8vo. 209 pp., hard back in d/w, biblio, jacket lightly rubbed, otherwise copy in very good condition, The Arab Institution for Research & Publishing, Beirut, 1974.

Synopsis

Few contemporary documentary sources dealing with Fatimid period have survived and those that have reached us are warped by the personal and religious political biases of the chroniclers. Dr.Assaad has produced a meticulous historical -political study of Al-Hakim Bi Amr Allah, the sxth Fatimid Imam-Caliph through a thorough examination of documents, letters and chronicles. As a prelude to the problems al-Hakim inherited with the Caliphate the author examines the Imam-Caliph’s birth, childhood, education and the contradictory accounts of his character and private life. he traces the power struggle which developed between al-Hakim and his Wasita and its subsequent effects on the administration of internal state policy. Dr. Assaad discusses the economis, social, legal and architectural reforms which al-Hakim was able to introduce including the establishment of Dar al-Hikma in 395 A.H/1005 A.D.