Following as much as a decade of harsh measures against the Christians and Jews of his realm, the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim seemed, in the last year of his reign, abruptly to alter his approach radically and allow, even promote, rebuilding of destroyed houses of worship and reversions from Islam back to an earlier dhimmi religion. Neither the original policy, which caused many of the Christians and some of the Jews to adopt Islam, nor the dramatic changes only months prior to his disappearance, have ever been explained adequately. The contemporary 11th century Melkite historian Yahya of Antioch, however, provides some vital clues and is particularly helpful about the caliph's shift in 1020-21 to a strategy of accommodation through personal contact with key figures in the affected communities, one individual for each who functioned as the single go-between in dealings with the ruler. The Coptic History of the Patriarchs confirms much of what Yahya reports. Using details in both, most especially the texts of royal decrees issued that very year, now found verbatim in Yahya's History, this paper provides a precise chronology of events and an outline of the imam-caliph's new policy. It thereby raises a question as to whether or not the new model he had created outlasted him; did his son al-Zahir and subsequent Fatimid rulers follow a similar pattern in their dealings with protected minorities.