Part 76

Al-Mu'izz ibn Badees continued to draw closer to the Sunni masses and their scholars and fuqaha', and he continued his plan to disconnect totally from the 'Ubaydis in Egypt. He made the Maliki madh-hab the official madhab of his state, and announced that it was joining the Abbasid state. He changed his flags and symbols to those of the Abbasids and banned the flags and symbols of the Fatimid state. He ordered the melting down of the dinars and dirhams which had the names of the 'Ubaydis on them and which the people had been using for 145 years, and ordered that new coins be minted; on one side of each coin was written the words La ildha ill-Allah Muhammad Rasool Allah, and on the other side was the verse: ‘And whoever desires other than Islam as religion — never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.)’ (Quran 3: 85) Al-Mu'izz ibn Badees put an end to all the madh-habs that were opposed to Ahl as-Sunnah, such as the Safariyah, Nikariyyah, Mu'tazilah and Ibadiyah. In 443 AH, all of Barqah joined al-Mu'izz ibn Badees, after its ruler, Jabarah ibn Mukhtar, pledged obedience to him. The first one to lead the purge campaign against the Ismaili Shiite in Tripoli and fight their false traditions and misguided call was al-'Allamah 'Ali ibn Muhammad alMuntasir, whose kunyah was Abul-Hasan (d. 432 AH).528 The Seljuks work to protect Iraq against Batini, Rafidi Shiism The Fatimid state was trying to gain power in Iraq and the East; hence it sent preachers to that area. The Fatimid caliphs continued their efforts to spread their message, taking advantage of the turmoil that prevailed in Iraq. The Fatimid caliph adh-Dhahir li I'zaz Deen-Illah sent preachers to Baghdad in 425 AH, and many people responded to them.529 The preachers' activities in the Islamic east increased at the time of al-Mustansir Billah al-Fatimi, who told his preachers to go to Fars, Khorasan and Transoxiana. Among the most famous preachers and philosophers of the Fatimid Ismaili Shiite madh-hab was al-Mu'ayyad fi'd-Deen Hibbat-Allah ash-Shirazi, who is sometimes known simply as al-Mu'ayyad. This preacher succeeded in influencing alBasasiri, one of the military leaders in the Abbasid state. Al-Basasiri managed to gain control of Baghdad and depose the caliph al-Qa'im bi AmrIllah, and deliver khutbahs in the name of the Fatimids. The authority of Bani 'Abbas ceased in Baghdad, and the caliph was banished and taken to Anbar, where he was detained in Haditha in the palace of its ruler Maharish ibn Mujalli al-'Aqeeli, one of the prominent figures of Banu 'Aqeel, who served the caliph himself. Sermons were given in the name of Banu 'Ubayd — the Fatimids — for forty Fridays in Baghdad during the rule of al-Mustansir.530 Al-Basasiri tried to break the deal that he had with Quraysh ibn Badran and resolved to take the Abbasid caliph and send him to Egypt, but Quraysh blocked this attempt and entrusted his cousin, the emir Muhiy ad-Deen ibn Maharish al-'Aqeeli — the ruler of Haditha — with the task of protecting the caliph and keeping him safe. Despite that, al-Basasiri did not allow the caliph al-Qa'im bi Amr-Illah to travel to Haditha until after he had forced him to write a document acknowledging that Banu 'Abbas had no right to the caliphate when Banu Fatimah az-Zahra' were present.531 Al-Basasiri did not stop there, rather he took the cloak and turban and of the caliph and sent them to the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah. Al-Basasiri started to employ a group of the masses, giving them weapons from the caliph's armoury; he assembled some thugs and encouraged them to ransack the caliph's palace. The people of al-Karkh — Shiites — plundered the houses of the Sunnis at Bab al-Basrah. The house of the head qadi ad-Dumghani, was plundered and most of the government records and books were destroyed or sold to the apothecaries. The houses of those with connections to the caliph were plundered and the Rafidis reinstated the words Hayyd ild khayr il-lamal to the adhan, and this altered adhan was used in all the mosques of Baghdad for Jumu'ah prayers and daily prayers in congregation, sermons in Baghdad were given in the name of the Fatimid caliph, and gold and silver coinage was minted in his name. The house of the caliph was besieged and the chief official Abul-Qasim ibn al-Muslimah was arrested and rebuked by alBasasiri, who scorned him greatly then arrested him and humiliated him. The masses plundered the caliph's palace, taking untold amounts of jewels, precious items, silk, furniture, clothing and other things. On Eid al-Adha 450AH, al-Basasiri dressed the sermon-givers and muezzins in white, and he and his companions dressed likewise, carrying the banners of al-Mustansir and the flags of Egypt, and he delivered a khutbah in the name of the ruler of Egypt. The Rafidi Shiite rejoiced greatly, and the adhan throughout Iraq contained the words Hayyd ild khayr il-'amal. Al-Basasiri took revenge on the prominent people of Baghdad; he drowned many of those who had opposed him and gave generous gifts to others. On Monday 28 Dhul-Hijjah, the vizier Abul-Qasim ibn al-Muslimah, who was known as the Chief Vizier, was brought before him, wearing a woollen jubbah (nightshirt) and a long pointed cap of red felt, and around his neck was a leather rope.