In 418 when there was every prospect of a return to prosperity as the result of an abundant Nile, the Khalif was able to make a satisfactory treaty with the Greek Emperor, Constantine III. It was agreed that the Fatimid Khalif should be prayed for in the khutba in every mosque in the Byzantine dominions, and permission was given for the restoration of the mosque at Constantinople, which had been destroyed in retaliation for the destruction of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem; whilst, on the other side, the Khalif agreed to permit the rebuilding of the Church at Jerusalem. This freed the Khalifate from one source of anxiety.
At the time of az-Zahir’s accession the authority of the Fatimids was hardly recognised in Syria, but this was soon altered by the ability and enterprise of Anushtegin ad-Dizbiri, who was the governor of Caesarea. His first important action was against Salih b. Mirdas, the Arab chieftain who had taken Aleppo from Murtada and had now established himself as an independent prince. In 420 Anushtakin met him at al-Ochuwana, a village near Tiberias, and defeated and killed him. He had next to deal with Hasan b. Mufarraj, who was once more in revolt. This he did so effectually that Hasan was obliged to flee and take refuge amongst the Greeks. It is worth noting that the old mischief maker, Husayn al-Maghrabi, who had fled from Egypt in 400, ended a career of great vicissitudes in 418. After the failure of the revolt under Hakim he had gone to the court of the Daylamite prince Baha ad-Dawla, and stayed with his wazir Fakhr al-Mulk. But the Khalif of Baghdad suspected him of being a Fatimite spy, and ordered Fakhr to get rid of him. Fakhr, however, pleaded on his behalf, and at length obtained the Khalif’s favour for the fugitive who was kindly received in Baghdad.
During the latter part of az-Zahir’s reign Fatimid influence had become supreme in Palestine and Syria, save only in the few northern districts which remained subject to the Greek Empire. It seemed indeed to be the triumph of the Fatimids, but the appearance was fallacious. The Fatimid Empire in Asia was held together only by the genius of Anushtegin, who was able to avail himself of the favourable conditions which preceded the great Turkish storm, which was even then gathering in the east.
It was the policy of the Princess Royal and of the committee which held supreme power after her death to keep the Khalif in the background, and exclude him from all real part in the work of government. It was as well, perhaps, that his freedom was rather circumscribed for, as he grew up, he gave signs of a cruel temperament which in some directions surpassed that of his father. He was wholly occupied with the pursuit of pleasure, finding his interest in the company of singing girls, buffoons, and others of like kind, and showed no desire to take part in public affairs. In 424 he invited the palace girls to the number of some 2,660 to a festival: when they came to the feast they were led to one of the mosques and taken inside; the doors were then bricked up and the unfortunate girls were left to starve. For six months the mosque was left unopened and the bodies unburied. Many other instances of wanton cruelty are related of him.
In 427 az-Zahir fell sick of the plague, and as he grew worse he was taken to the “Garden of the Strand” at Maqs, then the port of Cairo, where he died on the 15th of Shaban, leaving the Khalifate to his son al-Mustansir, then a child seven years of age.
XII
THE EIGHTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MUSTANSIR
(A.H. 427-487 = A.D. 1035-1095)
Abu Tamin al-Mustansir bi-llah (“the seeker of aid from God”) was proclaimed Khalif at his father’s death on Sunday, the 15th Shaban, 427 (14 June, 1035). His reign has the distinction of being the longest of all the Khalifates either in Egypt or elsewhere.