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Titles of Honor and Status in the Fatimid Realm
Abstract by Dr. Paul E. Walker On Session 126  (Fatimid Studies)

On Monday, November 20 at 10:30 am

2017 Annual Meeting

Abstract
Except for the self-chosen names of individual Fatimid caliphs, this dynasty avoided conferring titles for most of the 4th/10th century, even while the practice had become standard in the Abbasid east. Beginning with al-‘Az?z and then al-Hakim, however, a few such titles appear, usually of a fairly simple form, e.g. Am?n al-Dawla, Q?’id al-Quww?d and Kha??r al-Mulk. Thereafter this aspect of Fatimid rule proliferates with more and more titles granted, some a series of several for a single recipient, and the ceremony surrounding the event became an elaborate occasion including typically a formal sijill read publicly to announce the new titles, gifts, a procession, and more. Although Fatimid practice was not different from that of others particularly of the Abbasids and eastern Islamic regimes, a close look at this subject is nevertheless warranted in part because it constituted a major feature of their governing as is evident from the considerable attention given it or accounts of it in our sources. Long ago the Egyptian scholar Hasan al-Basha published an essential study of these laqab (plural alq?b) throughout the Islamic world and he noted as many examples as he could for the Fatimids. Since his time, however, we have recovered several sources he could not have used. Moreover in editions of texts, either brought to light after his work or newly edited versions of previously known sources, the editors have seen fit to include an index specifically devoted to such titles. We can now, as was done for the purposes of this paper, assemble a reasonably complete catalog that lists the titles bestowed by the Fatimid caliphs on the elite members of their government. With this data in hand we can analyze such issues as which titles appear regularly or not, which indicate rank—i.e. are some more exalted than others—what does it mean to earn one as opposed to another, and when and how are they given in multiples. In addition we learn about curious oddities such as the wazir Bahram, who was Christian, being called the “Sword of Islam”, the Coptic Monk Ab? Naj??, of dubious notoriety, who was given the title “The Thirteenth Apostle of Jesus”, and the impressive string of at least ten separate titles granted to Sayyida Arwa, the Sulayhid queen of the Yemen, a loyal vassal of the Fatimid imams. She in fact, as is now clear, accumulated more titles than any man in the period.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Sub Area
7th-13th Centuries