Al-Hafiz was repeatedly forced to give way to the demands of various military factions, and was ultimately unable to halt the evolution of the vizierate into a de facto sultanate independent of the caliph.
19 Facts About Al-Hafiz
2.
Al-Hafiz's father was Abu'l-Qasim Muhammad, a son of the reigning Fatimid caliph, al-Mustansir.
3.
Al-Hafiz left only a six-month-old son, Abu'l-Qasim al-Tayyib, to succeed him, with no designated regent or serving vizier, as al-Amir had resumed the personal direction of government affairs, instead of entrusting the administration to a potentially dangerously powerful vizier.
4.
Al-Hafiz continued the practice of appointing viziers to run the government in his name, but the power concentrated into the office's hands since the days of Badr al-Jamali made it a danger even to the caliph, and al-Hafiz paid particular attention to his viziers' activities.
5.
Al-Hafiz's first vizier was the Armenian Yanis, a former military slave of al-Afdal and thus a prominent member of the same army factions that had raised Kutayfat to power.
6.
Al-Hafiz dismissed Yuhanna ibn Abi'l-Layth, the long-serving head of the, responsible for overseeing the financial administration.
7.
Al-Hafiz had to confront a revolt of troops in the eastern Nile Delta, as well as an unexpected danger: al-Husayn, one of the sons of Nizar who had fled to the Maghreb upon his father's execution, left his exile to return to Egypt.
8.
Al-Hafiz gathered an army, but al-Hafiz successfully bribed one of his officers to assassinate him before he reached the country.
9.
Al-Hafiz instigated the Black African garrison of Upper Egypt to try and depose his son, but again Hasan's men emerged victorious.
10.
Al-Hafiz called to his rescue the governor of the Gharbiyya province, Bahram al-Armani.
11.
Al-Hafiz persisted with his appointment, but gave Bahram a dispensation to absent himself from ritual ceremonies, in which the vizier's role was taken by the chief.
12.
Al-Hafiz did not receive those customary titles of the Fatimid viziers that implied control over the Muslim religious establishment.
13.
Al-Hafiz had Ridwan interned in the palace, in the room next to Bahram's.
14.
Al-Hafiz restored him to his position, and awarded him the title 'Protege of the Caliphate'.
15.
Al-Hafiz appears to have used his position as head of the fiscal administration to contract for tax revenues and appropriate the surplus income for himself.
16.
Al-Hafiz was replaced by Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Tarabulusi, surnamed 'the Chosen One'.
17.
Al-Hafiz barred the gates of the palace, but pretended to be cooperative, and even sent money when Ridwan asked for it to pay his men.
18.
Al-Hafiz was succeeded by the youngest and only surviving of his five sons, the 16-year-old Abu Mansur Isma'il, with the regnal name al-Zafir bi-Amr Allah.
19.
Al-Hafiz was the last Fatimid caliph who rose to the throne as an adult.