes rose in my direction and He made
them blind. He abased their heads which they had raised, He abased
their noses which they had raised arrogantly, and He humbled their
puffed-up faces. God, the Mighty, the Exalted, refused everything
but to perfect my authority, strengthen [His] help to me, to grant
me victory and triumph, to support me and elevate me, keeping the
promise made to Muḥammad, His messenger, to strengthen his
community, to raise its proof, and to help the rightly-guided imams
of his posterity. God in His omnipotence accomplished His deci-
sion and overturned the enemies victoriously. No judgement can
come after His. No one can oppose His command. No one can be
associated with Him in the praise due to Him.
O supporters of our mission! O defenders of our reign! O Kutāma!
Praise God and be thankful to Him for His favour through which
He has distinguished you and for the immensity of His bounty.
Through this He has given you superiority over all mankind, in
the East and the West. He gratified you first of all with the greatest
favour, then He granted you the greatest bounty, and between the
two He showered upon you countless bounties. He gave you sight
while others were blind. He gave you knowledge while others were
ignorant. While others were in error, He guided you to His religion,
to the defence of His truth, to obedience to His friend, who is the
signpost of the right path and the torch in the midst of darkness,
the strong Rope of God.106 He made you the first ones to help him
and to be firm in obeying him, placing yourselves under the shel-
ter of his reign, to draw illumination from the light of his wisdom.
Therefore, when God decreed to unsettle the country and test the
people, and when darkness became widespread, when feet faltered,
when the situation became dangerous, when afflictions became
acute, when hearts became corrupted, God protected you, guided
your hearts and affirmed your steps, until He removed (all these
afflictions) from you particularly, and from other people generally,
through us and by our intervention. This was a bounty for you,
a proof for the people, and by God, your faces brightened up and
radiated, you who had been faithful to the pact of God and who held
fast to His covenant.
O God, I am satisfied with the Kutāma, because they held fast
to Your covenant, because they bore patiently suffering and adver-
sity for Your cause, by devotion to us, recognising our excellence,
discharging the obligation which God enjoined on mankind with
regard to us, for seeking Your favour by obeying us. O God, be
satisfied with them, double the merit of their good deeds, wipe out
their bad deeds, assemble them in the company of Your prophet to
whom they have been loyal, and (in the company) of Your friend
whose helpers they have been. Make Your favour endure for them
and make it complete for them; perfect for them Your bounties; let
the power abide in their descendants for ever; reward them gener-
ously; guide them on the right path and make their hearts pure.
You are the one who hears the prayer, who is ever near and ready
to answer.107
(Manṣūr the secretary) said: I said to the ustādh my master, ‘I have

already read sermons of preachers, and I know the eloquence of
orators, but, by God, I have not seen anything comparable to the
eloquence of the imams.’ (Jawdhar) replied to me, ‘Have you then
106. On the expression ‘Rope of God’ see note 96 above.

107. Cf. the sermon of al-Manṣūr as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn
al-akhbār, pp. 480–486, and its translation in Walker, Orations, pp. 112–119.
The text of the sermon is largely preserved in al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol.
2, pp. 163–168.
forgotten the saying of the Messenger of God, “God has sent the
lamps of wisdom or the keys of wisdom through the speech of the
members of the family.” 108 By God, the Prophet meant to designate
thus only the pure imams, descendants of ʿAlī and Fāṭima and of
al-Ḥusayn, whose souls come from his soul, whose blood comes
from his blood. Obedience to them is linked to obedience to God
and obedience to the Prophet,109 may God shower His blessings upon
him and upon the good, excellent, noble members of his family, and
grant them salvation!’
22
[al-Manṣūr gifts newly minted coins to Jawdhar]
Among the letters of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh to the ustādh there are vari-
ous items. For example, when al-Manṣūr bi-llāh ordered the mint-
ing of Manṣūrī coins bearing his pure name,110 and when the first
mintage of the coins was presented to him, he sent from these to the
ustādh, in al-Mahdiyya, 1,000 dinars and wrote to him at the same
time in his hand the following letter:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you and preserve you. We send you
1,000 Manṣūrī quarter dinars minted in our name. Accept these
for yourself as a blessing for you. Avoid sending them back to the
Treasury, for I know you and I know how thrifty you are with
our money. No wealth is as pure as the money which we place
with our own hands where we wish on our own initiative. No
blessing is more worthy for the one to whom it is given with the
best of our heart, because we deem you deserving kindness and
we would not like to consider this to be too much for someone
108. Abū al-ʿAbbas ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar al-Ḥimyarī al-Qummī, Qurb

al-isnād (Qum, 1413/[1993]), p. 158.
109. This doctrine linking obedience to Fatimid imams to obedience
to God and the Prophet, based on an interpretation of Qurʾan 4:59, is
elaborated in Fatimid texts. See, for example, al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Daʿāʾim,
vol. 1, pp. 20–25 (trans. vol. 1, pp. 27–33).
110. After the death of al-Qāʾim on 13 Shawwāl 334/18 May 946,
al-Manṣūr made no change in the coinage until after the end of Abū Yazīd’s
revolt in 336/948 (Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, p. 317, and al-Maqrīzī,
Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p. 80). See specimens of dinars minted in al-Qāʾim’s name
after his death in J. Farrugia de Candia, ‘Monnaies fatimites du Musée du
Bardo’, Revue tunisienne, 27–28 (1936), pp. 354–355.
under your authority. Know this well! 111
23
[Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning a gift
for the Byzantine emperor]
Al-Manṣūr bi-llāh wrote to the ustādh upon the arrival of an ambas-

sador from the Byzantine emperor,112 bringing a gift, in return for
which al-Manṣūr bi-llāh wished to send more beautiful and lavish
gifts. Therefore, he wrote to the ustādh, ordering him to bring,
from the treasure stores which were in his custody, items which he
described to him and which were suitable to be sent to kings. I read
what he said in a passage of this letter:
I know how much you wish that there should not be in the world
anything beautiful which is not found with us and in our treas-
ure stores. I imagine that this makes you stingy towards Christians
with items such as those that we have ordered you to be sent to us.
Do not be like that, because the treasures of this world remain in
this world. We accumulate them only to rival our enemies in splen-
dour, and to show our own nobility, the grandeur of our intention
and the generosity of our hearts with gift of things which are jeal-
ously coveted and with which everyone is stingy.
Such was the outlook of (al-Manṣūr bi-llāh) towards this world. His
generosity was a well-known fact, manifest and widely known. May
God bless his soul and grant him His blessings!113
111. Cf. the same letter as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār,
p. 470.
112. In the year 341/953, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII
Porphyrogenitus (r. 945–959) sent a monk as ambassador to the court of
al-Manṣūr, in al-Manṣūriyya, bearing precious gifts. The purpose of the
embassy was to establish friendly and peaceful relations with the Fatimid
sovereign, following a truce after Byzantine forces suffered a humiliating
defeat in Sicily and southern Italy. The ambassador was impressed by the
majesty of the Fatimid sovereign and the pomp surrounding him, the like
of which he had not seen in his own land. See Alexander Alexandrovich
Vasiliev, Byzance et les Arabes (Brussels, 1935–1968), vol. 2, pt. 1, pp.
369–370, and vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 159–160; Jules Gay, L’Italie méridionale et
l’empire byzantin (Paris, 1904), pp. 213–214; and Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol.
6, p. 339.
24
[Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning the inhabitants of the palace]
Al-Manṣūr bi-llāh sent to ustādh Jawdhar a letter in which he set the

salaries and allowances of the inhabitants of the palace in general
and of his harem in particular, and he gave preferably to all the
inhabitants of the palace an increment above that which he had set
for his harem and his immediate entourage. Here it is:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you and preserve you. It is certain
that these people of our house are incapable of providing for their
maintenance themselves, let alone other people, and that they are
in need of our generosity which they cannot do without and which
cannot be replaced by anything else for them. Let them accept what
is allotted to them with the duty which it entails by being thankful
for it and recognising its extent, so that they might be convinced
that the riches of this world and the Hereafter are combined only in
the hands of the master of the truth. Their recognition of this fact
will complete for them happiness in this world and the Hereafter.
Everyone knows well that since my youth, I have shunned worldly
possessions and abstained from them like a monk until when I had
a family and children. Then I turned to trading in permissible and
lawful things. Ask my family and children how kind, generous and
considerate I have been towards them. By God, they were not suffi-
ciently, or more, satisfied with me until they received (gifts) from
me without measure and surpassing all limits. However, when the
imamate and the caliphate came to me, they felt lost after me and
were deprived of the generosity and the favour to which I had accus-
tomed them, because I was busy with the burdens placed on me of
governing the people. This did not allow me to continue trading or
to continue with the practice to which I had accustomed my family
and my children. Thereafter, by God, other than whom there is no
god and no master other than Him, I have never accepted a dirham
or more as gift from anyone except Jawdhar, because he used to give
me presents while I kept forbidding him, but he did not stop. So I
accepted this from him because of what I hoped from him, since
al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh had honoured him by making him privy to
my status and had exacted a promise from him to recognise me as
heir apparent and to pledge allegiance to me.114 At that time, people
were immersed in the darkness of erring, surging like waves on one
another.115 All followed their passions and preferred the riches of
114. See Part One, Section 5 above.

115. The expression ‘to surge like waves on one another’ comes from
this world. I have not claimed to be better than you at conduct-

ing trading, nor have I impelled you to conduct trading. However, I
would like you to know that the friends of God are helped by Him
in all their actions, and that for them are gathered the best of this
world and the Hereafter.
Upon reading this passage, I asked the ustādh and sought to know
from him about the promise which al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh had
extracted from him with regard to al-Manṣūr bi-llāh to the exclu-
sion of all others. He told me, ‘Indeed, it was so’.116
25
[Another letter concerning the inhabitants of the palace]
The inhabitants of the two palaces117 were jointly making false accu-
sations against the ustādh after the decision taken by al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh and the sermon which he had addressed them. They increased
their criticisms of him and demanded to be able to go freely in the
markets with the common people, whereas the ustādh forbade them
and prevented them from doing so. They wrote to al-Manṣūr bi-llāh
to complain about the ustādh and to criticise him, saying that he was
brutal and biased in his actions. The ustādh, having made certain of
this and having learnt that they had written to the Imam al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh, himself wrote a letter to al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh, who was
then heir apparent, to show him their shame and disgrace and to
inform him of their disgusting behaviour. When the letter reached
him and he had read it, he submitted it to the Imam al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh who also received at the same time their letter. The Imam
al-Manṣūr bi-llāh noted the contents of both the letters and sent to
his heir apparent, al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh, a reply whose text, after the
basmala, is as follows:
Qurʾan 18:99.
116. Jawdhar was made privy to al-Manṣūr’s appointment as heir
apparent, as mentioned in Part One, Section 5 above.
117. These were the two royal palaces in al-Mahdiyya: the palace of
al-Mahdī, whose gate faced westwards, and facing it on the other side
that of al-Qāʾim, whose gate faced eastwards. There was a large courtyard
between the two palaces (al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 30, trans. pp. 67–68). The
inhabitants mentioned above are those sons and relatives of al-Mahdī and
al-Qāʾim who disputed al-Manṣūr’s right to the succession.
I commend you to God, and I ask Him to bestow upon you His
complete favour as well as upon me, in you, and by you and by your
descendants. You are not unaware of the place which Jawdhar holds
with me, and what a high opinion I have of him. How could he be
in my eyes brutal and biased? Nevertheless, that is how they have
described him in their letter, because he prevents them from behav-
ing impudently, watches resolutely over their security and forbids
any shameful act on their part. Upon my life, the one who grants
his favours to the one who does not deserve them is like the one who
sows in salt-marshes. Inform Jawdhar how satisfied I am with him
and what compassion and affection I have for him. Confirm him in
his function of opening to them the doors and raising the curtain,
so that their shame and their disgrace become yet more manifest,
because this will be better for the empire and an adornment for the
dynasty, a proof for the one who seeks the truth, (a means) to wipe
out shameful behaviour which formerly separated them from your
grandfather. It is a shame which is spread far and wide and whose
echo has filled various regions. (Their attitude) is only a result of
the wish that he had to protect their modesty and impose disci-
pline upon them. Therefore, they became hostile to him and hated
him. They have accused him of lying and have defamed him. Your
grandfather had been the object of people’s conversation, because
they were unaware of his motives for taking these measures.
Today, I act with full knowledge of the facts, so that their shame
and disgrace become manifest, that my motives become clear, and
that my excellence, may God be praised for it, becomes obvious.
Know, O my son, that the Cursed Tree in the Qurʾan118 applies to
118. Most commentators agree that ‘the Cursed Tree in the Qurʾan’
(17:60) applies to the tree of deadly fruit (shajarat al-zaqqūm) in Hell
spoken of in 37:62, 44:43 and 56:52 (al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 15, pp.
113–115; vol. 23, pp. 63–64; vol. 25, pp. 130–133; vol. 27, pp. 194–195). In his
commentary of the verse which mentions ‘the Cursed Tree in the Qurʾan’,
al-Māwardī summarises four different views held by commentators (Abū
al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Māwardī, al-Nukat wa-al-ʿuyūn: tafsīr
al-Māwardī, ed. al-Sayyid b. ʿAbd al-Maqṣūd b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm (Beirut,
[1992]), vol. 3, pp. 253–254). The fourth view speaks of a dream of the
Prophet in which he saw people mounting the pulpits. The people in
question are the Umayyads and ‘the Cursed Tree’ refers specifically to
them, as in Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-al-
maʾthūr, ed. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī (Cairo, 2003), vol. 9, pp.
391–392. This view is most widespread in Shīʿī literature. See, for example,
al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, al-Majālis wa-al-musāyarāt, p. 106, where al-Muʿizz
applies it to the Umayyads.
the Umayyads yesterday, and that today it applies to the sons of your
two ancestors, al-Mahdī bi-llāh and al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh.119 The
Umayyads deserved this appellation only because of their hostil-
ity to your ancestor, the Messenger of God, and to his legatee, ʿAlī
b. Abī Ṭālib, may God’s blessings be upon them both. Similarly
(the sons of your two ancestors) deserve this appellation because
of their hostility towards God and the friends of God, and because
they have refused to acknowledge our excellence and denied our
right. Know this and act accordingly. I will send you a book which I
have composed about this matter, which no one else has composed
before me and which I have not yet made public.120 I wished, by
writing this book, to guide the believers and strengthen their hearts
by putting an end to doubt in their minds. I have filled it with
exoteric as well as esoteric knowledge and conclusive proofs which
will please you and delight you and will be useful for you without
ever coming to an end, because most calamities which afflict the
weak and unfortunate believers proceed only from the likes of these
apes and swine. Tell Jawdhar to have for them in his heart the same
feelings as theirs of hatred, contempt and disrespect towards them
which he has for Jews and Christians, because by God, they have
never exercised supreme power; they never had even two dogs, let
alone two human beings, who followed them, because when good-
ness is manifest, it captures the hearts and souls of people, takes
possession of their ears and eyes. But God has forsaken them. Praise
be to Him for all goodness. As for shame and disgrace which the
hearts and souls loathe, they are garbed in them and wrapped up in
them. What crime has poor Jawdhar committed against them? He
has only prevented them from behaving impudently and dishon-
ourably. He only wished to protect their modesty by leaving this
magnificent edifice. This was his only crime.
119. One of al-Qāʾim’s sons, Yūsuf (d. 362/973), is specifically mentioned

as opposing Fatimid doctrines. ʿAbd al-Jabbār b. Aḥmad al-Hamadhānī,
Tathbīt dalāʾil al-nubuwwa, ed. ʿAbd al-Karīm ʿUthmān (Beirut, 1966), vol.
2, p. 603.
120. The book seems to be lost. See, however, Tathbīt al-imāma, cited in
Poonawala, Biobibliography, pp. 44–45, and Delia Cortese, Arabic Ismaili
Manuscripts, p. 180. For a detailed description of the work see Wilferd
Madelung, ‘A Treatise on the Imamate of the Fatimid Caliph al-Manṣūr
Bi-Allāh’, in Texts, Documents and Artefacts: Islamic Studies in Honour of
D. S. Richards, ed. Chase F. Robinson (Leiden, 2003), pp. 69–77.
26
[Letter from al-Manṣūr concerning his uncles and brothers]
When the ustādh became acquainted with this letter he praised

and thanked God profusely. He began to treat them according to
instructions he had received. However, they did not abstain from
complaining and reproaching the imam. They began to write to him
that had they been from among the clients of the Messenger of God,
they would have been entitled to protection, the more so because
they were members of the family of the Messenger of God.121 When
the imam came to know about these remarks of theirs, he wrote to
the ustādh a letter with the following passage:
It is indeed astonishing to hear them say, ‘We are the family of the
Messenger of God, and the sons of al-Mahdī bi-llāh and the sons
of al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh.’ Tell them, ‘O donkeys, is there any
human being on earth who is not of the sons of Adam, messenger
of God? The Blacks, are they not descendants of Ham, son of Noah,
messenger of God? The Slavs, are they not descendants of Japheth,
son of Noah, messenger of God?122 The apes and swine metamor-
phosed from Christians and Jews,123 were they not descendants of
Abraham, friend of God, His chosen, His prophet, His messenger,
father of the prophets, the legatees and the friends of God? Were
they not of the same category, those who denied Muḥammad and
what was revealed to him when they denied his excellence and the
special distinction which God had bestowed upon him? (God)
made their eyes incapable of seeing his excellence, and made them
incapable of understanding the gift which He bestowed upon him,
just like you are ignorant and blind, O donkeys!’
Concerning their reference to the clients of the Messenger of
God, the clients of the Messenger of God are better than them. Tell
them, ‘Do you know, O donkeys, who the clients of the Messenger
of God are? One of the clients of the Messenger of God is Salmān
121. al-Hamadhānī, Tathbīt, vol. 2, p. 603.

122. According to Genesis 10, the present population of the world was
descended from Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their
wives.
123. Cf. Qurʾan 5:60, where God transformed human beings into apes
and swine for worshipping evil; cf. also 2:65 and 7:166. To liken a person
to an ape or swine was a most degrading insult. F. Viré, ‘Ḳird’, EI2, vol. 5,
pp. 131–134.
al-Fārisī,124 the imam to whom obedience is due after the supreme

imam. One accedes to obedience to God, to His messenger and
to ʿAlī, his legatee, only through obedience to Salmān, Master of
the Faithful of his time. Who are you then, O you dim brutes, to
dare to compare yourselves to Salmān, client of the Messenger of
God, whom both the Messenger of God and ʿAlī liberated in body
and spirit from the fire and its chastisement in this world and the
Hereafter. By God, if Salmān were alive today, he would not greet
you; nor would he command others to greet you or to approach
you, so that you don’t burn them with your fire and your disgrace.
He would be several times more severe towards you and worse for
you than Jawdhar. I don’t think you have ever heard what Jesus
said to the Jews, “O brood of vipers!” You say, “We are the chil-
dren of Abraham, friend of God!” You lie! Were you the children of
Abraham you would follow the law of Abraham and would observe
his religion. You would allow yourselves to be guided under his
guidance. Do you imagine that God has no power to create from
this stone the children of Abraham?125 Know, O brood of vipers,
that the one who was not born twice, once his body and once his
spirit,126 is not of the sons of Abraham.’ Nor have you heard the
word of God, the Most High: ‘O mankind! We created you from a
male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you
may know each other. Verily, the most honoured of you in the sight of
God is the most righteous of you’ (49:13).
Have you not heard these innumerable verses? Have you not
heard the Messenger of God: ‘O ʿAlī, O Fāṭima! Mankind will not
come to me with their deeds on the Day of Judgement; you will
come to me with your own merit,127 for I will not be able to be of any
124. On Salmān, client of the Prophet, and the well-known tradition

Salmān minnā ahl al-bayt (Salmān is from our household), see Louis
Massignon, Salmān Pāk et les prémices spirituelles de l’Islam iranien (Paris,
1934), p. 16 ff., reprinted in his Opera Minora, ed. Y. Moubarac (Damascus,
1957), vol. 1, pp. 443–483.
125. Cf. Luke 3:7–8, where it is John the Baptist addressing the multitude
who came out to be baptised by him.
126. Cf. John 3:3–5.
127. All three manuscripts have ‘your own merit’ (aḥsābikum) with the
second person plural rather than the dual as expected. Here al-Manṣūr sets
out the distinction between filiation as generally understood and spiritual
filiation. Compare texts of the tradition where instead of aḥsābikum the
texts have ansābikum, ‘your filiation [to me]’, and the second person plural
in the tradition refers to the Banū Hāshim, as in Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ
(Beirut, 1957), vol. 4, p. 53, and Maḥmūd b. ʿUmar al-Zamakhsharī,
help before God.’ He said this to the most noble of creatures of God,
Fāṭima, daughter of the Messenger of God, the pure, the purified,
whose body He created from his body, spirit from his spirit, and the
Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, prince of legatees, the
most noble of the begotten, custodian of the science of the heav-
ens, the supreme proof of God for His creation after the Messenger
of God, the signpost of right guidance, the torch of this world and
the Hereafter. How then, O people of disgrace and shame, have
you wished to compare yourselves to Fāṭima the Resplendent, ʿAlī,
Commander of the Faithful and the rightly-guided imams, and
associate yourselves with them! Consider before that your deeds
and their deeds. Consider the departure of Fāṭima the Resplendent
from this world. How it was and in what situation it happened. Did
she depart blamed or praised? Look at her house with which she
remained satisfied until her death. Look at your intentions and your
disgrace. Look at all the deeds of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and compare your
deeds to them. Consider these two imams whose period is near to
us and place their actions as a mirror before you so that you see your
faces in it. It will then be clear to you that (your faces) are the faces
of apes. By God, there will be no doubt about it. By God, al-Qāʾim
bi-amr Allāh spoke truthfully, and he has ever remained truthful,
when he affirmed under oath, ‘By God! They are not sons for us, for
in them Iblīs128 has associated himself with us.’ Or at some other
time he said ‘Satan’. Therefore, tell them, ‘O faces of shame! O the
worst evil ones! You claim to descend from Fāṭima the Resplendent,
whereas you are her enemies. You oppose her; you consider her
words to be lies; you have deviated from her path and you violate
her manners. You accuse her of lying. You accuse her husband, the
Commander of the Faithful, of lying. You accuse the Messenger of
God of lying, because the rightly-guided imams have related that
the Commander of the Faithful said: “I was sitting in the company
of the Messenger of God when he asked, O ʿAlī, what is a woman?”
al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl wa-ʿuyūn al-aqāwīl fī wujūh

al-taʾwīl, ed. ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mawjūd et al. (Riyadh, 1998), vol. 1 p.
333, commenting on Qurʾan 2:134, and where the second person plural
refers to the Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib as in al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Kitāb
al-Himma, p. 122, and his al-Manāqib wa-al-mathālib, ed. Mājid b. Aḥmad
ʿAṭīya (Beirut, 2002), p. 16.
128. Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman likens Iblīs to all those who consider
themselves to be superior to the Friends of God or refuse obedience to
them, as in his al-Shawāhid wa-al-bayān, IIS Library, MS 734, p. 24, and
al-Riḍāʿ fī al-bāṭin, IIS Library, MS 1143, pp. 102, 173.
I replied, “O Messenger of God, she is ʿawra.”129

He said, “You are right, and when is she nearest to her Lord?”
I did not know what to say. The Messenger of God remained
silent and I left. I went to Fāṭima who said to me, “O Abū al-Ḥasan,
why do I see you despondent?”
I told her, “Today the Messenger of God asked me a question to
which I did not know the answer.”
She asked, “What was it?”
I related it to her and she said to me, “O Abū al-Ḥasan, why did
you not tell him, ‘O Messenger of God, the time when she is nearest
to her Lord is when she remains within the precincts of her house.’”
I went to the Messenger of God and reported this to him. He told
me, “O ʿAlī, does this come from you?”
I said, “No, O Messenger of God. It is from Fāṭima.”
He said, “Fāṭima has spoken the truth. She is devout. Indeed she
is a part of me.”’130
As for me, one day I was sitting in front of al-Mahdī bi-llāh alone.
He was dictating to me and I was recording, when suddenly one of
his female servants entered and said to him, ‘Your son so-and-so
has begotten a girl.’ He remained silent for a moment and then told
her, ‘Withdraw, O miserable one!’ Thereupon she withdrew and he
came near me and recited the following verse:
‘She wishes that I live [to provide for her], but I wish out of pity that
she die [before me],
For [without me] death is the noblest suitor for a daughter under
[my] care.’ 131
129. Apart from meaning ‘woman’, the word also refers to the pudendum
or parts of the body which must be concealed out of modesty.
130. For the tradition ‘Fāṭima is a part of me’ and similar traditions
see al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, vol. 4, p. 220, vol. 5, pp. 56–57, vol. 7, pp.
115–116; Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushayrī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ed. Muḥammad
Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī (Cairo, 1955), vol. 4, pp. 1902–1904, trans. Abdul Hamid
Siddiqi (Lahore, 1976), vol. 4, pp. 1304–1305; and L. Veccia Vaglieri,
‘Fāṭima’, EI2, vol. 2, p. 843.
131. Here, al-Mahdī quotes a verse of Isḥāq b. Khalaf (d. ca. 230/845)
in which the poet, who is struggling with extreme poverty, wishes that
his adopted daughter Umayma may die before him rather than face
humiliation and starvation after his death (Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad b. Muḥammad
b. al-Ḥasan al-Marzūqī, Sarḥ Dīwān al-Ḥamāsa li-Abī Tammām, ed.
Gharīd al-Shaykh, Beirut, 2003, p. 206). The following paragraph makes
apparent that al-Mahdī does not take his good fortune for granted and is
similarly concerned about the future well-being of his grand-daughter if
Then his eyes began to weep and I said to him, ‘O our master
and our lord. Rather, God will prolong your glory, and the glory
by you. He will fulfil your hopes, and will make of us devoted to
you until death.’ He did not say anything. Then he continued with
what he had been dictating. This, by God, moved me profoundly
and I remained reflecting on it. I said to myself the Commander
of the Faithful is afraid of the vicissitudes of fortune, for who then
would feel secure with it. This increased my wish to abstain from
the things of this world.’
‘If you have not seen anything on you through observing this
magnificent structure132 which you reveal to others, remember
the saying of the Messenger of God related by the rightly-guided
imams: “The eyes commit adultery, and their adultery is looking.
The hands commit adultery, and their adultery is touching. The
feet commit adultery, and their adultery is walking towards deprav-
ity.” 133 Such is the saying of the Messenger of God, Master of the
ancients and the moderns, which you have not heard and which you
have not grasped. May God not make you hear anything good and
may He not guide you towards Him. Go to the curses of God. To you
be your way and to me mine (109:6). May God curse all those who
harm us and who have evil intentions towards us. By God, we have
never been people of hatred. There has never been among us an
imam who did not wish that God should preserve all the creatures
from hellfire and forgive the wrongdoers, doing good to those who
had done him harm. And it is through this that God, the Mighty,
the Exalted, helps us and abandons our enemies and destroys those
who rebel against us. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds!’
When (the inhabitants of the palace) learnt of this letter they desisted
and feared what they saw was Jawdhar’s strictness and little regard
for them, his making them carry out the obligations which they
and their slaves had, his dealing with them severely and his forbid-
ding traders from mixing with them. One day he arrested a group
of traders who had mingled with them, among them was Ziyād the
secretary, Ibn al-Khaṭīb known under the name of Ibn Kulayb the
dāʿī and others. As for Ibn Kulayb, when he learnt who he was, he
political circumstances were to turn against the Fatimids.

132. ‘Magnificent structure’ here refers to the body.
133. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad Ibn Ḥanbal, Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad b.
Ḥanbal, ed. Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ and ʿĀdil Murshid (Beirut, 1997–2001), vol.
7, pp. 28–29; vol. 14, pp. 210–211, 218, 437–438; vol. 15, pp. 191–192; vol. 16,
pp. 483–484, 531; al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, vol. 8, pp. 171–172.
set him free out of respect for his parents. As for Ziyād, he whipped
him. He beat others as well. Then order was restored. What had
prompted them to commit the actions which they had done was that
the ustādh had failed to keep an eye on them after the arrival of the
Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh at his residence and his capital after captur-
ing the accursed Makhlad b. Kaydād.134
27
[Letter of al-Manṣūr concerning certain troublemakers]
The ustādh, of his own accord, had refrained from punishing the
misdeeds which he would punish normally and dealing severely
with people who deserved to die or were liable to punishment. He
said that he had done so during the absence of the imam and that
when (the imam) returned, (the ustādh) would have no alternative
but to remain silent. But the country was in turmoil, troublemakers
were increasing and robberies were being committed on the roads.
While a caravan had departed from al-Mahdiyya with a cargo of
pottery and other goods sent by the ustādh to the Commander of
the Faithful, it was attacked by criminals of the region who pillaged
it near a place called Tumājir.135 They seized everything belonging
to the Commander of the Faithful. This news reached al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh who wrote to Jawdhar, ‘How could such a thing happen near
to you?’
The ustādh, excusing himself, replied to this saying, ‘The provin-
cial governors in the regions do not want anyone to keep an eye on
the affairs of the provinces which are under their control. They say
that any orders they receive about this matter cause a delay [in the
collection] of taxes’. The imam, when he became acquainted with
what (Jawdhar) had written to him, wrote back to him:
134. This letter can be dated from Ramaḍān 336/March–April 948,

when al-Manṣūr returned to al-Mahdiyya after defeating Abū Yazīd. See
note 87 above.
135. Tumājir was located on a route between al-Qayrawān and
al-Mahdiyya. It was one day’s march from al-Qayrawān, and al-Mahdiyya
could be reached from Tumājir at the end of the second day. See al-Bakrī,
al-Masālik, p. 29 (trans. pp. 65–66), and al-Ḥimyarī, al-Rawḍ al-miʿṭār, p.
136.
O Jawdhar, may God protect you and preserve you, and may He be
beneficent towards you. Know that during my absence I praised you
more than I do today, for your example, in my eyes, is like a deputy
appointed by his master and to whom he had entrusted, before his
departure, a small quantity of goods. The deputy engaged in trad-
ing in these goods and managed the proceeds. He looked after the
needs of himself, his family, his children, his master, his family
and his entourage, and was left with a handsome profit. On his
return form the journey, the master thanked him for his effort and
praised his work and gave him more. Then the deputy, confiding
in his master, leaves everything to him and himself prefers to rest
and thereby neglects his first work. Is it not astonishing that you
wrote to me about grievances against the men of the lookout posts
stationed at al-Wādī al-Māliḥ136 by Ibn al-Danhājī137 and others
among those who are around you? However, in reality, who is Ibn
al-Danhājī and who are the others? What is preventing you from
sending someone to pursue him and them, whipping their backs
and stomachs,138 covering their necks with chains, and their feet
and their knees with heavy fetters so that each one of them sticks to
his business and devotes himself to his work and the task assigned
to him, so that those near or far, notable or commoner, be with
regard to you on their guard and in fear? Do you think that I have
simply placed you as a keeper of the gate of the palace? Glory be to
God! It is not the case, by God, there will be control! There should
not be in the whole of al-Mahdiyya and all the provinces around
you the smallest matter of which you are unaware, with which you
do not concern yourself and about which you do not decide.
After these directives were received, the state of affairs of the region
was redressed for the ustādh in a manner which pleased the imam.
136. On al-Wādī al-Māliḥ, see note 88 above.

137. The nisba al-Danhājī is from Danhāja, a branch of the Kutāma.
See Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 6, p. 196 (trans. Berbères, vol. 1, p. 291); and
al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 110 (trans. p. 216).
138. Literally: ‘watering the whip from their backs and stomachs’.
Cf. the expression ‘washing someone with the whip’, meaning ‘inflicting
painful whipping’ in Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd b. ʿUmar al-Zamakhsharī,
Asās al-balāgha, ed. Muḥammad Bāsil ʿUyūn al-Sūd (Beirut, 1998), vol. 1,
p. 702.
28
[Letter of al-Manṣūr regarding the rebels of Sicily]
The Imam al-Manṣūr had sent al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī139 to the inhabit-

ants of Sicily, at a time when they would seize by force every ship,
they would frequently appear armed in the mosques and would
not refrain from reprehensible acts. Among them were the Banū
Māḍūḍ, the sons of (Māḍūḍ’s) brother, the Banū al-Ṭabarī140 and
others. When al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī arrived, he wrote to the ustādh to ask
him to plead with the Commander of the Faithful al-Manṣūr bi-llāh
for a man named Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūn. This man had departed
from Sicily together with others who departed from it.141 The ustādh
139. He is Abū al-Ghanāʾim al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī

(d. 353/964), the first of a succession of governors of Sicily from the Banū
Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī. He was appointed governor in 336/948 to restore
order and reassert Fatimid authority on the island. He remained in Sicily
until shortly after the advent of al-Muʿizz, when he returned to Ifrīqiya,
leaving his son Aḥmad as governor. He fought against the Umayyads
in 344/955–956, and then in 345–346/956–958 he commanded a naval
expedition against the Byzantines. He returned to Sicily in 353/964 and
died after an illness at the age of fifty-three. See Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil,
vol. 6, p. 326; al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 172–174, vol. 3, p. 60, and
ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī Abū al-Fidāʾ, al-Mukhtaṣar fī akhbār al-bashar
(Beirut, n.d.), vol. 2, pp. 96–97. See also Document 68 below in which
al-Muʿizz praises al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī after his death, and Document 37 relating
to his sons.
140. Disorder reigned in Sicily shortly before the appointment of
al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī. The Banū al-Ṭabarī were among the notables there who
had a large following. On the day of the Feast of the breaking of the fast
of 335/25 April 947, they attacked the governor ʿAṭṭāf and killed some of
his men. ʿAṭṭāf sought al-Manṣūr’s help. When al-Manṣūr learnt of the
seriousness of the situation on the island, he appointed al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī
governor of the island and instructed him to proceed there. On Banū
al-Ṭabarī and these events see Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, pp. 326–327.
141. When al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī arrived in Sicily he anchored at the port of
Mazara, to the south-west of the island, without being noticed that day.
Then at night he was met secretly by Fatimid supporters who informed
him that ʿAlī b. al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūn and others had left Sicily
for Ifrīqiya, and that they had advised their supporters to prevent al-Ḥasan
from reaching the island. This is because they wanted to ask al-Manṣūr to
appoint another governor instead, but al-Manṣūr had them arrested. On
these events see Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, pp. 326–328.
presented his letter to the Commander of the Faithful who, after

having read it, appended the following reply to him:
As regards al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī’s plea for Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūn, I have
not seen any mention of it in the letter that he wrote to me.142 I
understand that he feared me, so he turned to you to ask you to
intervene on his behalf in favour of (Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūn). I have
imprisoned him to leave Ḥasan no excuse and not to place on him
any worry in the country. If he trusts the sincerity and faithful-
ness of (Muḥammad) and also gives a pledge, I will release him.
Otherwise, not! Because if (Ḥasan) has asked to intercede for him
only because the inhabitants of the country vouch for his peace-
ful temperament and uprightness, then if the inhabitants of the
country had been asked also about al-Ṭabarī, they would have given
an even better testimony in his favour. As regards Khabbāb, Ibn
al-Ṭabarī al-Ashtarī, and Rajāʾ b. Akhī Ḥaya,143 be reassured about
them and make them return what they stole and appropriated from
our goods. Then send them back after that clasped in irons. I have
sent to (Ḥasan) a reply to his letter at the same time as this letter
that I am sending you. However, I have not informed him of your
request regarding Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūn. Notify him yourself in
your letter what I have written to you and urge him insistently to
be strict, steadfast and tough. This is because the well-being there
has intoxicated the people of the country and the kindness shown
towards them has made them insolent. With Khalīl144 they got used
142. It appears that al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī wrote to al-Manṣūr after his arrival
in Palermo and the events which took place there, and also that he did not
write to Jawdhar immediately after his arrival in Sicily.
143. Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, p. 326, has Janā instead of Ḥaya.
144. He is Abū al-ʿAbbās Khalīl b. Isḥāq b. Ward, poet and Fatimid
general who was born in Tripoli. He devoted himself to the service of the
Fatimids from al-Mahdī’s reign during al-Qāʾim’s conquest of Tripoli. Later
he accompanied al-Qāʾim on the second expedition to Egypt of 306/919.
He was governor of Sicily during 325–329/936–940, having been sent there
by al-Qāʾim with reinforcements to support the then governor Sālim b.
Abī Rāshid (r. 313–325/925–936) against whom Palermo and Jirjent had
revolted. Khalīl b. Isḥāq was noted for his excesses in Sicily. He set right
the complaints of the inhabitants, built a citadel on the port of Palermo,
al-Khāliṣa, and inspired fear, but he could not end the revolt until 329/940.
Subsequently, al-Qāʾim charged him to defend al-Qayrawān from the rebel
Abū Yazīd, but he was defeated by Abū Yazīd in 333/944, captured and
executed. Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol. 1, pp. 181, 215; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil,
vol. 6, pp. 261–262; and Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh Ibn al-Abbār, Kitāb
to ideas which one can only remove from their heads by the sword.
Let him be hard and relentless towards scoundrels and transgres-
sors, and instead of striking them with the whip, use the sword
against them, because the [example of just] one affects thousands
(of others). Let him not lend ear to those who seek to alarm him
by spreading false rumours, because if he does so, he will not be
firm; nor will he succeed. Sālim b. Abī Rāshid145 had maintained
order everywhere to the extent that the Greeks feared him in their
most distant (regions),146 and yet he was only a two-legged jackass.
(Al-Ḥasan) is more intelligent, more determined, more sensible and
cleverer than (Sālim). He will bring good fortune to our dynasty,
and will be the blessing of our reign, God willing.
When I became acquainted with this passage of the letter of

al-Manṣūr bi-llāh to my master the ustādh Jawdhar, I understood
that, by these words, he had aroused al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī’s enthusiasm,
although he already had the energy.
29
[Last letter of al-Manṣūr to Jawdhar]
We have mentioned many letters of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh written in his

own hand, noble to God. If I examined in detail each one of them,
it would unduly lengthen this book. The last letter of his that I read
was a reply to many letters which the ustādh had written when it
happened that the imam had become seriously ill and replies were
delayed for some time. Once he recovered from his illness, he wrote
a letter in his own hand. Here is the text of it, after the invocation of
the name God:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you. Your letters arrived, and I have
taken note of what they contained. I have understood what you said
in each of them. I have taken long to reply to them, once because I
al-Ḥulla al-siyarāʾ, ed. Ḥusayn Muʾnis (Cairo, 1963), vol. 1, pp. 302–304.
145. Sālim b. Abī Rāshid was governor of Sicily during 313–325/925–
936. Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, p. 182; Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd
al-Wahhāb al-Nuwayrī, Nihāyat al-arab fī funūn al-adab, vol. 24, ed.
Ḥusayn Naṣṣār (Cairo, 1983), pp. 368–369; and Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol.
1, p. 175.
146. Sālim b. Abī Rāshid, reinforced by troops from Ifrīqiya, made an
incursion in southern Italy in 313/925. Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 6, p. 182;
al-Nuwayrī, Nihāya, vol. 24, p. 368.
was busy, another time because of [my] illness and a general weak-
ness of the entire body. Praise be to God in all circumstances!
Everything that Abū Tamīm147 wrote to you comes from what I told
him in person. I commend him to God.148
Then his illness worsened and God chose for him to enjoy (the
happiness which lies) beside Him and called him back to Him in the
year 341/953.149 God caused the imamate and the caliphate to fall to
the share of our lord al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh.
Now I will mention a part of the correspondence exchanged
between (al-Muʿizz) and his servant the ustādh, and the decrees that
he sent to him, to show how highly he honoured him during his
reign. I will comment on that faithfully, if it pleases God, the Most
High. Success depends on Him.
30
Letters of the Imam al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh, Commander of the
Faithful, to his servant al-Ustādh Jawdhar informing him of the
death of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh
The first letter that I will mention is the one which the ustādh
received from al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh, our lord and our master, in
which he styled himself ‘the Commander of the Faithful’. In it he
mentioned the death of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh and ordered him to keep
it secret. Here is its transcript:
In the name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
Abundant praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, for the favours
that He grants and trials that He sends. May God keep you in good
health, O Jawdhar. You know what bonds link you to us, how much
you adhere to loyalty to us and what place you hold in our thoughts.
All this is sufficiently well established in your mind and there is no
need to repeat it and elaborate on it. I think that this is well known
to these maniacs and these contemptible monkeys,150 and even more
147. Abū Tamīm refers to al-Muʿizz, who was then heir apparent.
148. Cf. the letter as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, p.
502.
149. al-Manṣūr died on 29 Shawwāl 341/19 March 953. See al-Maqrīzī,
al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 177.
150. These were the members of the Fatimid family referred to above.
See Part One, Section 25 above.
so to those who are devoted to us and obey us, and yet more so to
those with whom the devotion is coupled with seniority and (testi-
monies of) approval of all the rightly-guided and excellent imams.
May the blessings of God be upon them all, those of former days as
well as the latest posterity! God, may He be praised, has created the
created beings to show His generosity and His excellence. He has
granted them His favour and bounties and has compelled them to
undergo death to make the created beings know that He alone, in
His sublime majesty, possesses permanence and uniqueness. There
has not remained in this vile world either a prophet who was sent
[with a mission], or an angel close (to Him), or a noble imam, or
any low vile man who has not been subjected to (His) just law. God,
possessor of majesty and honour, is most exalted.
For those whose position in our eyes is like yours, it is necessary
that we share with them our joys and our sorrows and all the vicis-
situdes of our fortunes. God had foreordained and decreed irrev-
ocably that our lord and master, the Commander of the Faithful,
undergo the same law and the same decision that He made undergo
his pure, rightly-guided forefathers, and his ancestor Muḥammad,
seal of the prophets. Peace be upon them all. He has tested me by
(al-Manṣūr’s) loss, leaving me alone after him in sorrowful resi-
dences and empty palaces, while the country remains torn apart,
vulnerable to enemies and the impious who have gathered from
all the regions of the earth, to the East and to the West, on land
and on sea. I am in their midst isolated, foreigner, alone, confiding
myself to the Lord of the glorious might. ‘We belong to God and to
Him is our return’ (2:156). There is no force and power except with
God, the Exalted and Mighty. How great is the test that I undergo
and how hard is the misfortune that afflicts me! How severe is the
calamity that strikes me! But I put my confidence in God and it is to
Him that I entrust myself.
It is up to you, for what is under your control, to be vigilant as
far as possible, to maintain order as much as you can, and you will
be able to do it and prevent these monkeys from reaching me and
to go out from the doors of their residences, in addition to your
other tasks. Let this death be strictly held secret and hidden from
the family, from the great as well as from the common people. If
any rumour about it reaches their ears, deny it as much as you can.
Inspire in them the greatest possible fear. Do not give in to show
that you feel any anxiety or grief and that you are overwhelmed.
Let it be known that if it were useful to show grief, I would have
ordered you to do so, as well as to all others, and I would have been
overwhelmed (with grief) before this day. But nobody can oppose
God’s decree or reject His decision. Nobody dies before his term.
(God), be He exalted, says: ‘When their term is reached, not an hour

can they cause delay, nor (an hour) can they advance (it in anticipa-
tion)’ (7:34). Help me, God, in the terrible grief which has stricken
us. Help me, God, in our great misfortune.
May God hasten for us the meeting with Him and gather [us]
among His flock. May He make us arrive with him to the basin
(ḥawḍ) of his ancestor.151 O happiness [for him], he has joined
al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh, al-Mahdī bi-llāh and his pious forefathers,
of the same and noble essence. What great misfortune for the
descendants of Fāṭima who come after him. I beg for forgiveness
of God for myself from all fault. I put my trust in Him so that He
may help me and inspire in me deeds that will give Him satisfaction
and will draw me near to Him. Peace be with you and may God
bestow His blessings on Muḥammad, seal of the prophets, and on
the Imam al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, lord of the heirs. And praise be to God,
Lord of the worlds.152
31
[Letter of al-Muʿizz in reply to a request that
Jawdhar had made to him]
Then the ustādh dispatched Muḥammad the secretary to the

Commander of the Faithful with the reply to this letter. He requested
(the imam) to grant him a wish of a religious nature which he had
already made to the imams before him and whose fulfilment he had
always sought until the reign of al-Muʿizz li-din Allāh. Muḥammad
the secretary arrived [before the imam] and accomplished what
the ustādh had advised him to do. Then Muḥammad the secretary
returned to al-Mahdiyya.153 Then, after that, he wrote to inform
[him] of his request. The reply came to him, while al-Muʿizz was
on the march towards a place called the mountain of Awrās.154 Here
it is:
151. In tradition ḥawḍ is the basin at which on the Day of Judgement

the Prophet will meet his community. A. J. Wensinck. ‘Ḥawḍ’, in EI2, vol.
3, p. 286.
152. Cf. the letter as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp.
512, 514.
153. Jawdhar was still based in al-Mahdiyya which had been abandoned
for al-Manṣūriyya as capital by al-Manṣūr in Rabīʿ I 337/September 948.
See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 172.
154. This was the expedition of 342/953, on which see note 170 below.
O Jawdhar, may God protect you and keep you in good health. I have
read your letter and acquainted myself with what you mentioned:
your joy at Muḥammad the secretary accomplishing (the task) for
which you had sent him, your happiness at the news regarding the
matter that you received, your renewed desire [to obtain what you
wish]. I will mention to you only one thing to call [your] attention
to what is going to follow and confirm what has been said about
it previously, even though you already know what I am going to
mention. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn,155 may God have mercy upon him, and
you had petitioned al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh and asked him to give
satisfaction to the request that you know. He continually promised
you both [to grant it] and raised your hopes. This situation contin-
ued for long. In the meantime, almost every day, a letter would
arrive from ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn, requesting the fulfilment of the prom-
ise and asking the request to be granted. This happened until the
day (al-Qāʾim) died, when I found him to be contented. He told me,
‘Give Jawdhar the glad tidings of the success of his request.’ Then,
after having brought out the thing requested,156 he told me, ‘Take it!’
When I drew near him to take it, he pulled me by the hand, kissed
me on the forehead and told me, ‘You are Abū Tamīm! Nothing will
happen through you that is not complete (tāmm)’.157 You have come
and I have informed you of what he graciously bestowed upon you.
155. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn b. Simāk b. Masʿūd b. Manṣūr al-Judhāmī Ibn

al-Andalusī came from the family of Banū Ḥamdūn which held important
functions in the Fatimid and Spanish Umayyad administrations. ʿAlī
played a major part in 315/927 in the foundation of the town of al-Masīla
which al-Qāʾim charged him to construct, and he became the governor of
al-Zāb. He fought against the rebel Abū Yazīd and died during an operation
in 326/938, according to Ibn ʿIdhārī. According to Ibn Khaldūn, he died
during an operation against Ayyūb, son of Abū Yazīd, probably in 334/945–
946. Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 4, pp. 107–110 (trans. Berbères, vol. 2, pp.
553–557); Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol. 1, pp. 190, 214–215; and Marius Canard,
‘Une famille de partisans, puis d’adversaires, des Fatimides en Afrique du
Nord’, in Mélanges d’histoire et d’archéologie de l’Occident musulman II:
Hommage à Georges Marçais (Algiers, 1957), pp. 33–49, reprinted in his
L’expansion, article V. On ʿAlī’s son Jaʿfar see note 223 below.
156. There is no further information on the thing requested by Jawdhar
other than that it was of ‘a religious nature’.
157. This shows that al-Qāʾim gave to al-Muʿizz the filionymic ‘Abū
Tamīm’ when he was a child and well before the birth of his son Tamīm, in
Rajab 337/January 949. In this connection, al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, al-Majālis
wa-al-musāyarāt, pp. 86–87, relates from al-Muʿizz that while he was a
child al-Qāʾim would often say to him, ‘Indeed, you are Abū Tamīm’.
The thing requested has been sent to you through Abū al-Furāt,158
for you, for ʿAlī and for Nāṣir.159 By saying this, I wanted only to
make you know that the holder of authority who precedes another
has always been informed by God about the term of the one who
will succeed [him], even if he has not completed (his term). Do
not consider this to be a filionymic without significance. Rather,
by God, it is full of significance. And, by God, He has inspired me
of His bounty in accordance with what I have continued to get to
know of it, in the past and the present, that I would derive joy from
the deeds of our master al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, amply and effectively. I
have assumed the responsibility of carrying on his task with deter-
mination and abundant aspiration.
I hope that God will unite us and you in the state of well-being
and good health, and that you will attain happiness and bliss, by
God, beyond your expectations, as the one, may God bless him and
grant his soul again blessings and peace, has told you. May God
not make you leave this low world without bestowing upon you,
during our reign, good health, and having marked you with the
seal of happiness and forgiveness. In the least of these things resides
contentment and satisfaction. May God make you attain them. We
have resolved to undertake this blessed journey, and I hope that by
it God will bring the ruin of our enemies and abate the anger in our
hearts. Amen! Lord of the worlds!
32
[Sermon of al-Muʿizz announcing the death of al-Manṣūr]
Then (al-Muʿizz) remained in al-Manṣūriyya where he delivered

before the congregation the sermon of the feast of sacrifice (ʿīd
al-aḍḥā) in the year 341/953. In it he announced the news of the
passing of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, may God sanctify his spirit and bless
him, making public his death. (His sermon) contained wisdom of
which he was worthy, may the blessings of God be upon him and his
pure fathers and his noble sons!
The first sermon that our lord al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh delivered
in al-Manṣūriyya, in which he made public the death of al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh, may God sanctify his spirit and bless him, was the sermon of
the feast of sacrifice. We have established its correct text in this book
158. Apparently al-Qāʾim’s son Abū al-Furāt ʿAbd al-Jabbār. On

al-Qāʾim’s sons see note 52 above.
159. The identity of this Nāṣir cannot be established.
from beginning to end as it was pronounced by al-Muʿizz li-dīn

Allāh because of the profound wisdom and precious advice that it
contains. Success depends on God. (The sermon) begins thus:
God is great! God is great! There is no god except God! God is great!
The most powerful and mighty, creator and regulator [of every-
thing], possessor of majesty, omnipotence, power and dominion,
the One, the Eternal, without parallel and without equal, sublime
and imperious, hidden and manifest, first and last, Originator of
the heavens and the earth by [His] power, and their Sovereign by
[His] might and their Regulator by [His] wisdom, their Creator with
the wonders of nature and the marvels of construction and crafts-
manship which they contain! [God] whom all beings, animate or
inanimate, invoke, indicating His existence, and bearing witness
to His uniqueness, magnitude and glory. His creation of all things
from nothingness bears witness to the fact that nothing precedes
Him. Their attaining their final term indicates that He has no term.
His (power) to encompass the limits of (all things) shows that He
has no limit. Weakness, powerlessness, deprivation and degener-
ation that inevitably affect a created being are the most eloquent
affirmation and the most truthful testimony that the creator alone,
exalted be His praise, bears divinity, uniqueness, power, sover-
eignty, completeness, perfection, eternity and continuity. God,
the Blessed, Lord of worlds! He fashioned well everything that
He has created. He has guaranteed to every living being its suste-
nance. Then He guided through the Intellect, which is His estab-
lished proof (ḥujja) and which must be obeyed. His wisdom was
completed through the [revealed] books and messengers. May God
bestow His blessings upon them all, and upon Muḥammad, master
of the messengers, whose name He has exalted and whose power He
has raised. Hence He honoured him by granting [him] the power of
intercession (wasīla) and conferred on him the privilege of all excel-
lence. He sent him as a guide for humanity, as a light in the world.
He taught through him the ignorant, and guided through him the
erring. Through him He turned dearth into abundance and made
the meek powerful. Through him He united the dispersed and illu-
minated the darkness of obscurity. May the blessings of God be on
him and the rightly-guided, the elect and blessed progeny.
O people! God has not created you in vain. He has not left you
on earth without accountability. He has not imposed upon you in
religion any difficulty. Nor has He taken away from you the admo-
nition (al-dhikr).160 He has created you to worship Him. He has
160. Cf. Qurʾan 43:5. According to commentators, the word al-dhikr

commanded you to obey Him and His messenger. He has estab-

lished for obedience clear signs and written laws. Among the best
of its signs and the noblest of its days is the day of the great pilgrim-
age to the Ancient House, abode of Abraham, Friend of God and
the direction of prayer (qibla) of Muḥammad, Messenger of God.
Draw near to God by accomplishing what He has commanded you
to do and by [sacrificing] animals from your livestock which He
has provided you,161 imitating the sunna of Muḥammad, prophet of
mercy and right guidance, being filled with piety, because God, the
Mighty, the Glorious, says: ‘It is not their meat nor their blood that
reaches God; it is your piety that reaches Him’ (22:37). Piety causes
works to be accepted and hopes to be realised. Proclaim the great-
ness of God for having guided you, and thank Him for the benevo-
lence that He has bestowed upon you. Is it not true that the best
offering is the camel, and the best among camels is the she-camel,
and similarly for cattle; then the ram among sheep. The intactness
of animals offered as sacrifice is [confirmed by] the absence of
blemish in the eyes and in the ears. Also, they must be from herds
lawfully acquired.162 We ask God, for you and for us, to accept our
deed by His grace, and fulfil the wishes [that we make] to obtain His
satisfaction, mercy and favours.
Then he sat down for the second time.163 Then he rose and said:
God is great! God is great! There is no god but God! God is great!
God is great in grandeur. He is immense with regard to dominion.
He is too evident in miraculous signs and proofs for intellects to
deny His uniqueness, or want to define Him. [He is] the creator
of the heavens and the earth, their Master and their Regulator, the
Alone, the Eternal, the One and the Unique. He that has no asso-
ciate or equal. The omnipotent Creator, the Compassionate and
the Much-forgiving, whose decrees are irrevocable. What He wills
exists. He has built solidly every thing. He has provided generously
to every being its subsistence. His knowledge encompasses every-
thing. I praise Him and ask Him to help me, forgive me and guide
me. I trust Him entirely and confide in Him in all circumstances. I
bear witness that there is no god but God alone without associate,
in the context of the verse 43:5 refers to the Qurʾan as admonition which
warns of divine punishment. See, for example, al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān,
vol. 25, pp. 49–50.
161. Qurʾan 22:28, 22:34.
162. On animals suitable for sacrificial offering, see al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān,
Daʿāʾim, vol. 1, pp. 324–329 (trans. vol. 1, pp. 405–410).
163. See note 102 on the khuṭba above.
and I bear witness that Muḥammad is the best of His servants, the
noblest of His creatures, His chosen among those that have been
cleansed, His messenger sent to all the worlds, His messenger sent
with the imamate to the jinns and humans so as to bring them
the proof of the Lord and illuminate the path of the truth. (The
Messenger) accomplished the mission of God. He was full of mercy
and compassion towards the servants of God. He bore patiently the
immense treachery of the infidels until God gave victory to truth
over falsehood and caused right guidance to triumph over error,
Muḥammad. May God bestow upon him and his progeny, the best,
the purest, the most perfect, the most growing, the most abiding and
the most continuous blessings. [May He bestow blessings] upon the
rightly-guided, noble and pious imams of his family, whom He has
chosen for the caliphate and approved for the imamate. He strength-
ened their proof by the testament of the Messenger, and made
obligatory in the revelation to obey them, after having placed them
above all others by filiation to Muḥammad, lord of messengers, and
ʿAlī, noblest of legatees; those whose mother is [Fāṭima], mistress of
women of the worlds, the fifth [person] of the Companions of the
Cloak.164 [May He bestow blessings] upon the two Commanders of
the Faithful al-Mahdī bi-llāh and al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh, lords of
the human race and imams of the right path. By them God made
public the call of truth. By them He gave speech to the faith and the
believers. By them He established the call of religion. By asserting
their right, He annihilated the futile claims of pretenders and the
lies of calumniators. By their swords He eradicated the oppressors.
May the blessings of God, His mercy, His benedictions, His satisfac-
tion and His salutations be granted to them both!
O God! Distinguish the noble imam, the equitable legatee, the
eminent righteous, the abundant rain, the owner of miraculous
signs, the man of efficient resolutions, who has committed his
generous soul at the time of misfortune and afflictions. He endured
patiently misfortunes and adversity until the day when he puri-
fied the earth of tyrannical enemies. Your servant, Your friend, the
object of Your choice, Your sincere friend, Abū al-Ṭāhir al-Manṣūr
(the Victorious) through You, who confided in You entirely and
trusted You. He accomplished deeds which seek to satisfy You, gain
proximity to You and bring near to You. You have overwhelmed us
by his loss. You have left us alone by his death. You have separated
us from him and afflicted us, but You have accepted his supplication
and granted his appeal. You have united him with his loved ones in
164. On ‘the Companions of the Cloak’ see A. S. Tritton, ‘Ahl al-Kisāʾ’,

EI2, vol. 1, p. 264, and W. Schmucker, ‘Mubāhala’, EI2, vol. 7, pp. 276–277.
the abode of Your paradise and Your infinite mercy. Anguish grips
us and we feel a burning grief for you. O father, O master, O Ismāʿīl,
O Abū al-Ṭāhir! O sea of knowledge of the pure imams, the rightly-
guided guides! O most excellent of the descendants of the messenger
and the descendants of the legatee and the Immaculate, the Chaste
(al-batūl)!165 O leader of the imams and key to the door of mercy! O
lamp of right guidance, sun of the human race and illuminator of
darkness! O you whom God has distinguished by the promptness
of His favours, by God, it is unbearable for us to be afflicted with
the misfortune of losing you. (We find) no consolation for losing
you. Language is inadequate to enumerate your excellent qualities
and count your virtues. By the One who distinguished you by His
generosity, who gifted to you abundantly, who honoured you by fili-
ation to His messenger, if you had not directed me and confirmed
it to me to watch over the right of God and defend the commu-
nity of your ancestor, the Messenger of God, to pull them from the
depths of ignorance and the seas of error, from the precipices of
dissension, from the dangers of distressing tribulations; if I did not
have the conviction firmly established in my heart to be rewarded
in proportion to my faithfulness to God, His Messenger and the
imams of right guidance, indeed I would strike my face, wandering
through the land, forsaking the resting place, being satisfied with a
morsel of provisions, until death makes me rejoin you soon to enjoy
your proximity and the mercy of your Lord; but I have reflected,
considered and thought of the consequences, and I did not find
for myself any way to deserve your rank and attain your eminence
except through patience and anticipation for (God’s) reward. So I
have been steadfast. My Lord has granted me patience, and I have
been patient. I was filled with conviction and controlled myself. I
say: ‘We belong to God and to Him is our return’ (2:156). There is
no might or power save with God, the Most High, the Mighty, the
Compassionate, the Merciful. To Him be all praise for the trials that
He sends, and recognition for His bounties.
Assembly of our followers, who profess obedience to us, and who
are staunch in their devotion to us! These, by God, are the severe
trials that roast the entrails; these are the great cataclysms in which
feet cannot remain firm; these are the places of martyrdom against
which your imams have not failed to strengthen you, and have
not ceased beseeching God that He may make firm your feet and
protect your hearts when (calamities) descend upon you and their
trials afflict you. Therefore, be firm! You will be saved; do not devi-
ate from the straight path, for you will regret it. God will not leave
165. The term al-batūl is applied to Fāṭima. See note 104 above.
His earth and His epoch at each period of time without someone
charged to watch over His rights, who bears witness to the creation,
whom the believers will recognise, and whom the disbelievers, the
erring and the losers will deny. God, in His glory, created creatures
without His having any need of them, but for worshipping Him
and to show His beneficence and generosity towards them. He has
made life for them an active force, death a cup going round, and
what comes after death a reward for deeds. He has traced for you
clearly the way to follow between these two stages by His chosen
messengers and the elect imams of right guidance. He has fixed
their reward and their share in proportion to their effort and their
zeal, and their capacity to accomplish His task and guide His crea-
tures. He has established among them degrees in merit and He has
said, may He be highly praised: ‘Then We have given the Book for
inheritance to such of Our servants as We have chosen; but there are
among them some who wrong their own souls, some who follow a
middle course, and some who are, by God’s leave, foremost in good
deeds—that is the highest grace’ (35:32). God the Blessed, Lord of the
worlds, He who did not content Himself with this world to reward
therein the believers and to punish the disbelievers.
O people! Every living being, without exception, must experience
death; death is always followed by resurrection, and no resurrec-
tion is without reckoning, followed either by reward or punish-
ment. Happy are those who meet God, holding firmly the belt of
His friends, seeking the protection of their impeccability, observing
the obligations of obedience imposed on them by His proofs and
His chosen ones. They will be under the shade of the banners of
the family of our lord Muḥammad, Messenger of God and master
of messengers, on the day when nothing other than piety will be
useful, when nothing else will save other than sincere conviction.
‘On the Day when every soul will be confronted with all the good it
has done, and all the evil it has done, it will wish there were a great
distance between it and its evil. But God cautions you (To remember)
Himself. And God is full of kindness to those that serve Him’ (3:30).
O people, the (reward for one’s) deeds depends upon one’s last
actions,166 and the reward that God grants is in accordance with
166. The expression al-aʿmāl bi-al-khawātīm and its variant forms

are used in several prophetic traditions. See examples which illustrate
the meaning of the expression in al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, vol. 8, pp. 330–331,
392–395; for variant forms of the expression, see Shams al-Dīn Abū al-Khayr
Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sakhāwī, al-Maqāṣid al-ḥasanah fī
bayān kathīr min al-aḥādīth al-mushtahira ʿalā al-alsina, ed. ʿAbd Allāh
Muḥammad al-Ṣiddīq (Beirut, 1979), pp. 67–68.
devotion to God, His messenger and the imams of the right guid-
ance, from among the descendants of the messenger. You have seen
with your own eyes the master of the imams, the shepherd of the
community, the torch in the darkness, on the scenes of combats
and battlefields, fulfilling the obligation which His Lord imposed
upon him. He discharged the mission confided to him by his fore-
father Muḥammad. He has proclaimed to you clearly his norms of
conduct. As long as you follow them, you will not be in error, your
hands will not be cut off from the mercy of God, and your eyes will
not be blind and incapable to lead you to the most straight path
and to adhere to the supreme guide. A preceding holder of author-
ity has always after him a legatee who succeeds him, who defends
the rights of God, who strives to obtain His reward, who accom-
plishes deeds to satisfy Him as much as he can to the utmost limit
of his capacity. ‘God tasketh not a soul beyond its ability’ (2:286). He
accepts to watch over His religion, to guide His creatures and to
take care of the community of His prophet, only the most deserv-
ing, the noblest, incomparable and unique men who have sublime
intentions, impeccable morality, who are of a noble nature and who
are of pure descent.167 Such is the law of God in His creation. He has
made an irrevocable ruling, which cannot be negated and which
must be affirmed without objection, that the succession of messen-
gers is continuous to elucidate the way in every period of time, to
proclaim His religion according to the possibilities. He has assigned
for human beings reward if they obey (His messengers), acknowl-
edge their mission and accept their guidance; and punishment if
they irritate them, deny them and disavow them. One cannot have
faith in the first among them and reject the last among them; it is
futile for the one who rejects the first among them to declare as
truthful the last of them to obtain the reward and the mercy (of
God) and avoid painful punishment and prolonged misfortune.
God has associated obedience to the imams of the right guidance
to obedience to the messenger, and obedience to the messenger to
obedience to Himself. He says: ‘O ye who believe! Obey God, and
obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you’
(4:59). Such has been His usual rule concerning prophets and
messengers. ‘And no change wilt thou find in the custom of God’
(33:62). ‘And no turning off wilt thou find in God’s way’ (35:43). The
one who acknowledges the prophecy of Moses and the mission
of Jesus, peace be upon them, does he need to proclaim the pre-
eminence of Muḥammad, seal of the prophets and master of the
167. ‘Of pure descent’ here means descending from Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar
al-Ṣādiq, from whom the Fatimids traced their lineage.
messengers, if he denies his prophecy? Will his deeds avail him and
will his devotion be rewarded?
The Light, O people, is preserved fully in us. Gifts that your Lord
bestows upon us are uninterrupted. Where will you go? In what
land will you wander? ‘Far, very far is that which ye are promised’
(23:36). Obey us and you will be rightly guided. Hold fast to our
rope and you will be guided on the right path. Accomplish deeds
that will bring you happiness in the Hereafter and you will be
fortunate. Do not let the greatest of your concerns be your worldly
matters, because the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib,
father of the rightly-guided imams, may the blessings of God be
upon him and them all, has said:
‘God has made permissible things permissible and helped to
acquire them, and He has proscribed forbidden things and made
them dispensable. Therefore, give up what is insignificant for that
which is plentiful, and what is limited for that which is immense.
You have been commanded to accomplish (righteous) deeds and
sustenance has been guaranteed to you. Therefore, let not the
pursuit of what is guaranteed to you be more important than pursu-
ing that which is enjoined upon you.’ 168
O God, inspire me to be thankful for Your bounties and help me
to accomplish what pleases You, draws near unto You, brings neces-
sarily an increase of Your favour and amass with You the treasure
of the completion of your bounties for me in this world and in the
Hereafter, God of the creation, Lord of the worlds. O God, support
me with Your assistance, open to me the door of victory over Your
enemies, to invigorate religion, strengthen the community of
Muḥammad, lord of the messengers. Allow us to visit his tomb,
ascend his pulpit, stop at his house, and accomplish the pilgrimage
to Your Sacred House, stopping with our flags at those illustrious
sites. You granted us and our followers new strength, You sustained
us and them with Your help. You honoured us with victory, You
caused us to triumph over the unjust, You humiliated before us the
necks of those who rebel. Already the promise You made previously
to our forefathers and ancestors has been fulfilled. Your promise
cannot fail. Your command is irrevocable. Sooner or later one must
accept what You have decreed and resign to it.
168. In the original text of ʿAlī’s sermon, which is quoted here,

‘insignificant’ refers to the small number of things which are prohibited
(ḥarām), while ‘plentiful’ refers to the vast number of things which are
permitted (ḥalāl). ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Hibat Allāh Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd, Sharḥ
Nahj al-balāgha, ed. Muḥammad Abū al-Faḍl Ibrāhīm (Cairo, 1959–1964),
vol. 7, pp. 251, 259–261.
O God, let Your favours be granted to me by Your benevolence.

Let Your generosity and Your bounties that You granted us again,
to me and to other servants, be a testimony of Your mercy. O God,
with every new power that you grant me, grant me humility. Let it
reside in my heart before Your magnitude, Your majesty and the
awe that You inspire. Because there is no power except in submis-
sion and servitude to You; there is no wealth except in poverty
that has recourse to You; there is no security except in fear of You,
(nor) happiness in this world and in the Hereafter except by Your
approval, O Lord of worlds. O God, forgive the believing men and
the believing women, Muslim men and Muslim women, those who
are alive and those who are dead. Distinguish the loyal support-
ers of our reign, helpers of our mission, those who fight, those who
are firm, those who are grateful to Your mercy which they have
deserved for obeying You, for accomplishing the obligations that
You have prescribed, by being allies of Your friends and enemies
of Your enemies. May God bestow His blessings on His messenger
Muḥammad, lord of the messengers, for previous generations and
for posterity. Remember God the Mighty, He will remember you.169
33
[A note from Jawdhar to al-Muʿizz and the latter’s reply]
The imam left for the Awrās where God granted him a great
victory.170 Nobody stood against him and no obstacle stood in his
way. With him arrived at the Immaculate Portal the leading digni-
169. Cf. the text of the sermon as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn
al-akhbār, pp. 541–548, and its translation in Walker, Orations, pp. 126–134.
170. The objective of the expedition to the Awrās of 342/953 was to
establish Fatimid authority over the former allies of Abū Yazīd, the Banū
Kamlān and the Malīla of the Hawwāra, who had gathered near Bāghāya
at the foot of the Awrās. When al-Muʿizz arrived at al-Urbus (Laribus), to
the north-west of al-Qayrawān, he sent Bulukkīn b. Zīrī b. Manād against
the rebels and returned to al-Qayrawān. Bulukkīn dispersed the rebels who
then escaped to al-Zāb and beyond. (Ibn Ḥammād, Akhbār, p. 40 (trans.
p. 62); cf. al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p. 93, and Ibn al-Athīr, vol. 6, p. 341.)
Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 4, p. 58 (trans. Berbères, vol. 2, pp. 541–542),
relates that al-Muʿizz set out for the Awrās and subjugated these tribes.
Subsequently, he confided the command of the troops to his freed slave
Qayṣar, governor of Bāghāya, who continued to subdue the rebels and
brought their chiefs to al-Qayrawān where al-Muʿizz gave them abundant
presents.
taries of the Berbers, their military commanders and those among

them who were renowned. Among them were Ayyūb b. al-Simāk,171
Abū al-ʿIzza172 and Masnūyah173 and others. (They arrived), obedi-
ent and humble to his orders, submitting to his authority and falling
under his ruling, seeking pardon. He forgave them and bestowed
ample bounties upon them. He returned from his journey, victori-
ous, triumphant, glorious and powerful. He arrived at his blessed
capital [al-Manṣūriyya], safe and sound and loaded with booty.
Then he proceeded to al-Mahdiyya the Pleasing [to God], where
he remained for some days. He received the ustādh with a warm
welcome and granted him many favours. Then the ustādh remem-
bered what previously the Imam al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh, Commander
of the Faithful, had promised him regarding his request, mentioned
above,174 which he had made to him. (Jawdhar) wrote [to him] a note
in which, after the opening expressions, he said:
The heart of your slave, O lord and master, is waiting and continues
to hope. He has the firm hope that the Commander of the Faithful
will fulfil the promise which, out of his tenderness and compassion
for him, he made to him to satisfy the wish that he expressed to him
to obtain a preferential and particular mark of favour in the order of
degrees in the Hereafter, just like that which he granted him and by
which he honoured him in this world. Because this world, O lord,
is the sojourn of what passes, while the Hereafter is the abode of
what is lasting. Whatever our lord and master does for his slave, it
will be out of his kindness, piety and grace, not because his slave is
considered to be worthy to obtain it.
171. Ayyūb b. al-Simāk, also mentioned in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn

al-akhbār, p. 550, as one of the Berber commanders, is not otherwise
known. Among Abū Yazīd’s commanders, Idrīs, ibid., pp. 273, 281ff.,
mentions Ayyūb b. Khayrān al-Zawīlī.
172. Instead of Abū al-ʿIzza, Idrīs, ibid., p. 550, has ‘Abū al-Ghazw’
without the following ‘and’ (wāw), making it a kunya of Masnūyah which
follows it.
173. Masnūyah b. Bakr al-Hawwārī was one of the commanders of
Abū Yazīd, mentioned in al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 3, p. 435, and Idrīs
ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 325–327, 389, 550, where he is referred
to as Masnūyah b. Bakr al-Kamlānī. The nisba ‘al-Kamlānī’ is from Banū
Kamlān, a branch of the Hawwāra.
174. See Part One, Section 31 above and Documents 5, 14 and 39 below.
When the imam had read his note, he replied to it with the following
words written in his noble hand:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you. By God, I have never failed to
keep my promise to you when I gave you a promise. Indeed, you
are deserving in my eyes of every favour. By God, we have not
retained with us any goods that were reserved for you to give them
to someone else. There is in your intentions towards us and in your
devotion to us no confusion which needs to be clarified. There
remains no obligation which we have to fulfil towards you other
than to grant you the request that you have presented. We came to
al-Mahdiyya only with a light load. It is only possible to give you
that from my hand to your hand. When we arrive in al-Manṣūriyya
safe and sound and in good health, God willing, for what you seek
there and which no other than us can grant, wait for two or three
days. If you can pretend that you are ill and hide from the view
of the people, once their175 animosity against us is pacified, sneak
out of the palace by night, letting only those in whom you have
full confidence know of your (departure). You will come to see us.
Then you will obtain what you hope for. You will visit the grave
of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh and return from there quickly, because, from
now until the time of spring, it will be impossible for [you] to reach
us from al-Mahdiyya. Now death is in God’s hands, for He says: ‘No
soul knows what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul knows in what
land it will die’ (31:34). I will send you an exquisite book, written
in the hand of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, containing pronouncements and
exhortations of the imams. You will examine it during these two
days. We shall fulfil what you hope. You can rest assured of that,
God willing.176
The imam left, returning to al-Manṣūriyya the Blessed. After some

days, the ustādh arrived according to the order that he had received
and his hopes of obtaining what he had requested were fulfilled.
Then he returned from there feeling happy, without anyone knowing
anything about (his visit). After that, he remained in al-Mahdiyya
the Pleasing only a short time before the imam transferred him to
175. ‘Their’ refers to members of the Fatimid family in al-Mahdiyya

who were hostile to al-Muʿizz.
176. Cf. the letter of al-Muʿizz as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn
al-akhbār, p. 551. The book mentioned by al-Muʿizz has apparently not
survived.
al-Manṣūriyya and lodged him beside himself in the Dār al-Baḥr177

inside his blessed palace, in accordance with his custom to reside
with his freed slaves, wherever they were, may the noblest of prayers
be on (the imams)!178 There (Jawdhar) would receive letters from
those who had been left behind in al-Mahdiyya in the service, such
as Nuṣayr,179 deputy of Jawdhar, Naẓīf, director of the Treasury,180
Ibn Ḥassūn, Ṣāfī,181 Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb,182 chief of the navy and others
who corresponded with him. Each of them wrote to him to let him
know what he needed in his service and would consult him for
advice. The ustādh extracted from their letters passages containing
points on which advice was sought. He would leave a blank on the
roll of paper between every two extracts, and under each of them the
Imam al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh wrote the reply in his hand, advising
what was necessary to do. This continued until the day he left for
the East.
We shall now quote these extracts with the replies given by
mentioning each time the name of the one who wrote the letter, and
the reply to this letter in accordance with what we specified. It is in
God that lies help. He is the one who inspires just decisions, God
willing.
177. Dār al-Baḥr (the Lake Palace), also Qaṣr al-Baḥr, was a part of
the palace complex in al-Manṣūriyya with an artificial lake. This feat
of construction was accomplished under al-Muʿizz. On it see al-Qāḍī
al-Nuʿmān, al-Majālis wa-al-musāyarāt, pp. 296–298, 510, 515. See also
note 311 below on the Dār al-Baḥr in al-Mahdiyya.
178. Cf. the passage as quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār,
pp. 551–552.
179. Nuṣayr is mentioned again several times as Jawdhar’s deputy
in al-Mahdiyya. He was a Slav, as stated in Document 17 below. He is
apparently the same Nuṣayr the treasurer, mentioned in Documents 51 and
86 below, who subsequently became governor of Tripoli.
180. He is Naẓīf al-Rayḥānī who is again mentioned below in Document
4, relating to the standard of coinage; in Document 53, where his death is
recorded; and Document 55 where his death was foretold in a dream.
181. Ṣāfī was director of the storehouses of the navy in al-Mahdiyya, as
reported in Document 23 below.
182. Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb is mentioned below in Document 1, relating to
the transportation of barley to Sicily, as director of the navy; and again in
Document 16 relating to shipbuilding.
Here ends the first part. Favours depend on God. Praise be to Him
first and finally. May His blessings be on the Prophet Muḥammad
and the chosen of his family, the blissful, the pure.
part two: documents
This part contains testimonials of our lords the pure, noble and
excellent imams, honouring their slave Jawdhar, may God be satis-
fied with him; it contains written directives issued by each one of
them in his time and in his period, as well as conversations and
correspondence which they had with him, gathered by the care of
his slave Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī.183
In the name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb,184 director of the navy at al-Mahdiyya, had writ-

ten to say that he had learnt that a man by the name of Ibn Wasīm
al-Aṭrābulusī, one of the commanders of the fleet, would harm him
before the imam, accusing him of fraud over supplies of barley for
the ghazis185 which (the imam) had instructed him to transport to
Sicily on board merchant ships. Ibn Yaʿqūb implored the ustādh to
present his letter containing his explanation to our lord the imam
so that he should become aware of it. The ustādh did so, and when
the imam had read this letter, he replied on the back (of the letter),
giving the following directive:
O Jawdhar, inform (Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb) that we have heard what he
mentioned in his letter, because we hear from him and others. We
do not reject anybody’s assertions unless truth itself rejects them;
we accept only what is correct and free from ambiguity. Observing
the norms of God is fine for us together with being patient and
183. In fact al-Muʿizz is the only imam whose letters are contained in
this second part.
184. On Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb see also Document 16 below.
185. A ghazi is a Muslim fighter against non-Muslims.
86
part two : documents 87
forbearing. The place which we have assigned to (Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb),

and for which we have judged him deserving, demands commend-
able diligence and pure intentions. He himself knows better than
anyone else. If he knows something good, then let him be calm and
have confidence in God our Lord; but if it is otherwise, let him not
be assailed by any doubt that God will tear the veils which cover
the unjust and will inform us of their ignominy. He has nothing to
fear from us unless what Ibn Wasīm and others allege against him
proves to be true. If someone assigns to himself something which
we have not assigned to him, then it is he who incurs the blame,
not us. Thanks to the favour that God grants us, and the commu-
nity through us, our generosity is not hidden. Whoever is grate-
ful for (God’s) favour, God will continue it to him permanently,
but whoever is ungrateful, God will deprive him of all the favour
that He has granted him. If he wants to come to meet us at the Sūq
al-Aḥad,186 let him do so, even though it would be more right and
appropriate that he as well as the other (officials) of the same rank
be with Nuṣayr for duties assigned to them, God willing.
The ustādh received instructions from the imam to write to Nuṣayr,

his deputy in al-Mahdiyya, stating that he should order mat makers
to make a prayer mat for the Slav captured in the battle, known as
(the battle of) the pit, by al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār b. Abī al-Ḥusayn.187 He
186. Sūq al-Aḥad was located near al-Mahdiyya. It was the site of a
battle between the troops of al-Qāʾim and the rebel Abū Yazīd who had
set up camp near Sūq al-Aḥad from where he blockaded the city and its
surroundings. See al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Iftitāḥ, p. 278 (trans. p. 231); and
Djelloul, ‘Histoire topographique de Mahdia et de ses environs au Moyen
Âge’, Les cahiers de Tunisie, 162–163 (1992–1993), pp. 72, 94.
187. The battle of the pit (al-ḥufra) refers to the battle of Rametta
(Ramṭa) in 353/964. The pit refers to a ravine in which Byzantine troops
sent to Sicily tumbled and were killed. The Byzantine army which suffered
this disaster included Russians who were taken prisoner. Abū Muḥammad
al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, who commanded
the Fatimid troops, distinguished himself in this battle. He was a cousin
of the then governor of Sicily, Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn
al-Kalbī. See al-Nuwayrī, Nihāya, vol. 24, pp. 370–374; Ibn al-Athīr,
al-Kāmil, vol. 7, pp. 11–12; and al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 3, pp. 433–440.
On al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār’s role in Egypt, where he continued to serve the
imams al-ʿAzīz and al-Ḥākim, see also Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī b. Munjib Ibn
instructed them what to inscribe in the embroidered band. It was

customary to inscribe in those embroidered bands, made by embroi-
derers and mat makers: ‘Made under the office of Jawdhar, Client of
the Commander of the Faithful’. Now, in the instructions which the
imam gave to execute the embroidery, he did not mention to inscribe
the name of Jawdhar, because he presumed that there would not be
enough space to do it. He, therefore, limited himself to what was
absolutely necessary to include in the embroidered band. When
Nuṣayr received the order, the ustādh instructed him in his letter
not to mention his name in (the embroidery) and not to go beyond
what the imam had instructed. So (Nuṣayr) gave orders to the slaves
accordingly. When they spread before them the material, there was
enough space for them to mention the name as they had been doing,
so they embroidered it and the mat was completed. When (the mat)
reached the ustādh for him to present it to the imam, he noticed
his name embroidered on it. He was annoyed and troubled at this,
because the mat had been made with gold [thread] and the artisans
had executed the work with utmost diligence. He did not dare to
present it as coming from his own initiative, so he attached to it a
note in which he swore by God and by our lord the imam that he had
not given the order to mention his name on (the band). He expressed
his fear of the [imam’s] anger against him because of that. When the
imam had acquainted himself with (Jawdhar’s) note, he wrote on its
back, in his own hand, the following passage:
By God, O Jawdhar, you blame yourself for something for which you
are not to blame, and you imagine things that we do not suppose of
you at all. The mat is extremely beautiful and of excellent crafts-
manship. We ordered not to mention your name in the inscription
only out of fear that there would not be enough space for it because
of too many words; but since there was enough space, then this will
establish better and more firmly among everybody that this work
was executed by our slaves, may God be praised as He is worthy and
deserving, under the office of our slave.
al-Ṣayrafī, al-Ishāra ilā man nāla al-wizāra, ed. ʿAbd Allāh Mukhliṣ (Cairo,
1924), pp. 26–27; Ibn Muyassar, Akhbār Miṣr, ed. Ayman Fuʾād Sayyid
(Cairo, 1981), pp. 176–180; and al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p. 277, vol. 2, pp.
5, 9–13, 36. See also Document 6 below regarding a request by him and his
cousin to obtain horses from Jawdhar, and Document 80 below relating to
a house built for him.
The ustādh presented [to the imam] a letter from Maymūn b. Futūḥ
al-Niqāwusī and Ghānim188 the secretary his companion, detailing
torments that they suffered at the hands of Rayyān al-Ṣaqlabī,189
when he left in pursuit of criminals and to re-establish order in the
country, and trials and insults that he made them suffer. The ustādh
sent at the same time with the letter a note as follows:
The confidence that he has in the benevolence of our lord has
prompted his slave to speak to him in this note about misfortunes
inflicted as a result of abuses of power by officials and others, and
about which he has repeatedly been informed. He has brought to his
knowledge the conduct of Balakh al-Ṣaqlabī at Funduq Rayḥān,190
and the conduct of the slave of Kannūn towards the secretary resid-
ing in the domains of Ṣaṭfūra.191 [He informs him] now about the
conduct of Rayyān towards these two slaves. Our lord is aware from
their letter of matters which, I do not doubt, he will not be pleased
with in what concerns his slave.
When our lord had acquainted himself with the letter and the note,
he wrote the following passage on the back of (the note):
188. See also Document 43 below relating to Maymūn and Ghānim in
which Jawdhar asks Maymūn’s pay to be at the same rate as that of Ghānim.
189. Also known as Rayyān al-Khādim, a eunuch of al-Muʿizz, who
subsequently, in 363/974, led Fatimid forces to defend Egypt from a
Qarmatian incursion. In Rabīʿ II 364/January 975, Rayyān conquered
Tripoli (of Syria) and then was its governor when al-Muʿizz wrote to
him, in the middle of Shaʿbān 364/30 April 975, to proceed to Damascus
to re-establish order there and to remove the commander Abū Maḥmūd
Ibrāhīm b. Jaʿfar b. Falāḥ al-Kutāmī from office. By the time al-Muʿizz died
in the following year, however, Aftakīn had seized Damascus and dislodged
Rayyān from there. On these events see al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 1, pp.
134–135, vol. 3, pp. 118, 297; al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, pp. 202–214, 220–222,
230; Abū Yaʿlā Ḥamza b. Asad Ibn al-Qalānisī, Dhayl taʾrīkh Dimashq, ed.
H. F. Amedroz (Leyden, 1908), pp. 10–11; and Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol.
7, p. 55.
190. Funduq Rayḥān lies in the region of Cap Bon to the east of Tunis.
See al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 45 (trans. p. 97).
191. The coastal province of Ṣaṭfūra (Saṭfūra), also called the province
of Banzart (Bizerte) after its chief town, lies to the north of Tunis. Ibn
Ḥawqal, Ṣūrat al-arḍ, p. 75; and al-Ḥimyarī, al-Rawḍ al-miʿṭār, pp. 104, 147,
165.
O Jawdhar, may God protect you. We have acquainted ourselves

with what you mentioned in your note and the letter enclosed in it.
By God, besides whom there is no god, we did not know anything of
what you have disclosed to us and we have come to know of it only
through your note. Until now we have not received any letter from
Rayyān concerning these circumstances. Fearing such matters and
others things, we had avoided sending someone to re-establish
order in the country until we found ourselves in an awkward situa-
tion while disorder arose from all directions, the like of which never
before had God, may He be praised, caused to happen in our reign,
and which we had never thought could happen. When the situation
became unbearable and the matter became serious—while it would
have been easy for us, by God, to kill children, let alone others, if
by doing so people would improve and order restored in the coun-
try—we dispatched this slave and sought to obtain through him a
good outcome. But we did not content ourselves with that, so we
took the precaution to provide him the assistance of the chiefs of
our partisans and defenders among the Kutāma and people from
the East, most of whom could be considered as judges. We have
informed him, and them, that we will allow them to bear testimony
only on the perpetrators and victims of injustices. Until now noth-
ing has reached us concerning them which would call for praise
or blame. However, we must have a detailed and exact report on
the facts, containing a record of what truth demands. By God,
you are not unaware of the good opinion that we have of you and
the predilection that we have for you; [you know that] we honour
all those who know you. What I had presumed made me choose
Rayyān, although others were more deserving to be placed at the
head of troops gathered to fight the inhabitants of Tadās,192 may
God curse them and other bloodthirsty criminals. He considered
it proper to disperse their groups so that, when he withdrew from
their [country] and left them, the disorder against him would not
happen again afterwards, and criminals in future would not think
little of him. This is what we had supposed without having certi-
tude. It is absolutely impossible and completely absurd to think that
he would commit openly this awful indignity to Jawdhar’s men to
192. Tadās, here in the region of Ṣaṭfūra, is not mentioned in other

Arabic sources. It is most probably a transcription of Roman Theudalis,
located on the shore of Lake Sisara (Lake Ichkeul), in present Tunisia
and whose modern name is Henchir Aouan. On it see Charles J. Tissot,
Géographie comparée de la province romaine d’Afrique (Paris, 1884–1888),
vol. 2, pp. 92–93; Richard J. A. Talbert, ed., Barrington Atlas of the Greek
and Roman World (Princeton, 2000), Map 32.
the exclusion of all others, given our concern to protect the weak,
as well as others, which we had expressed in instructions contained
in our letter of appointment to him, and the precaution that we had
taken by dispatching the followers193 with him. Therefore, whenever
a matter of this sort becomes evident to us, we shall let you dispense
on it the highest justice. As for disengaging from these domains and
others, it is a thought that you will find us considering only when we
move from them to places which are better for us by the might and
power of God. This [situation] is drawing near, may God facilitate
it and combine it with blessings, God willing. As for accepting any
other way, no! By God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, besides
whom there is no god! By the truth of our ancestor Muḥammad,
His messenger, by the truth of the imams from his family, our fore-
fathers, and by the truth of ourselves, by showing you our satis-
faction and our esteem, we have never had in our heart of hearts
any opposite feelings; far from it, by God, our inner feelings for
you are yet more warm-hearted than those that we show openly.
Through your agency there have come about in our reign decisions
that you know well. Have you found a way to establish a truth other
than by wading through seas of falsehood? What obliged us to seek
the services of this (man) and the likes of him, as we did, was only
because there were no other men and we needed these [individuals]
of frivolous disposition whom kindness spoils and whom prosper-
ity makes insolent. May God spare us from their wrongdoing and
dispel from us the harm which they cause. However, we shall write
a letter to him in which we shall shame him and make him return to
equity. The one whom you love194 has intended the purpose which
he will attain, God willing, to maintain his situation and his status.
The ustādh presented to our lord al-Muʿizz a letter from Naẓīf195

the secretary, director of the Treasury in al-Mahdiyya, in which
he spoke of the dispute that had arisen between ʿAllūsh the money
changer and him about the striking of coins at the mint of al-Mahdi-
yya, and what ʿAllūsh was being accused of regarding the standard of
coinage. Naẓīf said that ʿAllūsh wished that the standard of clipped
coins [withdrawn from circulation] should be inspected.196 Our lord
193. On the followers (awliyāʾ) see note 65 above.

194. Meaning the imam.
195. On Naẓīf see note 180 above.
196. On debased currency see R. E. Darley-Doran, ‘Tazyīf’, EI2, vol. 10,
appended the reply to this passage with clear eloquence as follows:

O Jawdhar, (ʿAllūsh’s) proposal about inspecting the standard of
clipped coins is unacceptable, because he knows what he pares in
the clipped coins and for which he does not leave any witness who
could accuse him. Rather, inspection should be of (coins) that circu-
late among the people, because it is there that corruption exists.
Indeed, the trader agrees to receive clipped coins as if they were
genuine and he is tolerated in other matters, because the benefit
is shared between the two. Let him therefore know that, and warn
him against the error [that he commits]. Send for Badr,197 and listen
to what he tells you regarding this matter. Then inform us of what
you learn from their statements, God willing.
The ustādh wrote a personal note in which he requested our lord to

grant him the request that he had addressed to him previously. He
implored humbly the pity of our lord in this matter. Our lord replied
to him thus:
O Jawdhar, by God, we have not forgotten you, but matters have
successively overwhelmed us, keeping us busy, and concerns have
intervened between us and everything that you wished. By God,
I come out of my residence only to escape from it, because of the
heavy burden that weighs upon me when I am alone there. There
is no helper other than God, the One and the Omnipotent. I go out
to seek relief from a part of my sorrows, but the only thing I do is
increase my fatigue and torments. May God lighten all our difficul-
ties, and facilitate for us all hardships. As for what you wish, you
will obtain it as it should be, by the might and the power of God,
God willing.
pp. 409–410.
197. Badr is apparently the trader colluding with ʿAllūsh.
(Jawdhar) wrote a note in which he mentioned the request made

to him by Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan198 and al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār199 to gift
them two of his horses, according to his custom with both of them
as well as previously with their fathers. He requested our lord to
grant him the permission to do so, because he never took the initia-
tive of anything he did before having consulted the imam. Our lord
appended the reply to him thus:
O Jawdhar, do in this regard as you wish. We have already set aside
two excellent blessed horses which you will receive in return for
those that you send them. You will not have to do without the best
of your horses and you will not be deprived of them with us, God
willing.200
(Jawdhar) wrote a note to our lord when our lord was engaged
actively in dispatching troops to the East and had to incur expenses
for that.201 The ustādh’s feelings and piety drove him to mention that
198. Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan was appointed governor of Sicily at the

beginning of the reign of al-Muʿizz. See note 139 above. He took Taormina
in 351/962 and prepared forces which, supported by troops from Ifrīqiya,
achieved the land victory in the battle of Rametta (353/964) and the
naval victory in the Battle of the Straits (waqʿat al-majāz) in 354/965. He
remained governor of Sicily until 358/969. (Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 7,
p. 5 and pp. 11–12; al-Nuwayrī, Nihāya, vol. 24, pp. 370–374.) In 359/970,
Aḥmad was appointed commander of the fleet which participated in the
conquest of Egypt. On arrival at Tripoli, he became ill and died at the end
of Dhū al-Ḥijja 359/end October 970.
199. On al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār, cousin of Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan, see note
187 above. At the same time that Aḥmad was placed at the head of the fleet
bound for Egypt, al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār received the command of troops sent
to reinforce Jawhar’s overland expedition to Egypt.
200. This letter can be dated from the year 358/969 when the two
cousins returned from Sicily on the orders of al-Muʿizz. The letter attests
to the close relations which Jawdhar had with the Banū Abī al-Ḥusayn
al-Kalbī. In this connection see also Document 72 below.
201. al-Muʿizz sent to Jawhar 1,500 loads of money to cover expenses
of the conquest. Aḥmad b. al-Rashīd Ibn al-Zubayr, Kitāb al-Dhakhāʾir
wa-al-tuḥaf, ed. Muḥammad Ḥamīd Allāh (Kuwait, 1959), p. 232; tr. Ghāda
he had gathered some money following his successful venture to sell

something from the state warehouses and by securing the outstand-
ing tax, to which he added what he offered of his own fortune as a
charitable deed and to gain nearness (to God). The amount of this
sum was 100,000 dinars and 22,000 dirhams. He sent this to our lord
al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh. Our lord responded to him about this note
with a reply as follows:
O Jawdhar, we have acquainted ourselves with what you mentioned.
I implore God to grant you marks of His satisfaction, compassion
and forgiveness that will fulfil all your hopes. May He reward you
well on our behalf and alleviate your pain so that you accompany us
on the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God outwardly just as you
have already done it inwardly.202 May there be in our warehouses
(only) lawful wealth whose accumulation brings us reward from
God and disgrace to our enemies in this world. People worship only
the material, and what we need for spending is, by God, something
which it would be amazing if it came from the water of the sea.
Nevertheless, no one saves us money. Rather, everybody helps to
squander and spend. We are stuck in an enterprise which we cannot
relinquish before attaining its objective. I ask God to accept that
from us, and that He accepts it for His sake, free from all stain. As
for the remaining sums that you said you have with you, and with
which you made an offering to God, may He accept your devotion
and grant you abundantly the share that is due to you of His most
complete satisfaction. You will watch better than anyone else over
this money, so keep it with you, God willing.203
(Jawdhar) wrote a note in which he mentioned the matter of the

request about which it has been reported above. He implored the
mercy of the imam by beseeching him humbly. He mentioned that
he was frail following his illness. Our lord appended the reply to him:
al-Ḥijjāwī al-Qaddūmī as Book of Gifts and Rarities: Kitāb al-Hadāyā
wa-al-Tuḥaf (Cambridge, Mass., 1996), p. 218.
202. In Ismaili doctrine every religious obligation has an exoteric
(ẓāhir) and esoteric (bāṭin) aspect. The Kaʿba is the symbol of the imam;
performing the pilgrimage inwardly means to face the imam and recognise
him. Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, al-Riḍāʿ fī al-bāṭin, IIS Library, MS 1143,
pp. 189–190.
I implore God, O Jawdhar, that He grant us your recovery and that

He deliver you from pain so that you accompany us in witness-
ing the realisation of your hopes, with the grace of God. We grant
you your request fully together with magnificent presents. Rejoice,
because, by God, you will enjoy happiness and peace by the grace of
God and His immense mercy.
The ustādh presented [to the imam] a letter which he had received
from Ṣāfī al-Ikrīkī, during the latter’s governorship of Qaṣr
al-Ifrīqī,204 in which he mentioned that the Berbers had joined forces
and leagued against him, and that he feared that they would kill him.
He sought help of the imam our lord. The ustādh sent a note [from
himself] together with this letter. When our lord had acquainted
himself with that, he appended at the back of the note the reply as
follows:
O Jawdhar, we have learnt from the letters of Ṣāfī of similar things
to those that he has mentioned to you and even more. We are
thankful to Ṣāfī for his dedication, his firmness and the exercise of
economy which he demonstrates in his administration. However,
he is too inquisitive. He listens eagerly to all information, good or
bad, that he gets. If from the outset he has some suspicion, he does
not abandon it. What he imputes to the judge who is in his district
is one of the things to which we are alluding. This is because (the
judge’s) letters constantly brought confirmation of what Ṣāfī was
relating, whereas he was explaining what had brought about this
situation. (The Berbers) have some excuse in this matter. Some tax
collectors wrote to us complaining that he had arrested one of them
because he had complained before us against an injustice, that he
had imposed a fine on him and had him put in prison. We asked
him about his case. His report did not correspond to what they
had described to us. We ordered him to release the prisoner and
to exercise benevolence towards these people so that they would
come back to him with the attitude that they should have. But he
204. Qaṣr al-Ifrīqī was located on the route from al-Qayrawān to

al-Masīla between Tīfāsh, not far from the source of the Medjerda, and
Tījis. Ibn Ḥawqal, Ṣūrat al-arḍ, p. 87; al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 53 (trans.
p. 114); and Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b.
Idrīs al-Ḥammūdī al-Ḥasanī al-Idrīsī, Kitāb Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq
al-āfāq (Beirut, 1989), p. 295.
refused to carry out our orders. The inhabitants then took this as a
pretext against him to show him their aversion. His duty, as well as
that of all those willed by God to be blissful, is to obey immediately
our commands and our prohibitions, because in doing so lies their
spiritual and material well-being. By God, none of them has more
affection towards himself than us; none of them knows better than
us where his own well-being lies. We have already sent (Ṣāfī) written
instructions. If he follows them, he will find happiness, and will put
an end to these abhorrent circumstances and bring back prosper-
ity in the country. We have ordered Ḥusayn205 to go to the palace.
If he responds to this order, God will restore the matter accord-
ing to the Book. Otherwise, [our] cavalry and force will reach him
promptly. We are waiting only to see what happens after he receives
our letter. But for your part, you will write to (Ṣāfī) a reply to the
letter that he has written to you; you will warn him and let him
know the measures of softness, gentleness and sound resolutions
that he must take according to the needs of the situation. Anyone
who does not commit himself to acting in matters of this sort, and
from whom people cannot tolerate that he persists in the same atti-
tude, will not be forgiven by them, even if such a person does not
exercise any functions over them, and more so if he continues to
exercise his jurisdiction over them. May God, by His grace, improve
all this situation, God willing.
10
Aflaḥ al-Nāshib,206 governor of Barqa, had presented to the ustādh

a gift of approximately twenty beasts of burden. The ustādh rarely
accepted gifts, but this is explained by the fact that the ustādh had
himself sent to Aflaḥ a present consisting of ten camels. Now when
he learnt of this addition in the number of animals, it displeased
205. Ḥusayn here is apparently someone who rebelled with the local
Berbers against the governor.
206. Aflaḥ al-Nāshib was a Slav and a client of al-Muʿizz. He rendered
great services to al-Muʿizz by fighting hostile Arab and Berber tribes and
making expeditions against islands of the eastern Mediterranean. He was
a very wealthy and generous man but also proud. When Jawhar passed by
Barqa on his way to Egypt, al-Muʿizz ordered all governors to dismount
to receive him. Aflaḥ offered to pay 50,000 dinars to Jawhar to be excused
from dismounting before him, but his offer was turned down and he had to
dismount. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 229, and Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn,
ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 671–672.
him. Then, out of consideration for Aflaḥ, he accepted from him

the twenty beasts. However, he felt the need to explain the matter
to the Commander of the Faithful and inform him that he would
reciprocate in equal measure to Aflaḥ by giving him another gift in
exchange for his gift. He specified that in his letter and described
(the intended gift). (The imam) sent to him in his own hand the
following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God grant you happiness. We see only the good
in everything that you mentioned. Act therefore accordingly. May
you continue to be glorious and illustrious during our reign, recom-
pensing those that you wish with precious gifts from the favour
of God and our favour to you. Generosity is a natural quality of
the nobility of the heart and magnanimity. Many are those whose
wealth is considerable, but whose heart is stingy; they do not benefit
from their considerable wealth when the heart is stingy. God, the
Mighty, the Glorious, has never ceased to make you know that He
grants you His blessing in everything that you have, and He will not
cease, God willing.
11
(Jawdhar) mentioned, after this paragraph of his note, another

paragraph in which he mentioned that camels caused [him] heavy
expenditure, for it was necessary to pay tolls at the gates, in the
markets and other (places). He asked for a pass to be handed to the
official authorised (to collect those taxes) until the time of departure
[for Egypt]. Our lord the imam replied to him:
O Jawdhar, by God, we wanted to take on our own this initiative
towards you, because we know the heavy expenditure of (these
camels for you). However, matters that cropped up prevented us
from doing so. Speak of this matter to Jawhar on our behalf, in
order that he write for you a document indicating the sum of money
that you require to bear all the expenses of those that you bear, and
at the gate of al-Manṣūriyya or another (place) anywhere you go,
God willing.207
207. According to al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 25 (trans. p. 58), al-Manṣūriyya

had five gates, and the tolls collected in one day at just one of its gates
amounted to 26,000 dirhams.
12
(Jawdhar) wrote to our lord a note in which he mentioned what

Shafīʿ al-Ṣaqlabī208 had pledged to pay for the houses which belonged
to Maysūr209 at Tunis, and whose administration had fallen to the
ustādh. The following reply came to him on the back (of the note):
Accept from him what he has given for (these houses) on the condi-
tion that he pays off what he owes for them each year, and that he is
not left to delay payment for a year until the following year, because
this is one of the tricks to which our attention has been drawn.
Hence we have ordered the directors of the departments to demand
from the governors the payment of dues for each year on its elaps-
ing. Anyone who is unable to pay in the first year will be still more
so the following year. It is better to put right the (bad) administra-
tion in the beginning than to deal with its consequences.
13
A slave called Raṣīf, slave of Prince Tamīm,210 may God prolong his
life, had filed a complaint before the ustādh about a domain which
208. Shafīʿ was a client of al-Manṣūr and continued to serve under

al-Muʿizz. After the capture of the rebel Abū Yazīd, al-Manṣūr summoned
Shafīʿ, Qayṣar, and Zīrī b. Manād from al-Masīla to fight the rebel’s son
Faḍl and his ally Maʿbad b. Khazar al-Nukkārī of the Zanāta. Ibn Khaldūn,
Taʾrīkh, vol. 4, p. 57 (trans. Berbères, vol. 2, p. 539); al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā,
vol. 2, p. 160; Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 424, 434–435, 462.
209. Maysūr al-Ṣaqlabī (d. 333/945), also known as Maysūr al-Fatā, was
a eunuch of al-Qāʾim. He commanded an expedition in 323/935 against
Mūsā b. Abī al-ʿĀfīya al-Miknāsī, governor of Fās, to restore Fatimid rule.
Subsequently, he commanded Fatimid forces against Abū Yazīd. He was
defeated and killed by the Banū Kamlān, a branch of the Hawwāra, who
defected from his ranks and joined the forces of Abū Yazīd. It appears that
after Maysūr’s death his estate reverted to his master al-Muʿizz, and that
Jawdhar was charged with its administration. See Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān,
vol. 2, p. 209; al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, pp. 31, 97–98, 128, 142, 155 (trans. pp. 70,
194, 249, 272, 295); Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 4, pp. 51–53 (trans. Berbères,
vol. 2, pp. 529, 531–532), vol. 6, pp. 160, 178, 191 (trans. Berbères, vol. 1, p.
244, 269, 284); al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 149; al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān,
Iftitāḥ, p. 278 (trans. p. 231); and Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp.
263, 276–277, 279, 284, 286, 288, 295–299, 302, 304.
210. Tamīm was the eldest son of al-Muʿizz. On him see note 219 below.
was in the hands of Raṣīf, against a man called Ibn Suhayl, a close
relation of Ḥusayn b. Rashīq al-Rayḥānī.211 This man wanted to
expropriate some land of (this domain). The ustādh explained to our
lord what the department deemed necessary and asked the imam to
issue the instructions to be carried out. He received the following
reply, written on the back of his note:
O Jawdhar, this Raṣīf has addressed to us his complaint against
the injustice done to him. On the other hand, Ḥusayn b. Rashīq
has addressed to us a similar petition, in which he states that the
pastures in question are common to all the residents of the houses
which surround (the pastures), that the one who borders them
totally is Ḥasnūn b. Kannūn, and that the Slavs have no one to
present evidence for that in their favour since they had not exceeded
their rights as was being said.212 I would like him to be reconciled
with Raṣīf, agreeing to leave him the part of these pastures which
he claims and which has given rise to their mutual claims. I would
not like either of them to suffer a loss in his pastures by attribut-
ing the piece of land of one to the other, which would ruin some-
one having an established right on this land among the residents
of these houses who have no one to defend them and uphold their
rights. We would be committing a grave sin and would be accused
of injustice. We are therefore of the opinion we submit the matter to
the judge who will examine this case before men of confidence and
honest individuals. If the pastures turn out to be common as has
been mentioned, each man will take from it the extent of the share
that is due to him; if, on the contrary, they belong exclusively to one
party and not others, (that party) will take (the pastures) according
to the requirements of the law. The responsibility which they will
take upon themselves will lie upon them alone. As for us, we shall
be freed from any obligation in this regard, God willing. If (our)
subjects claimed against us something which was held in our hands,
we would have no recourse in this (matter) to another procedure
than the one we have described. The one who accepts to commit an
injustice, may God make for him a necklace from it.
211. He is apparently the son of Rashīq al-Rayḥānī al-Kātib and the

same as Ḥasan b. Rashīq mentioned in Document 30 below.
212. The Slavs here are apparently under the supervision of Raṣīf.
14
The ustādh wrote on his own initiative a note in which he mentioned

the request that he had previously addressed. Our lord replied to
him:
By God, O Jawdhar, we do not cease in our heart to have for you
lasting feelings of benevolence and compassion. May God let you
attain (what you wish) by His immense favour, because we know
the place that we have always held in your thoughts. We will satisfy
your request, as you want, God willing.
15
The secretary Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān had already

served the ustādh for some forty years. He had become for him like
a companion who must be protected. He had a son called Jaʿfar213
whose candidacy the ustādh wished to present to our lord the imam
so that he allowed him to join the officials [of the palace] and be enti-
tled to administer according to the function. He wrote a note regard-
ing this matter and asked that the favour he wanted be granted to
him and that his request be fulfilled. He received the following reply,
in the very hand of the imam, appended at the back of the note:
O Jawdhar, we do not distinguish you from our own selves, and we
do not consider those who bear you excellent friendship other than
like children in whom we do not want to impose a fearful respect of
ourselves in any way. Do therefore with Jaʿfar what you have asked
for him. I hope that he will be like his father who was indeed an
excellent servant, sincere, by God, in his love for us, in private as
well as in public. May God bless us in his son so that he will be even
better than his father, God willing.
16
The ustādh presented [to the imam] a note of Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb214 in

which he mentioned what material he needed for the construction of
213. On Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān and his son Jaʿfar see also Document
64 below.
214. On Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb, director of the navy at al-Mahdiyya, see also
Document 1 above.
ships, as well as the money for the expense and maritime equipment.
Our lord sent to him the following reply in his hand, on the back of
the note:
O Jawdhar, may God preserve you in good health. We send you
the list provided by Ibn Yaʿqūb enclosed in this note of yours that
you conveyed to us, after having acquainted ourselves with it. We
have given up (travelling by) sea. If we had not endured its terrible
dangers, other than those during this trip to al-Mahdiyya, it would
not have been necessary that we ever speak of them. By God, we
will never forgive those who helped (our enemies) in whatever it
may be, openly or secretly. May God avenge them with His knowl-
edge, because no hidden thing escapes Him. We have no doubt that
our enterprise of building warships at the arsenal has great signifi-
cance, and will be useful to strengthen (our) friends and abase our
enemies. If Ibn Yaʿqūb is certain that it will meet our satisfaction, let
him hasten to build ten safety boats of large size;215 but if the situa-
tion is as we know it, it is more appropriate to abandon [this enter-
prise] immediately. We do not choose to endure the terrible dangers
of the sea, after those that we have already endured, together with
those that we shall face on the journey by land, for which may God
combine success with the strength of resolution, out of His benevo-
lence and His generosity, God willing.
17
The ustādh presented [to the imam] a letter that he had received
from Nuṣayr al-Ṣaqlabī, his deputy in al-Mahdiyya, in which were
contained two notes of the two sons of Qāsim b. al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh.216 In these two notes there were expressions of unspeakable
insolence. (The imam) became aware of the matter and sent the
following reply:
O Jawdhar, I pray to God that he grant you protection and remove
from you adversity. We have read the two notes and return them to
you. We say: God is enough for us, and how excellent a guardian is
He! (3:173). May God be praised abundantly for the favour that He
215. The arsenal of al-Mahdiyya, situated to the east of al-Mahdī’s

palace, had the capacity to contain over 200 ships. It had two large arched
galleries to shelter equipment and supplies. See al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 30
(trans. p. 68).
216. On al-Qāʾim’s sons, see note 52 above.
has granted us and for the humiliation and contempt with which He
has branded our enemy. They will have punishment and affliction
from which God will not deliver them. Praise be to God.
18
The ustādh possessed a domain from a concession granted by

al-Mahdī bi-llāh in the district of al-Jazīra.217 His abstinence from
goods of this world meant that he derived little profit from the
domains and income from property, being satisfied with what he
gained from trading which he conducted. Ḥamza b. Ṣalūk, gover-
nor of the district, caused him difficulties and sought to harm
the citizens under his jurisdiction by all sorts of dirty tricks. The
ustādh presented to al-Muʿizz a note on this matter, and the imam
appended on the back of the note the following instructions to [the
commander] Jawhar:
O Jawhar, write to Ḥamza that he should not cause difficulties to
the domains of Jawdhar under any pretext whatsoever. Oh! If only
we could find among all those upon whom we have bestowed our
bounties as much equity as we find in Jawdhar. Let him collect from
the residents, with justice and equity, the rights which belong to us.
Write out for him a decree to this effect. If (Ḥamza) has no confi-
dence in (Jawdhar’s) representative and would like to send al-Ḥasan
b. Ṣaqlabī to the place in question, or write to the district judge
to inspect his representative concerning this matter, reply to him
whatever (course of action) he prefers and chooses, once you will
have known the good opinion that we have of him. No doubt weighs
on Jawdhar, either outwardly or inwardly. May God grant him the
benefit of the praiseworthy intentions that he cherishes towards His
friends, God willing.
217. al-Jazīra here refers to Jazīrat Sharīk, the peninsula of Cap Bon (Raʾs
Maddār), a fertile region to the east of Tunis. (Ibn Ḥawqal, Ṣūrat al-arḍ, p.
75; al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 45, trans. p. 96; al-Idrīsī, Nuzha, pp. 293, 302,
where the peninsula is referred to as Jazīrat Bāshshū; Hussain Monès,
‘Djazīrat Sharīk’, EI2, vol. 2, pp. 525–526; and N. Elisséef, ‘Manzil Bashshū’,
EI2, vol. 6, p. 457). Jawdhar also had other domains. See Documents 30 and
57 below.
19
The ustādh Jawdhar was very circumspect. He never took any deci-
sion in a matter however small or great without careful examination
and seeking counsel [from the imam]. One of the instances where
he sought counsel is the following: He submitted a report to our
lord stating that the couriers who were toing and froing between
al-Manṣūriyya and al-Mahdiyya conveyed letters from the inhab-
itants of the two palaces218 to those residing in the palace of the
Commander of the Faithful. (Jawdhar) said: ‘I am of the opinion that
the letters should be seized from the hands of the couriers and that
our lord should acquaint himself with them’. (The imam) sent him
the order not to obstruct them. Then, after some days, the ustādh
received the following note:
O Jawdhar, you reported to us about the matter of letters [sent by
the inhabitants] of the two palaces to the house of Tamīm219 and
others. We ordered you then to refrain from obstructing them.
However, since God had inspired in your thinking an idea in which
His support is manifest, while we have no prejudice against anyone
among those who are strangers, let alone [our] close relatives; and as
there appears to us things that we disapprove of, attempt to convey
to us any such letter or other things. However, do not execute this
order before having warned us of it and don’t let anyone whosoever
have any knowledge of your action, God willing.
20
A note from Abū ʿAbd Allāh,220 son of al-Qāʾim, arrived, in which he

asked permission to wail over the death of one of his sons. Here is
the reply given to that:
218. The two palaces were in al-Mahdiyya. See note 117 above. The
residence of al-Muʿizz was in al-Manṣūriyya.
219. Tamīm (d. 374/985) was the eldest son of al-Muʿizz and an
accomplished poet. He was born in Rajab 337/January 949 in the Maghrib.
He was dragged into the party of his cousins, the sons of al-Qāʾim, and
corresponded with them secretly. This was one of the reasons for which
he was not nominated heir to his father’s office. On him see al-Maqrīzī,
al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 588–600, and note 320 below.
220. He is Abū ʿAbd Allāh Jaʿfar who died in Egypt during the reign of
al-Muʿizz. On al-Qāʾim’s sons see note 52 above.
O Jawdhar, May God keep you in good health! We have acquainted

ourselves with the request made by this fool to be allowed to engage
in wailing over his son. This is something inadmissible and impos-
sible, because we only forbid them what God and His prophet have
ordered us to forbid.221 If he wants to wail over him by his slaves and
his eunuchs, let him do so as he wants, God willing.
21
When the ustādh constructed the house into which he moved after
leaving al-Mahdiyya, and which was in a part of the palace of our
lord, he needed exquisite mats to furnish it. The mat makers were
then under his authority. He asked that he be allowed to have (mats)
made and that he would bear the expenses incurred on them. He
received the following reply:
Have made for yourself the best sāmān mats222 of the finest crafts-
manship, as a favour from us. God does not forbid you that. Praise
be to God.
22
As we have recorded here everything which has been mentioned

previously, we considered it appropriate to mention directives,
replies and correspondence relating to Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn.223
221. On lamenting the dead, see note 58 above.

222. Reading al-sāmān, instead of al-sāmāt of the manuscripts, which
was applied originally to a kind of bulrush found in the region of Baysān
in Palestine, and from which fine mats were manufactured. Then the term
was applied to fine mats manufactured elsewhere. See al-Idrīsī, Nuzha, p.
356, and al-Ḥimyarī, al-Rawḍ al-miʿṭār, p. 119.
223. Jaʿfar was from the family of Banū Ḥamdūn. On them and his
father ʿAlī see note 155 above. Jaʿfar and his brother Yaḥyā were raised at the
Fatimid court. Jaʿfar eventually abandoned the Fatimid cause and switched
his allegiance to the Umayyads of Spain. Subsequently, Jaʿfar and Yaḥyā
were granted functions in Umayyad North Africa. Jaʿfar defended Ceuta
against Bulukkīn b. Zīrī. Later he was recalled to Spain and put to death
in 372/983. Yaḥyā returned to Fatimid allegiance while passing through
Egypt where he was received by the caliph-imam al-ʿAzīz. See Ibn al-Abbār,
al-Ḥulla al-siyarāʾ, vol. 1, pp. 305–308; Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-aʿyān,
vol. 1, p. 360; and Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol. 1, p. 231, vol. 2, pp. 280–281.
There were many disagreements between him and Yūsuf b. Zīrī.224

Eventually, our lord summoned them both to the Immaculate Portal
and took upon himself the trouble to hold a [special] session for them
both, to listen to what each of them had to say and to settle the dispute
with justice and equity. (The imam) did so in such manner that (the
hearing) took place in a hall where they were alone without the pres-
ence of his guards or the notables of the state. However, he asked
the ustādh to be present at (the hearing), but (the ustādh) excused
himself by giving the reason that prevented him from attending.
Afterwards, when our lord had reconciled the two [men] and they
left him, the ustādh wrote a note in which he expressed his joy at
seeing that our lord had re-established peace and harmony between
the two. He said that it settled the dispute between them and that
that would bring about happy consequences. When the imam had
acquainted himself with his note, he sent to him the following reply:
O Jawdhar, what you have learnt has indeed happened. God be
praised! Indeed, every friend will rejoice at this and every straying
wretch will be filled with sadness at this. We tolerated from them
things which, if they had happened in front of the lowest of our
slaves, it would have been awful for them. However, the wish that we
had to bring peace made us tolerate that and show patience, espe-
cially as it happened before us in private, away from the gaze of our
followers or our slaves. God knows that this was not because we
had the need of either of them, far from it. If we had wanted to seek
others to replace them both, we would have found many ready to
offer considerable money for this [position]. You must insist upon
224. He is Bulukkīn b. Zīrī b. Manād. The Berber name Buluggīn is

transcribed in Arabic sources as Bulukkīn and Buluqqīn. His Arabic name
Yūsuf, the kunya Abū al-Futūḥ and the laqab Sayf al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh were
given to him by the Fatimid caliph-imam al-Muʿizz. Bulukkīn’s father
was the chief of the Ṣanhāja Berbers and founder and ruler of the city of
Ashīr in the central Maghrib. Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn was Bulukkīn’s rival
and sided with the Zanāta Berbers, clients of the Umayyads of Spain, who
were enemies of the Ṣanhāja. On Bulukkīn b. Zīrī and the Zīrīds see Lisān
al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad Ibn al-Khaṭīb, Aʿmāl al-aʿlām, part 3
ed. Aḥmad Mukhtār al-ʿAbbādī and Muḥammad Ibrāhīm al-Kattānī as
Taʾrīkh al-Maghrib al-ʿArabī fī al-ʿaṣr al-wasīṭ: al-qism al-thālith min kitāb
Aʿmāl al-aʿlām (Casablanca, 1964), pp. 61–100; al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol.
1, p. 656, vol. 2, p. 385, vol. 3, p. 762, vol. 5, pp. 638, 730; Hady Roger Idris,
La Berbérie orientale sous les Zīrīdes, Xe-XIIe siècles (Paris, 1962), pp. 41–61.
Jaʿfar to affirm his personal loyalty and ask him to respect (this
loyalty) in everything which pertains to his obligation towards us
to obey our orders. If he dies while executing our orders, it is the
least that God enjoins upon him, even if we had dismissed him.
Even more so, he must obey us, since we are the imams who must
be obeyed; we are those whose pure hearts are full of mercy, pity,
generosity and patience. May God be abundantly praised for that!
Acting according to our orders is obligatory in all circumstances.
If he finds appropriate what we have explained to him, then he will
be fortunate; it will hasten the return to calm and will soothe us.
If he dies by sacrificing his life for something that satisfies us, he
will have accomplished his duty and will have delivered us from
distrust. Urge him therefore in this matter what you know will
achieve with him what we wish. By God, it is not every time that
hearts can show forbearance like what we have shown. This attitude
is the favour that has been granted to us and to them by the power
of God; that is, it has been granted to us, while the opposite is [the
case] for those who stray from our will. We say this only because
of certain things which we saw yesterday. (Sometimes) it appeared
to us that the desperation of restoring peace between them would
overwhelm us, and sometimes we returned to the hope to which
God has accustomed us, until what we had in mind and what you
have come to know was accomplished. Even if a part of it is real-
ised, the reward from God to us is handsome and the grace that He
grants us is immense. May He grant us the greatest of those favours
to which He has accustomed us, God willing.
23
The ustādh sent to our lord a note in which he informed him that
he had received a letter from Ṣāfī, director of the storehouses of the
navy in al-Mahdiyya. (Ṣāfī) had stated his decision to store supplies
dispatched to him in the mosque near the house of Abū al-Shāma.
When the imam came to know about this, he found it shocking that
the mosque was being used as a storehouse; so he sent to (Jawdhar)
the following directive:
O Jawdhar, may God grant you peace in this world and in the
Hereafter! We have learnt what you mentioned about Ṣāfī. Write to
him that he should not approach mosques and that he should not
store (anything) in them, because the advantage gained from doing
so would not compensate the harm resulting from it. Respecting
mosques brings great merit and an immense reward, while disre-
specting them brings the opposite. May God, by His mercy, preserve
us from sinning, God willing.
24
(The ustādh) wrote a note to our lord in which he stated that he

had not neglected to stir the officials responsible for supervising
the purchase of provisions necessary for the fleet. This happened
following the displeasure shown by our lord because of the delay in
the receipt of these provisions, and the laziness of those who had the
responsibility of supervising (the purchases) and their negligence in
this respect. (The imam) sent to him the following reply:
We do not doubt, by God, O Jawdhar, the excellence of your inten-
tions, just as we do not doubt ourselves. May God grant you a hand-
some reward and grant you the benefit for what you have already
done and what you are doing. It is not you that we meant in the
statements that we made. We only meant those who delayed obey-
ing our order and executing it promptly. As for you, one cannot find
any shortcoming in you, God be praised.
25
(The ustādh) wrote to (the imam) to remind him of his request and
said in the note:
O strong Rope of God225 and His Straight Path,226 your slave who
needs your mercy requests from you a favour, by invoking the
nobility of your self and your extraordinary generosity to whoever
appealed to you and whoever has not appealed to you. Have pity of
your slave. May the blessings of God be upon you.
(The imam) replied:

The means that you have to approach us are the greatest available,
because they consist in the excellent intentions and the good feel-
ings that you have and which God has made known to us. If He
225. On the expression ‘Rope of God’ see note 96 above.
226. Qurʾan 1:6. According to Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman (in his al-Riḍāʿ
fī al-bāṭin, IIS Library, MS 1143, p. 111, and al-Shawāhid wa-al-bayān, IIS
Library, MS 734, p. 286) the ‘Straight Path’ refers to the legatee (waṣī), ʿAlī
b. Abī Ṭālib, and after him the imams from his progeny who hold his place,
i.e. the Fatimid imams.
had not accepted your efforts, He would not have granted to you
the place that you hold in the hearts of His friends, or a long life in
their service which will bring you additional reward, or cause you
to live until our reign only to perfect your happiness in this world
and in the Hereafter. We will grant you the request that you have
made. Have confidence in God and in our promise. We shall fulfil
it soon, God willing.
26
(Jawdhar) wrote a note in which he mentioned the death of Ṣāfī’s

son Ḥusayn and requested for him a shroud. Here is the reply that
he received:
Get for him from Ibn Ḥusayn a shroud of good quality and send it
to his family, because he was an excellent servant. May God have
mercy upon him and may He be satisfied with him! Put his two
children in his place. I hope that God will grant them both His
blessing, God willing.
27
(Jawdhar) wrote a note that he submitted to our lord in which he

mentioned the death of al-Kirshī. Here is the reply that he received:
May God have mercy upon him. He was an excellent servant in
everything that he was assigned.
28
Order had been given by our lord to detain ships and prevent them
from travelling to Sicily, because he wanted to convey [in them]
equipment, arms and supplies to Sicily to help the troops after
Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan’s227 departure from (Sicily) and the entrust-
ment of the government of (the island) to his brother Abū al-Qāsim
ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan.228 However, ships paid no heed; their captains
227. On Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan al-Kalbī see note 198 above.
228. After Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan’s departure from Sicily, his freed slave
Yaʿīsh assumed the government of the island. Then, from Shaʿbān 359/June
970, Aḥmad’s brother Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī, first as deputy of Aḥmad and
then, after the latter’s death in Dhū al-Ḥijja 359/October 970, assumed full
control. He was engaged in military operations from 366/976 until 372/982,
diverted them from the routes and made them depart for (Sicily)
from another port.229 (The imam) was very angry because of this and
sent to Abū al-Qāsim a written order to set fire to those ships and
put their captains to death. Abū al-Qāsim executed the order of the
Commander of the Faithful and wrote to the ustādh to inform him
about that and how he had complied with (the order). The ustādh
conveyed his letter to the imam. When our lord had acquainted
himself with it, he sent the following reply at the back of the letter:
O Jawdhar, we have acquainted ourselves with this letter. Write to
him that we approve his action and that we are satisfied with what
we have learnt of his admirable conduct. Let him continue in this
way, God will grant him the benefit for it, God willing.
29
(Jawdhar) wrote a note in which he mentioned his appeal regarding

his request which has been mentioned previously, after having made
the point of his old age and his physical weakness and the like. (The
imam) replied to him:
May God prolong your life in the best feelings of affection that you
have [for us] and the feelings of affection we have for you, until you
witness with us everything that will rejoice you: our attainment of
our right, and the return to us of what the enemies of God have
stolen from us to humiliate them, by our Lord’s favour to us. We
praise Him and thank Him for the happy outcome that He has
decreed for us. As for your request, by God, everything is fine for
you. Do not worry. What we have already granted you is the ulti-
mate, after which there is no more except what you can attain of the
satisfaction of God in the Hereafter and which we have promised
you. Seeking more than that would be to do as the one who always
wants to add some wealth to what he already possesses. You will
obtain what we have promised you, God willing.
and died in battle in al-Muḥarram 372/July 982. After his death, his son
Jābir succeeded as governor without being formally appointed by al-Muʿizz.
229. Apparently ships had been ordered to stop at al-Mahdiyya to load
supplies bound for Sicily.
30
(The imam) had sent a Slav under the command of Ḥasan b. Rashīq230
to convey Zawīla black slaves231 to the Immaculate Portal. This Slav
had committed inappropriate acts in the domains belonging to the
ustādh. (The ustādh) wrote to our lord to inform him about that and
complained bitterly. He received the following reply:
O Jawdhar, we have acquainted ourselves with your note. As for the
feelings of satisfaction that we have towards you and the excellent
opinion that we have of you, we have no need to inform you about
them; and by reiterating them to you we cannot add further to what
you already know about them. Regarding what the official said about
acts committed by the Slav on the men that he mentioned, these
are inappropriate acts. However, such behaviour is not non-existent
among individuals from whom we expect good and of whom we
have the best opinion, and more so from individuals known partic-
ularly for their stupidity and rudeness. We have instructed Ḥasan
b. Rashīq to write to release the movable goods to the men that (the
official) mentioned and we disapprove with regard to them what
you complained about, since everything that you yourself see is
for us as if we had seen it ourselves with our own eyes. Fear comes
only from what one hides from us. If things happened as we wish
for human beings, ‘they would indeed partake of all the blessings of
heaven and earth’ (5:66),232 and they would have happiness both in
this world and in the Hereafter. I hope that God will improve for us
230. This is apparently the same person as Ḥusayn b. Rashīq mentioned

in Document 13 above.
231. These were black slaves from Zawīla, the medieval capital of the
Fazzān, now in south-western Libya. The basis of its economy was the trans-
Saharan trade. It exported Sudanese slaves which formed an important
basis of this trade. (al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, pp. 10–12, trans. p. 26–30; K. S.
Vikør, ‘Zawīla’, EI2, vol. 11, p. 466.) The Fatimids recruited Zawīla slaves for
both the palace and the army. There was a contingent of Zawīla sailors in
the squadron, commanded by Sulaymān al-Khādim and Yaʿqūb al-Kutāmī,
during the expedition to Egypt in 307/920. (al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2,
p. 646.) Jawhar’s army which conquered Egypt also included some Zawīla,
and a quarter in Cairo was named after them. (al-Maqrīzī, al-Khiṭaṭ, vol. 3,
p. 10.) Zawīla is also the name of a locality on the outskirts of al-Mahdiyya.
On it see note 250 below.
232. Literally: ‘they would eat what is above them and what is under
their feet’. For an explanation of this verse see al-Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf,
vol. 2, pp. 268–269.
and through us everything that is corrupted, and that He will help

us as well as all those who submit to His obedience to accomplish
deeds that will satisfy Him and draw us near to Him. Indeed, He is
generous and kind.
31
On several occasions Aḥmad b. al-Mahdī233 was accused of making

slanderous remarks when our lord left [Ifrīqiya] to go to the East. It
was said of him that he often behaved shamefully, that he intended
to remain behind and delayed his departure with the Commander
of the Faithful. The ustādh wrote a note in which he reported
rumours that had reached him, and submitted it to our lord the
imam to inform him that he had questioned Nuṣayr, governor of
al-Mahdiyya,234 about this matter, and that (the governor) had
confirmed to him that these rumours were widespread in the coun-
try. (The imam) wrote back to him:
O Jawdhar, may God complete the favours that He bestows upon
you. We have acquainted ourselves with what you stated. The Lord
of Majesty has willed to grant us His benevolence in full measure,
just as He promised. He has made us whatever is appropriate. He
has unveiled to us secrets of these human beings which they were
hiding. The One to whom alone are addressed all our praises and
thanks. All those who enjoy well-being find unbearable what God
has granted us, while they find it difficult to come out of the situ-
ation in which they find themselves. If they could find with their
heads a way to provoke the greatest and most abominable evil, may
God dispel [from us] their mischief, they would do so, intending to
‘extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God will not allow
but that His light should be perfected, however much the disbelievers
are averse’ (9:32). By God, most of those with bad intentions are in
the same state. But God, the Most High, glory be to Him, says: ‘If
God were to enlarge the provision for His servants, they would be inso-
233. He is Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad, son of al-Mahdī, who subsequently

accompanied al-Muʿizz to Egypt, and died there on 15 Dhū al-Qaʿda 382/12
January 993. (Ibn Ẓāfir, Akhbār, p. 12; al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 1, p. 522;
Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 717–718.) On him see also note 261
below.
234. After leaving al-Mahdiyya for al-Manṣūriyya, Jawdhar maintained
correspondence with his deputy Nuṣayr and other officials whom he left
behind. See p. 84 above.
lent on earth’ (42:27). He has associated insolence with the extent of

gain, while poverty is not associated with insolence. We have seen it
with our own eyes that those who enjoy the most well-being are the
most sluggish, while the poor are more quick at getting something.
This wretched Aḥmad has been habitually an evil omen. The one
who is misled by his trick will return to the ustādh to tell him so. I
pray to the One in whose hands lies sovereignty over all things to
cause to perish all seducers who go astray, be they near or distant,
who hide their intentions or show them. God suffices us and He is
an excellent guarantor.
32
(The ustādh) wrote a note in which he asked the Commander of the

Faithful insistently to grant his request which has been mentioned
previously. (The imam) wrote back to him:
We do not doubt, O Jawdhar, that God will make you obtain what
you hope, and more than what you hope, of His satisfaction and our
satisfaction, owing to your intention, excellent conviction, and your
services past and present. You are, God be praised, on the way of
happiness in all your matters. When we are able to give satisfaction
to your request, we will do so without delay, God willing.
33
(The ustādh) also wrote another note to have this request granted.
He said that he feared that he would die before the fulfilment of his
hopes. (The imam) replied to him:
O Jawdhar, death and life are in the hands of God, the Mighty, the
Exalted. God, the Mighty, the Glorious, says: ‘All that is on earth
will perish’ (55:26), but we ask God, may His name be glorified,
and supplicate to Him to grant you good health, and prolong your
term so that you can see with your own eyes the favours that God
bestows upon us and the fulfilment of our hopes, and that you can
perform with us the pilgrimage outwardly just as you have already
performed it inwardly. Do not feel any anxiety which could weaken
you. God does only what He deems befitting. As for your request,
we shall strive promptly to ensure its success, God willing.
34
(The ustādh) wrote a note in which he mentioned matters relating

to maritime supplies and asked prompt expedition of the order. He
feared that his frequent requests would be considered importunate
because our lord was preoccupied with matters which needed his
attention. The imam replied to him thus:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you and keep you in good health.
No, by God, we do not find you importunate in any way, knowing
that your zeal (in whatever you do) comes from seeking to satisfy
us. But if a soul could be burnt with its own flame and the heat
felt by the body which is its abode, then that soul would be mine,
because of what I suffer from all sides. Then I do not see anything
that can help, rather I find everything contributes to impairment.
And when I am distressed, I go out from my reclusion, longing to
find relief, and I occupy myself with matters which have no useful-
ness for religion or this world. I look at myself and I see myself as
a madman among reasonable people, and a reasonable man among
madmen. I console myself with what I have heard al-Manṣūr bi-llāh
relate from al-Mahdī bi-llāh, may they both be blessed, as well as
their predecessors and their descendants. He would say frequently
while walking: ‘Thou wilt see them looking at thee, but they see not’
(7:198). Then I knew that he felt what I myself feel now. He found
relief in what he said and he found in that for him some consola-
tion, because they235 did not change their ways. In spite of these bad
temperaments inherent to these barbarous savages, the light of God
which is in the hands of His friends will not be extinguished and
weakened, and the lies of the enemies of God will neither increase
nor spread. However, as (the imams) did not find capable people to
carry their burdens, they became withdrawn in themselves and hid
their feelings from those who did not feel pain for them. ‘We belong
to God and to Him is our return’ (2:156). As for the written direc-
tives, we shall send them to you. May God grant you through us a
handsome reward in this world and in the Hereafter. Indeed, He is
generous and liberal.
235. The pronoun apparently refers to the inhabitants of Ifrīqiya who

were hostile to the Fatimids.
35
The ustādh having become ill was prevented from appearing at the
[imam’s] dining table and to attend to business.236 The Commander
of the Faithful wrote to him on his own initiative after he asked
about him and learnt the cause of this impediment:
May God preserve you in good health, O Jawdhar, and may He
complete the favours that He grants you. God knows how much we
are concerned about your illness. May He end it and grant you good
health. If recovery could be obtained at the price of goods of this
world, we would not skimp to buy it for you with the most precious
and considerable goods which God’s benevolence has bestowed upon
us. But, we will not deprive you of prayers, beseeching God to accept
them from us for you, and grant you, out of His boundless generos-
ity, that which He deems befitting. We have a theriac produced by
Mūsā 237 for just the kind of ailment as yours. We have tried it and we
observed its wonderful effects. We did not want to force you to use
it before knowing the exact nature of your illness. Now Mūsā has
told us that it is a most effective remedy for you and that if we gave
some of it to you to take, its effectiveness would become apparent
and its beneficial effect would become clear. Therefore, we have sent
you a bit of it in a silver phial. Take the weight of a mithqāl of it with
a decoction of roots of sumbul238 in which it will have been cooked,
236. The first time that Jawdhar sat at the imam’s table was with
al-Manṣūr, as recounted in Part One, Section 18.
237. Mūsā b. al-ʿĀzār (or al-ʿAyzār) (d. 364/974) was a physician of
al-Manṣūr and al-Muʿizz. He originated from a Jewish family settled in Oria
in southern Italy, and began to serve the Fatimids in Ifrīqiya. His sons Isḥāq
and Ismāʿīl as well as his grandson Yaʿqūb served al-Muʿizz as physicians
during Mūsā’s lifetime. Mūsā and his sons accompanied al-Muʿizz to
Egypt. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 57, 149–150; Muḥammad b.
Muḥammad al-Yamānī, Sīrat al-Ḥājib Jaʿ far b. ʿAlī, ed. Wladimir Ivanow,
in Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts, University of Egypt, vol. 4 (1936), p.
110; trans. Wladimir Ivanow, Ismaili Tradition Concerning the Rise of the
Fatimids (London, etc., 1942), p. 190. Bernard Lewis has identified Mūsā
with Palṭiel ben Shefaṭyah of medieval Jewish sources, who was captured
in the Fatimid raids on southern Italy in 313/925. Bernard Lewis, ‘Palṭiel: A
Note’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 30 (1967),
pp. 177–181. On Mūsā’s sons see note 338 below.
238. Conjectural reading amzāḥ, apparently an unattested plural of
mazḥ. Muḥammad Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī, Tāj al-ʿarūs min jawāhir al-Qāmūs,
ed. ʿAbd al-Sattār Aḥmad Farrāj et al. (Kuwait, 1965–2001), vol. 7, p. 118,
in order to extract from it its essence. When it has been prepared

thus, one must take of this decoction half a raṭl, and the weight of
an ounce239 of thickened grape juice, with which God will grant you
recovery and good health, God willing. He is immensely generous.
Peace and mercy of God be on you.
36
When our lord decided to set out in pursuit of the rebel called Abū
Khazar,240 he ordered the ustādh to go to al-Mahdiyya to put in order
the contents of the warehouses there and to load supplies for the
East. The people engaged in making remarks and rumoured that the
ustādh would be appointed deputy to govern Ifrīqiya.241 He wrote to
gives sunbul as a meaning of mazḥ. The word ‘sumbul’ (from Arabic

sunbul) is applied to the roots of certain plants which are used medicinally.
On the types of sunbul and their therapeutic uses, see Abū Muḥammad
ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad al-Azdī al-Ṣaḥārī, Kitāb al-Māʾ: awwal muʿ jam
ṭibbī lughawī fī al-taʾrīkh, ed. Hādī Ḥasan Ḥammūdī ([Musqat], 1996), pp.
297–298.
239. On units of weights and measures see E. Ashtor, ‘Makāyīl’, EI2, vol.
6, pp. 117–120, the section on Arabic, Persian and Turkish lands.
240. On 22 Shawwāl 358/8 September 969, al-Muʿizz set out in pursuit
of the rebel Abū Khazar of the Zanāta Berbers who had a large following
of Nukkārī Kharijites. He pursued him up to Bāghāya, at the foot of the
Awrās, and then returned to his capital, instructing Bulukkīn b. Zīrī to
continue the pursuit. It was only in the following year, in Rabīʿ II 359/
February 970, that Abū Khazar was subdued. See Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil,
vol. 7, p. 35; Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh, vol. 4, p. 62 (trans. Berbères, vol. 2, p.
548); Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, p. 705; and also Document 38
below, where the same expedition is referred to. It took place after Jawhar’s
conquest of Egypt (Shaʿbān 358/June–July 969) and the minting of new
coinage in Egypt bearing the name of al-Muʿizz.
241. It was not until 22 Shawwāl 361/6 August 972 that al-Muʿizz left
al-Manṣūriyya. He then spent four months at a base in Sardāniyya, near
al-Qayrawān, preparing for his final departure from Ifrīqiya. After long
stops on his journey, he entered Cairo on 15 Ramaḍān 362/11 June 973
(al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, pp. 100, 134; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 7, pp.
45–46). Bulukkīn b. Zīrī was appointed deputy to govern Ifrīqiya. He
accompanied al-Muʿizz up to Cairo and then returned to al-Manṣūriyya
to take up his post. Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 7, p. 46. See also Mohamed
Yalaoui, ‘Sur une possible régence du prince fatimide ʿAbdallah b. Muʿizz
en Ifriqiya au IVè/Xè siècle’, Les cahiers de Tunisie, 22, nos. 85–86 (1974),
our lord to inform [him] what had reached his ears about this matter
and requested him not to part from him, because for him happiness
was associated with being able to look at the face of the Commander
of the Faithful. (The imam) replied to him on the back of the letter:
O Jawdhar, we have acquainted ourselves with your note. This is a
thing said by ignorant people and those who do not know what we
intend to do. No, by God, we have not thought of doing that to you
for several reasons. The first is that we would not like to keep away
from you the favours that God grants us and we want you yourself
to be witness to it. The second is that you are not of those that we
find importunate who must be got rid of. The third is that you have
matured in obedience to God and to us. The fourth is that you will
not find anyone who will help you sincerely to deal with current
disorders caused by ambitions of individuals and their tempera-
ment; you would find neither support nor backing, nor anybody
who would stand by you, let alone do other things as well. Do not
worry about these rumours; keep intact your strength of spirit.
By God, we have left you here only out of compassion and pity for
you. Nevertheless, we know well that if you were not by our side for
such an endeavour, it is because you would not be among the living
today. Do not worry; you will not part from us until you accomplish
the pilgrimage and make the pious visit to the tomb of our ances-
tor Muḥammad, may God bless him and his progeny, by the grace
of God for us and for you. I swear to you that the wishes which we
form for you in our heart of hearts are not other than those that
we have expressed, and we wish for you still more well-being and
happiness. We shall try to find for the people of this time someone
we want for them and with whom they will be in agreement, until
we have reached our purpose. May God show us the right way. May
we find in the one whom we leave behind intentions like yours and
a commitment to our reign similar to yours. May God be favourable
and propitious to us, by His power and His force, God willing.242
37
(The ustādh) wrote a note in which he mentioned the matter of the

route of the journey [to Egypt] and other matters relating to obser-
vation posts along the route. He said that many men in the service of
the state did not have passes or permission to travel and abandoned
pp. 7–22.
[their] resolve [to travel]. He feared that disagreements would arise

between them and the slaves responsible for observation posts. He
said that among those that did not have permits there were the heirs
of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī.243 He asked our lord and master, the Commander
of the Faithful, what was his decision on this matter. (The imam)
replied to him:
Only issue permission to those who have a pass. As for the sons
of al-Ḥasan, we have not been sparing in our benevolence towards
them, granting them the most esteemed place in our thoughts.
Then how can we be mean [towards them] with the least of our
material favours? God forbid! Instruct, therefore, Muḥammad b.
Ḥasan244 to record all mounts that belong to him, so that Jawhar
can write for them a pass to this effect and grant them free passage
wherever they go on these or other routes. You know that the bond
that Ḥasan had with you is the consequence of the favour of God
and His friends. He departed happy to his Lord at the time of his
happiness. We would not like it to be upon anyone other than us the
care to show them benevolence, so that God completes the happi-
ness for him and for those that he has left behind. If Muḥammad
avoids out of respect to speak to us of such circumstances, then
it will happen to them what we do not wish for them. Therefore,
examine yourself their situation and say what must be said about it.
Take care of them like you took care of their father before. Choose
those whom you look after and those whom you must take care of,
those whose fathers have always had the good fortune under the
reign of the rightful, under the banners of our loyal followers. May
God grant us to achieve through them what He granted us through
their forefathers, God willing.
243. On al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī see note 139 above.

244. He is Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī
who returned to Ifrīqiya from Sicily together with the other members of his
family in 358/968–969, in accordance with al-Muʿizz’s instructions to his
brother Aḥmad who was then governor of Sicily. While Aḥmad was placed
at the head of a naval expedition, Muḥammad accompanied al-Muʿizz to
Egypt and remained with him. Al-Muʿizz was particularly fond of him.
During Muḥammad’s last illness, al-Muʿizz paid him a visit, and when he
died in Cairo in 363/974, his body was washed by the distinguished jurist
al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān. Al-Muʿizz invoked a prayer upon him and he and his
son prince ʿAbd Allāh placed him in the coffin. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā,
vol. 3, p. 60, vol. 5, pp. 534–535.
38
When our lord left on his expedition to Biskra 245 and the ustādh
went to al-Mahdiyya, the Commander of the Faithful passed near
a spring called ʿAyn Kisrā (Spring of Chosroes). He stopped there,
remembered the ustādh and said, ‘May God remember Jawdhar
graciously, because he would be happy to stop by this water and
drink from it. Bring green pitchers.’ 246 They were brought to him
and filled in front of him and sealed. He dispatched them together
with a note for Muḥammad the secretary,247 whose text is as follows:
O Muḥammad, send to Jawdhar, may God keep him in good health,
what we send him under our seal. Let him know that we thought
of him at ʿAyn Kisrā. God has had for him a thought of mercy and
protection. We ordered two containers of water to be filled for him
in front of us at the very source of the spring, which we send to him.
We send him also five dinars of the blessed coinage struck in Miṣr
in our name,248 by the grace of God and His immense favour, so that
he sees them and that they bring him blessings. I hope that God will
prolong his life so that he makes the pilgrimage with us, and we
will give him (dinars) struck for us in Baghdad. God has realised
our hopes. Let him know that we are in good health, that (God’s)
bounties to us follow in succession, and that we have with us troops
which God uses for deeds that satisfy Him to the indignation of
our enemies wherever they may be. Let him be restful, we have said
every good thing by which God will make him rejoice. May God be
praised abundantly as He deserves.249
245. An oasis town in the province of al-Zāb at the foot of the Awrās.
On it see J. Despois, ‘Biskra’, EI2, vol. 1, pp. 1246–1247. The expedition,
also referred to in Document 36 above, was against Abū Khazar. Both
Documents 36 and 38 can be dated from 358/969, since the latter refers to
Jawhar’s conquest of Egypt.
246. These pitchers were perhaps made from green clay (ghaḍār), like
those made particularly in Tunis (Ibn Ḥawqal, Ṣūrat al-arḍ, p. 75).
247. He is Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān, Jawdhar’s secretary.
See Document 15 above.
248. These dinars were struck in 358/969 by Jawhar after the conquest of
Egypt (al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, pp. 115–116). Jawhar also sent sumptuous
gifts to al-Muʿizz after the conquest. Ibn al-Zubayr, Kitāb al-Dhakhāʾir
wa-al-tuḥaf, pp. 67–68 (trans. pp. 103–104).
39
The illness from which the ustādh suffered worsened from time to
time to such an extent that he feared for his life. He wrote to our lord
a note in which he explained to him his condition and beseeched
him to fulfil his request so that he would be gladdened by it during
his lifetime. On that day, the imam was busy, so the note remained
unread until the following day. The following morning (the imam)
read it and wrote on the back of the note:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you against all calamities, grant you
good health and, by His grace, dispel from you all danger. Your note
reached us yesterday, while we were busy and we were unable to
acquaint ourselves with it until today. By God, we are saddened and
grieved at what you have described of your condition. We supplicate
God to deliver you from your condition. Do not be alarmed, for
you will only worsen your state. How many patients have regained
health, while how many healthy individuals have had their death
hastened! For you, God be praised, you are completely well in your
life and [after] your death also, because God has bestowed upon
you the satisfaction of His friends, while He has deprived others of
it. Do not worry. Put your trust in God, for God will not cause your
enemies or those envious of you to find in you any reason to rejoice.
By God’s grace, your request will be granted to you and God will
keep you alive until you make with us the pilgrimage to the Sacred
House of God and visit the tomb of our ancestor Muḥammad, peace
be upon him. ‘That is not difficult for God’ (14:20). We send you
a potion that we prepared for an illness similar to what you have
described to us about yours. We have found it effective. Drink it
before or after meals, whichever. I hope that God will bring you by
it recovery and blessing. Let us know after that your condition, may
God improve it, and how you are after having drunk this potion. I
hope that it will do you good, God willing, just as God granted us
joy with it.
40
The imam decided to have a wall built around Zawīla,250 like the
one that surrounded al-Mahdiyya. He ordered (the circumference
250. Zawīla was a large suburb on the outskirts of al-Mahdiyya where

the bulk of the population of the area resided and which was also the
commercial sector of the town. On it see al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, pp. 29–30
of Zawīla) to be measured. The letter of the ustādh, in the name

of the Commander of the Faithful, was sent to Nuṣayr, his deputy
in al-Mahdiyya. The reply arrived with the total measurements
and an estimate of the sum of money required to cover the cost of
the project. When the Commander of the Faithful had acquainted
himself with (the contents of the letter), he gave the following reply:
This is a construction that we consider imperative. The name of
al-Mahdiyya is great. It is the excellent foundation and the seat
of the kingdom. Any harm that reaches it will cause suffering to
ourselves and be painful to our hearts. May God protect it. We do
not find excessive the expense that you have mentioned, God will-
ing.
41
The ustādh reminded (the imam) regarding the request (that he had
addressed to him). The following reply came back to him:
We shall fulfil it, O Jawdhar, and we will cast on your request a
glance of our eyes. By God, we wish your happiness and would
like it just as you would like our own happiness, because God has
granted you to make us satisfied with you and has placed you in
favour with us. Do not worry. You will obtain what you wish, God
willing.
42
(The imam) addressed to him on his own initiative a note in which

he said:
O Jawdhar, we know that you like to wear leggings.251 Therefore, we
send you a pair of leggings made of khazz252 which were worn by
(trans. pp. 66, 68).

251. Reading al-rānāt instead of al-zānāt as in the manuscripts. Besides
protecting against cold, such leggings afforded some protection from
injury in battle. Abū al-Faḍl Naṣr b. Muzāḥim al-Minqarī, Waqʿat Ṣiffīn,
ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn (Qum, 1382), p. 329.
252. The original meaning of khazz was a kind of rabbit, whose hair
was used in textile production and that was called ṣemer arnāvīm, ‘wool
of rabbits’, in medieval Hebrew sources (Moshe Gil, ‘References to Silk in
Geniza Documents of the Eleventh Century A. D.’, Journal of Near Eastern
al-Manṣūr bi-llāh. Then we ourselves used them when we needed

them. Use them yourself, recognising the blessing and bliss from
God, God willing.
43
The ustādh was very concerned with the situation of those who
sought his protection. He wrote a note in which he requested that
Maymūn b. Futūḥ al-Niqāwusī be granted pay at the same rate as
Ghānim the secretary.253 He received the following reply:
May Maymūn be looked after, for his father Futūḥ and for his dedi-
cation to our cause. How would he not make an excellent servant
since he is better than his father? What an excellent offspring! Let
his pay and the pay of Ghānim be the same. Inform Khalaf the
secretary on our behalf, since both receive their pay from him, God
willing.
44
The imam attended the (congregational) prayer every Friday of

the month of Ramaḍān.254 On one Friday of this month he did not
attend. The heat was terrible. The ustādh was concerned and wished
to inquire to find out [the reason for] this. He wrote a note in which
he described the anxiety and the fear that he felt and asked how (the
imam) was. He received the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you. We read your note in which you
said that your mind was concerned [about us]. Everything is fine,
God be praised. We beseech God to grant that this revered month
sees us in a state that will please Him, in the glory of His friends,
the humiliation of His enemies and the victory that He will give to
truth over falsehood. He will not fail to keep His promise. What
Studies, 61 (2002), p. 37). The term khazz is also used for fabrics made
from a mixture of wool or camel hair and silk; and it is also rendered as
‘beaver skins’. R. B. Serjeant, Islamic Textiles: Material for a History up to
the Mongol Conquest (Beirut, 1972), pp. 211, 219.
253. On Maymūn and Ghānim see Document 3 above relating to their
complaint against Rayyān al-Ṣaqlabī.
254. Subsequently in Fatimid Egypt, the Friday prayer during the
month of Ramaḍān was accompanied by an elaborate ceremonial. On it see
al-Qalqashandī, Ṣubḥ, vol. 3, pp. 505–508.
prevented us from coming out on that day was the terrible heat that
reminded the heedless of the heat of hellfire, which is the abode
of the impious. I ask God for us and for our loyal followers who
are brought near to Him through obedience to us, protection and
deliverance from His punishment. May He grant us our wish for
His mercy and the happiness of His paradise. He is munificent and
generous.
45
ʿAbd Allāh b. Rafīq had asked to be invested with the functions of

head of the municipality and commissioner of police of al-Mahdi-
yya. He offered an increase of revenues of a kind so that (his offer)
would be acceptable because of the extra money that it raised.255 The
ustādh consulted our lord on this matter, who sent him his exalted
order to invest him with (these functions). When he was in charge,
he committed excesses on the population. He apportioned fertile
lands unjustly and resorted to false criminal accusations against
honourable people, so that complaints became frequent; people
complained about injustice and implored (God’s) help against him.
There came a letter from Nuṣayr in which he mentioned all that.
Then came a letter from Ibn Rafīq in which he mentioned that
Nuṣayr was obstructing him. (The ustādh) conveyed the two letters
together to our lord and, at the same time, sent him a note in which
he asked him to define for him what he should do about this matter.
When our lord had acquainted himself with the case, he gave him
the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health. What Ibn Rafīq
blames in the behaviour of Nuṣayr is something for which one must
thank Nuṣayr. You know that al-Mahdiyya is the sacred territory
of ours and our pure forefathers. It is the city that deserves the
most that justice should reign therein and bounties should spread
therein, for reasons which would be too long to explain. God knows
that we do not accept this oppression and injustice for any people
who are under our obedience, even if they happen to be far from us
255. Here it appears that the head of the municipality of al-Mahdiyya,

who was also its police commissioner, collected taxes, market tolls and
other dues for the Treasury. A candidate presented an estimate that he
could raise for the Treasury for consideration, and a rival candidate would
offer to raise more.
and if their abode is distanced from ours. We have endeavoured to

stop that and remove (injustice) from them; then how can we allow
such practices among the inhabitants of al-Mahdiyya? If there is
no other way than this to increase funds [for the Treasury], may
God not gather them and may He not increase them. You know
that in al-Mahdiyya and elsewhere there are people who wish us
misfortunes which we pray to God to turn back on their heads. If
we unleash against ourselves hostility, make ourselves hateful to
the population, and expose ourselves to the abomination of God,
the Glorious, the Mighty, we shall have only fulfilled the hopes of
our enemies regarding ourselves. May God forbid that we should
not have in our heart of hearts, for the community on which God
has ordered us to watch, such good intentions as those that we
demonstrate publicly. Thereby we shall cause to trickle upon us
the satisfaction of God. By doing its contrary, we shall hasten His
abomination and His wrath. May God guard us and our followers
from that. Inform Ibn Rafīq (what we think); tell him that we do not
allow him such behaviour, that we are dissatisfied to see him act in
this manner, and that we prefer that he make himself liked by the
people, rather than increase the sums that he collects. Praise be to
God, Lord of the worlds.
46
When Aḥmad b. [al-]Ḥasan b. ʿAlī256 arrived from Sicily, there

had been a disagreement between him and his brothers, namely,
Muḥammad257 and Mūsā,258 sons of Ḥasan b. ʿAlī. Since Aḥmad
corresponded with the ustādh, in accordance with a habit that was
established long ago, the ustādh feared lest Muḥammad b. Ḥasan
suspect him of having more sympathy for his brother than him.
He felt the need to inform our lord about it and state that he would
refrain from intervening between them in any of their matters, so as
not to expose himself to blame in this matter. The imam gave him
O Jawdhar, you mentioned the matter of Aḥmad and your refrain-
ing from intervening between him and his brothers, fearing lest a
squabble break out between you and them. What you decided is
256. On Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan see note 198 above.

257. On Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan see note 244 above.
258. On Mūsā b. al-Ḥasan see Document 73 below in which he is blamed
for a misunderstanding between Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan and Jawdhar.
right, even though you only wish each of them well individually.
May God help you. But, by God, we are embarrassed at their situ-
ation, because people have taken sides on (the matter) and listened
to them to such an extent that it appears that they expect a battle
between Arabs and non-Arabs.259 I don’t know the cause of that,
nor the meaning of it. We have received no sign to give us any indi-
cation. As God knows, we have not heard anything reprehensible,
either from the one who is here about the one who is not here, or
from the one who is not here about the one who is here, so we do
not know the cause of the horrible rumours about them, as if each
of them wanted to wrong the other and kill him. Most (rumours)
that have reached us say that there are among them foolhardy and
vile people who fear that, if their elders agree among themselves,
they would restrain them and oblige them to observe the require-
ments of propriety; besides they prefer disagreement of the chiefs
and of the one among them viewed favourably, so they exacerbate
the situation between them. I can only compare this scoundrel
Ṭāhir260 to Qāsim,261 may God curse him, who stirred up a dispute
between al-Mahdī bi-llāh and al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh from which
resulted every misfortune, while he remained aloof. May God curse
him. He resembles (Qāsim). ‘We are to God and it is to Him that we
return’ (2:156). If they are in such a situation, in spite of the status
which they enjoy with us, then it is a concern for us which we had
259. In 359/970, after the departure of Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan, al-Muʿizz

appointed al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī’s client Yaʿīsh as governor of Sicily. In that year
there was an uprising in Sicily and a fierce battle between the Arab tribes
of Sicily and the Kutāma clients (Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, vol. 7, p. 39). Apart
from the Kutāma Berbers, the non-Arab inhabitants of the island also
included Blacks and Slavs.
260. On Ṭāhir b. Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Kalbī, see Document 54
below.
261. Qāsim was al-Qāʾim’s son and heir apparent, but he predeceased
his father. Then Ismāʿīl (al-Manṣūr) became his father’s heir apparent.
(al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 130.) Ibn ʿIdhārī reports that in 316/928,
while al-Qāʾim was conducting operations against Berber tribes in the
Maghrib, he learnt from a letter he received from Qāsim of rumours about
al-Mahdī having designated as heir apparent his other son Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad.
This troubled al-Qāʾim and he returned promptly to al-Mahdiyya without
engaging the enemy (Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol. 1, p. 193). Qāsim is blamed
here for the subsequent discord among members of the Fatimid family. It is
interesting to note that subsequently, on 3 Rabīʿ I 404/12 September 1013,
al-Muʿizz’s grandson al-Ḥākim appointed as his heir apparent a descendant
of Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad. See al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 2, pp. 100–101.
not expected. As for the request that Aḥmad has made to lodge Ibn
ʿAmmār262 in the house that we built for him, he will reside in the
place where he was during the lifetime of his paternal uncle. Then
he will move into the house at the time when we order him to do so
and which we shall choose for him, God willing.
47
Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ṭallās worked under the authority of the

ustādh at the storehouses of the navy. When he died, Nuṣayr wrote
to inform of his death and the ustādh conveyed that (letter) to our
lord the imam. When he had acquainted himself fully with it, he
wrote back to him:
O Jawdhar, take for him a shroud from Ḥusayn b. Muhadhdhab,
similar to that which he provides for the elders of (our) Kutāma
followers. Send it with a messenger to Nuṣayr so that (Aḥmad) is
buried. May God have mercy upon him. He was always sincere. May
God grant him the reward for his past (services), God willing.
48
The administration of the domains of Muẓaffar263 had come under

the ustādh. The money that they raised was allocated to the depart-
ment of al-Manṣūriyya and was separate from revenues (from
properties) which the ustādh managed at al-Mahdiyya, and which
served to provide for the maintenance of slaves that he had under
his authority. He needed to include the money that came from these
domains in the overall sum of his expenses allocated to the main-
tenance of slaves, because his receipts were not enough to cover the
different types of expenses that he had to incur. He wrote a note [to
the imam] on this matter and received the following reply:
We do not doubt your good administration and (we are sure) that
if you found ways to store air, not to mention anything else, you
262. Regarding the house, see Document 80 below, and on Ibn ʿAmmār
see note 187 above. See also Document 2 above relating to a Slav taken
prisoner by him at the battle of Rametta, and Document 6 above regarding
a request by him and his cousin Aḥmad to obtain horses from Jawdhar.
263. Muẓaffar al-Ṣaqlabī was put to death in 349/960 under al-Muʿizz.
On him see note 53 above.
would do it, but without depriving it to those that have a right to it.
Do therefore for these domains whatever seems good to you, and
use their income for expenses that you have to incur. We are satis-
fied for everything that comes from you. Praise be to God, Lord of
the worlds.
49
A letter came to the ustādh from Aḥmad b. [al-]Ḥasan, during the

time when he was in Sicily,264 in which he mentioned that he had
suffered an illness and spoke of the matter of the cutting of wood
in the fortified towns where it was being cut.265 (Jawdhar) conveyed
(the letter) to the Commander of the Faithful and wrote a note in
which he said:
O my lord, may God bestow His blessings upon you. Herewith is
the letter of your servant Aḥmad b. Ḥasan who urged your slave
to [write this] note, since a passage in his (letter) requested him to
do so, after he disclosed the nature of the illness which he suffered,
saying, ‘Speak of me to our lord; perhaps he will pray for me to be
delivered from suffering that I feel, and obtain through the blessing
of his prayer and pity the benefit and help of God in this world and
the Hereafter.’
He received the [imam’s] reply on the back of the note:

We have acquainted ourselves with the letter and we return it to
you. May God preserve him in good health and grant us by him
favour; may He, by improving his condition, sadden the enemies of
our community by His might and power. What (Aḥmad) mentioned
regarding the matter of the wood, we have already heard. However,
you will insist upon him to make every effort in this matter, so
that God may, by His grace and the favour of His action, remove
difficulties of this task. As for the cause that you mentioned of the
departure of those who were employed in this matter of the wood,
264. That is between the years 341–358/953–969. Hence, this document

dates from before the end of 358/November 969, when Aḥmad was recalled.
See note 198 above.
265. As indicated in Documents 52 and 56 below, the wood from
the forests of the north-west of Sicily was undoubtedly meant for the
construction of the fleet for the expedition to Egypt. The fortified towns
in the region included Taormina and Rametta whose Christian inhabitants
were employed in the cutting and transportation of the wood.
like the inhabitants of Taormina and Rametta,266 you will inform

him that we pray to God that He increase for us this cause by the
departure of the remaining people of this distorted and altered reli-
gion, full of lies about our Lord, the Mighty, the Glorious, object
of (God’s) anger, that will bring about for its adherents the painful
punishment of God. God will bring it about and grant our wishes
on this matter once and for all. Oh how great are the favours which
we think to witness or obtain, but only because of the grace of the
One who dispenses them, and besides whom there is no god, none
to be worshipped other than Him. It is in Him that we put our trust.
He suffices us, and He is an excellent guarantor.
50
Nuṣayr complained to (the ustādh) about a secretary that he had,

called Aḥmad b. Rayḥānī, who was his private secretary and worked
in the service under his authority. (Nuṣayr) mentioned that (Aḥmad)
often engaged in drinking and was often seen drunk, and that he
was not certain that (Aḥmad) would divulge his secrets while he was
drunk. Therefore, the ustādh wanted to apply to him the punish-
ment of beating with the cane.267 Then he consulted the Commander
of the Faithful, who sent to him the following reply on this matter:
O Jawdhar, let Nuṣayr apply to this fault of his secretary an admoni-
tion and a warning, without resorting to any force on him by beat-
ing or something else. If his situation is redressed for him, he will be
fortunate. If not, he has a capacity among his colleagues to replace
him, if he wants. However, he should do that only if (Aḥmad)
repeats his fault, because a slave who has been beaten with a cane
is not suitable to be entrusted with secrets. Praise be to God, Lord
of the worlds.
266. Taormina was conquered in 351/962, and Rametta, the last

remaining Christian stronghold on the island, fell in 354/965 during
Aḥmad’s governorship. The departure of the Christian population is
related to these events. Subsequently, in 358/968, al-Muʿizz ordered the
evacuation of Taormina and Rametta and the two strongholds were razed.
al-Nuwayrī, Nihāya, vol. 24, pp. 370–374. See also note 297 below.
267. Cf. punishment for drinking intoxicants in al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān,
Daʿāʾim, vol. 2, pp. 463–464 (trans. vol. 2, pp. 466–468).
51
The ustādh received a letter from Nuṣayr268 the treasurer, gover-

nor of Tripoli. This happened after the arrival to him of the fleet
commanded by Aḥmad b. Ḥasan.269 (Nuṣayr) expressed his longing
to see the face of our lord and wished [him] to come to perform the
prayer of the festival with him.270 He mentioned the total of the sums
that he had collected and the amount that he had spent for this fleet
and its crew. He described the stable situation of the country. The
ustādh conveyed his letter. When the Commander of the Faithful
had read it, he gave the following reply on the back the letter:
O Jawdhar, write to him and inform him of the excellent opinion
that we have of him. Tell him that we are happy with his administra-
tion. God has not deprived him of His help ever since he exists and
He will not deprive him now. Let him strive devotedly to provide
services and good counsel. Ever since we know him, we have not
seen any shortcoming on his part. May God grant him as reward
happiness and blessing. Regarding what he said about our prayer
in this blessed month and his desire to have his wish fulfilled,
[tell him that] anyone who serves us like he does is present with
us, even if he is absent in person. How many absentees are present
while those present are absent! The one who wants excellence and
seeks to multiply it, God helps him to obey us and accomplish acts
which satisfy us. The one who is overcome with his vileness, he will
not see us, even if we entered between his eyelids. The one whom
God makes blind, incapable of considering His benevolence, he has
neither the vision nor the perception by which he would be able to
see us. Let him praise God for what He has granted him of our satis-
faction and let him thank Him. He can give thanks for this (favour)
only with the help of God. As for the money that, as he says, he
has distributed after having collected it, that which he spent on our
order and for our important endeavours, it is as if it had been remit-
268. Nuṣayr the treasurer is apparently the same as Nuṣayr mentioned in

the previous document. Hence he would have left his duties in al-Mahdiyya
to take up the governorship of Tripoli.
269. On Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan al-Kalbī see note 198 above.
270. Nuṣayr’s letter dates from before the end of Dhū al-Ḥijja 359/end
October 970 when Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan died. Aḥmad, who left Sicily at the
end of Shawwāl/end August or beginning of September, had not yet arrived
in Tripoli where he became ill and died. The day of the Feast of Sacrifice
was on 10 Dhū al-Ḥijja 359/16 October 970.
ted to us. Is not money meant to be spent thus? Praise be to God

who has decreed that it be spent on what satisfies Him and brings us
glory forever, extends our power and fulfils the hopes of [our] fore-
fathers and ancestors. By God, if the mountains of Ifrīqiya were of
gold and silver which we expended on expenses, God would replace
them by the favours and the bounties which He has already granted
us, and they would be quite insignificant compared to that. The
blessing that God has bestowed on our wealth is one of the great-
est signs and the best proof. I beseech God for help. By God, what-
ever we lost during the service that Nuṣayr exerted under us and
his administration when he was at our residence, especially after
Jawhar’s absence—may God keep him safe and sound and grant him
victory—the deficit in the collection of money was compensated by
savings that he made in the finances of Tripoli in a year. After the
departure of (Nuṣayr) we had relied on Jawhar, and we found in him
and with him everything that we wished. However, since (Jawhar’s)
departure, matters have been neglected;271 everyone followed the
savage nature of his passion; there was no more Treasury or guard-
ians [of the Treasury]; there were no more slaves. There was no situ-
ation from which one could know what one wanted. Praise be to
God in all circumstances.
52
When warships were being constructed in al-Mahdiyya, their exter-

nal parts which are completed by masts, yards and other similar
things could not be finished. As the ustādh had fine pieces of timber
in his warehouse, he offered them respectfully to the Commander
of the Faithful and sent him a note about the matter. When our lord
had acquainted himself with what he had written, he gave him the
following reply:
No, by God, O Jawdhar, we would not like to deplete your ware-
house of such timber. Let it remain with you as a treasure for us. Let
271. Nuṣayr, Jawdhar’s deputy in al-Mahdiyya, was summoned to

al-Manṣūriyya to act as an official in the Treasury. Subsequently, he was
sent to Tripoli as governor, and the savings that he made within a year on the
finances of Tripoli contributed to financing the land and sea expeditions to
Egypt. Jawhar had played an important role in the financial administration
in Ifrīqiya after Nuṣayr left for Tripoli. Then, once Jawhar left Ifrīqiya for
Egypt, there was no one capable to replace him to administer the finances,
Nuṣayr being in Tripoli.
Nuṣayr seek to buy everything for which he finds the means to buy.
We have hopes which we wish that God will fulfil and make us see
their realisation. May He also fulfil the hope that you have to satisfy
Him and satisfy us, and to draw near to Him by your zeal. He is
abounding in graciousness and His bounties are immense.
53
When Naẓīf al-Rayḥānī the Secretary died, the imam invoked God’s
mercy upon him. Then the ustādh asked permission to continue to
his son, who was a small child, the emoluments of his father. Our
lord sent him the reply:
Let Naẓīf’s son be looked after on behalf of his father. If the child
is not educated, he will not be useful as an adult. Education has an
importance which has no equal for a mature man who has already
had accidents and recovered from them.272 He understands that
this is necessary by force of circumstances. He is not like the one
who thinks that he is reared for happiness and supported before he
becomes suitable for a place for which he is considered worthy. Take
care of him and awaken his mind. You will gain benefit from him,
God willing.273
54
When Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan arrived from Sicily,274 upset by his

son Ṭāhir’s companionship with Prince Tamīm275 and the awful
272. Literally: ‘that has been broken and repaired’ (kusira wa-jubira).
The expression was used by al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām, the Companion of
the Prophet, to describe the most courageous. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan Ibn ʿAsākir,
Taʾrīkh madīnat Dimashq, ed. ʿUmar b. Gharāma al-ʿAmrawī (Beirut,
1995–2001), vol. 18, p. 385; and Muḥammad b. Mukarram Ibn Manẓūr,
Mukhtaṣar Taʾrīkh Dimashq li-Ibn ʿAsākir, vol. 9, ed. Nasīb Nashāwī
(Damascus, 1985), p. 19.
273. This document is a testimony to the importance given among
the Fatimids to the education of sons of chief officers and servants of the
state under the supervision of the sovereign and his entourage for training
future officials.
274. Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan was recalled from Sicily by al-Muʿizz at the end
of 358/November 969. At that time Tamīm’s brother, ʿAbd Allāh, had been
already designated heir apparent. See notes 198 above and 320 below.
275. On Tamīm see note 219 above.
rumours which circulated about them, he wanted to kill his son

Ṭāhir. Nevertheless, he consulted the ustādh on this matter and
sought his advice about it. The ustādh considered it necessary to
refer the matter to the Commander of the Faithful, who sent him
this reply:
O Jawdhar, may God increase the number of our followers like
Aḥmad. By God, he has been vilified before us and defamed only
by some of (Tamīm’s) supporters, who had portrayed favourably to
his son this unfortunate young man, the company of the one who
has been the cause of his misfortune. By God, the pain that we feel
for his sake is like what we feel for the one who belongs to us; but
the son of Aḥmad leaves hope for the future, while for the one who
plots against us, there will never be any hope, because the path by
which God, the Mighty, the Glorious, raises our children is the path
of purity. One who lacks it is a burden that weighs upon his master.
Praise be to God for what afflicts and what rejoices.
Regarding what Aḥmad wants to do to his son, prevent that and
intercede with him for (his son). Let him know that the right thing
to do is to rectify all those who are depraved, without resorting to
open abomination whose disgrace would extend to himself and
whose memory would remain for days to come, for he is well aware
that it remains attached to posterity. May he control himself and do
what is appropriate for the future. His being in our presence will
rectify the disorder caused by any troublemaker who strove to cause
trouble between the two. We, on our part, shall treat their illnesses.
One who obeys us will not be troublesome. By God, God will
abase the heads of all those who rose to rejoice at their misfortune,
because they saw the favour that we granted them and bestowed
upon them. Thus we want that, as long as they live, [our favour] will
grow and increase, that it will not decline or regress. Let him know
that so that he acts accordingly and that he does not resort to any
reprehensible act on the young man, God willing.
55
Ṣāliḥ b. Bahrām the secretary, son-in-law of Naẓīf the secretary, who

has been mentioned above, related that a eunuch came to him from
the palace to tell him that one of the slave girls of al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh, had seen in her dream that al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh told her, ‘Go
to Naẓīf the secretary; if you do not go to him on Thursday before the
afternoon prayer, you will not meet him. Tell him, “Rejoice, because
you are of the members of the family of the Prophet, and you will be
among the inhabitants of Paradise.”’
The slave girl told him, ‘O my lord, I will convey to him a gift so
that I get the reward of it.’
‘Do not do so,’ he said, ‘because he will not accept it from you,
besides he does not need it.’
When the ustādh came to know about this dream, he related it to
the Commander of the Faithful [al-Muʿizz] who sent him the follow-
ing reply:
There is no doubt that such is the situation of (Naẓīf), because of
his intentions, his sincerity and the satisfaction that he gave to his
masters. By God, when we were young nobody had for us any fear-
ful respect or suspected that we were capable of discernment, while
we knew each one and his feelings, because of the power of natural
abilities that God had placed in us. We did not know of (Naẓīf) any
feeling of intrigue that could be noticed in others, rather we knew
him as a sincere man, aiming to follow the straight path to the satis-
faction of God, his Lord. He has found in death, during our reign,
the perfection of his bliss. May God’s mercy be upon him.
56
A large consignment of wood arrived from Sicily for the ustādh in

his ship. The arsenal of our lord needed wood. Therefore, the ustādh
offered it respectfully and wished that it would be accepted by him.
(The imam) sent to him the following reply:
We do not doubt that God has helped you in your intention to seek
to please us and that He has given you the possibility to do so. May
God be gracious to you and may He fulfil the noblest of your hopes
of obtaining His mercy and His pleasure. We accept from you the
spontaneous gift that you have made. Write to Nuṣayr to take deliv-
ery of it and to use it, God willing.
57
There arose between the representative of the ustādh and a man of

the Kutāma of the Ishjāna276 called Rabīʿ b. Ṣuwāt a dispute about
276. Apparently Ijjāna, a branch of the Kutāma. Ibn Khaldūn, Taʾrīkh,

vol. 6, p. 196 (trans. Berbères, vol. 1, p. 292).
a plot of land in the domain of the ustādh at this place which the
Kutāmī had seized by force, and from where he had evicted the
representative. The ustādh had sympathy and compassion for (the
Kutāma) because of their standing with this pure dynasty. The
Kutāmī claimed that he had bought this land for sixty dinars. The
ustādh presented the case before our lord and asked him permission
to pay sixty dinars to the man and refrain from litigation, given that
he was cautious about (these) things. When the Commander of the
Faithful had acquainted himself with this (case), he sent him this
reply:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you. We have read what you say in
your note. The payment of these sixty dinars is easy and quite
insignificant for being relieved from worrying about any (possible)
injustice towards people like (the Kutāma). If that is not enough,
give (the money) as alms to those whose properties he claims to
possess and relieve your mind and theirs from all worry. It is better
that justice comes from you to these humble people rather than
from them. God will make your money grow inasmuch as it satis-
fies Him, draws near to Him and is not besmirched with any prohi-
bition that would call forth His displeasure. God has protected you
from that previously and lately, and He will complete the favour
that He grants you, like the gracious bounties which He lavishes
upon our followers and which they recognise. There is no other god
than Him; He has no associate.
58
Jawhar the secretary wrote a note to our lord the Commander of the
Faithful to ask [him] to grant [him] the share of Shawdhab277 in a
house which was opposite the house of al-Baghdādī, after the death
of Shawdhab, and [to allow him] to buy the share of (Shawdhab) in
his domain. This domain was shared between Shawdhab and the
wife of Jawhar. Our lord wrote back:
O Jawdhar, here is the note that Jawhar addressed to us concerning
what you know. Give him the share of Shawdhab in the house as he
has asked, and sell to him the share of Shawdhab in the domain, by
277. Shawdhab was apparently a slave of al-Muʿizz since, after his death,
what he held reverted to his master, or he was a client of al-Muʿizz without
heirs having rights of ownership.
virtue of a right of pre-emption278 on which you agree, because he is

more deserving of our benevolence than anyone else. May God give
us many slaves like him, God willing.279
59
The ustādh wrote a note to the Commander of the Faithful to

complain about Rabīʿ al-Ṣaqlabī regarding a village called Funduq
Rayḥān.280 He said that Rabīʿ was cruel towards its residents and
humiliated the agent who acted on behalf of the ustādh in this place.
This Rabīʿ had set out to recruit sailors.281 When our lord became
acquainted with that, he sent to him the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health. By God, we do
not accept to hear about you, or about the lowest of those of your
company, any bad words, and even less so to learn that anything
unpleasant befalls you. If we inquired about the acts of these
scoundrels, we would find that they are contemptuous of God and
ourselves to such an extent that it cannot be described. May the
troubles that they cause you by their acts be eased, but we find only
these people or others who are worse than them. With none of those
on whom we have lavished our bounties and whom we have invited
to come to our assistance have we found anyone responding to our
wishes. It is as if treason and ingratitude were innate in them. We
say, ‘Praise be to God in all circumstances!’ May God not reward
278. Pre-emption (shuf ʿa) is the right of the co-owner to buy out his
partner’s share of the property which is for sale. On details of this right in
Fatimid jurisprudence see al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Daʿāʾim, vol. 2, pp. 87–92
(trans. vol. 2, pp. 70–74).
279. Jawhar, who was still a slave of al-Muʿizz, being manumitted only
after the expedition of Egypt, enjoyed the rights of a freeman with regard
to ownership of property. In a passage relating to succession of slaves and
claims of their heirs, al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān relates, in his Kitāb al-Majālis
wa-al-musāyarāt, pp. 360–361, cases of slaves of al-Qāʾim and al-Muʿizz
which explain the juridical status of some of their slaves. In a case al-Nuʿmān
referred to al-Muʿizz, he replied: ‘All our slaves who adhere to our cause
should be treated like freemen are treated in Mālikī jurisprudence with
regard to their successions and testimony, their acts and their situation as a
whole; those who do not adhere to our cause should be treated as ordinary
slaves who can only determine what their masters allow.’
280. On Funduq Rayḥān see note 190 above.
281. On the recruitment of slaves see note 231 above.
the one who has put us in the necessity to take these people into our
service. Do not let this contemptible individual become powerful in
these domains, and do not let him attain the object of his desires.
Write to the district judge to abide by our order to investigate the
nature of these events and to write to us on the accuracy of what
you know about it so that we give you the order to act in this matter,
God willing.
60
There was in al-Masīla282 a man named ʿUthmān b. Amīn about

whom the ustādh had learnt that he was corresponding with the
Umayyads, that they protected him there, that they provided for his
needs, and that he attacked the authenticity of the genealogy of the
(Fatimid) dynasty. Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī had not taken any measures against
him. Nor had he taken any apparent measures to restrain him. The
ustādh submitted a report to the Commander of the Faithful on
what he had learnt on this matter, out of the duty of loyalty. When
our lord had acquainted himself with his note, he sent to him the
following reply:
O Jawdhar, the One who has been gracious to us suffices us (as
protection) against that which we avoid openly and secretly. He will
reward us for what He knows about us and He will reward any man
for the faith that he has in us. What makes us increasingly patient is
the discerning knowledge we have of the ruse, envy and insolence of
most people. Even if we recompense them, we fear their misdeeds,
but we strive to redress those that we can. If we succeed in achieving
our aim, we get its reward and glory. If we do not succeed, the sin
of perdition will weigh upon the person himself, according to God’s
description of His friend, (one) of the two sons of Adam, when he
said to his brother: ‘For me, I intend to let thee draw on thyself my sin
as well as thine, for thou wilt be among the companions of the fire,
and that is the reward of those who do wrong’ (5:29). Patience brings
for us praiseworthy outcome by the grace of God.
282. al-Masīla (M’sila), a town in present Algeria founded by the future

al-Qāʾim in 315/927 during the expedition which he conducted in the
Zāb. He charged ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn with laying the foundations of the town
which served as a military outpost to the west of Ifrīqiya and became the
residence of the Banū Ḥamdūn. See al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, pp. 59–60 (trans.
pp. 123–126), and F. Dachraoui, ‘Masīla’, EI2, vol. 6, pp. 727–728.
Regarding this man whom you mentioned, we have received

similar reports to those that have reached you. It is said that Jaʿfar
has for him the greatest respect and that Ibn Rumāḥis283 does not
hesitate to satisfy his needs; he takes the utmost care of his interests,
his domains and his properties. Write, therefore, to Jaʿfar as if you
were asking him about him and to have his news; inform him that
this is what has come to your knowledge of the fact relating to him,
but without elaborating what you have learnt so that he himself tells
you what is the nature of the facts concerning (ʿUthmān), according
to him, and that you can draw some indication from his words what
he knows, God willing.
61
One day, the builder ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥajjūn was sitting beside the
ustādh and conversing with him. He was one of his close friends to
whom formerly the ustādh had rendered services. He was a faithful
man. Their conversation took place at a time when our lord would
seclude himself because of matters that had piled up on him, so
much so that only his brothers and his paternal uncles approached
him. The ustādh preferred not to importune him by his presence;
he came to see him only at the time when the table was served, with
the officers of the service. Ibn Ḥajjūn asked him, ‘How is it that I see
that the ustādh does not come in the morning and evening to see
the Commander of the Faithful, when he is in session?’ (The ustādh)
told him, ‘I prefer not to bother the Commander of the Faithful.’ Ibn
Ḥajjūn, having heard this, related the matter to the Commander of
the Faithful when he had an audience with him.
(The imam) said, ‘Glory be to God! [How can] Jawdhar be both-
ersome?’ Then, pointing with his hand at his brothers, his paternal
uncles and his sons, he said, ‘What difference is there between him
and them?’ When he returned to his palace, he wrote to (Jawdhar) a
283. He is Muḥammad b. Rumāḥis, commander of the Umayyad fleet

at Almeria during the reign of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nāṣir. He was appointed
governor of Bajjāna (Pechina) in 328/940 (Ibn Ḥayyān al-Qurṭubī,
al-Muqtabas, ed. P. Chalmeta et al. (Madrid, 1979), vol. 5, pp. 313, 462). Ibn
Rumāḥis was sent by the Umayyad caliph in 334/945–946 with weapons
and supplies to support Abū Yazīd in his rebellion, but on reaching Būna
(ʿAnnāba), Ibn Rumāḥis learnt of Abū Yazīd’s defeat and turned back. Idrīs
ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 385–386.
note in which he said:

O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health. Ibn Ḥajjūn informed
us today what you said. No, by God the Mighty, we do not find you
bothersome and we do not impose upon you in any way a fearful
respect of ourselves, because we know well the feelings that you
have for us and what you think. Whenever you want to come to
see us, at any time it may be, do come. It will bring you relief, God
willing.
62
The Commander of the Faithful had no news from Sicily. No letter or

messenger had come to him from (the island). This preoccupied the
mind of our lord as well as of his entourage. Now while the ustādh
was sitting in his quarters, suddenly he received a note written in the
hand of the Commander of the Faithful by which he wanted to bring
joy to him, and which said:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you safe and sound. We announce to you
good news, God willing. The Commander of the Faithful [ʿAlī] has
said: ‘When a rope is subjected to much tightening, it snaps.’ God
has just delivered us from the greatest concern caused to us today
regarding the polytheists. Messengers have reached us announcing
the arrival of Rabāḥ,284 slave of Ḥasan b. ʿAlī, and saying that they
left him as he disembarked. They related that they sought informa-
tion from some of those who arrived with him and they reported to
them that the polytheist had sent fifteen vessels loaded with Muslim
prisoners, presents and other things, and that they left them when
they arrived immediately after them. When that is accomplished
by the favour of God, the East will be attained, and its attainment
will bring about the death of every idol of the polytheists and other
worshippers of idols, God willing.285
284. Rabāḥ was apparently sent to Byzantine territory, probably to
southern Italy, to negotiate the release of prisoners. In the report of his
arrival, no place is mentioned, but it appears that the flotilla bringing the
prisoners was to stop at Sicily before reaching Ifrīqiya.
285. It appears that the release of prisoners was followed by a Byzantine
embassy to al-Manṣūriyya. The embassy in question may well be that of
the year 346/957, described by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān in his al-Majālis wa-al-
Musāyarāt, pp. 155, 334–338. See also Samuel M. Stern, ‘An Embassy of the
Byzantine Emperor to the Fāṭimid Caliph al-Muʿizz’, Byzantion, 20 (1950),
pp. 242–243, reprinted in his History and Culture in the Medieval Muslim
63
The ustādh wrote a note in which he said that, despite his preference
not to bother our lord, he feared that he had to do so in a matter,
among those he remembered and about which he would ask an
order, relating to maritime supplies and other questions relating to
the warehouses. He feared that (the imam) would find this bother-
some. When our lord learnt that, he wrote to him:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you safe and sound. We have acquainted
ourselves with what you say in your note. No, by God, the position
which you enjoy with us is not that of someone whom one finds
bothersome. On the contrary, we pray to God and we ask Him to
give us in our entourage many like you. Everything that comes
from you we consider as coming from the person to himself. Do not
consider yourself anything else, and thank God for the privilege
that He has granted you. Regarding our concerns, they are made
overwhelming by all sorts of things. I hope always that God will
give us a helper to deal with them, while the absence of this helper
makes our work heavier, and this is to our disadvantage, not to our
advantage. May God deliver us from the evil of those who do not
acknowledge the extent of benevolence, and may He fulfil (our)
wish in the one from whom we expect help, God willing.
64
The ustādh wrote a note to our lord to remind him of the plea made
by Muḥammad the secretary286 for his son Jaʿfar, to obtain a domain
from which he could gain his livelihood. He received the following
reply:
We have acquainted ourselves with your note. The place of
Muḥammad is like those whose intentions are sincere and whose
company already provided us with good services. We wish that God
extend our bounties to those who do not know us, and even more
so to those who know only us. We will fulfil Jaʿfar’s request because
you have appealed in favour of his plea, God willing.
World (London, 1984), article IX.

286. On Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān, Jawdhar’s secretary,
and his son Jaʿfar, see Document 15 above. Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān
accompanied Jawdhar on his final journey.
65
(Jawdhar) submitted a report to our lord stating that some young

slaves among the embroiderers had apostatised after having
embraced Islam. He explained what he had learnt of their case. (The
imam) sent him the following directive:
O Jawdhar, may God help you. Write to Nuṣayr to arrest these
apostates, imprison them, have them castigated and call upon
legal witnesses as witnesses for them. Then, if they return to Islam,
record the declarations of the witnesses and set them free. If they
continue to adhere to Christianity, caution them and warn them
again repeatedly on different days. If they return to their error,
let him have them brought out [from the prison] and have them
severed member after member in full view of everybody so that
they are an abomination for others. Let him inform them, when he
warns them during the three times, that if they persist, such will be
their punishment. Then carry out what we have said, unless they
repent, God willing.287
66
Jaʿfar, the son of al-Manṣūr the master of the Yemen,288 was held in
high regard by the (Fatimid) dynasty, and his bonds with our lord
were close kinship bonds. His standing with the ustādh was of some-
one whose rank in religion was the closest and firmly established.
(Jaʿfar) resided in al-Manṣūriyya in a house which was in the neigh-
bourhood of ʿAlī b. al-Jannān’s house. ʿAlī asked him to sell him his
287. On apostasy in Islam see W. Heffening, ‘Murtadd’, EI2, vol. 7, pp.

635–636. On the Fatimid law of apostasy see al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, Daʿāʾim,
vol. 2, pp. 479–481 (trans. vol. 2, pp. 482–484). There is no mention of
severing member after member as punishment for apostasy in works of
Islamic jurisprudence.
288. Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman was a most prolific and high-ranking
Ismaili author. His father Ibn Ḥawshab (d. 302/914), also known as Manṣūr
al-Yaman, pioneered the Ismaili daʿwa in the Yemen. Sometime after his
father’s death Jaʿfar emigrated to Ifrīqiya where he arrived during the reign
of al-Qāʾim. He died at an unknown date in the early part of al-Muʿizz’s
reign. Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, pp. 78, 570–571; Poonawala,
Biobibliography, pp. 71–75, 144, 150, 317, 323; Ismāʿīl b. ʿAbd al-Rasūl
al-Majdūʿ, Fahrasat al-kutub wa-al-rasāʾil, ed. Alinaqi Monzavi (Tehran,
1966), pp. 138–139, 153, 187–188, 190–191, 260, 280.
house, but he refused. Then (Jaʿfar) needed to borrow money and

(ʿAlī) gave him a mortgage on his house for a fixed term. When the
term was due, and as (Jaʿfar) had not found the money (to repay), ʿAlī
demanded that he vacate the house. The ustādh, having learnt of this,
submitted the matter to our lord who sent him the following reply:
By God, O Jawdhar, we are very much astonished at this, because
ʿAlī informed us two days ago of the legal document committing
(Jaʿfar). This gives us an impression which is far from what we had
considered preferable and ideal. Indeed, (Jaʿfar) deserves what has
happened to him and he deserves even the double of that, because
he behaved as someone who places his security in the hands of a
pitiless man. If by hiding from us this fact he had the thought of not
bothering us with this matter, he should have, nevertheless, consid-
ered the situation in which he was putting himself. The burden
which he now lays upon us is heavier than if he had appealed to our
generosity, because we would not have skimped with him the double
of this cursed sum. Furthermore, he would not have placed himself
in an annoying situation. He would have avoided that it become
known to those, close to us or far from us, that our follower—son of
our most splendid follower, the fortunate one by the satisfaction of
God and the satisfaction of his masters, the one who was foremost
in accomplishing charitable deeds among all those around him—
has been obliged, while he was at our court and enjoyed the greatest
favour with us, to mortgage his house in which he is neighbour to
us, even though this is the finest of dwellings. We shall save him
from this predicament and rescue him. May he not fall in a simi-
lar situation, because then he would be delivered to the might and
power (of God). Confirm this with him, God willing.
67
The ustādh wrote to our lord a note in which he mentioned that his
ship had perished. He requested our lord to grant him one of the two
ships that had been bought from the Byzantines for our lord, so that
he could make use of it to transport his cargo by sea to the East. He
said that what had prompted him to do so was that he could not find
any that he could buy, and that he feared out of respect to make this
request. The imam sent to him the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health. We do not consider
our goods to be other than your own. God has granted you our
satisfaction and our familiarity so that, if we knew that your wealth

consisted only in what you possess of our favour, we would not be
satisfied to grant you the double of it, just as we have done for others
who are less deserving than you; but we know that your wealth is
far more considerable than theirs and that your standing is greater
than theirs, because God has granted you our satisfaction which He
will complete with happiness in the Hereafter. Take, therefore, any
of the ships that you want. May God bless it for you and make you
know His blessing. The request that you have submitted to me will
be granted. You have obtained, by God, everything in your spiritual
and worldly life that you would like, by the favour which He has
granted you to enjoy near us. Have faith in God and thank [Him];
He will increase His generosity and bounties towards you. We shall
hasten the success of your request, God willing.
68
After the death of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī,289 our lord continued to invoke

God’s mercy upon him and spoke appreciatively of him every time
he was mentioned. One day he spoke of him at great length and
praised his zeal and the sacrifices he had made for the cause of God.
The ustādh was present during that. When he left the meeting, there
came a letter from Sicily from Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan,290 in which he
described the great misfortune that had struck him with the loss
of his father and the turmoil into which the calamity of his sudden
loss had thrown the country. Then [he mentioned in his letter that]
he spoke to the people and informed them that all misfortune was
insignificant as long as the Commander of the Faithful lived. The
population was calmed and he took over the direction of all matters
with a firm resolution so that it seemed that the country had not
suffered any misfortune.291 He wrote to ask the ustādh the blessing
of the Commander of the Faithful and to thank him for favours that
he had granted him. The ustādh conveyed that (letter) to our lord
the Commander of the Faithful. He received the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God bestow upon you bounties in your spiritual
and worldly life. We have acquainted ourselves with the letter of
289. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī died in 353/964. On him see note 139 above.
290. On Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan see note 198 above.
291. It seems that since his father left Sicily, Aḥmad already considered
himself independent.
Aḥmad and we return it to you. Send him a reply encouraging him

and approving the fine attitude that he has adopted by showing
patience and rejecting grief. Convey to him our feelings of sympa-
thy for them all.292 May God never deprive them of the bounties
which they enjoy there as long as they live. May He have mercy
upon Ḥasan; may He be satisfied with him and grant him satisfac-
tion. He is blissful in his death as he was in his life. If his death has
saddened us, we are rejoiced and our grief at his loss is consoled by
the certainty which we have that God has reserved for him a hand-
some reward and a noble place of return. May God grant an end
as happy as his to those who obey us and have sincere intentions
towards us. He has in Muḥammad293 and Aḥmad his successors,
and even more. May God give us His blessing in them both. You
know that Ḥasan did not achieve during our reign what they have
achieved, until he sought to satisfy us throughout his life. But he has
left to his posterity a glory and an honour of which the least bit is
worth the greatest of what he obtained from us. May God help them
to raise the construction on the bases laid down by their father, so
that He makes them realise the hopes that we have placed in them,
by His might and His power, God willing.
69
When provincial governors were seeking to outbid Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī294 for

his governorship, because he was governor with full powers, without
being bound by a contract,295 according to the rule followed until
292. The plural apparently refers to the members of the Banū Abī
al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī family.
293. On Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan see note 244 above.
294. He is Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn, governor of the province of al-Zāb
with al-Masīla as its capital. On him see note 223 above.
295. This means that, as governor, Jaʿfar had the right to exercise full
powers delegated by the caliph within his province. With the revenue that
he raised, Jaʿfar had to cover the military and administrative expenditure;
any residue left after these expenses had been met had to be paid to the
Fatimid Treasury. This gave Jaʿfar financial independence, without being
obliged to pay a predetermined guaranteed sum to the Treasury, which
would have been the case if he had been bound by a contract. The Treasury
could receive a lesser sum than had been expected from Jaʿfar, but which
it had to accept. This situation prompted some administrators, envious
of Jaʿfar’s position, to offer to pay a greater sum to the Treasury if they
could be appointed governor instead of Jaʿfar. In spite of his closeness to
Jaʿfar and concerned that Jaʿfar’s continued tenure meant less revenue for
then by (the Fatimids),296 the ustādh wrote a note about the matter to
the Commander of the Faithful in which he said:
O my lord, this is a province about which much is being said and
many rival bidders ask to lease. Its lease must be granted by contract
to those who want it. Thus, the revenues of our lord will not incur
any loss. For its good administration, it will be granted to Jaʿfar a
salary ensuring his subsistence and which he will enjoy for the rest
of his life.
70
The ustādh submitted a letter received from Jaʿfar in which he

detailed the revenue of the province. He stated that it had been spent
and that only a small sum would be added in addition to what he had
remitted. When our lord had acquainted himself with this, he sent
O Jawdhar, we have acquainted ourselves with the letter of Jaʿfar.
By God, I do not know what to say about that, but the status that
you hold in our esteem and the position which you enjoy with us
prevents us from hiding from you what we think openly and secretly.
For Jaʿfar, God knows how much we wish that his matters should be
in a better state, that they should be conducted honestly and that
the favour which he enjoys continues and remains with him. First,
for your sake and because he is affiliated to you; secondly, because
of his father and the position that he enjoyed with his masters, may
the blessings of God be upon them all; thirdly, for his own sake,
because we have commended him and raised him in dignity over
others. Then our friend or our enemy does not have the position of
a governor, but the position he holds by the favour of God and our
own favour. For the province in which (Jaʿfar) is based—by God,
there is no other god than Him—some of [our] followers and slaves
have already offered to pay us for it more or less 70,000 dinars per
year. We declined their offers and we did not withdraw our favour
from him, in due consideration of him, notwithstanding that he
would redeem less than that. If we had known that the amount of
the Treasury, Jawdhar recommends dismissing Jaʿfar and consider rival
bidders for the position if they could be bound by a contract to pay a greater
sum to the Treasury. See also Documents 70, 71 and 83 below.
296. Granting governorship with full powers, rather than a binding
contract, was the general practice in the Maghrib under the Fatimids,
according to Ibn Ḥawqal, Ṣūrat al-arḍ, p. 94.
revenue of the province were such as he has stated in his letter, if we

had questioned him on this matter and had called him to account
and that God had not given us any other means to live than that, by
God we would have found that still an inadequate present for him,
because of his position with the dynasty. However, write to him;
warn him and urge him in the matter so that you recover what he
owes, and inform us about the outcome, God willing.
71
When the ustādh read this reply, he became troubled and distressed.
He said, ‘If this province can be taxed to this large sum and if our
lord needs to say, “I leave it to you”, what is the correct way for me
to follow if I give my help and accept this situation?’ So he wrote an
eloquent note in which he said, after the invocation:
As regards the order that our lord has given to write to Jaʿfar
and notify him what he has indicated, his slave will execute this
order in a manner that, he hopes, will have the agreement of the
Commander of the Faithful, God willing. However, what bothers
the mind of his slave is that our lord leaves such a sum to Jaʿfar, in
this province, for the dignity of his slave. Our lord, may God shower
His blessings on him and on his family, has never ceased to show
an immense generosity towards his slave and all his followers and
slaves, spiritually and materially, and his bounties have always been
lavished upon them.
If his slave wished to thank him for only a part of the favours that
he has granted to his slaves, he would not be able to discharge even
a fraction of the obligation that this imposes upon him. Although
the slave of our lord accepts that a part of this amount is lost for our
lord for the dignity of his slave, he seeks refuge with God from it.
Therefore, may our lord dismiss (Jaʿfar) from the governorship of
this province today, if he so wills. His slave will give praise and be
grateful for this as long as he lives, because he only sees advantage
in what enters the Treasury of his lord.
After having read that, our lord sent to him a reply whose text is as
follows:
O Jawdhar, we have acquainted ourselves with what you mentioned.
We have never seen anyone more amazing than you. You do not
wish to accept anything that raises your dignity at the expense of
a grain of our wealth. It is a wish which one hardly meets in this
world, because a favour is considered as such only if the one who

grants it frees [the one to whom it is granted] from an obligation
or turns a blind eye [to a shortcoming] which can be there. In any
other case, this is only a just treatment and recompense. By God,
we have no doubt about the hopes that we place in you and about
your wish to do everything that satisfies us, just as we do not doubt
about that for ourselves. It is because we know about you that God
has granted you the favour and approval which you enjoy near us
and of which you are deserving. As for what you suggested [to us]
concerning Jaʿfar, to dismiss him, that would fulfil the best hopes of
those who envy him, and satisfy to the utmost degree their desire,
if we did it. Rather, we prefer to exercise patience and take upon
ourselves not to change a favour which we granted to our followers
and our slaves. If they demanded of themselves for us as much as
what we demand of ourselves for them, they would be blissful in
this world and in the Hereafter. God suffices us and He is an excel-
lent guarantor.
72
The ustādh had concern for Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī 297 and [his brother] Ḥasan
b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn298 which we have already mentioned before.
The standing which both enjoyed with the dynasty, because of
outstanding services rendered by their father and by the role they
both played in the holy war, was well known to everyone. There were
many rumours about the great concern of the ustādh for them, and
someone even went so far as to say that al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī was devoted
to Jawdhar as a slave to a master and that he never passed by the
house of the ustādh to go to the palace of our lord, the Commander
of the Faithful, without visiting (the ustādh), or other similar things.
The ustādh feared idle gossip. He took against it the greatest precau-
297. Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī (not to be confused with

Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn of Documents 69, 70 and 71) is mentioned in the
sources in connection with the destruction of the fortifications of Taormina
and Rametta, where he is referred to as the paternal uncle of the Kalbid
emir Aḥmad. In 358/968, following instructions from al-Muʿizz, Aḥmad
ordered his brother Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī (d. 372/982) and his paternal uncle
Jaʿfar to raze the two strongholds. See al-Nuwayrī, Nihāya, vol. 24, p. 374.
This Jaʿfar is mentioned also in Document 73 below, where a reference is
made to a disagreement between him and his nephew Abū al-Futūḥ Mūsā.
298. On al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī see note 139 above.
tion and protection, wishing that his name remain in obscurity.

When he learnt what was being said, he wrote to the Commander of
the Faithful, expressing the grief that he felt at this malicious gossip,
saying:
He299 is just a foreigner, a Slav, without kinship and without children.
He keeps company of these two men only on the order of al-Qāʾim
bi-amr Allāh at a time when their father was absent, conducting the
holy war.300 Since such remarks are being made about him and (the
two brothers), his slave asks (his lord) to release him of all respon-
sibility towards them.
Such were more or less his words. Having read his note, the
Commander of the Faithful gave him the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God, the Most High, keep you in good health and
be benevolent to you spiritually and materially. We have read your
note. By God, beside whom there is no god, the position that you
hold with us is not that of someone about whom we would suspect
what you fear, because you have been long enough in our company
for time to reveal to us things that would have remained hidden
from us previously. We have not brought you from al-Mahdiyya to
cause you misery, and leave that place without someone like you,
given the severity with which you acted against those who wish
that fortune turn against us, causing us misfortune which may God
make fall upon their heads. By granting you proximity to us, we
have not wanted anything else than to bring back your happiness
during the rest of your life. But because of God’s help to you, you
suspect yourself what your enemy suspects about you. One who
fears (God) is safe. Never did a man behave informally with the one
who is beneath him, without this familiarity having been his loss,
especially if he acts so with the one that is above him.
Concerning what you say regarding Jaʿfar, your situation with
his father is a situation that I believe I know better than you. May
God be satisfied with ʿAlī and grant him what satisfies him. May He
amend Jaʿfar for us as we would like and wish, and may He grant
him instead of his corrupt opinions that which will be more useful
to him. God knows well that we suffer because of him like a father
suffers because of a bad son. As for the thought that we could call
you to account for your friendship for him, may God forbid! (I swear
299. Jawdhar is referring to himself in the third person.

300. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī fought for the Fatimids in Sicily and
was killed in 326/938 during the siege of Jirjent.
it) by the sacred month, because if you do not remain in friendship

with him, he will perish with his bad judgement. For you, by God,
no doubt comes to disturb our mind about the uprightness of your
conscience and the fine feelings that you cherish for us. Concerning
the behaviour that we disapprove in Jaʿfar and others, what we want
is the well-being of all and to cause the proof of God to reign, as
He has imposed upon us (this task). One who sees clearly the right
path and hastens to what we approve will draw benefit from it and
will be fortunate; one who is blind will err and go astray. If he knew
the benefit of amendment, he would be grateful for it; he would
repudiate the acts that we disapprove, remove his certainty and our
doubts, for how can he rely on his doubts against our certainty?
Concerning Ḥasan, what you said of his situation and what is
being said about him, by God, we have heard all sorts of things
of this kind, but that has not penetrated our ears; nor have we
retained it, since, whether you both be in agreement or disagree-
ment, the absolute confidence that we have in you two would not
have changed. Never would we have been disturbed by the suspi-
cion that your coming together could lead to anything other than
advantage for us and bring together the hearts of the followers. God,
the Mighty, the Glorious, says: ‘If thou hadst spent all that is in the
earth, thou couldst not have brought their hearts together, but God
hath done it’ (8:63). God has rightly inspired to you both this idea.
One who fears God is successful; one who fears the friends of God
has already discharged the obligation that He has towards them;
one who fears the friends of Satan (al-Ṭāgūt) is already protected
from them. There is nothing in the company of those that you have
mentioned that is dishonourable for you or diminishes you, God be
praised. You can, therefore, continue to be with them as you are.
If I disapproved of you the least thing, I would forbid you it and
would guide you to what is right. But what God inclined you to do
by adhering to what satisfies your masters in your acts, formerly
and today, is a situation for which you must praise God and thank
Him to the utmost limit of your strength. By God, there is nothing
above the situation that you enjoy near us other than obtaining the
mercy of God which you hope, for which you strive and which you
aspire to earn. May God grant you the most handsome share of it,
after having made you witness with us the realisation of the hope
to see the fulfilment of the promise that God made to us and the
triumph of our cause, in spite of our adversaries, by the favour of
God, Lord of the worlds.
73
There was alienation between the ustādh and Muḥammad b. [al-]

Ḥasan [b. ʿAlī al-Kalbī],301 whose origin was jesting that resulted
in a break-up. He had learnt that this came from his brother Abū
al-Futūḥ Mūsā b. [al-]Ḥasan302 and that it was he who prompted
his brother to backbite the ustādh and tried to sow discord between
them. The ustādh decided to break with the entire family of Banū
Abī al-Ḥusayn and stop corresponding with Aḥmad in Sicily, despite
the confidence that he had in the ustādh and which he expressed in
the letters that he sent to him as well as to all his relations. (The
ustādh) wrote to our lord a note in which he mentioned what had
happened, what had befallen him, and what he had decided to do.
When our lord had read (the note), he sent him the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health, be benevolent to you
and complete His favours upon you. We have acquainted ourselves
with everything that you mentioned in your note. By God, besides
whom there is no god, we have not heard anything about this matter
except from you. We do not doubt that there is in the individuals
some resentment ever since what happened between Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī
and Mūsā b. Ḥasan. Indeed, it did not appear to us otherwise,
by God the Mighty. With regard to your bantering with them, to
which you referred, it should not have led to what has happened.
Your open rupture with them will bring about in this (matter) a
good thing which God would not have brought about. Most people
today like to engage in slander and calumnies which are not based
on anything, even more so when they have some basis. Indeed,
you are able to do what you want, without that becoming apparent
to anyone. However, do not break with Aḥmad, for you would be
committing an injustice towards him. Sometimes one feels a pain
in a limb; do you then cut it off? This and similar cases, where the
opposites confront each other, have never ceased and will never
cease to be met with in the world. Health succeeds illness; life
succeeds death; what is murky today will be clear tomorrow. Act in
such a way as to protect yourself from what a man like you ought to
301. On Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan see note 244 above. See also Document
68 above in which al-Muʿizz expresses sympathy for the death of his father,
and Document 82 below where al-Muʿizz confides in him and other
notables the designation of his son ʿAbd Allāh as heir apparent.
302. Document 46 above relates to a disagreement between Muḥammad,
Mūsā and their brother Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī.
protect himself, and display familiarity where, by the grace of God,

it will suit you, out of respect of our honour which participates in
everything that you like, serious or amusing. Hide your intimate
thoughts, so that they do not appear to people who could make tales
and fables out of them. There has been formerly between you and
their ancestors bonds so that nothing can separate you from them
or them from you. You know that when arrows of their enemies hit
them, when they had almost perished by the anger of their imam,
you appealed to us and we appealed to al-Manṣūr bi-llāh [to spare
them], and he acted towards them in a way which is worthy of him.
Since you did not abandon them at that time, you must [not] aban-
don them today, considering the marks of favour and satisfaction
that we have shown them. Perhaps they will retain their share and
return to an attitude more appropriate for them. Man is more able
to hide something that he has not yet shown than to hide it when
he has already shown it. For us, no, by God, neither they nor others
have acquainted us with anything that you have told us, but we will
endeavour, as much as possible, to put an end to what could result
from it, God willing.
74
Correspondence was exchanged between the ustādh and Jawhar

after the latter went to Egypt, and letters from Jawhar came [bear-
ing the superscription]: ‘To the ustādh Jawdhar, may God prolong
his life and perpetuate his honour. From Jawhar the Secretary, slave
of the Commander of the Faithful.’ 303 The ustādh, when he wrote
to all his correspondents, would draw up his letters thus: ‘From
Jawdhar, Client of the Commander of the Faithful, to so-and-so.’
When the ustādh learnt that our lord had given to Jawhar the title
of ‘Client of the Commander of the Faithful’, he himself did not use
this title in his letters, but continued to act as he had previously the
habit of doing and waited for a decision to be taken towards him
in this matter. He wrote a note to the Commander of the Faithful,
presenting to him the matter and asked him how he should write to
(Jawhar). Our lord replied:
303. Jawdhar, who was emancipated during the reign of al-Manṣūr

(see Part One, Section 16 above), is named first as a mark of respect
from Jawhar while he was still a slave, being emancipated only after the
conquest of Egypt. On this etiquette, in which the addressee precedes, see
al-Qalqashandī, Ṣubḥ, vol. 7, p. 60.
O Jawdhar, you have never lacked God’s help and happiness since
you exist. May they never abandon you as long as you live, until God
finally grants you endless bliss and eternal well-being, by His might
and His power, by His favour and the immensity of His benevolence.
Write to him thus: ‘From Jawdhar, Client of the Commander of the
Faithful, to his brother Jawhar, Client of the Commander of the
Faithful.’ There is in that a mark of honour. May God not deprive
our loyal and sincere servants of the happiness that He grants in
this world and the Hereafter. We bind you both by a pact of brother-
hood like that which our ancestor, the Messenger of God, may God
bless him and his posterity, established between his companions.304
75
The ustādh wrote a letter to Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī,305

governor of Sicily, to tell him that if there was anything lacking in
the cargo of his ship, then he should pay the supplement from the
money of the Commander of the Faithful and let him know the total
amount so that he could record it in the Treasury at al-Manṣūriyya
the Blessed.306 He received a letter from (ʿAlī) informing him that
there remained for the cargo of the ship only 100 dinars and which
he had paid to the agent of the person whom he had designated. The
ustādh wrote to the Commander of the Faithful to inform him about
this and to tell him that he had registered the sum of 100 dinars with
the director of the Treasury. (The imam) replied:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health. Your money is our
money and our money is your money. By God, you are a better
guardian of our wealth than we are. If we had watched over it as you
do, nobody would have drunk its water, without counting the rest.
It is you who deserve these dinars the most. May God bless you for
this money, and for all the favours which we have granted you and
304. The Prophet instituted brotherhood between the Emigrants

(muhājirūn) and the Helpers (anṣār). ʿAbd al-Malik Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra
al-nabawiyya, ed. Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā et al. ([Cairo], 1955), vol. 1, pp. 504–507,
tr. A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (Karachi, 1982), pp. 234–235.
305. On him see note 228 above.
306. Jawdhar conducted trading and imported timber from Sicily in his
private capacity. See Documents 18 and 56 above. Jawdhar’s close ties with
the ruling family of Sicily allowed him to borrow funds from the Treasury
in Sicily, for what appears to be his personal transaction, and reimburse the
sum to the Treasury in al-Manṣūriyya.
the marks of satisfaction that He has helped you to receive from us,
in this world and for the Hereafter.
76
The ustādh had remained at home for several days because of his
illness.307 Prince ʿAbd Allāh,308 may God sanctify his soul, paid
him a visit. After he left, the ustādh wrote to the Commander of
the Faithful a note in which he described the great favour that God
had bestowed upon him by honouring him with the visit of the heir
apparent of the Muslims, son of the Commander of the Faithful.
He followed this note by dispatching a precious rug, such as that fit
for kings, that he had kept ready. He asked the Commander of the
Faithful to authorise the prince to accept it. When our lord had read
his note, he replied to him:
O Jawdhar, may God grant you health and dispel from you, for us,
all danger. By God, if we had known that we could stop the pain
which you suffer by paying you a visit, we would not have refrained
from doing so. We wish that you live and be in good health, not
only because it is a good thing for you. God has already helped
and assisted you in your endeavour to satisfy Him and satisfy His
friends. I wish you happiness in all your matters; it is also so that
you witness with us the favours that God will grant us, since you will
participate with us in them. May God grant that and may He not
allow an enemy or an envious person to rejoice at your misfortune.
He is able to do whatever He wills. ʿAbd Allāh, whom I commend
to God’s protection, will accept this rug and other things. May
God increase your wealth and your happiness. We would not have
wanted that you impose upon yourself an expenditure of this sort.
The sincere dedication and affection you bear towards us have more
value for us than generous gifts from your wealth. May God grant
you health and protect you from all adversity by His benevolence
307. See Document 39 above relating to Jawdhar’s illness.

308. ʿAbd Allāh (d. 364/975), son of al-Muʿizz, was then heir apparent.
See note 320 below. He led a military expedition against the Qarmatians in
363/974, and died the following year during al-Muʿizz’s reign (Ibn Muyassar,
Akhbār Miṣr, pp. 165–166; Ibn Ẓāfir, Akhbār, pp. 26, 31; al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ,
vol. 1, p. 217). See Document 82 below relating to ʿAbd Allāh’s designation
as heir apparent; Document 84 below on Jawdhar’s first letter to Prince
ʿAbd Allāh and the latter’s reply; and Document 86 below, the last letter
Jawdhar received from the prince.
and His mercy. Indeed, He is bountiful and generous.
77
Our lord learnt that a ship belonging to the ustādh had perished,
with all the cargo that it was carrying, while coming from Sicily.309
Our lord wrote to him on his own initiative, to express to him the
grief that he felt about it, the following note:
O Jawdhar, we have learnt what has happened, by the command of
God, that your ship has perished. May God protect you from any
further test in your belongings, and may He preserve you yourself,
so that you can witness with us the accomplishment of the wishes
that you form of obtaining through us the greatest honours, mate-
rially and spiritually; that you can witness with us what God will
grant to us of the territories of the oppressors who have bartered
error at the expense of guidance; to make the pilgrimage to the
Sacred House of God, to visit the tomb of our ancestor Muḥammad,
may God bless him, thereby having accomplished the pilgrimage,
outwardly and inwardly, by the might and the power of God.
78
The ustādh submitted a note to the Commander of the Faithful

to inform him that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ṭallās310 had made a
request to him regarding a house adjoining Dār al-Baḥr311 to turn it
into a storehouse for naval equipment that he needed to store there.
Our lord had forbidden anyone to enter Dār al-Baḥr, but had allowed
Nuṣayr alone, because he was the deputy of the ustādh in the posi-
tion that he occupied. Our lord sent to him the following reply:
Leave the house under your control as it is; neither he nor anyone
else must put their hand or their foot therein. Keeping the house
309. Document 67 above relates another disaster involving Jawdhar’s

ship.
310. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ṭallās was employed at the warehouses
of the maritime administration. On him see Document 47 above relating
to his death.
311. The Dār al-Baḥr, located in al-Mahdiyya, was used as a prison. See
Abū Bakr al-Mālikī, Kitāb Riyāḍ al-nufūs fī ṭabaqāt ʿulamāʾ al-Qayrawān
wa-Ifrīqiya, ed. Bashīr al-Bakkūsh (2nd ed., Beirut, 1994), vol. 2, pp. 227,
345–346, 498. On the Dār al-Baḥr in al-Manṣūriyya see note 177 above.
under your control will cut short the ambitions of those who covet
it. Whatever is with you and in your possession will remain as it is,
under your supervision to which you devote yourself with courtesy,
(sincere) intention and firm devotion, which is irreproachable. May
God reward you for that by His benevolence and immense mercy,
God willing.
79
(The ustādh) wrote to our lord a note stating the obligation that he
had to take care of the heirs of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī.312 His mother did not
have any dwelling of her own and she had requested to be allowed
to buy a house close to the palace of the Commander of the Faithful
because of the blessing associated with it. Our lord replied to him:
O Jawdhar, God has granted to [al-]Ḥasan b. ʿAlī, may He be satis-
fied with him, His most perfect favours, outwardly and inwardly, so
that, if they had been depicted to him during his life, he would have
wished that his death was hastened. May God grant him further-
more His forgiveness and His satisfaction. The place that his chil-
dren and his family hold in our regard is such, by God, that, in our
opinion, the gift of the most considerable of favours of God would
not be considered too great for them. The best of those who must
be honoured are those with whom lies our satisfaction, because that
comes from us, and our satisfaction with them brings the highest
rank. God knows how much we wish for you health and perma-
nence of God’s favours. Give thanks profusely; God will increase
your happiness and bliss. With regard to the mother of [al-]Ḥasan,
may God be satisfied with him, and the request she has submitted,
by God, if she had asked us to lodge her in our palace, it would have
been easy and proper. We shall grant her especially the one that she
has asked. She deserves one of the two houses, whichever of the two
that she likes. Let us know the amount of the price so that we have
the sum disbursed to you, God willing.
80
(The ustādh) wrote a note to our lord to inform him that al-Ḥasan
b. ʿAmmār313 had asked him to gain the fulfilment of the pledge that
312. He was governor of Sicily who died in 353/964. On him see note
139 above.
313. See Document 46 above which mentions the house that al-Muʿizz
our lord had made to grant the favour that he had promised, before
(al-Ḥasan) moved to the house that he had built for him. Our lord
replied to him:
O Jawdhar, God has bestowed upon Ibn ʿAmmār the (good) inten-
tions of his father314 and his paternal uncle.315 May God be satisfied
with them both. We do not think, by God, that he will be success-
ful by flattering his uncle until God wills his happiness by grant-
ing him the excellent merit and the praiseworthy attitude that he
has had in this battle with the polytheists. We commission you to
inform him of the favour that we grant him. He can move [into
the house] any time that he wants after he receives [the notification
of] our favour to him. We shall consider for him what you have
mentioned. What God has granted him of our satisfaction is worth
more for him than all his possessions. He will not be deprived of
benevolence with us, God willing.
81
(Jawdhar) sent a note to our lord to ask him for an item of his cloth-
ing which could serve him as a shroud when he died, so as to be
blessed with it. When (the imam) had read this note, he did what was
deserving of him and sent him many clothes. He wrote the reply on
the back of his note:
had built for Ibn ʿAmmār. On Ibn ʿAmmār see note 187 above; Document 2
above relating to a Slav taken prisoner by him at the battle of Rametta; and
Document 6 above regarding a request by him and his cousin Aḥmad to
obtain horses from Jawdhar.
314. ʿAmmār b. ʿAlī, al-Ḥasan’s father, served successive Fatimid caliph-
imams. He was sent by al-Qāʾim at the head of Kutāma troops to Tunis to
fight Abū Yazīd’s forces who, under the command of Masnūyah b. Bakr
al-Hawwārī (see note 173 above), had occupied the area on 10 Ṣafar 334/21
September 945. ʿAmmār routed the rebels and returned to al-Mahdiyya.
Then al-Qāʾim stationed him at Sousse. After al-Qāʾim’s death, he continued
to serve al-Manṣūr and then al-Muʿizz. During al-Muʿizz’s reign, ʿAmmār
was sent by his brother al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī, governor of Sicily, at the head of the
fleet to Byzantine territory. On his return journey his ship capsized and he
drowned in Jumādā II 345/September 956. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol.
3, pp. 434–435, and Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, p. 278.
315. The paternal uncle of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār was al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī,
governor of Sicily. On him see note 139 above.
O Jawdhar, I ask God that He grant you the greatest of the marks
of His satisfaction and fulfil your wishes beyond your expectations.
We send you a robe of honour selected from our wardrobe and a
garment that we have worn in submission to God. It is a lined coat
in marwī316 fabric with a tunic underneath. From the wardrobe of
al-Mahdī bi-llāh we send you a lined coat of plain colour in fākhitī317
cloth with one of its tunics. From the wardrobe of al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh we send you two tunics, trousers, a turban, a white trouser-
band in Armenian cloth,318 all of them were worn by him. From
the wardrobe of al-Manṣūr bi-llāh, we send you a robe in marwī
fabric and a tunic (worn) underneath. Receive those items contain-
ing blessings for you. Keep them with you until the time to which
you have referred, after God has prolonged your term so that you
accomplish with us the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God and
visit of the tomb of our ancestor Muḥammad, peace be upon him,
and that this brings joy for your eyes, by the favour of God to His
friends, God willing.
82
We have mentioned before in our book the honour and the distinc-
tion which al-Qāʾim bi-amr Allāh granted to the ustādh by choosing
him alone and making him privy to the designation of al-Manṣūr
bi-llāh as heir apparent. We mentioned that the ustādh kept the
matter secret for seven years.319 Then the Imam al-Muʿizz li-dīn
Allāh did the same with him, making him alone privy to the desig-
nation of Prince ʿAbd Allāh as heir apparent,320 at al-Mahdiyya,
316. Meaning from Marw, in the Iranian province of Khurāsān. Marwī

fabric was made from cotton. See Serjeant, Islamic Textiles, pp. 87–90.
317. A kind of silk imported from Khūzistān. Dozy, Supplément, vol.
2, p. 244.
318. On trouser-bands (tikka, pl. tikak) see Reinhart Dozy, Dictionnaire
détaillé des noms des vêtements chez les Arabes (Amsterdam, 1845), pp.
95–99. Trouser-bands in Armenian cloth were renowned. Ibn Ḥawqal,
Ṣūrat al-arḍ, pp. 231–232; Serjeant, Islamic Textiles, pp. 61–62.
319. See Part One, Section 5 above.
320. ʿAbd Allāh (d. 364/975) was the second son of al-Muʿizz, the others
being Tamīm the eldest son, Nizār, the future al-ʿAzīz, and ʿAqīl. According
to al-Maqrīzī (al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 588) al-Muʿizz first appointed Tamīm
heir apparent. Then, after Jawhar’s conquest of Egypt, al-Muʿizz wrote to
Jawdhar and confided to him that he had revoked Tamīm’s designation
in favour of ʿAbd Allāh. What prompted al-Muʿizz to revoke Tamīm’s
during the journey in which he brought the money. The ustādh kept
the matter secret from (the prince), in accordance with the order
that he had received, for seven months. Then our lord, at the end
of the seven months, made others, such as Muḥammad b. ʿAlī,321
Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan,322 ʿUslūj323 and others, make the same
commitment and asked them to keep the matter secret. The ustādh,
once he knew for certain who the heir apparent was, no longer paid
attention to anyone other than him after the imam, so that he would
say frequently, while the imam heard him during his reign:
It is only God, the Mighty, the Glorious, then our lord, and then the
one among his sons whom he designates and makes his heir appar-
ent that it is obligatory to obey; for all the remaining [members
of the family], one owes them the love for the near kindred324 and
nothing else.
After our lord left for al-Mahdiyya to pack the equipment contained
in the warehouses and then returned to his capital [al-Manṣūriyya],
and when the ustādh also had to leave al-Mahdiyya, our lord ordered
his sons and his brothers as well as all the dignitaries of the state to
come out to receive him. But our lord did not specify to the ustādh
how he should greet the princes, his sons, or who among them had
precedence over others. Our lord was anxious to know how (the
ustādh) would greet them. At that time the eyes of the populace were
designation was that Tamīm had no posterity and he led a dissolute life.
ʿAbd Allāh died in Cairo in 364/975. Then al-Muʿizz appointed Tamīm’s
younger brother Nizār, who succeeded him as al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh. See also
al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, p. 235; Ibn Ḥammād, Akhbār, p. 47 (trans. p.
71); and Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, p. 702. On Tamīm see also
Document 54, and on ʿAbd Allāh Document 76.
321. He cannot be identified in the sources.
322. He is Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Kalbī, on whom see note
244 above.
323. ʿUslūj b. al-Ḥasan al-Danhājī was a notable of the Kutāma.
Subsequently, in 363/973, he was appointed by al-Muʿizz together with
Yaʿqūb b. Killis to administer the finances of Egypt. Ibn Muyassar, Akhbār
Miṣr, pp. 163–164; al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol. 1, pp. 144–147, 216, 223, 229. On
the nisba al-Danhājī see note 137 above.
324. Cf. the expression ‘the love for the near kindred’ (al-mawadda fī
al-qurbā) in Qurʾan 42:23.
turned to the eldest son of our lord, namely Tamīm.325 When the
ustādh drew near to them, he acted according to what he thought
would discharge the duty and distinguish the one for whom God had
reserved it. He proceeded straight towards Prince ʿAbd Allāh, kissed
the ground before him, and then kissed his stirrup. The prince’s
bending sideways towards him was such that it nearly unseated him
from his saddle. Then (the ustādh) mounted, without turning his
face to others or greeting anyone else. They were filled with confu-
sion and people present considered this conduct disgraceful. Some
approved (Jawdhar’s) decision to act as he did, while others consid-
ered him to be wrong. When our lord learnt what he had done and
how he had conducted himself, he rejoiced a lot and said, ‘Ever since
Jawdhar exists, he has always been fortunate.’
Then, when they arrived [at the palace] and the ustādh left,
after having greeted our lord without the latter having spoken to
him about the matter, the inhabitants of the palace from among the
harem became deeply disturbed by this and vented upon Jawdhar
bitter reproaches which undermined his authority.326 When the
ustādh came to know about their behaviour, he was very much
affected, since our lord had not said anything to him regarding the
matter. He wrote a note to our lord, describing what had happened
and telling him that, by acting in the manner he did, he had wanted
to pay his respects only to the rightful nominee to the exclusion of
others, because his religion did not allow him to do anything other
than what he did. He described what he suffered at the hands of the
inhabitants of the palace and other persons with wicked opinions.
When our lord had acquainted himself with his note, he sent him a
reply. Here is the text of it:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health. By God, the place
that you hold with us is that which you acquired yourself, by seek-
ing the satisfaction of your masters and because you never confused
them with others. Thus, God has bestowed upon you happiness in
this world and in the Hereafter. You could have just kissed their
hand instead of kissing the ground; that would have sufficed. As
God knows, we distinguish you from them only by the privilege that
God grants to those for whom He has predilection. I have replied
to those whom you mentioned and I have defended you by saying
325. On Tamīm see note 219 above.
326. Literally: ‘which split his blades’.
that you had first of all greeted everybody by kissing the ground
as you described it to me. God has helped you, and you must not
worry about those whom that upsets or whom that rejoices. May
God complete His favours to you and grant you security and peace,
God willing.327
83
There came a letter of Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn,328 in reply to the

letter which the ustādh sent him to urge him to collect and gather
the revenue from all distant or near regions, so as to have some-
thing whereby he could seek the favour of the Commander of the
Faithful, may God bestow His blessings on him, on his forefathers
and his immaculate sons. (The ustādh) encouraged him strongly
to do so, giving him advice and relating to him what blessing his
loyalty and endeavour for the friends of God would definitely bring
him in this world and in the Hereafter. He informed him that the
total amount of revenue that he offered for the province was not
accepted by the Commander of the Faithful.329 [He wrote him thus]
so that the favour [of the imam] would be preserved for (the Banū
Ḥamdūn) and hoping that their loyalty would bring them advan-
tages in this world and in the Hereafter. Jaʿfar, in his letter, described
that those who had spoken on the matter had done so only out of
envy and that the province could not pay what they were saying, but
he would expend his efforts and use his utmost endeavour [to pay
more]. When our lord had acquainted himself with (these letters), he
sent (to the ustādh) the following reply:
O Jawdhar, may God protect you. We have read what Jaʿfar stated
in his letter that he addressed to you and likewise in his letter
addressed to us. Write to him to convey to him the kind consid-
eration and concern that we have for him. [Tell him] that the duty
for the one who is in a situation similar to his is to reciprocate the
favours with gratitude, and be diligent in accomplishing praise-
worthy efforts and satisfactory acts which he knows will guaran-
tee (those favours). If he aims (to this purpose), he will meet with
[our] approval. He knows well about his father, may God be pleased
328. On Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn see note 223 above.
329. See also Documents 69, 70 and 71 above relating to the revenue of
the province.
with him, that his position became important, his fame spread and
his masters were satisfied with him only through the effort that
he made in this province and through praiseworthy conduct. The
inhabitants (of this province) were then the most uncouth, the most
stupid and the silliest ever. God humbled them by his praiseworthy
administration. Thus, he reaped the fruits of [his] good intentions
in this world and in the Hereafter. If he attained [a status] from his
masters, by God, they never gave him at any time [as much favours
as what] Jaʿfar [obtained] beside us and during our reign, and he did
not enjoy a status as the status that his son enjoyed with us. By God,
our inner thought of benevolence towards him is even stronger than
its outer manifestation. Let him not lay himself open to any accusa-
tion of incompetence or wastage which would lead us to question
him about it and call him to account. Let him not fall down the
ladder by which his father rose up to our satisfaction and which he
bequeathed him after his death. Let us hope that this is not the case,
by the grace and favour that God grants us as well as all those who
submit to our obedience, God, the Most High, willing.
84
When our lord resolved to leave for the East, there was between
the ustādh and Prince ʿAbd Allāh, may God sanctify his soul, an
exchange of letters in which (the prince) expressed his consideration
for (the ustādh), just as his immaculate forefathers had done. The
first letter that the ustādh sent him was a letter in which he stated
his (Jawdhar’s) ordinary allocation of mules which were meant for
carrying his baggage on journeys that he made with our lord. (The
prince) sent him the following reply together with [his] prayers:
May God keep you in good health and complete the favours that
He grants you. May He increase His bounties to you and grant you
His satisfaction and the satisfaction of His friend, our lord and
master, which you hope and we hope for you before Him and His
benevolence. May He grant you to accomplish the pilgrimage with
him to the Sacred House of God and visit the tomb of our ances-
tor Muḥammad, peace be upon him. Indeed, (God) is generous
and gracious, and His kindness and benevolence are immense.
Now then! Your letter reached us, after we waited in expectation
and much longing, God knows it, to hear from you. We learnt from
(your letter) that you are safe and in good physical health, for which
we praised God, the Mighty, the Glorious, and we thanked Him for
His benevolence for us. We have implored Him, supplicating unto
Him humbly to increase His favour and His bounties to you. We

presented your letter to our lord and master. After having read it,
he replied to you in his own noble and blessed hand, at the bottom
of (the letter), what you will read. We send it to you herewith. God
suffices us and He is an excellent guarantor.
The letter arrived with the reply at the bottom. Here is the text of it:
O Jawdhar, may God keep you in good health. ʿAbd Allāh, may God
protect him, made us read your letter and the request that you made
to him to take note of the [number of] mules that you had previ-
ously the habit of taking from the stables. You feared not being able
to obtain them because of the multiplicity of our occupations and
our own need of them, [and that] we would forget you and abandon
you. May God never make you know a day when we would aban-
don you to yourself in your material or spiritual circumstances. By
God, if we had no other recourse than to give you preference to our
own self, we would do so without hesitating. You may rest assured
of retaining the favour which God has bestowed upon you to enjoy
beside us. May God make it last.330
85
Our lord left, proceeding to the East, and granted to the ustādh mules
for baggage and also mules for litters,331 including one in which he
would travel himself. He preferred him to have it. He showed cour-
tesy to him as well as to his companions and lavished gifts upon
them which cannot be described. Subsequently, during the journey,
letters were exchanged. If we chose to mention all of them, it would
unduly lengthen the book. Now when the ustādh arrived at a local-
ity called Ajdābiya,332 while his illness had become chronic, he told

331. For a description of these large litters (ʿammāriyyāt) borne by
mules, horses or camels, see al-Qalqashandī, Ṣubḥ, vol. 3, p. 471.
332. A town between Barqa and Tripoli in Cyrenaica, now in the district
of Benghazi in Libya. Ajdābiya was located at four days’ journey from Barqa
on the main road which followed the coast from Tripoli to Alexandria.
Abū al-Qāsim ʿUbayd Allāh Ibn Khurdādhbih, Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-
mamālik, ed. M. J. de Goeje (Lugduni Batavorum, 1889), pp. 85–86; Ibn
Ḥawqal, Ṣūrat al-arḍ, pp. 69–70; al-Bakrī, al-Masālik, p. 5 (trans. pp.
16–17); al-Idrīsī, Nuzha, pp. 310–311; H. H. Abdul-Wahab, ‘Adjdābiya’, EI2,
vol. 1, p. 207.
me, ‘I would like very much to look at the face of our lord, but I
am weak; I am unable to stand on my feet, because of the swell-
ing which has affected them. How can it be done, according to your
advice?’ I asked him to let me go ahead of him and meet Prince ʿAbd
Allāh, heir apparent of the Muslims, on this matter. He allowed me
to do so. I left and met (the prince) to whom I related (Jawdhar’s)
condition and his strong wish to see our lord. He went to inform
our lord and returned to me with the reply. He told me, ‘Our lord
commands you to come with him up to this place,’ and he showed
me the dome in which he was having his meal in the blessed tent.
‘Make him stop there,’ he continued, ‘and leave him in the litter;
do not make him alight from it.’ He warned me not to make him
leave his litter, and threatened me with the punishment of our lord
if I disobeyed. I returned to the ustādh and informed him what
had happened. He was very happy with the outcome and regained
courage. Then I arrived at the place that had been indicated to me.
When (Jawdhar) himself reached there, he told me, ‘Bring me down.’
I excused myself before him by saying that the place that he wanted
to reach was blocked and that the best thing was to remain in the
litter in the meantime until the place was cleared. He agreed and I
stopped the mule bearing the litter in which he was sitting. Suddenly
our lord al-Muʿizz li-dīn Allāh, Commander of the Faithful, came
out, wearing a turban and his feet were shod with sandals. He leaned
into the litter and hugged (the ustādh) as would do a brother to his
brother or a friend to his friend. Thereupon the ustādh cast a glance
at me which seemed to reproach me for having left him in the litter,
but (the imam) told him, ‘He is not to blame. He was only acting on
our instructions.’ Then he turned to the ustādh, asked him how he
was and said, ‘Do not lose courage, because God will prolong your
life and delay your term until you witness with us God’s favour that
will grant us territories of the oppressors.’
(The ustādh) told him, ‘O my lord, by God, your slave is not of
a rank that deserves what you have done for him, because I am just
a slave, a foreigner, a Slav,333 without any merit to which I could lay
a claim other than the fact that I am your slave, illuminated by the
333. ‘Aleppine’ (ḥalabī) in the manuscripts must be corrected to ṣaqlabī

on the basis of Jawdhar’s own testimony (Document 72 above) and the text
of the Sīra quoted in Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, ʿUyūn al-akhbār, p. 721.
light of your guidance.’

(The imam) told him, ‘Have no doubt, O Jawdhar, that God, the
Mighty, the Glorious, has imposed the obligation to obey us and He
has caused it to come about either willingly or out of fear. You are of
those who obey God through us willingly and not out of fear. Have
you forgotten all the Slavs who were with you and the pleasure which
each enjoyed in his house at the time of your lords, the immaculate
imams? Unlike them, your sole satisfaction was to live in this room
near the latrine in the palace of your lord the Imam al-Qāʾim bi-amr
Allāh. You did not choose the comforts of this world that others
chose, but God has willed happiness for you first and last.’
Then (Jawdhar) looked at Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān the Secretary,
who was standing there with us, and signalled [him] to take the
mount by the bridle and depart, so as to ease our lord of the fatigue
that he imposed on his noble self by remaining standing. On seeing
this, our lord said, ‘Stop, O Muḥammad, and leave it here, because
by looking at us (Jawdhar) finds the comfort of his heart.’ Then the
ustādh kissed the ground [before him],334 and we did the same and
left. From that day, the ustādh never again saw our lord, as if this was
the station of bidding farewell.335
86
Then, when we arrived at the place called Malītīya336 near Barqa,

(the ustādh’s) weakness increased as well as the difficulty that the
illness caused. Despite that his mind was sound and his reason had
not been impaired in any way. He called me and said, ‘We are going
to enter Barqa. It is a great city. There are Easterners there, especially
[with] the coming of the sons of Nuṣayr337 to our lord, according
to what is said. The standing which we enjoy with the immaculate
dynasty is great, because of the esteem which our lord has for us. It
is, therefore, necessary that we smarten our troops with complete
334. Here a token gesture of kissing the ground, because Jawdhar was
in his litter.
336. The manuscripts give ‘Mathaliya’ and ‘Malīla’ which must be
corrected to ‘Malītīya’, a known locality on the route from Ajdābiya at one
stage, or fifteen miles, from Barqa. Ibn Khurdādhbih, al-Masālik, p. 85.
337. Nuṣayr was then governor of Tripoli. See note 271 above.
equipment and armament and with parade outfits, so that we enter

[Barqa] in an irreproachable and splendid form. Write to Prince
ʿAbd Allāh to inform him of that and ask him to kindly request our
lord to send some arms and equipment in addition to what we have
already. You will inform him that I would like to arrive at the blessed
palace in this attire, but I cannot alight [from my litter] and remain
on my feet, and it is hard for me to see the repeat of what our lord
did at Ajdābiya. I fear that when I arrive, those who envy us for the
favour our lord did should say that by my arrival I had thoughtlessly
caused [the repeat of] what (the imam) did and other similar things.’
He sealed the letter and we sent it by a swift courier that we had with
us. He received the following reply from Prince ʿAbd Allāh:
May God keep you in good health. May He complete His favours
for you and continue His blessings for you. May He prevent [us]
losing you and may He decree that you accomplish the pilgrimage
to the Sacred House [of God] with our lord. Your letter, may God
keep you safe and sound, reached us and we acquainted ourselves
with everything that it contained after our lord had read it himself,
and we kissed the ground before him on your behalf. He wishes
you in turn the best and the most agreeable peace of God. He has
commanded, may his command be always glorious, honoured
and revered, to write to you to inform you, may God keep you safe
and sound, that his order has been sent to Nuṣayr the treasurer,
instructing him to send [you] the camels and a large quantity of
arms, which (the imam) specified to him. They will reach you, God
willing. (The imam) conveys to you to prepare [your] arrival to the
blessed presence on any day that you want and which suits you,
and that you should arrive at the gate of the blessed palace in your
litter as you did in Ajdābiya, in the most beautiful and the most
magnificent attire. Do not blame yourself in the least regarding the
litter. There is nothing about it that you should blame and for which
anyone could blame you, as you say. ‘When we came towards you
at Ajdābiya’, (the imam) conveys to you, ‘it is not you who imposed
upon us [this journey], and, therefore, take the blame for it. Rather,
it is we who did it of our own accord, wishing to visit you and see
how you were. May God grant you the most complete recovery, full
health and well-being by His grace. Do, therefore, what we have
instructed you to do,’ (the imam) said. Rejoice, for what God has
granted you of His satisfaction and the satisfaction of His friend,
satisfaction which He has never granted to anyone else in your time,
and of which you are deserving. Praise God and thank Him. You
will deserve more of His magnificent gifts, abundant bounties and

favours.
I implore God that He reserve for you His favours, that He
continue them to you, and make His blessings follow in succession
by giving you the finest recovery and the best health that we expect
and hope for you, by His benevolence and generosity. May peace be
with you with the mercy and the blessing of God.
This letter was the last that he received from the imam and the
heir apparent, may the best blessings be upon them both. Nuṣayr
arrived bringing the equipment to (Jawdhar) at the place agreed on,
and the weapons were distributed to [Jawdhar’s] men. (Jawdhar’s)
weakness and illness worsened and he could not be brought to the
palace. He entered the town of Barqa and went to the house that had
been vacated for him and where he settled. I went to our lord and
informed him that he had arrived. ‘How is he?’, he asked me.
I replied to him, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, he is very weak,
and therewith he longs for death; it would seem that he sees with his
own eyes the place where he will depart and to which he aspires.’
(The imam) said, ‘That is the place that he will have in the mercy
of (God), and near his masters, may God bestow His blessings upon
them all.’
Then he turned to those who were standing before him, among
them Prince ʿAbd Allāh, Isḥāq b. Mūsā338 and some black eunuchs. It
was after the end of the meal and he said, ‘Maysūr the elder was rash
in what he did.339 I say this, seeking forgiveness from God: al-Qāʾim
bi-amr Allāh had no sin in the eyes of God, except for what Maysūr
did. He would seize by force every ship and shed blood. When he
died, 8,000 dinars were found at his house. See, on the contrary,
poor Jawdhar! By God, I consider that everything that He has given
338. Isḥāq b. Mūsā (d. 363/973) was a personal physician of al-Muʿizz as

was his father Mūsā. He also looked after al-Muʿizz’s personal and financial
interests. He accompanied al-Muʿizz to Egypt where he died. After his
death, his brother Ismāʿīl succeeded him as al-Muʿizz’s physician. See note
237 above; al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, p. 57; and al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, vol.
1, p. 147.
339. On Maysūr al-Ṣaqlabī, who died during al-Qāʾim’s reign, see note
209 above. The epithet ‘elder’ is used here apparently to distinguish him
from his namesake who commanded Fatimid troops during al-Muʿizz’s
reign. Ibn ʿIdhārī, al-Bayān, vol. 2, pp. 216–217.
to our immaculate forefathers before us, and then to ourselves after

them, to seek God’s favour and satisfaction, is worth much more
than 100,000 dinars, and he has done that without any land conces-
sion or numerous domains.’
Then, (the imam) gave me apples which he had in his hand and
told me, ‘Take them to (Jawdhar) and tell him, “They were sent
to us from Egypt. I hope that God will make you live and restore
your body to health so that you see (Egypt) with us.”’ 340 I kissed the
ground [before him] and left. I conveyed to the ustādh the words
that (the imam) had uttered. He kissed the ground, praised God and
expressed deep gratitude. Then he began to converse with me and
continued to do so, while his reason was still intact, until the end
of the night, while his condition remained the same. Then, in the
morning, he fell into the agony of death, and he died at the time
of the midday prayer. May God have mercy upon him and may He
be satisfied with him. In the night, (his body) was carried from the
town of Barqa to the palace where our lord was staying, at a place
called Mayāsir. (The imam) ordered the body to be washed. This was
carried out by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān b. Muḥammad,341 Muḥammad
b. ʿUthmān the Secretary and myself. (The imam) performed the
prayer on him the following day and he was buried on the spot in a
mosque that was in the above-mentioned palace.342
Then, for having served well (the ustādh), God gave me happi-
ness and bestowed upon me His blessings by rousing feelings of
kindness and mercy for me in the heart of His friend, our lord and
master, may God sanctify his soul and bless him. Hence he granted
340. It seems that al-Muʿizz recognised the therapeutic value of apples.
al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān relates (in al-Majālis wa-al-musāyarāt, p. 266) that
al-Muʿizz distributed to his followers apples which came to him from Syria;
al-Nuʿmān relates that he was cured of stomach ache when he ate a piece of
an apple given to him by al-Muʿizz.
341. He is Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān b. Muḥammad b. Manṣūr b. Aḥmad
b. Ḥayyūn al-Tamīmī, generally called al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān (d. 363/974), the
most eminent exponent of Fatimid jurisprudence and an official historian
of the Fatimids. On him and his works see Farhat Dachraoui, ‘al-Nuʿmān b.
Abī ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Manṣūr b. Ḥayyūn’, EI2, vol. 8, pp. 117–118;
Ismail K. Poonawala, ‘Al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān and Ismaʿili Jurisprudence’, in F.
Daftary, ed., Mediaeval Ismaʿili History and Thought (Cambridge, 1996),
pp. 117–143; and Poonawala, Biobibliography, pp. 51–68.
me (Jawdhar’s) place as an official in charge of his servants and all

his household.
I implore God, with a sincere prayer, that He make me end my
days like He did with (Jawdhar) and that He help me to discharge
my duty of obedience to His friend, son of His prophet, the best of
His creatures and the purest of His worshippers, the Servant of God
and His friend Nizār Abū al-Manṣūr, the Imam al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh,
Commander of the Faithful, master of the epoch and the time. May
God’s blessings be upon him, his immaculate forefathers and his
most noble awaited descendants until the Day of Judgement. God,
the Mighty, the Glorious, has completed my happiness, now and in
the future, by making me live until his pure period, by exalting my
name and raising my position. May God fulfil his hopes and grant
him victory and help. May He unite all the hearts in his obedience
and his affection. May He cause to perish his enemies and all those
who resist him wherever they may be and reside. Amen, O Lord of
worlds!
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Walker, Paul E., ed. and trans. Orations of the Fatimid Caliphs:
Festival Sermons of the Ismaili Imams. London, 2009.
al-Warjalānī, Abū Zakarīyā Yaḥyā b. Abī Bakr. Kitāb Siyar al-aʾimma
wa-akhbārihim, ed. Ismāʿīl al-ʿArabī. Algiers, 1399/1979.
al-Yaʿlāwī, Muḥammad. al-Adab bi-Ifrīqiya fī al-ʿahd al-Fāṭimī,
(296–365 h) = La littérature en Ifriqiya sous les Fatimides (296–
365/909–976). Beirut, 1986.
____ ‘Sur une possible régence du prince fatimide ʿAbdallah b.
Muʿizz en Ifriqiya au IVè/Xè siècle’, Les cahiers de Tunisie, 22,
nos. 85–86 (1974), pp. 7–22.
al-Yamānī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad. Sīrat al-Ḥājib Jaʿ far b. ʿAlī
wa-khurūj al-Mahdī min Salamiya wa-wuṣūluh ilā Sijilmāsa
wa-khurūjuh minhā ilā Raqqāda, ed. W. Ivanow, Bulletin of
the Faculty of Arts, University of Egypt, 4 (1936), pp. 107–133;
trans. W. Ivanow, Ismaili Tradition Concerning the Rise of the
Fatimids, pp. 184–223.
Yāqūt b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥamawī al-Rūmī al-Baghdādī, Shihāb al-Dīn
Abū ʿAbd Allāh. Muʿ jam al-buldān. Beirut, 1374–1376/1955–
1957.
al-Zamakhsharī, Abū al-Qāsim Jār Allāh Maḥmūd b. ʿUmar b.
Aḥmad. Asās al-balāgha, ed. Muḥammad Bāsil ʿUyūn al-Sūd.
Beirut, 1998.
____ al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl wa-ʿuyūn al-aqāwīl

fī wujūh al-taʾwīl, ed. ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mawjūd et al.
Riyadh, 1998.
Index
ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥajjūn, 136–137 Aghlabids, 1, 21–22

ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Muʿizz, 8–9, 117, Aḥmad (the Prophet Muḥammad),
130, 148, 151, 155–157, 159–161, 39, 41
163–164 Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī
ʿAbd Allāh b. Rafīq, 122–123 al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, governor of
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nāṣir, Sicily, 66, 87, 93, 108, 117, 123–
Umayyad caliph, 136 128, 130–131, 141–142, 145, 148
Ablaq b. Nuyūṭ, 44 Aḥmad b. al-Mahdī, 8, 111–112,
Abraham, 38, 59–60, 75 124
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Jaʿfar b. al-Qāʾim, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ṭallās,
29, 103 125, 152
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī, Ismaili Aḥmad b. Rayḥānī, 127
dāʿī, 1, 26, 45 Ahwāz, 22
Abū al-Furāt ʿAbd al-Jabbār b. al- Ajdābiya, 10, 160, 162–163
Qāʾim, 29, 73 Alexandria, 160
Abū al-Futūḥ Mūsā see Mūsā b. Algeria, 135
al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Kalbī ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, 6,
Abū al-ʿIzza, 82 146
Abū Khazar, 115, 118 ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, 38, 50, 53, 58,
Abū Kināna b. al-Qāʾim, 29 60–62, 76, 80, 107, 137
Abū Lahab, 39 ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn, 9, 72–73, 135
Abū al-Shāma, 106 ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Kalbī,
Abū al-Ṭāhir Ismāʿīl see al-Manṣūr, governor of Sicily, 108–109, 145,
Fatimid caliph-imam 150
Abū Tamīm, 42, 69, 72 ʿAlī b. al-Jannān, 139–140
Abū Yazīd Makhlad b. Kaydād, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Iyādī, 24,
Kharijite rebel, 3–4, 6, 19, 29, 39, 42
33–34, 36, 38–40, 42–45, 47, 53, ʿAlī b. al-Ṭabarī, 66
64, 67, 72, 81–82, 87, 98, 136, 154 ʿAllūsh, 91–92
Adam, 59, 135 Almeria, 136
ʿAdnān b. al-Qāʾim, 29 ʿAmmār b. ʿAlī, 154
Aflaḥ al-Nāshib, governor of Arabs, 96, 124
Barqa, 96–97 Armenian cloth, 155
Aftakīn, 89 Ashīr, 105
177
ʿAttāb b. Asīd, 22 Cairo, 110, 115, 117, 156

ʿattābī, 22 Cap Bon, 89
ʿAṭṭāf, governor of Sicily, 66 Ceuta, 104
Awrās, 3, 33, 71, 81, 115, 118 Christianity, 139
ʿAyn Kisrā, 118 Christians, 54, 58–59, 126–127
Ayyūb, son of Abū Yazīd, 72 Constantine VII, Byzantine
Ayyūb b. Khayrān al-Zawīlī, 82 emperor, 54
Ayyūb b. al-Simāk, 82 Cyrenaica, 10, 160
al-ʿAzīz, Fatimid caliph-imam, 12,
24, 87, 104, 155–156, 166 al-dajjāl (the Deceiver), 3, 33, 42,
45–46, 49–50
al-bāb al-ṭāhir, 25 Damascus, 89
Badr, 92 Danhāja, 65
Bāghāya, 29, 81, 115 al-Danhājī, 65, 156
Baghdad, 22, 23, 118 Dār al-Baḥr, 84, 152
al-Baghdādī, 133
Bajjāna (Pechina), 136 Egypt, 2, 5, 8–11, 22–24, 29, 32, 67,
Balakh al-Ṣaqlabī, 89 87, 89, 93, 96–97, 103–104, 110–
Balkans, 1 111, 114–115, 117–118, 121, 126,
Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, 61 129, 134, 149, 155, 164–165
Banū Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, 6, 10, eunuchs, 1, 3, 22, 30, 98, 104, 131,
66, 93, 142, 148 164
Banū Aḥmad, 39
Banū Ḥamdūn, 72, 104, 135, 158 Faḍl, son of Abū Yazīd, 98
Banū Hāshim, 60 fākhitī, 155
Banū Kamlān, 81, 82, 98 Fās, 98
Banū Māḍūḍ, 66 Fāṭima, daughter of the Prophet,
Banū al-Ṭabarī, 66 50, 53, 60–62, 71, 76–77
Banzart (Bizerte), 89 Fazzān, 110
Barqa, 10–11, 29, 96, 160, 162–165 Frankish swords, 37
bāṭin, 94 Funduq Rayḥān, 89, 134
al-batūl, 50, 77 Futūḥ al-Niqāwusī, 121
Baysān, 104
Benghazi, 160 Galen, 3, 30
Berbers, 3, 8, 24, 29, 33, 82, 95–96, ghaḍār, 118
115, 124 Ghānim, 89, 121
Biskra, 118 Greeks, 68
Bū Saʿāda, 39
Bulukkīn b. Zīrī b. Manād, 9, 81, al-Ḥākim, Fatimid caliph-imam,
104–105, 115 12, 87, 124
Būna (ʿAnnāba), 136 Ham, son of Noah, 59
Byzantines, 1, 4, 7, 54, 66, 87, 137, Ḥamza, uncle of the Prophet, 32
140, 154 Ḥamza b. al-Qāʾim, 29
Ḥamza b. Ṣalūk, 102
index 179
al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn Isḥāq b. Khalaf, 62

al-Kalbī, governor of Sicily, 6, Isḥāq b. Mūsā b. al-ʿĀzār, 114, 164
66–68, 117, 123–124, 137, 141– Ishjāna, 132
142, 145, 147, 153–154 Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, 79
al-Ḥasan b. ʿAmmār, 87, 93, 125, Ismāʿīl b. Mūsā b. al-ʿĀzār, 114, 164
153–154 Italy, 54, 68, 114, 137
Ḥasan b. Rashīq, 110 al-Iyādī see ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-
al-Ḥasan b. Ṣaqlabī, 102 Iyādī
Ḥasnūn b. Kannūn, 99
Hawwāra, 81–82, 98 Jabal Sāllāt, 39
Henchir Aouan, 90 Jābir b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan al-Kalbī,
ḥudūd al-dīn, 27 governor of Sicily, 109
ḥujja, 27–28, 35, 74 Jābir b. Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī al-
al-Ḥusayn (imam), 53 Jawdharī, 12
Ḥusayn (rebel), 96 Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Abī al-Ḥusayn al-
Ḥusayn b. Muhadhdhab, 125 Kalbī, 145–148
Ḥusayn b. Rashīq al-Rayḥānī, 99, Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn, 9, 104–
110 106, 135–136, 142–145, 158–159
Ḥusayn b. Ṣāfī, 108 Jaʿfar b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, 5, 46,
Ḥusayn b. Yaʿqūb, 84, 86–87, 61, 94, 107, 139–140
100–101 Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān,
100, 138
Ibn al-Danhājī, 65 Jaʿfar b. al-Qāʾim, 29, 103
Ibn Ḥassūn, 84 Japheth, son of Noah, 59
Ibn Ḥawshab see Manṣūr al-Yaman Jawdhar passim
Ibn Ḥusayn, 108 al-Jawdhariyya, 11
Ibn al-Khaṭīb, 63 Jawhar, 10, 28–29, 42, 93, 96–97,
Ibn Kulayb, 63 102, 110, 115, 117–118, 129, 133–
Ibn Rumāḥis see Muḥammad b. 134, 149–150, 155
Rumāḥis Jazīrat Bāshshū, 102
Ibn Suhayl, 99 Jazīrat Sharīk, 6, 102
Ibn al-Ṭabarī al-Ashtarī, 67 Jesus, 46, 60, 79
Ibn Wasīm al-Aṭrābulusī, 86–87 Jews, 58–60, 114
Ibrāhīm b. Aḥmad, Aghlabid emir, Jirjent, 6, 67, 146
21 John the Baptist, 60
Ibrāhīm b. Jaʿfar b. Falāḥ al- al-Jūdariyya, 11
Kutāmī, 89
ʿīd al-aḍḥā, 8, 73 al-Kaʿba, 94
ʿīd al-fiṭr, 8, 45, 49 al-Kamlānī, 82
Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn, 14 Kannūn, 89
Ifrīqiya, 1–3, 8–11, 24, 33, 66, 68, Khabbāb, 67
93, 111, 113–115, 117, 129, 135, Khalaf al-Kātib, 121
137, 139 Khalīl b. Isḥāq, governor of Sicily,
Ijjāna, 132 67
al-Khāliṣa, 67 al-Manṣūriyya, 4–5, 7, 12, 71, 73,

Kharijites, 3, 33, 38, 40, 42, 46–47, 82–84, 97, 103, 111, 115, 125, 129,
115 137, 139, 150, 152, 156
khazz, 120–121 al-Marrūdhī, 45
Khurāsān, 155 al-Marwarrūdhī, 45
Khūzistān, 22, 155 al-Marwazī, Abū Ja’far Aḥmad b.
al-Kirshī, 108 Muḥammad, 45
Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ, 4, 45 al-Marwazī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar,
Kiyāna, 39 45
al-Kūfa, 47 marwī, 155
Kutāma, 24, 26, 46, 51–52, 65, 90, al-Masīla, 9, 39–40, 72, 95, 98, 135,
124–125, 132–133, 154, 156 142
Masnūyah b. Bakr al-Hawwārī, 82,
Lake Ichkeul, 90 154
Lake Sisara, 90 Mayāsir, 11, 165
Libya, 10, 110, 160 Maymūn b. Futūḥ al-Niqāwusī,
89, 121
Maʿbad b. Khazar, 98 Maysūr, 98
Māḍūḍ, 66 Maysūr al-Ṣaqlabī, 98, 164
Maghrib, 1, 5, 8–9, 21, 26, 29, 38, Mazara, 66
45, 103, 105, 124, 143 mazḥ, 114–115
Maḥallat al-Tustariyyīn, 22 Medjerda, 95
al-Mahdī, Fatimid caliph-imam, Moses, 79
1, 2, 6–8, 11–12, 21–28, 31–32, Muḥammad, the Prophet, 10, 19,
56–59, 62, 67, 71, 76, 101–102, 22, 32, 34–36, 38–42, 46, 48–53,
111, 113, 124, 155 58–63, 70–71, 74–81, 85, 91, 104,
al-Mahdiyya, 3–5, 7–8, 19, 24, 33, 116, 119, 130, 132, 150, 152, 155,
37, 42–43, 45, 53, 56, 64–65, 159, 166
71, 82–84, 86–87, 91, 100–101, Muḥammad b. ʿAbdūn, 66–67
103–104, 106, 109–111, 115, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī, 156
118–120, 122–125, 128–129, 146, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b.
152, 154–156 Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, 117, 123,
Malīla, 81 142, 148, 156
Malītīya, 162 Muḥammad b. Rumāḥis, 136
al-Manṣūr, Fatimid caliph-imam, Muḥammad b. ʿUthmān, 11, 44,
2–4, 6–8, 24, 27–29, 31–34, 36– 71–72, 100, 118, 138, 162, 166
45, 47, 52–56, 58–60, 64, 66–69, al-Muʿizz, Fatimid caliph-imam,
71, 73, 76–77, 83, 98, 113–114, 2–12, 20, 24, 29, 32, 41–43, 56–57,
121, 124, 149, 154–155, 166 66, 69, 71–74, 81-84, 86, 89, 91,
al-Manṣūr b. Abī ʿĀmir, 41 93–94, 96, 98, 102–103, 109, 111,
Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī al-Jawdharī, 1, 114–115, 117–118, 124–125, 127,
11–12, 19, 52, 86 130, 133–134, 137, 139, 145, 148,
Manṣūr al-Yaman, 139 151, 153–156, 161, 165
index 181
Mūsā b. Abī al-ʿĀfīya al-Miknāsī, 3:30, 78

98 3:103, 46
Mūsā b. al-ʿĀzār, 114, 164 3:173, 101
Mūsā b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī al- 4:59, 53, 79
Ḥusayn al-Kalbī, 123, 145, 148 5:29, 135
Muẓaffar, 3, 29, 125 5:60, 59
5:66, 110
Nāfiʿ b. al-Azraq, 38 7:34, 71
Nāṣir, 73 7:166, 59
Naẓīf al-Rayḥānī, 84, 91, 130–132 7:182, 50
Noah, 59 7:198, 113
Nuṣayr al-Ṣaqlabī, 8, 84, 87–88, 8:37, 50
101, 111, 120, 122, 125, 127–130, 8:63, 147
132, 139, 152, 162–164 9:32, 111
14:20, 119
Oria, Italy, 114 14:36, 38
14:38, 25
Palermo, 67 17:60, 7, 57
Palṭiel ben Shefaṭyah see Mūsā b. 18:99, 56
al-ʿĀzār 21:15, 46
22:28, 75
al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, 11, 117, 134, 22:34, 75
165 22:37, 75
al-Qāʾim, Fatimid caliph-imam, 22:46, 23
2–3, 6–9, 22, 24, 26–29, 31–34, 23:36, 80
36, 41, 43, 45, 47, 50, 53, 55–59, 29:1–3, 50
61, 67, 71–73, 76, 87, 98, 103, 124, 31:34, 83
131, 134–135, 139, 146, 154–155, 33:62, 79
162, 164 33:71, 48
Qalʿat Abī Ṭāwil, 39 33:72, 27
Qalʿat Banī Ḥammād, 39 35:32, 78
Qarmatians, 89 35:43, 79
Qāsim b. al-Qāʾim, 8–9, 29, 101, 124 37:62, 57
Qaṣr al-Baḥr, 84 41:42, 23
Qaṣr al-Ifrīqī, 95 42:23, 156
al-Qayrawān, 3–4, 21, 33–40, 45, 42:27, 112
64, 67, 81, 95, 115 43:5, 74
Qayṣar, 3, 29, 81, 98 44:43, 57
Qurʾan (citations) 49:13, 60
1:6, 107 55:26, 112
2:65, 59 56:52, 57
2:134, 61 59:18, 49
2:156, 50, 70, 77, 113, 124 63:4, 46
2:286, 37, 79 64:6, 23
68:44, 50 Spring of Chosroes, 118

74:50, 47 Sulaymān al-Khādim, 22–23, 110
92:14–16, 46 Sūq al-Aḥad, 87
109:6, 63
111:5, 39 al-Ṭabarī, 67
Quṣūr al-Ḥītān, 40 Tadās, 90
Ṭāhir b. Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan al-
Rabāḥ, 137 Kalbī, 124, 130–131
Rabīʿ al-Ṣaqlabī, 134 Tamīm b. al-Muʿizz, 5, 8–9, 72, 98,
Rabīʿ b. Ṣuwāt, 132 103, 130–131, 155–157
Rajāʾ b. Akhī Ḥaya, 67 Taormina, 93, 126–127, 145
Ramaḍān, 121 Ṭāriq, 28–29
Rametta, 87, 93, 125–127, 145, 154 tawqīʿ, 31
Raqqāda, 1–2, 21, 24, 26 Theudalis, 90
Rashīq al-Rayḥānī al-Kātib, 11, 19, Tīfāsh, 95
99 Tījis, 95
Raṣīf, 98–99 Tripoli, 67, 84, 93, 128–129, 160,
Raʾs Maddār, 102 162
Rayyān al-Ṣaqlabī, 89–90, 121 Tripoli (of Syria), 89
Russians, 87 Tumājir, 43, 64
Tunis, 6, 89, 98, 102, 118, 154
Ṣāfī, 84, 106, 108 Tustar, 22
Ṣāfī al-Ikrīkī, 95–96 tustarī, 22–23
Ṣāliḥ b. Bahrām, 131
Sālim b. Abī Rāshid, governor of Umayya, 22
Sicily, 6, 67–68 Umayyads, 7, 9, 57–58, 66, 72,
Salmān al-Fārisī, 59–60 104–105, 135–136
sāmān, 104 al-Urbus (Laribus), 81
Ṣanhāja, 9, 105 ʿUslūj b. al-Ḥasan al-Danhājī, 156
Sardāniyya, 115 ʿUthmān b. Amīn, 135–136
Ṣaṭfūra, 89–90 ʿUyūn al-akhbār, 14
Shafīʿ al-Ṣaqlabī, 98
Shawdhab, 133 al-Wādī al-Māliḥ, 43–44, 65
Shem, son of Noah, 59 Wādī al-Milḥ, 44
shuf ʿa, 134 waqʿat al-majāz, 93
Sicily, 1, 5–7, 13, 15, 54, 66–68, 84, waṣī, 107
86–87, 93, 108–109, 117, 123–124, wasīla, 74
126, 128, 130, 132, 137, 141, 146,
148, 150, 152–153, 154 Yaḥyā b. ʿAlī b. Ḥamdūn, 9, 104
Slavs (Ṣaqāliba), 1, 3, 5, 21–22, Yaʿīsh, governor of Sicily, 108, 124
24–26, 29, 31, 59, 84, 87, 89, 96, Yaʿqūb b. Isḥāq b. Mūsā b. al-ʿĀzār,
98–99, 101–102, 110, 124–125, 114
134, 146, 161–162 Yaʿqūb b. Killis, 156
Sousse, 19, 154 Yaʿqūb al-Kutāmī, 22, 110
index 183
Yemen, 139 zakāt al-fiṭr, 48

Yemenite swords, 37 Zanāta, 9, 98, 105, 115
Yūsuf b. al-Qāʾim, 29, 58 Zawīla, 110, 119–120
Yūsuf b. Zīrī see Bulukkīn b. Zīrī b. Zīrī b. Manād, 29, 98
Manād Ziyādat Allāh III, Aghlabid ruler, 1
Ziyād al-Kātib, 63–64
al-Zāb, 40, 72, 81, 118, 135, 142 al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām, 130
ẓāhir, 94

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The Institute of Ismaili Studies

Previously published titles:

Edited and Translated by

in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies

Distributed in the United States of America and in Canada

Copyright © Islamic Publications Ltd, 2012

isbn 978 1 78076 268 5

Library of Congress catalog card: available

Typeset in Minion Tra for The Institute of Ismaili Studies

The Institute of Ismaili Studies was established in 1977 with the

1. Occasional papers or essays addressing broad themes of the rela-

This book falls into category three listed above.

Translation of the Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar

part one: biography 19

12 Letter of al-Manṣūr announcing the death of

33 A note from Jawdhar to al-Muʿizz and the latter’s

part two: documents 86

19 On surveillance of correspondence between some

38 al-Muʿizz sends to Jawdhar spring water and Fatimid

57 A land dispute between Jawdhar’s agent and a man

75 About an agreement between Jawdhar and the

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Farhad Daftary,

297/910 (20 Rabīʿ II/6 January) al-Mahdī enters Raqqāda

315/927 (Ṣafar/April–May) al-Mahdī dispatches al-Qāʾim

337/949 (Rajab/January) Birth of Tamīm, eldest son of

359/970 Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan appointed commander of the

Map 2: Sicily (4th/10th century)

(1) Abū al-Ghanāʾim al-Ḥasan Jaʿfar ʿAmmār

Ṭāhir (6) ʿAbd Allāh (4) Jābir

(7) Abū al-Futūḥ Yūsuf

Table 2: The Kalbids of Sicily

1. The term ustādh has a wide range of meanings. It designates a highly

2. See Part One, Section 8 below.

8. See Part One, Section 16 below.

12. See Document 21 below.

without being channelled through Jawdhar. The latter, on the other

imam’s arsenal needed wood, he offered it respectfully to the imam

14. See Document 67 below.

book composed by himself on the matter to guide the believers and

18. See note 261 below.

20. See Document 22 below.

Jawdhar himself was actively engaged in making preparations

The author of Sīrat al-Ustādh Jawdhar, Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī

rial, however, is from the reign of al-Muʿizz. Manṣūr wrote his

Editions and manuscripts

The integral text of the Sīra was first established by Muḥammad

not dated, is slightly older than the first manuscript. It contains 76

24. Muʿizz Goriawala, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Fyzee Collection of

1. A manuscript previously owned by the Ismaili Society (abbrevi-

31. Adam Gacek, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of The

The translation of the Sīra allows non-Arabist readers to access

The Biography of al-Ustādh Jawdhar

33. He was apparently Rashīq al-Rayḥānī al-Kātib who, towards the

year 350/961. Ever since then, he preferred me by the considerable

him. I shall relate this and transmit it according to available decrees

34. On al-Mahdī (r. 297–322/909–934) see al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol.

others. He apportioned us in the service of his warehouses. Then he

of Aghlabid dominion, replacing al-ʿAbbāsiyya. See Georges Marçais,

graceful servant, diligent in his service. Advise him to take a tustarī

Let it be known to anyone who peruses my book, or to whomever it

chains in Egypt. See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, vol. 2, pp. 646–647, vol. 6, p.

(Jawdhar) related to me on this subject something which all believ-

40. The Fatimid caliph-imam al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh (r. 365–386/975–996).

under your authority. Know this well! 111