Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah

Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah

Abu ‘Ali Mansur Tāriqu l-Ḥākim, called Al-Hakim bi Amr al-Lāh (Arabic: الحاكم بأمر الله‎; literally "Ruler by God's Command"), was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam (996–1021). Al-Hakim is an important figure in a number of Shia Ismaili religions, such as the world's 15 million Nizaris and in particular the 2 million Druze of the Levant whose eponymous founder Ad-Darazi proclaimed him as the incarnation of God in 1018. In Western literature he has been referred to as the "Mad Caliph", primarily as a result of the Fatimid desecration of Jerusalem in 1009, though this title is disputed as stemming from partisan writings by some historians (such as Willi Frischauer and Heinz Halm).

Histories of Al Hakim can prove controversial, as diverse views of his life and legacy exist. Historian Paul Walker writes: “Ultimately, both views of him, the mad and despotic tyrant irrationally given to killing those around him on a whim, and the ideal supreme ruler, divinely ordained and chosen, whose every action was just and righteous, were to persist, the one among his enemies and those who rebelled against him, and the other in the hearts of true believers, who, while perhaps perplexed by events, nonetheless remained avidly loyal to him to the end."