Bensalem Himmich - The Theocrat

In Damascus a Maghribi was paraded around on a donkey, and the town crier announced, “This is the penalty for those who love the Prophet’s companions.” Then the man was decapitated.

This year also saw the execution of al-Hakim’s order that the mosque of ‘Amr ibn al-‘As in Alexandria be destroyed.

In this same year there were earthquakes in Syria; cities and border regions were badly hit. Many people perished beneath the rubble.

In the ninth year of al-Hakim’s quarter century, a decree was published under his seal banning the consumption of certain foodstuffs favored by exoterics. Here is an extract:

I hereby forbid you to eat mulukhiya and all other types of food eaten by Sunnis. Through an irrevocable decree this sanction will be continued, since I do not wish you to eat at the tables of exoterics whose thoughts are only of this world, nor to consume anything that will increase your indolence, slacken your joints, and further thicken the vapors in your brains and the fancies you already have regarding your lofty status and lineage.

In this same year al-Hakim published a decree known under two titles: The Abolition of Alms, and The Suppression of Disparities. Among its contents is the following:

By Fatima my reign will have no import if I do not strive to abolish the disparities in lifestyle and earnings that currently exist among you.

Such disparities are alarming. How they trouble my feelings!

Thus, since you are all part of my responsibility, I, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah, have decided to revert to basics so as to reveal how things really started. Riches are initially acquired through plunder and violence. People become wealthy at the expense of the weak who are exploited till they are exhausted, then die.

So I hope you are all with me in restoring to the scales of justice their due authority and glory. Anyone who thinks otherwise is no adherent of Islam or member of this community.

So let the following decree be recorded in my name: In order to achieve the ultimate goals of charity and almsgiving I have decided to abolish them. I have made this decision because their retention among you leaves the poor person a beggar while the rich continue to plunder and steal with a totally free conscience. I shall keep a close watch for anything that perpetuates these disparities among you.

Thus do I carry out my duties among you. Submit to my decrees and keep them memorized in your hearts as luminous testimony; chastise anyone who would seek to defile them or to smear them with nonsense or grime.

During the course of this year al-Hakim came across ten people asking for alms. He ordered them to be divided into two groups who were to fight each other; the winners would be rewarded. So they fought long and hard, till nine lay dead and only one remained. With that al-Hakim threw down some dinars for him to pick up. But when he bent down to collect them, al-Hakim’s retinue killed him. 6

In this year al-Hakim commanded a group of young people to jump from a spot high up in the palace into a pool; he promised a gift for each of them. The group proceeded to jump. About thirty of them died because, instead of landing in the water, they fell on a rock. Those who managed to survive the jump got their money. 7

In the tenth year of al-Hakim’s quarter century a decree was pro-claimed throughout the land concerning the suppression of anyone raising a sword against authority. In this decree we find:

So, you foul defilers! You oppose me with your ever increasing recalcitrance and proclaim my transformations before everyone. No, no, by my very inviolability, I shall make use of the highest forms of violence and the purest kinds of perfidy so as to bring about your defeat.

Concerning Ibn Badis: he has denied my acts and placed distances and barriers between myself and him. But here are my own arms and my mosques, extended wide open for two jurisconsults whom he has sent in order to furnish us with some of the wisdom of Malik; in return, we propose to spill their blood, but all in good time.

Concerning Abu Rakwa, he has frequently rebelled against me, created havoc in the south and reached the region between the two Pyramids. His campaign has certainly gotten out of hand: now it threatens my authority. Yet his star is already on the wane. Prepare the strongest brigades of my army against him. I require you to bring him to me alive, so I can make a public example of him and have him paraded around the way I want. When people are bored with looking at him, slit his throat so he can sample my methods of torture, then bring me his severed head. Crucify his accursed corpse where it can rot and be eaten by vultures.

This then is the punishment for anyone who ventures forth against me with the sword and dares to commit acts of defiance against me.

In A.H. 398 al-Hakim’s mood regarding Abu Rakwa’s rebellion became somewhat more positive. He issued a series of decrees which people regarded as showing a sense of balance, wisdom, and foresight. The first was published in Ramadan entitled: Every Muslim may exercise individual judgment regarding his religion. After “In the name of God” and “Praise be to God,” we read:

The Commander of the Faithful hereby recites to you a verse from God’s clear Book: There is no compulsion in religion . Yesterday with all its events is now passed, and today is now with us along with its own requirements. You community of Muslims, we are the leaders, you are the people. It is not permitted to kill anyone who has pronounced the two statements of faith or to break the bond between the two, united as they are by this brotherhood that God uses to protect those He protects and to forbid what He has forbidden regarding blood, property, and marriage. Righteousness and piety among believers are the best solution, whereas corruption and depravity are to be condemned. The events of the past should be buried and forgotten, neither mentioned nor spread abroad. Things past, practices of former times, events from the days of our enlightened forefathers — God’s peace be upon them all! — al-Mahdi, al-Qa‘im, al-Mansur, al-Mu‘izz in al-Mahdiya and al-Mansuriya, all these are not to be broached, in those days the situation in Qayrawan proceeded in the open with no concealment, people fasting and then breaking the fast as they saw fit, with no enlightened people raising any objections as they fasted and broke fast. As the religion stipulated, Thursday saw them praying the noon prayer and the Ramadan prayer, once again with no one objecting or blocking them. The pronouncement “God is Great” was repeated five times during funeral ceremonies; no one prevented believers from pronouncing God is Great or muezzins from performing the call to prayer, nor did anyone harm those who did not. No one ever cursed any ancestors or sought to punish anyone for the revered names they mentioned in their prayers or for the substitutions they made. Every Muslim may exercise individual judgment regarding his religion. His resort should be to God, his Lord, and to his holy Book; with Him also is his recompense. So from today onward let God’s servants behave this way: no Muslim should claim precedence over another because of his beliefs, and no one should object to his colleague’s views regarding this sanction that I now issue. Following this decree of the Commander of the Faithful there comes this quotation from the Qur’an: O you who believe, you are responsible for yourselves. Anyone who goes astray cannot hurt you if you offer him guidance. God is the point of reference for you all. It is He who will inform you of what you were doing. 8

This is followed by other decrees. Among them are the following:

Determining the right to practice hermeneutics:

The principles of theology involve hypotheses, leading to interpretations. As a result we hereby abolish all assemblies gathered for hermeneutical speculation and all other conduits for sectarian monopoly.