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OverviewOne night in the year 411/1021, the powerful ruler of the Fatimid empire, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, rode out of the southern gates of Cairo and was never seen again. Was the caliph murdered, or could he have decided to abandon his royal life, wandering off to live alone and anonymous? Whatever the truth, the fact was that al-Hakim had literally vanished into the desert. Yet al-Hakim, though shrouded in mystery, has never been forgotten. To the Druze, he was (and is) God, and his disappearance merely indicated his reversion to non-human form. For Ismailis, al-Hakim was the sixteenth imam, descended from the Prophet, and infallible. Jews and Christians, by contrast, long remembered him as their persecutor, who ordered the destruction of many of their synagogues and churches. Using all the tools of modern scholarship, Paul Walker offers the most balanced and engaging biography yet to be published of this endlessly fascinating individual. To some, al-Hakim was God incarnate, to others an infallible imam, to still others he was a capricious tyrant. This book examines myth and fact, document and opinion, to present the most complete and detailed history yet written of the life and times of one of the medieval Islamic world’s most controversial figures. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Paul E. WalkerPublisher: The American University in Cairo Press Imprint: The American University in Cairo Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.594kg ISBN: 9789774165689ISBN 10: 9774165683 Pages: 336 Publication Date: 15 December 2012 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock  The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Part One Writing the Biography of an Enigma The Father, the Dynasty, Childhood, and Regency Part Two al-Maqrizi’s Chronicle of the Middle Years Part Three The Institutions of His Rule Friends and Rebels Social Reform and Legislation Foreign Affairs Part Four The Final Seven Years Afterlife and Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index Maps Mediterranean and Near East at the Time of al-Hakim Egypt Cairo--Fustat and VicinityReviews<br> Walker's work is a well-researched, unbiased and engaging expos of a melodramatic subject. . . . A fascinating aspect of Walker's study is his attempt to position in proper historical context the precise role women played in the Fatimid period. This particular debate has never been more urgent. . . . The author's sources are multifarious and variegated. Al Ahram Weekly<p><br> Author InformationPaul E. Walker is Deputy Director for Academic Programs, Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago and a historian of ideas specializing in medieval Islamic history. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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