Part 98

There were battles between them, and Kanz ad-Dawlah fled after most of his troops were killed. Then Kanz adDawlah was killed, and al-Malik al-'Adil returned to Cairo on 18 Safar.708 Thus Salah ad-Deen managed to put an end at an early stage to the turmoil caused by these thugs and 709 gangsters. How Salah ad-Deen put an end to the Fatimid madhab and legacy It is not easy to uproot a madh-hab or way of thinking merely by changing the political system in some land or other. Such a change takes many years and needs arrangements that are not based on force alone.710 Thus it may be noted that Salah ad-Deen used many means and methods to put an end to the Fatimid cause in Egypt. Some of these means involved the use of force, violence and immediate direct action, and others used subtlety and a gradual approach. Some used military strength whilst others used means of propagation, teaching and conviction, seeking to attract people's hearts by means of charitable, religious and social institutions which were connected to endowments to spend on them.711 Here follows some of the means that were used: Humiliating the Fatimid caliph al-'Adid Salah ad-Deen started by humiliating the Fatimid caliph al-'Adid, so as to put an end to the idea of wildyah712 on which all the Ismaili theories and beliefs were based and from which the Fatimid rulers derived their sanctity. He forced the caliph to go out himself to welcome his father Najm ad-Deen Ayyoob when he arrived in Cairo. This was contrary to custom, as the Fatimid ritual was that the caliph should remain aloof and remote from the people and not appear before them frequently; this lent him an aura of holiness and awe. Abu Shamah tells us that al-'Adid did come out to meet him, going all the way to Bab al-Futooh, which was something that had never happened before, so it was the most amazing thing the people had ever witnessed.713 Indeed, al-'Adid was forced to go against all customs, traditions and state protocols, and bestow various titles upon Salah ad-Deen, such as the title of 'al-Malik al-Afdal' ('the preferred monarch'), and to send all kinds of gifts and presents to him from the palace.714 Then Salah ad-Deen continued to humiliate the caliph and undermine his spiritual position among his followers and the supporters of his state. He started to confiscate his personal property and horses, on the grounds that there was a great need for them for Jihad purposes. In the end, the caliph asked Salah ad-Deen to let him keep his own horse, as he did not have anything else, but Salah ad-Deen answered that this was not possible, because the horse was needed.715 It is obvious that this deliberate, repeated humiliation was aimed at keeping the caliph away from the people and preventing him from appearing on public occasions, so that the Egyptians would forget him.716 Degrading the palace of the Fatimid caliphate Salah ad-Deen strove to disgrace the palace of the Fatimid caliphate by housing the Kurdish officials of his state there. This action was a confirmation of the fall of the Fatimid state, because that state had been known throughout the period when it flourished as "the palace state"717, referring to the fact that its caliphs dwelt in palaces in their capital, Cairo. In 566 AH/1170 CE, Salah ad-Deen seized the Fatimid palaces and handed them over to his Mameluke Qaraqoosh al-Khadim, then he used them to accommodate his troops and his family; he accommodated his father in the Qasr al-Lu'lu'ah (the Pearl Palace) at al-Khaleej. Al-Malik al-'Adil Iban lived in the Fatimid palaces when he stayed behind in Egypt as the deputy of his brother Salah ad-Deen.718 Cancelling the Friday khutbah in al-Azhar Mosque and abolishing the teaching of Fatimid thought there In 567 AH/1171 CE, Salah ad-Deen dealt a lethal blow to the Fatimid madh-hab in Egypt, which undoubtedly finished it off. That was when he stopped the Jumu'ah khutbah in the Mosque of al-Azhar, which the Fatimids used as a means of spreading Ismaili Shiite beliefs.719 That took place after Sadr ad-Deen 'Abd al-Malik ibn Darbas was appointed as qadi. He acted in accordance with his madh-hab, which says that it is not allowed to have two Jumu'ah sermons and prayers in one city, as is the view of Imam ash-Shafa'i. So he cancelled the khutbah in al-Azhar Mosque, and approved of the khutbah in al-Jami' al-Hakimi, because it was bigger. Al-Azhar Mosque remained idle, with no Jumu'ah prayers held there, for a hundred years after that, until the khutbah was restored at the time of al-Malik adh-Dhahir Baybars.720 Salah ad-Deen followed this courageous step by eliminating the Shiite rituals that had been introduced to Egypt by the Fatimids and which had continued throughout their era, with regard to the adhan and the iqamah for prayer.