Badr al-Jamali
Abū'l-Najm Badr ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Jamālī
al-Mustanṣirī,[1] better known as Badr al-
Jamali (Arabic: بدر الجمالى) was an
Armenian Shia Muslim Fatimid vizier, and
prominent statesman for the Fatimid
Caliphate under Caliph al-Mustansir. His
appointment to the vizierate in 1073
restored the fortunes of the Fatimid state,
which had faced collapse in the previous
decades, but also began a period where
the vizierate was dominated by military
strongmen who held power through their
military strength, rather than through the
Caliph's appointment. An Armenian, Badr
al-Jamali was the first of a series of viziers
of Armenian origin, who played a major
role in the fortunes of the Fatimid
Caliphate over the subsequent century.
Badr al-Jamali
بدر الجمالى
Juyushi Mosque in Cairo, founded by Badr
Died 1094
Cairo
Nationality Fatimid Caliphate
Occupation(s) Military commander,
governor, vizier
Years active before 1063 – 1094
Children al-Afdal Shahanshah
Early life and career in Syria
Of Armenian ethnic origin, Badr was born
sometime between 1005 and 1008; he is
recorded as being over 80 years of age at
the time of his death.[2][3] Badr was
purchased as a slave (mamlūk) by Jamal
al-Dawla ibn Ammar, ruler of Tripoli,
whence he acquired his epithet (nisbah) of
al-Jamālī.[2][3] Otherwise his early life and
career until c. 1063 are obscure. However,
the historian Seta Dadoyan suggests that
he may be identifiable with a namesake
Abu'l-Najm Badr, an Armenian ghulām who
briefly ruled over Aleppo in 1022.[4]
Badr's career begins to be documented in
April 1063, when he was appointed
military governor (wālī) of Damascus and
its province, bearing the honorific titles of
Crown of Commanders (Tāj al-Umarāʾ),
Commander of the Armies (Muqaddam al-
Juyūsh), and Honour of the Realm (Sharaf
al-Mulk). He made Mizza near Damascus
his residence.[5] His tenure was cut short
little more than a year later after clashes
between his troops and the local militia
(aḥdāth), under the local Alid notable Abu
Tahir Haydara i Abu al-Husayn.[6] In July
1066, he was re-appointed to the post. His
seat was at the Qasr al-Saltanah in the Bab
al-Hadid plain.[7] His sons also served as
officers in the Fatimid army under his
command. One of them, Sha'ban, died at
Acre at this time.[7] His tenure in
Damascus was again troubled. In 1068,
Abu Tahir launched another rebellion in
1068, which saw his palace burned to the
ground, before the uprising was
defeated.[8]
Badr's troubles in Syria were symptomatic
of the wider malaise afflicting the Fatimid
state, which during this period neared
complete collapse. The accession of the
caliph al-Mustansir (r. 1036–1094) had
opened the central government to
intrigues and rivalries; the vizierate was
held by favourites of the Caliph's mother,
and factional infighting between the
different ethnic contingents of the Fatimid
army broke out, crippling the
administration and exhausting the
treasury. Open civil war reigned in Cairo
between the Turks and the black Nubians
(Sūdān) in 1062–1067, before the Turks,
under Nasir al-Dawla ibn Hamdan, seized
power in the capital and in Lower Egypt.
The situation was made worse by a severe
famine from 1065 to 1072, and by Nasir al-
Dawla's tyrannical regime: his Turks looted
the Fatimid palaces and libraries and
destroyed much of the capital, and in
1070, Ibn Hamdan even had the Friday
prayer read in the name of the Abbasid
Caliph, thereby effectively deposing al-
Mustansir.[9][10] The prevailing anarchy left
the Fatimid royal family destitute, the
treasury empty, and various parts of the
Fatimid empire under military occupation:
the Turks in Cairo, the Lawata and other
Berbers on the coast, the Nubians in Upper
Egypt, and Syria under invasion by the
Seljuk Turks.[11][12]
The Fatimids had already lost effective
control over northern Syria in the early
1060s. In 1070, Mahmud ibn Mirdas of
Aleppo ordered the Friday prayer to be
read in the name of the Abbasid Caliph,
while on 19 January 1071, the Seljuk ruler
Alp Arslan crossed the river Euphrates into
Syria, before being hastily diverted north to
fight the Byzantines at Manzikert.[13] In
addition, the Fatimids began losing control
over the coastal cities of the Levant, which
were nominally under Fatimid suzerainty:
Ibn Abu Aqil of Tyre and Amin al-Dawla
Abu Talib al-Hasan ibn Ammar of Tripoli,
supported by the cities' merchant
aristocracies, ruled as autonomous
princes.[8] To counter these threats, in
1069/70 Badr was appointed Commander-
in-chief of the Armies (Amīr al-Juyūsh) and
sent to Syria at the head of an army
composed of Berbers and Armenians.[14]
To keep watch over the coastal cities, and
to secure his own communications with
Egypt over the sea, he established his
residence in the coastal city of Acre.[7]
In his absence, Ibn Hamdan, who had
temporarily lost power, once again seized
control of the capital. To secure his
position, Ibn Hamdan tried to ensure that
his powerful rival remained occupied in
Syria. While Badr was engaged with
besieging Tyre, Ibn Hamdan encouraged
rebellions among the Bedouin tribes of the
Banu Kalb and Banu Tayy, as well as
sending encouraging messages to the
renegade governor of Damascus, Mu'alla
ibn Haydar, and even to Alp Arslan himself,
inviting him to invade Syria and conquer it
from the Fatimids.[15] Conversely, Badr
recruited to his cause the Oghuz clan of
the Nawikis, that was fleeing the onslaught
of the Seljuks, to combat the Bedouins.[16]
The Nawikis soon began quarreling with
Badr, demanding greater payments for
their service. Some joined the Bedouin,
while others, under Atsiz ibn Uvaq,
founded an independent principality in
Palestine and the interior of southern
Syria, which acknowledged the suzerainty
of the Abbasid Caliph and the Seljuk
Sultan in Baghdad. By 1076, Jerusalem,
Ramlah, and other cities had fallen to the
Nawikis, leaving only the coastlands in
Fatimid hands.[17]
Vizierate
Rise to power
In 1073, Nasir al-Dawla was murdered by a
rival Turkish commander. In the same year,
the famine ended following a good
harvest.[18] Al-Mustansir seized upon a
drastic solution to his problems, and
secretly called upon Badr for aid. The
latter accepted, provided that he could
bring him his Armenian guard with him.[18]
At the end of 1073, Badr was in
Damietta,[1] and arrived in Cairo in January
1074.[18]
Unaware of the reason for his arrival, the
Turkish leaders did not suspect him of ill
intentions. As a result, Badr was able to
achieve the assassination of all Turkish
military leaders in the capital within a
short time of his arrival.[18] Following this
feat, al-Mustansir proclaimed Badr as
vizier with a plenitude of powers and titles:
as well as remaining Amīr al-Juyūsh, he
was also chief justice as "Protector of the
judges of the Muslims" (Kāfil quḍāt al-
Muslimīn), and head of the Isma'ili daʿwa
as "Guide of the Missionaries of the
Believers" (Hādī duʿāt al-Muʿminīn).[19][20]
Although the Fatimid caliph was left in
place, Badr established a military-based
regime, in which he ruled "as a military yet
populist dictator" (Seta B. Dadoyan).[1]
Medieval Arabic authors describe his
position as a "vizierate with plenary
powers" (wizārat al-tafwīḍ), which to all
intents and purposes was similar to the
position of sultan, established by the
Seljuk rulers vis-à-vis the Abbasid
caliphs.[19] The military character of Badr's
office was exemplified by the title of Amīr
al-Juyūsh (popularly mirgush), which not
only became the name most commonly
associated with him, but was also used by
Badr as his proper patronymic.[1][21][22] His
private army, some 7,000 strong, formed
the core of a new force, called the
Juyūshiyya,[1] while his own properties and
servants were designated Juyush-i.[23]
Domestic governance
Following the establishment of control
over Cairo, Badr proceeded to restore
central control in the Nile Delta, from east
to west, culminating in the storming of
Alexandria.[2] The re-establishment of
Fatimid control over Upper Egypt proved
more difficult, as the local Arab tribes
defended the virtual independence they
had gained over the previous years.[2] By
1076, Badr had restored the authority of
the central government over Egypt, and the
Caliph al-Mustansir was reduced to the
purely ritual role as head of the Isma'ili
community.[1] Although Isma'ilism was
restored as the official doctrine, Fatimid
ceremonies were reduced, and Sunnis and
other Shi'a communities were allowed to
practice their faith.[1] Badr retained overall
control of religious affairs, and sponsored
the building of both mosques and
churches.[1]
Badr also undertook a major
administrative reform of Egypt. Until that
time, the country had been divided in a
large number (between 60 and 96) of
small districts (kūra), which in some form
or other dated to the pagarchiae of Greco-
Roman Egypt. Badr abolished and
replaced them with 23 provinces (14 in
Lower Egypt and 9 in Upper Egypt), which
in broad outlines survive to the present
day.[19] In addition, Badr encouraged the
immigration of Armenians, Muslim and
Christian alike, into Egypt.[19] Badr also
sponsored the Armenian Church, which
became a serious rival to the Coptic
Church and established its own, separate
hierarchy.[19] By the end of the century, the
Armenian community in Egypt numbered
almost 100,000 people, and was
represented among the highest civil and
military offices of Fatimid Egypt.[24]
Military activities
In 1075, the two holy cities, Mecca and
Medina, who had for a time recognized the
Abbasid caliphs, reverted to Fatimid
suzerainty.[19] In the same year,
dissensions arose between Atsiz and his
brothers. One of them, Mankli, made
contact with Badr, and even restored the
name of al-Mustansir in the Friday prayer
in his territories around Acre. He did not
last long against Atsiz, however, and was
forced to flee to Rufaynah in the north.[25]
In October 1076, Atsiz marched against
Egypt but Badr declared jihād against him.
Defeated, Atsiz withdrew to Syria.[26] In
1079, Badr sent his fellow Armenian, Nasr
al-Dawla, against Atsiz in Damascus, while
from the north the Seljuks under Tutush
approached the city (October 1079). In the
event, the Fatimids withdrew, and
Damascus, along with most of Syria, fell to
the Seljuks.[27]
Death and legacy
Badr died on 21 June 1094. Al-Mustansir
tried to regain the powers he had ceded to
him, but the majority of Badr's officers
supported the succession of Badr's son al-
Afdal as vizier.[23]
Badr's position in the history of the Fatimid
state is pivotal. While the fusion of
administrative and judicial powers in the
person of the vizier was the culmination of
a process already evident under previous
holders, Badr was the first military man to
rise to the vizierate ("vizier of the sword")
under the Fatimids, and furthermore owed
his position not to the Caliph, but to the
support of a private military force,
personally loyal to him.[28][22] In this Badr
also set the tone for his successors: until
the end of the Fatimid regime in 1171, the
vizierate was held mostly by military
strongmen, who sidelined the caliphs and
were the de facto rulers of the state.[1][29]
Many of these strongmen were Armenian,
like Badr: Badr with his son al-Afdal and
grandson Kutayfat provided a "miniature
dynasty" of viziers, and three more Muslim
Armenian viziers would follow until the
assassination of the last of them, Ruzzik
ibn Tala'i, in 1163. During this "Armenian
period" in the history of Fatimid Egypt, the
Armenians provided the mainstay of the
Fatimid dynasty.[30]
Buildings
In the 1080s, to protect the city from
possible Seljuk attack, Badr ordered the
refortification of Cairo. The old mud brick
walls, built when Cairo had been founded
in the 970s, were entirely replaced by a
new stone fortification, supervised by
builders from northern Syria. Three of the
gates of Badr's city wall still stand to this
day (Bab al-Futuh, Bab al-Nasr, and Bab
Zuweila), as well as a section of the
northern city wall.[31] He also built the
Juyushi Mosque on the Muqattam Hill, in
memory of his son Awhad, who rebelled in
Alexandria and was killed in 1085.[1]
Among the most notable surviving wood
art objects from the Fatimid period is also
the minbar commissioned by Badr for the
shrine of the head of Husayn ibn Ali in
Ascalon (now located at the Ibrahimi
Mosque in Hebron; see Minbar of the
Ibrahimi Mosque).[31]
References
1. Dadoyan 2010.
2. Becker 1960, p. 870.
3. Dadoyan 2013, p. 80.
4. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 78–80.
5. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 80–81.
6. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 25, 81.
7. Dadoyan 2013, p. 81.
8. Dadoyan 2013, p. 26.
9. Daftary 1990, pp. 193–194.
10. Lev 1991, pp. 44–45.
11. Becker 1960, pp. 869–870.
12. Lev 1991, p. 45.
13. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 25–26, 48.
14. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 26–27.
15. Dadoyan 2013, p. 27.
16. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 43–47.
17. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 47–48.
18. Daftary 1990, p. 194.
19. Halm 2014a.
20. Daftary 1990, pp. 194–195.
21. Lev 1991, pp. 47–48.
22. Sanders 1998, p. 153.
23. Lev 1991, p. 48.
24. Dadoyan 2013, p. 67.
25. Dadoyan 2013, p. 48.
26. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 48–49.
27. Dadoyan 2013, p. 49.
28. Lev 1991, pp. 46–47.
29. Sanders 1998, pp. 153, 157.
30. Dadoyan 2013, pp. 67–68, 77.
31. Bloom 2012.
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Further reading
Sajjadi, Sadeq (2015). "Badr al-Jamālī"
([Link]
entries/encyclopaedia-islamica/badr-al-j
amali-COM_034458?[Link]=16&s.f.s2_p
arent=[Link]-islamica&
s.q=fatimid+caliph) . In Madelung,
Wilferd; Daftary, Farhad (eds.).
Encyclopaedia Islamica Online. Brill
Online. ISSN 1875-9831 ([Link]
[Link]/issn/1875-9831) .
Preceded by
al-Hasan
ibn al-Qadi
ibn
Kudaynah Vizier of the
Succeeded by
or Fatimid
al-Afdal
Abu'l-Ala Caliphate
Shahanshah
Abd al- 1074–1094
Ghani ibn
Nasr ibn
Sa'id al-
Dayf
Retrieved from
"[Link]
title=Badr_al-Jamali&oldid=1129716274"
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