Abstract
In the Fāṭimids, after the death of Caliph al-Āmir in 1130, a succession problem arose within the state. The sources providing information on this subject are quite controversial. According to some authors, a few months before the caliph's death, a son called Tayyib was born. According to others, the caliph didn't have son at the time of his death, however, he had a pregnant concubine. Caliph Āmir appointed the infant to be born by this concubine as his heir. According to these reports which are generally divided into two classes, al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh, the oldest member of the dynasty, was to rule the state as regent until the Caliph's heir grew up. Primarily, when Tayyib's narration is examined, there are doubts as to whether the Caliph had an infant. However, although in some sources it is mentioned that the infant was born before the death of his father, with a few exceptions, his name is not mentioned in the sources. On the other hand, authors such as ʿUmāra al-Yamanī and Idrīs ʿImād al-Dīn added to their accounts the infant’s birth registry that Caliph Āmir sent from Egypt to the Sulayhid’s ruler who was his vassal in Yemen. In this respect, the existence of an infant named Tayyib becomes certain for us. In the other narration, it is reported that Amir appointed the fetus in the womb as heir. The aforementioned al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh would also be enthroned on behalf of this fetus as a trustee imam. This fetus had to be born by l132, the date when al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh announced his true imamate. However, no author except al-Maqrīzī gives information about the birth of the infant in their accounts. From this point of view, it is revealed that the birth of the infant was somehow hidden. As a matter of fact, Abu Ali Ahmad b. Afdal who was vizier of the state, imprisoned the temporary caliph, abolished the practices of the Ismaili sect, which was the ideology of the state, and tried to obtain information about the fetus to be born by keeping the palace under strict control. al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh did not want the real heir to appear because he was afraid of the vizier. On the other hand, the mother of the infant who was new born, was afraid of al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh and managed to take the her infant out of the palace and keep it secret in the first place. Afterwards, al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh was the only candidate to the throne by killing this infant whom he saw as his rival. No matter which of the two narrations is accepted as true, there are some shortcomings in both. As a matter of fact, if the caliph had had an heir named Tayyib, why did people expect the fetus to be born? On the other hand, if the report of a fetus to be born was accepted true, why did people obey al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh in the future while the existence of a infant named Tayyib was certain? When the reports are considered together, a more meaningful picture comes out. Judging by the emergence of a new branch of the Ismailis called Tayyib, in our opinion, the Caliph actually had a son called Tayyib before he died and proclaimed him his heir. So what, as reported by Ibn al-Tuwayr, the Caliph dreamed that his pregnant concubine gave birth to a baby boy and this time he wanted to make the infant to be born the new heir. It is meaningless for him to declared a fetus who was to be born healthy and whose gender was not yet known, as heir. This practice of the caliph seems to be only his wish. After the sudden death of the caliph, his close ghulams, by accepting the caliph's wishes for the fetus to be born, as nas, made the expected infant Caliph's heir. Tayyib, on the other hand, was discredited in this situation and was probably hidden away by al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh. After the death of the vizier Abu Ali, al-Ḥāfiẓ li-Dīn Allāh, who got stronger, found the new heir who was taken away from the palace and got rid of him and declared his real caliphate. He tried to legitimize himself in a register he published later, and presented evidence for his imamate, that is, his caliph. When the evidences presented by the caliph is examined, it becomes clear that many issues remain unclear and that the evidences were not really convincing proofs of his imamate.