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4. Which one of the following is NOT a function of a CPU?
A) Performing arithmetic operations
B) Processing data and controlling programs
C) Querying a database
D) Fetching and storing data from storage and input devices

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: Which one of the following is NOT a function of a CPU?
Difficulty: Easy

5. Which type of storage is made from memory chips?

A) CD
B) hard disk
C) primary storage
D) DVD

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: Which type of storage is made from memory chips?
Difficulty: Easy

6. Which one of the following memory types provides storage that persists without electricity?
A) primary storage
B) RAM
C) memory
D) secondary storage

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: Which one of the following memory types provides storage that persists without electricity?
Difficulty: Easy

7. Which type of secondary storage consists of rotating platters, which are coated with a magnetic
material, and read/write heads, which can detect and change the patterns of varying magnetic flux on the
platters?
A) hard disk
B) flashdrive
C) DVD
D) RAM

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: Which type of secondary storage consists of rotating platters?
Difficulty: Easy

8. What are the electrical lines called that interconnect the CPU, RAM, and the electronics controlling the
hard disk and other devices?
A) bus
B) network
C) optical disk
D) power lines

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: What are the electrical lines called on a computer?
Difficulty: Easy

9. Which part of a computer contains the CPU, the RAM, and connectors to peripheral devices?
A) network
B) bus
C) motherboard
D) optical disk

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: Which part of a computer contains the CPU, the RAM, and connectors to peripheral devices?
Difficulty: Easy

10. For a program to be executed, where must it reside so that the CPU can read its instructions?
A) optical disk
B) primary memory
C) secondary memory
D) hard disk

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: For a program to be executed, where must it reside so that the CPU can read its instructions?
Difficulty: Easy

11. Which memory type does not provide persistent storage?

A) secondary storage
B) hard disk
C) primary storage
D) DVD
Answer: c
Section reference: 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: Which memory type does not provide persistent storage?
Difficulty: Easy

12. Which of the following is not contained on the motherboard of a computer?

A) RAM
B) integrated circuit
C) hard disk
D) CPU

Answer: c
Section reference: 1.2 The Anatomy of a Computer
Title: Which of the following is not contained on the motherboard of a computer?
Difficulty: Easy

13. What term is used to refer to the computer instructions that are executed by a CPU, which are specific
to each CPU?
A) virtual machine
B) machine code
C) high-level code
D) instruction set

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: What term is used to refer to the computer instructions that are executed by a CPU?
Difficulty: Easy

14. What is the JVM?

A) A vital machine that never fails to run compiled Java code.
B) A vital machine that compiles Java code into machine instructions.
C) A virtual machine that runs compiled Java code on any CPU.
D) A virtual machine that compiles Java code into machine instructions.

Answer: c
Section reference: 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: What is the JVM?
Difficulty: Easy

15. What is the term used to refer to Java code that runs in a browser?
A) applet
B) script
C) html
D) class

Answer: a
Section reference: 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: What is the term used to refer to Java code that runs in a browser?
Difficulty: easy
16. What term is used to refer to languages that allow programmers to describe tasks at a higher
conceptual level than machine code?
A) virtual
B) high-level
C) sophisticated
D) conceptual

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: What term is used to refer to languages that allow programmers to describe tasks at a higher
conceptual level than machine code?
Difficulty: Easy

17. What translates high-level descriptions into machine code?

A) debugger
B) assembler
C) compiler
D) linker

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: What translates high-level descriptions into machine code?
Difficulty: Easy

18. What translates Java source code into files that contain instructions for the JVM?
A) linker
B) compiler
C) assembler
D) interpreter

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: What translates Java source code into files that contain instructions for the JVM?
Difficulty: Easy

19. Which statement is true about running a Java program on a different CPU?
A) You need different Java source code for each processor.
B) You can take code that has been generated by the Java compiler and run it on different CPUs.
C) You need to recompile the Java program for each processor.
D) You cannot run the program on a computer with a different processor because Java, being a high-level
programming language, is machine dependent.

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.3 The Java Programming Langauge
Title: Which statement is true about running a Java program on a different CPU?
Difficulty: Medium

20. When was Java officially introduced?

A) 1989
B) 1995
C) 2005
D) 2000

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: When was Java officially introduced?
Difficulty: Easy

21. Which statement best describes the portability characteristic of Java?

A) It is easy to copy Java source code from one machine to another.
B) The same Java class files will run on different operating systems without change.
C) It is easy to compile Java source code on different operating systems.
D) It is easy to change a Java program so that it will work on different operating systems.

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.3 The Java Programming Language
Title: Which statement best describes the portability characteristic of Java?
Difficulty: Easy

22. When a Java application starts, what is the name of the method that is executed?
A) main
B) start
C) begin
D) Main

Answer: a
Section reference: 1.4 Becoming Familiar With Your Programming Environment
Title: When a Java application starts, what is the name of the method that is executed?
Difficulty: Easy

23. Text enclosed between this and the end of line is ignored by the compiler.
A) ''
B) //
C) ()
D) ""

Answer: b
Section reference: 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: Text enclosed between this and the end of line is ignored by the compiler.
Difficulty: Easy

24. What is the name of the file declaring the class named MyClass?
A) MyClass
B) myclass.java
C) MyClass.class
D) MyClass.java

Answer: d
Section reference: 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the name of the file declaring the class named MyClass?
Difficulty : Easy

25. In a console window, how do you compile the declaration of the class MyClass?
A) javac MyClass.java
B) javac MyClass
C) java MyClass.java
D) java MyClass

Answer: a
Section reference: 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: In a console window, how do you compile the declaration of the class MyClass?
Difficulty : Medium

26. In a console window, assuming that MyClass includes the main method, how do you run the
program?
A) java MyClass.class
B) javac MyClass
C) java MyClass
D) javac MyClass.java

Answer: c
Section reference: 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: In a console window, how do you run a Java program?
Difficulty: Medium

27. A(n) ____ is a collection of code that has been programmed and translated by someone else, ready
for use in your program.
A) method
B) class
C) parameter
D) library

Answer: d
Section reference: 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: A(n) ____ is a collection of code ...
Difficulty: Easy

28. Every Java program consists of one or more of these fundamental building blocks.
A) class
B) CPU
C) applet
D) parameter

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: TB Every Java program consists of one or more of these fundamental building blocks.
Difficulty: Easy

29. What is the name of the file that contains the Java source code for the class BankAccount?
A) BankAccount
B) BankAccount.java
C) BankAccount.class
D) BankAccount.txt

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the name of the file that contains the Java source code for this class?
Difficulty: Easy

30. A __________ contains sequences of instructions to perform a particular task.

A) parameter
B) label
C) variable
D) method

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: A __________ contains sequences of instructions to perform a particular task.
Difficulty: Easy

31. What term is used to refer to an instruction in a method?

A) statement
B) constant
C) comment
D) object

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What term is used to refer to an instruction in a method?
Difficulty: Easy
32. In Java, every statement must end with this symbol.
A) .
B) )
C) !
D) ;

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: In Java, every statement must end with this symbol.
Difficulty: Easy

33. What term is used to refer to text in a program that helps human readers understand the program?
A) methods
B) comments
C) constants
D) statements

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What term is used to refer to text in a program that helps human readers understand the program?
Difficulty: Easy

34. The Java compiler ignores any text between ____.

A) (* and *)
B) /* and */
C) {* and *}
D) // and //

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: The Java compiler ignores any text between ____.
Difficulty: Easy

35. What term is used to refer to a sequence of characters enclosed in quotation marks?
A) string
B) object
C) comment
D) variable

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What term is used to refer to a sequence of characters enclosed in quotation marks?
Difficulty: Easy
36. What entity belongs to a class and is manipulated in a program?
A) constant
B) package
C) object
D) comment

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What entity belongs to a class and is manipulated in a program?
Difficulty: Easy

37. A method is called on what entity in the program?

A) constant
B) statement
C) comment
D) object

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: A method is called on what entity in the program?
Difficulty: Easy

38. What term is used to refer to information passed in to a method on a call?

A) class
B) object
C) parameter
D) comment

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What term is used to refer to information passed in to a method on a call?
Difficulty: Easy

39. Parameters to methods are enclosed by these symbols.

A) ()
B) ""
C) {}
D) //

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: Parameters to methods are enclosed by these symbols.
Difficulty: Easy

40. A method may be called by specifying which 3 items in the specified order?
A) method name, parameters, object
B) object, parameters, method name
C) object, method name, parameters
D) class, parameters, method name

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: A method is called by specifying which 3 items in the specified order?
Difficulty: Easy

41. What is the syntax for calling the println method on the object System.out?
A) println("Any message").System.out;
B) System.out("Any message").println;
C) System.out.println("Any message");
D) println(System.out, "Any message");

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the syntax for calling the println method on the object System.out?
Difficulty: Easy

42. What is the object in the given method call?

System.out.println("Welcome");

A) println
B) System.out
C) System.out.println
D) System

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the object in the given method call?
Difficulty: Easy

43. What is the name of the method in the given method call?

System.out.println("Welcome");
A) "Welcome"
B) System
C) println
D) out

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the name of the method in the given method call?
Difficulty: Easy

44. What is the parameter in the given method call?

System.out.println("Welcome");

A) out
B) println
C) "Welcome"
D) System

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the parameter in the given method call?
Difficulty: Easy

45. What is the output of the following Java statement?

System.out.println("4 + 6");

A) 10
B) 46
C) 4
D) 4 + 6

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the output of the following Java statement?
Difficulty: Easy

46. What is the output of the following Java statement?

System.out.println(4 + 6);

A) 4 + 6
B) 4
C) 10
D) 46

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the output of the following Java statement?
Difficulty: Easy

47. What type of program can you use to enter your Java program?
A) compiler
B) editor
C) spreadsheet
D) database

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What type of program can you use to enter your Java program?
Difficulty: Easy

48. Which statement is true about a Java program?

A) Java forces the programmer to use a particular layout for readability.
B) Java requires that at most one statement appear on one line.
C) The first method that is executed in a Java program is called Main.
D) Java is case sensitive.

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: Which statement is true about a Java program?
Difficulty: Easy

49. What is the name of the class declared in the file MyClass.java?
A) MyClass
B) MyClass.class
C) MyClass.java
D) myclass

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the name of the class declared in the file MyClass.java?
Difficulty: Easy
50. The Java compiler translates source code into what type of file?
A) document
B) object
C) class
D) text

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: The Java compiler translates source code into what type of file?
Difficulty: Easy

51. What is the name of the file created after a successful compilation of MyClass.java?
A) MyClass.java
B) MyClass.class
C) myClass.class
D) MyClass

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the name of the file created after a successful compilation of MyClass.java?
Difficulty: Easy

52. What does a class file contain?

A) Instructions for the specific CPU on the computer.
B) Instructions for the Java Virtual Machine.
C) The JVM instructions for all classes in the Java application.
D) The Java source code for a class.

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What does a class file contain?
Difficulty: Easy

53. What is the file extension of a Java class file?

A) .java
B) There is no file extension.
C) .class
D) .txt

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is the file extension of a Java class file?
Difficulty: Easy
54. In a console window, what is the name of the command used to compile Java source code?
A) javac
B) javadoc
C) compile
D) java

Ans: A
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: In a console window, what is the name of the command used to compile Java source code?
Difficulty: Easy

55. In a console window, what is the name of the command used to run a Java program?
A) javadoc
B) javac
C) java
D) run

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: In a console window, what is the name of the command used to run a Java program?
Difficulty: Easy

56. In a console window, how do you compile the declaration of the class BankAccount?
A) java BankAccount
B) javac BankAccount
C) javac BankAccount.java
D) java BankAccount.java

Ans: C
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: In a console window, how do you compile the declaration of the class BankAccount?
Difficulty: Medium

57. In a console window, assuming that BankAccountTester includes the main method, how do you
run the program?
A) javac BankAccountTester
B) java BankAccountTester.class
C) javac BankAccountTester.java
D) java BankAccountTester

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: In a console window, how do you run a Java program?
Difficulty: Medium

58. What is a Java library?

A) A collection of Java source code that has been programmed and can be reused.
B) A collection of books on Java.
C) A collection of electronic documentation on Java.
D) A collection of code that has been programmed and translated by someone else, ready for you to use in
your program.

Ans: D
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: What is a Java library?
Difficulty: Easy

59. Which of the following statements is true about running a Java program?
A) The Java compiler executes your program.
B) The Java virtual machine loads the instructions for the program that you wrote, starts your program,
and loads the necessary library files as they are required.
C) The java compiler signals the JVM to execute the program.
D) The javadoc utility runs the documentation of the program.

Ans: B
Section Ref: Section 1.5 Analyzing Your First Program
Title: Which of the following statements is true about running a Java program?
Difficulty: Easy

60. Suppose that a computer virus infects your computer and corrupts the files you were going to submit
for your current homework assignment. What precaution could have saved you from a disastrously bad
grade for this assignment?
A) Defragment the hard drive.
B) Purchase an anti-virus program to remove the virus from your computer.
C) Make regular backups of all your important files.
D) Purchase an extended warranty for your computer.

Ans: C
Section Ref: Programming Tip 1.1 Backup Copies
Title: What can prevent you from losing files that get corrupted?
Difficulty: Easy

61. Which one of the following statements regarding backup strategies for Java files is correct?
A) You should have multiple copies of your source files in different locations.
B) You should regularly print out your work so you can retype it in case of data loss.
C) You should regularly back up the Java virtual machine instructions to prevent loss of valuable work.
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those who were hereditary tax-collectors and who were suspected,
no doubt with excellent reason, of defrauding the revenue. The strict
organization introduced under the first Fatimid Khalif had been
allowed to grow slack, its continuance meant constant effort and
unceasing supervision, and this sustained effort hardly lies within the
oriental character. As wazir Yazuri himself amassed great wealth, far
beyond what could possibly have come to him from the regular
emoluments of his office: a certain amount of perquisites, of a kind
which the western would be inclined to describe as bribery, is known
and tolerated in oriental administration and Yazuri, a minister who
must be regarded as a good and beneficent ruler in spite of this, was
not the one to take a high ground of morality in such matters. He
imprisoned the Patriarch Christodoulos whom he accused of
persuading the Nubian king to withhold tribute, a charge which does
not seem to have had any foundation; then laid heavy fines on the
whole Coptic community, no less a sum than 70,000 dinars, and
closed churches until none were left in use, and imprisoned the
bishops, all it would appear in the attempt to make the Copts pay up
the fine or, as Yazuri would no doubt have described it, to disgorge
some part of their plunder filched from the public revenue. It does
not seem that there was any sectarian motive or feeling in these
measures, although they are sometimes made to figure as religious
persecution.
In 450 Yazuri died, poisoned by order of the Queen Mother with
the consent of the Khalif. The ostensible charge was that he had
been detected in treasonable correspondence with the court of
Baghdad, but the real reason seems to have been that his inordinate
wealth, which could only have been attained by defrauding the
public revenue on a gigantic scale, had awakened jealousy and
suspicion.
It is interesting to turn aside for a moment to the Persian poet
Nasir-i-Khusraw, who visited Cairo in the years just preceding the
ministry of Yazuri and who left a most graphic account of the wealth
and splendour of the Fatimid court and the prosperity of Cairo even
at that period of comparative disorder. In the eyes of this traveller,
familiar with the most prosperous and cultured cities of Persia and
ʿIraq, the magnificence of Cairo and its court seemed astonishing,
and exactly the same impression was made years afterwards, after
the Fatimids had long passed the zenith of their glory, on the
Crusaders from the west. Under Fatimid rule, apparently, Cairo
surpassed all the cities of the then known world in its luxury,
magnificence, and wealth. As we have already noted ostentatious
display was the besetting fault of the whole Fatimid dynasty, but
this, it must be remembered, is usually popular in oriental circles.
Nasir-i-Khusraw was a devout Ismaʿilian and regarded Cairo as the
metropolis of his religion and the Khalif as the true Imam, religious
beliefs which he expresses freely in his works. He was a secretary
under the government in Khurasan until he experienced a conversion
to the religious life and, resigning his office, became first a pilgrim
and then a daʿi of the Ismaʿilian sect. In his best known work the
Safarnama he describes how, after he had turned to religion, he set
out for Mecca in 437, and relates the experiences of his journey. He
reached Mecca in 439 and returned thence to Damascus, then went
to Jerusalem, and then by land to Cairo where he remained two or
three years, and during his stay was initiated into the higher grades
of the Ismaʿilian fraternity. As his work was intended for general
reading he is cautious in referring to the more intimate matters of
religion, but makes it quite clear that he believes in the allegorical
interpretation of the Qurʾan, that he accepts the Fatimid Khalif as
the true Imam, and adheres whole-heartedly to the doctrines of the
Fatimite sect. He gives a most glowing description, not only of the
splendours; of the Cairene court, but of the extraordinary wealth and
prosperity of the bazars and their merchants, and this at a time (circ.
440) which we generally regard as one of the less fortunate periods
of Fatimid rule. It is particularly interesting to note his observations
on the Egyptian army at the time when its factions were at the
bottom of all the domestic troubles of Cairo. He estimates the whole
army as about 215,000 men. Of the cavalry 35,000 came from North
Africa, Berbers and Arabs, 50,000 were Arabs from the Hijaz, and
30,000 were of mixed composition. Of the infantry, where the racial
elements are more significant, 20,000 were black troops raised in
North Africa, 30,000 were Ethiopians by which we must understand
Nubians, Sudanis, etc., 10,000 were Syrians, Turks and Kurds,
30,000 were slaves presumably from central Africa for the most part,
and 10,000 are described as the “palace guard,” which seems to
have been a kind of foreign legion of adventurers from various parts
of Africa, Asia, and Europe. We shall have to return again to Nasir-i-
Khusraw, for after leaving Cairo he became a daʿi of the Ismaʿilians
in western Asia, and indirectly played an important part in the
formation of the off-shoot of the Ismaʿilians, which afterwards
became notorious as the “Assassins.”
Yazuri’s wazirate saw a great limitation of Fatimid control over
North Africa, where in 443 Ifrikiya definitely repudiated the Shiʿite
doctrines. At that time the ruler of Ifrikiya settled now at the town of
Mahadiya which had replaced Kairawan, was Muʿizz al-Himyari as-
Sanhaji, the hereditary chieftain of one of the more prominent
Berber tribes, and more or less hereditary governor of Ifrikiya.
Hakim had conferred on him robes of state with the title Sharaf ad-
Dawla (“nobleness of the empire”) in 407. Up to this time the
Hanifite system of canon law had prevailed through North Africa, for
the Shiʿite attempt to introduce the system ascribed to Jaʿfar as-
Sadiq seems to have been a failure, but Muʿizz introduced the
Malikite jurisprudence throughout his governorate; this, it will be
remembered, was the system banned by the Khalif az-Zahir in
Egypt, and by thus acting Moʿizz showed very plainly his entire
disregard of the Fatimid who claimed to be his suzerain. Now, in
433, Muʿizz formally repudiated Fatimid authority, omitting the name
of Mustansir from the khutba, and replacing it with the name of the
ʿAbbasid Khalif of Baghdad. At this Mustansir wrote: “Thou hast not
trod in the steps of thy forefathers, showing us obedience and
fidelity?”—but Muʿizz replied: “My father and forefathers were kings
in Maghrab before thy predecessors obtained possession of that
country. Our family rendered them services not to be rewarded by
any rank which thou canst give. When people attempted to degrade
them, they exalted themselves by means of their swords.” Thus the
Fatimids lost what had been the earliest part of their dominions in
Africa, although the loss was not without its benefit, for Ifrikiya had
always been a course of trouble and of little real profit.
The defection of Ifrikiya was not followed in all parts of North
Africa. There were still devoted Shiʿites in those parts, and they
revolted from Moʿizz when the Fatimid sent the Arab tribe of Hilal to
win back the country. The Arabs succeeded in recovering Barqa and
Tripoli, but were unable to advance further west. At the same time
various independent states, for the most part professing to be
Shiʿite, arose in Maghrab.
In 448 the Turk, Tughril Beg, was recognised in Baghdad as the
Sultan and lieutenant of the Khalif. The Saljuq Turks were strictly
orthodox, and indeed at this time recognised themselves as the
champions of orthodoxy. When, two years later, the general of the
troops in Baghdad, a Turk named Arslan al-Basasiri, revolted against
the Khalif al-Kaʾim and expelled him from Baghdad, he put the seal
on his revolt by causing the khutba to be said throughout
Mesopotamia in the name of the Fatimid al-Mustansir, and sent him
his protestation of allegiance. The expelled ʿAbbasir Khalif took
refuge with the Emir of the Arabs and stayed with him one year, and
then the Saljuq Tughril Beg came to his relief, and having attacked
and slain al-Basasiri, reinstated the ʿAbbasid in Baghdad. The Khalif
made his entry into the city exactly one year after his expulsion, so
that Fatimid al-Mustansir had just one year’s nominal recognition in
Mesopotamia, but this cannot be seriously regarded as an extension
of the Fatimid dominion.
The proclamation of the Fatimid Khalifate in Baghdad and the exile
of the ʿAbbasid Khalif from his capital raised unduly high
expectations in Egypt. The more so as the official robe and jewelled
turban of the Baghdad Khalif, as well as the iron lectern, were
carried off to Cairo, and remained there until the fall of the Fatimids.
Al-Mustansir was confident that these symbols would be soon
followed by the ʿAbbasid in person, and laid out a large sum, stated
to be no less than two million dinars, in preparing the second palace
which stood facing his own dwelling across the great square in
Kahira for the occupation, as he hoped, of his illustrious captive.
In fact, however, the Fatimid Khalifate had already passed its
happiest hours and was rapidly approaching its decline. The Arabs
still held Tripoli and Barqa as subjects of Egypt, but this was the
western limit of Fatimid rule and the death of Anushtakin had
practically ended its authority in Syria.
Just about this time, however, there was a temporary restoration
of Fatimid authority in the Hijaz, and this not due to a rebel like al-
Basasiri, but to the work of a devout and earnest Shiʿite. Abu l-
Hasan ʿAli b. Muhammad b. ʿAli as-Sulaihi was the son of a Qadi of
Yemen, a strict and orthodox Sunni. The son, however, came under
the influence of an Ismaʿilian missionary named ʿAmir b. ʿAbdullah
az-Zawwahi who, concealing his Shiʿite opinions, was received into
great favour by the Qadi, but in private intercourse with the son
taught him the Fatimid system of canon law and the tawil or
allegorical interpretation of the Qurʾan. For fifteen years as-Sulaihi
acted as guide to the Meccan pilgrims along the road between as-
Sarat and Taif, then in 429 he broke out in revolt against the
established government and, at the head of sixty followers, whom
he bound by oath, seized upon Mount Mashar. Secretly he supported
the Khalifate of Mustansir, but this he concealed for fear of Najah,
the Chieftain of the Tihama. In 452 he presented Najah with a
beautiful female slave who, acting under his directions, poisoned
Najah and then released from all need of concealment openly
proclaimed the Fatimid Imamate. Three years later we find him the
master of all Yemen, having his headquarters at Sanaʿa, and for
nearly twenty years the khutba in the cities of Yemen, and for part
of that time also in the holy cities of the Hijaz made mention of the
name of the Khalif al-Mustansir.
After the death of Najah he offered to give the chieftainship of the
Tihama to anyone who would pay him 100,000 dinars of gold. The
sum was at once paid by his wife on behalf of her brother Asaad b.
Shihab. “Where didst thou get this, mistress?” asked as-Sulaih.
“From God,” she replied, “God is bounteous without measure to
whom he will (Qur. ii. 208).” Perceiving that the money came from
his own treasury as-Sulaihi smiled and took it saying, “Here is our
money returned to us” (Qur. xii. 65).
In 473 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, taking with him his wife
and all the princes whom he thought at all likely to revolt during his
absence. Having appointed his son al-Malik al-Mukarram as his
deputy at home he set out with 2,000 horsemen and encamped
outside al-Mahjam. Whilst there he was sought out and found by
Saʿid, the son of the poisoned Najah, who had been roving about
the country but had managed to evade the soldiers of as-Sulaihi. At
the very moment when Saʿid entered as-Sulaihi’s tent 5,000
horsemen were out in search of him. Entering his enemy’s tent Saʿid
at once cut off his head and then, escaping, went out and joined
himself to the horsemen who were searching for him; he announced
to them as-Sulaihi’s death, declared who he was himself, claiming to
be one of their own race and simply acting to avenge his father’s
death. At once the horsemen placed themselves under his
command, and returning to the camp fell upon as-Sulaihi’s guards
and defeated them. As-Sulaihi’s head was placed on the top of his
own state umbrella and carried round to the chanting of the verse,
“O God, possessor of all power, thou givest power to whom thou
wilt, and from whom thou wilt thou takest it away. Thou raisest up
whom thou wilt, and whom thou wilt thou dost abase. In thy hand is
good; for thou art over all things potent” (Qur. iii. 25). Thus as-
Sulaihi’s kingdom came to an end and with it ceased the recognition
of the Fatimid Khalif in Arabia (Ibn Khall. 512, etc.).
Thus, from time to time, Muntasir received temporary recognition
in various unexpected quarters and seemed to bulk more
prominently than any of the preceding Fatimid Khalifs in the history
of Islam, but meanwhile his kingdom was on the decline and in
Egypt was in evil condition, indeed the period 450 to 466 shows the
nadir of their authority in Egypt itself.
 The death of Yazuri in 450 was a very serious loss as it once more
liberated the factions and forces of disorder, the evil influence being
the Turkish general Nasir ad-Dawla, the same who had succeeded
Anushtakin in Syria. After the murder of Yazuri there were forty
different wazirs in the space of nine years, many of these being put
to death at the end of their term of office, although about this time
the more humane practice came into force of appointing the
deposed minister to some minor post, very often some provincial
government, from which it was quite possible for him to rise to the
wazirate again. None of these was a man of any great weight or
marked personality, so that the Khalif fell entirely into the hands of
mere court flatterers, altogether obscure and incompetent persons,
and himself developed a childish and petulant attitude. He was
especially annoyed at the frequent interference of the Queen Mother
in the affairs of the state, but had not the strength or courage to
check her.
The faction fights between the Turkish mercenaries and the negro
troops became more constant and violent under this weak and
incompetent rule. At length in 454 the Turks, led by Nasir ad-Dawla
the Commander-in-Chief, drove the negro regiments out of Cairo and
chased them to Upper Egypt where they were kept, although for
some years they made regular attempts to recover their footing in
Lower Egypt. The victorious Turks dominated Cairo, held the
successive wazirs in subjection, treated the Khalif with contempt,
and used their power to deplete the treasury by increasing their pay
to nearly twenty times its former figure. At last Nasir ad-Dawla’s
tyranny made him offensive even to his own officers, and gave the
Khalif the opportunity of getting rid of him in 462. Though deposed
in Cairo he was able to hold his own in Alexandria where he had the
support of the B. Qorra Arabs and the Lawata Berbers. Thus the
Arab and Berber tribes under Nasir, helped by some of the Turkish
mercenaries, were in command of Alexandria and a considerable
portion of Lower Egypt, whilst the expelled negro troops were in
possession of Upper Egypt, the Khalif’s authority being limited to
Cairo and its immediate vicinity. Added to this was the fact that
beginning with 458 there had been a series of bad Niles followed by
a famine of seven years duration (459-465), whose later period was
aggravated by Cairo being practically isolated by the rebel forces to
the north and to the south, the Berbers in Lower Egypt deliberately
aggravating the distress by ravaging the country, destroying the
embankments and canals, and seeking every way to reduce the
capital and the neighbouring districts by sheer starvation. In the city
a house could be bought for 20 pounds of flour, an egg was sold for
a dinar, a cake of bread for fifteen dinars, and even horses, mules,
cats, and dogs were sold at high prices for food. In the Khalif’s own
stable where there had been 10,000 animals there were now only
three thin horses, and his escort fainted from hunger as it
accompanied him through the streets. Many great princes and ex-
officials of the court gladly filled menial offices in the few houses
where food was still found, and sought employment as grooms,
sweepers, and attendants in the baths. Of all the Fatimids Mustansir
had at one time enjoyed the largest revenues and in 442 he had
inherited the almost incredible wealth of two aged ladies descended
from his ancestor Moʿizz. But most of this had long since been
plundered by the Turkish guard, and now he also was reduced to
dire poverty. The Queen Mother and other ladies of the Khalif’s
family made good their escape and took refuge in Baghdad. At
length the people of Cairo were reduced to feeding on human flesh,
which was even sold publicly in the markets. Wayfarers were waylaid
in the lonelier streets, or caught by hooks let down from the
windows, and devoured. As an inevitable result of this protracted
famine plague broke out, whole districts were absolutely denuded of
population, and house after house lay empty.
Meanwhile the Turkish mercenaries had drained the treasury, the
works of art and valuables of all sorts in the palace were sold to
satisfy their demands; often they themselves were the purchasers at
merely nominal prices and sold the articles again at a profit.
Emeralds valued at 300,000 dinars were bought by one Turkish
general for 500 dinars, and in one fortnight of the year 460 articles
to the value of 30,000,000 dinars were sold off to provide pay for
the Turks. But this selling of the valuable collections accumulated in
the palace was as nothing compared to the damage done wantonly
by sheer mischief or unintentionally by carelessness. The precious
library which had been rendered available to the public and was one
of the objects for which many visited Cairo was scattered, the books
were torn up, thrown away, or used to light fires.
At length, after the Queen and her daughters had left Cairo, the
Turks began fighting amongst themselves. Nasir ad-Dawla attacked
the city which was defended by the rival faction of the Turkish guard
and, after burning part of Fustat and defeating the defenders,
entered as a conqueror. When he reached the palace he found the
Khalif lodged in rooms which had been stripped bare, waited on by
only three slaves, and subsisting on two loaves which were sent him
daily by the charitable daughters of Ibn Babshad the grammarian.
After this victory over the unhappy city Nasir ad-Dawla became so
over-bearing and tyrannical in his conduct that he provoked even his
own followers, and so at length he was assassinated in 466. But this
only left the city in a worse condition than ever, for it was now at the
mercy of the various Turkish factions which behaved no better than
troops of brigands.
At this desperate juncture al-Mustansir was roused to action and
wrote to the Armenian Badr al-Jamali, who had once been
purchased as a slave by Ibn ʿAmmar and was now acting as
governor of Tyre, begging him to come to the rescue. Badr replied
that he would do so if he were allowed to bring his own army with
him and were given a free hand. This was granted, and soon Badr
was on his way. With courage quickened by the approach of rescue
the Khalif ventured to arrest Ildeguz, the Turkish governor of Cairo,
and thus put some check on the military tyranny. At his arrival Badr
was well received by the Turkish mercenaries who had no idea that
he had been invited by the Khalif. His first act was to invite the
Turkish leaders to a conference: each of his own chief officers was
told off to deal with one of these leaders and, at a given signal, each
slaughtered the man who had been designated. Badr then set
himself to restore order in Cairo, and this he did efficiently but with
the severity rendered necessary by the desperate condition of the
city, and thus re-established the Khalif as master. The grateful prince
could not do too much to show his appreciation of these services,
and Badr was created wazir of the sword and of the pen, i.e., chief
minister of affairs military and civil, Chief Qadi and Chief Daʿi. After
reducing Cairo to complete order he proceeded with his troops
through Lower Egypt, putting down brigandage and disorder until he
reached Alexandria where he had some resistance to overcome, but
in due course that also was reduced. The settlement of Cairo and
Lower Egypt occupied the greater part of 467: then in 468 he
proceeded to Upper Egypt and succeeded in disbanding the black
troops which held out there, and reduced those parts also to good
order. Thus, once more, Egypt was under an efficient and firm
government. It is true that his efforts were greatly assisted by the
fact that the year 466 saw an exceptionally good Nile, so that
prosperity and abundance once more reigned through the land. It is
interesting to note that the Khalif set himself to the formation of a
new library at Cairo as one of his first tasks; it helps us to realize
that the Shiʿites were then as always the friends of learning.
Meanwhile difficult problems had arisen in Syria. The Saljuq Turks,
who were now dominant in Baghdad, were fanatically orthodox and
set themselves deliberately to root out the Fatimids from Islam. In
461, during the period of disorder in Egypt, they had gained
possession of Jerusalem, and in 466 they took Damascus which
never again acknowledged a Fatimid ruler. The Saljuq general Atsiz
then planned an expedition against Egypt itself, and as this threat
came just at the moment when Badr was setting himself to the task
of restoring order in Egypt he was not in a position to attempt an
expedition against the Saljuk Turks. Ships were made ready to
remove the court to Alexandria, and messengers were sent out to
attempt to bribe the Turkish general to retire. In fact Atsiz was not
well supported and felt himself not in a position to press forward, so
that this danger was averted. As soon as Badr had reduced Lower
Egypt he sent an expedition to recover Palestine and Syria, and his
army was able to gain possession of Jerusalem, where Atsiz had
been governor since 468. Hard pressed by the Egyptians Atsiz
appealed for help to the Saljuq general Tutush who had entered
Syria with large reinforcements, and at length evacuated from
Jerusalem and marched out to join with him. He met Tutush at
Damascus, but the Saljuq Commander-in-Chief severely rebuked
Atsiz for quitting Jerusalem and arrested and executed him (a.h.
471), and then himself took possession of the whole of Syria. In 478
Tutush, now ʿAbbasid viceroy in Syria took Aleppo, but soon after
this he found himself opposed by his nephew Barkyaruk, with whom
he was compelled to wage war for some time until he was slain in
battle by his nephew’s forces in 488. Taking advantage of this civil
war Badr made another attempt upon Damascus, but this was
unsuccessful, although the Egyptians recovered Tyre and Akka.
Shortly after this success, in 487, Badr died and was succeeded as
wazir by his son Abu l-Kasim Shahanshah, commonly known as al-
Afdal; and the wazir’s death was soon followed by that of the Khalif
Mustansir.
The rule of Badr was especially associated with a great
development of building, and especially with the construction of new
walls and gates round Cairo. In this work Badr employed Syrian
architects who introduced Byzantine styles of architecture and of
fortification, and made a greater use of stone in place of the brick
which predominated in the older constructions. The existing gates
known respectively as the Bab an-Nasr, the Bab al-Futuh, and the
Bab az-Zuwayla, are specimens of Badr’s work, and show an almost
purely Byzantine style in marked contrast to the native Egyptian
work, and so the outpost tower called by the unintelligible name of
the Burg adh-Dhiffir. All these formed part of the south boundary of
the ancient Kahira, but are now included within the area of the
modern city. To the same period belongs the restoration of the
Nilometer in the island of Roda (a.h. 485).
In 483 Badr made a new assessment and return of taxation for
Egypt and Syria. Under his rule the annual revenue had risen from
2,000,000 dinars to 3,100,000, and peace and prosperity reigned in
all the land of Egypt, though war prevailed in Syria, the mark of the
first waves of Saljuq invasion.
Before closing the narrative of the reign of Mustansir we must take
note of a visit to Egypt paid by a Persian missionary in 471, closely
connected with the visit of Nasir-i-Khusraw some years before, and
important in its bearing upon events which followed soon after
Mustansir’s death.
This Persian missionary, Hasan-i-Sabbah by name, was born in
Qum whither his father had removed from Kufa. Like his father he
was a Shiʿite of the “Twelver” sect, but came under the influence of
Nasir-i-Khusraw who was an active propagandist, although at the
time Ismaʿilian doctrines were not making much progress in Asia.
After considerable hesitation he became a proselyte of the
Ismaʿilians and took the oath of allegiance to the Fatimid Khalif. In
464 he came under the notice of the overseer of the mission work in
the district (bahr, literally, “sea”), of Isfahan, and was advised by
him to make a pilgrimage to Egypt. After spending two years as
assistant to the overseer of Isfahan he set out in 467 and reached
Cairo in 471 where he was well received by the Chief Daʿi and other
leading persons, but was not allowed to have an interview with the
Khalif. At the time, it appears, the court was divided into two
factions over the question of the succession, the one party holding
to the Khalif’s elder son Nizar, the other to a younger son named
Mustali. In one place Nasir-i-Khusraw says that the Khalif told him
that his elder son Nizar was to be his heir, and the succession of the
older son would be in accordance with the doctrines of the sect as
already proved by their adherence to Ismaʿil, the son of Jaʿfar as-
Sadiq. But Badr and the chief officials were on the side of the
younger son Mustali, and it was probably the knowledge that the
Persian visitor was opposed to them on this question which stood in
the way of a personal interview with Mustansir. After eighteen
months in Egypt Hasan-i-Sabbah was forced to leave because,
according to his own statement, he had provoked the suspicion of
Badr. So in 472 he embarked at Alexandria. His ship was wrecked on
the coast of Syria, and after much wandering he at length made his
way overland to Isfahan where he arrived in 473. At once he
commenced propaganda amongst the Ismaʿilians in favour of Nizar
as the chosen heir to the Imamate. In this work he was successful,
and in 483 he obtained possession of the castle of Alamut (“the
eagle’s teaching”) which he made the headquarters of his branch of
the Ismaʿilian sect. As supporters of the claims of Nizar the
members of this branch were known as “Nizarites,” but later the
name of “Assassins” became their commoner designation. This term
represents the Arabic Hashishi, that is to say, user of Indian hemp or
the “Faqir’s herb” (cannabis Indica), as this was used as a means of
intoxication and exaltation to arouse the members of the sect
charged with peculiarly difficult duties. In a later chapter (cf. pp.
213, etc.) we shall see that these duties, the acts which are now
especially associated with the term assassin, were performed by
quite subordinate members of the sect; but these members
entrusted with the performance of deeds of violence and daring
were prepared by being worked up into a frenzy by the use of this
drug whose peculiar influences are well known in the east. From 473
to the date of Mustansir’s death in 487 these “Assassins” were
occupied in preaching the claims of the prince Nizar to the Imamate,
but they did not definitely separate from the Ismaʿilian body or from
their allegiance to the Fatimid Khalif until, at Mustansir’s death, the
elder son Nizar was formally excluded from the succession, so that
our further consideration of the sect is best deferred to the next
reign. A large literature exists on the history of the Assassins. The
most important authority is the “Adventures of our master” (i.e., of
Hasan-i-Sabbah), a lost work included amongst the books in the
great library at Alamut and examined by ʿAta Malik Juwayni before it
was burned with other heretical works, and from it he makes
important citations.
The longest Khalifate of Muslim history closed with the death of
Mustansir on the 18th of Dhu l-Hijja, 487 (a.d. 1094), and at once
the wazir al-Afdal announced the accession of the younger son al-
Mustali.
 XIII
THE NINTH FATIMID KHALIF, AL-MUSTALI

(a.h. 487-495 = a.d. 1094-1101)

As soon as al-Mustansir was dead the wazir al-Afdal al-Juyush

entered the palace and placed Abu l-Kasim Ahmad al-Mustali, a
youth of eighteen years of age and the youngest son of the late
Khalif on the throne. At the same time he sent for the other sons of
Mustansir who were near at hand, Nizar the eldest son, and his
brothers ʿAbdullah and Ismaʿil, bidding them come quickly. As soon
as they entered the room where the wazir awaited them and saw
their youngest brother enthroned they were filled with indignation,
and when al-Afdal bade them do homage to Mustali as the new
Khalif, Nizar burst out, “I would rather be cut in pieces than do
homage to one younger than myself, and moreover I possess a
document in the handwriting of my father by which he names me
successor, and I shall go and bring it.” At this he went out,
presumably to get the document, but as he did not return the wazir
sent after him, and it was found that he had left the city. Very soon
afterwards he appeared at Alexandria, supported by his brother
ʿAbdullah and an emir named Ibn Massal, and there he assumed the
title of Khalif with the surname of al-Mustafa li-dinillah (“the chosen
for God’s religion”), and received the oath of allegiance from the
Alexandrians. He promised Nasir ad-Dawla Iftikin, the Turkish
governor of Alexandria, that he should be wazir. As we have already
seen, there was a party ready to support Nizar even before
Mustansir’s death, and his claims seemed to have fair prospects of
success. No doubt we may say that the sectarian supporters of the
Fatimid Imamate were with him, whilst al-Afdal headed the secularist
party: but there would, no doubt, be many aggrieved with the
existing administration, and even perhaps remnants of those whom
al-Afdal’s father had suppressed with such severity, who were ready
to throw in their lot with the opposition to the wazir’s nominee in
Cairo.
In 488 al-Afdal found it necessary to take the field against Nizar
and his followers, but suffered a sharp repulse in the first
engagement. Encouraged by this the Nizarites laid waste the country
north of Cairo. Again al-Afdal prepared his forces and marched this
time to Alexandria and laid siege to it. During this siege Ibn Massal
had a dream in which he seemed to be riding on horseback and al-
Afdal was following him on foot. He consulted an astrologer as to
the meaning of this dream, and was informed that it signified the
ultimate success of al-Afdal, for those who walk the earth are those
who will possess it. Ibn Massal took this very seriously and thought
it prudent to leave Nizar’s party, so he departed and retired to Lukk
near Barqa. This defection marked the turning point of Nizar’s career
for, after losing Ibn Massal and his men, his fortunes gradually
declined. Convinced that resistance could not endure for long he
sent out and asked al-Afdal if he would spare his life if he submitted.
Receiving a favourable answer the gates of Alexandria were opened
to the wazir who took possession of the city and, after putting an
end to all resistance, returned to Cairo with Nizar and ʿAbdullah.
Nizar’s subsequent life is totally unknown. He was either imprisoned
in absolute secrecy, or put to death: stories were told of both these
ends, but nothing was ever known for certain. A certain Muhammad
afterwards claimed to be Nizar’s son, and had a following in Yemen:
he was brought to Cairo and crucified in 523. In all probability he
was an imposter.
The suppression of Nizar and his partisans meant the triumph of
al-Afdal, and during the rest of Mustali’s reign the Khalif was entirely
without authority in the state, and came out only as required at
public functions.
The suppression of Nizar involved a definite separation between
the Fatimids of Cairo and their court on the one side and the Asiatic
adherents of Nizar’s Imamate on the other, and so from 488 onwards
the Assassins formed a distinct sect, as much opposed to the
Fatimids and their followers as to the orthodox Muslims. The
founder, Hasan-i-Sabbah, had now fully organised that sect on lines
which were in general outline imitated from the traditional system of
the Ismaʿilians, but differed in detail. There were grades and
successive stages of initiation, and the real beliefs of the higher
grades were of the same pantheistic-agnostic type as in the
Ismaʿilian body, and similarly the members of those upper grades
were keen students of the science and philosophy which had been
derived from Hellenistic tradition. When the headquarters of the sect
at Alamut were finally taken they were found to contain a vast
library as well as an observatory and a collection of scientific
instruments. In fact we may say with confidence that the Assassins
represent the highest level of scholarship and research in
contemporary Asiatic Islam, if we can indeed regard them as within
the Islamic fold; an island of culture and learning in the midst of
reactionary orthodoxy and actual ignorance, the result of the
submerging of Asiatic Islam beneath the flood of Turkish invasion.
Far away in the west a purer culture was beginning to dawn in
Muslim Spain, but in Asia philosophy and science were being rapidly
obscured by the reactionary flood.
As organised by Hasan-i-Sabbah the Assassins appear in six
grades. The highest of these was filled by the “Chief Daʿi” who
recognised the Imam alone as superior on earth. So long as
Mustansir lived he was regarded as the true Imam; after his death
Nizar was his successor, and later on we find the Chief Daʿi claiming
descent from Nizar, but this was as yet in the future. It was the
same development as that which we have already observed in the
history of the Shiʿite sect founded by ʿAbdullah b. Maymun.
Amongst outsiders the Chief Daʿi commonly went by the name of
“Sheikh of the mountain,” i.e., of the mountain stronghold of Alamut
which formed the headquarters of the sect, and this is reproduced
as “the old man of the mountain” in the records of the Crusaders.
Under the Chief Daʿi were the “Senior Missionaries” (daʿi-i-kabir),
each supervising a diocese or bahr (“sea”), and under these were
the ordinary missionaries. Thus far the organization merely
reproduced that already prevalent in the Ismaʿilian propaganda.
Beneath the missionaries were the ordinary members in two main
grades known respectively as “companions” (rafiq) and “adherents”
(lasiq), the former more fully initiated in the batimite or allegorical
interpretations of doctrine than the latter. The sixth grade,
theoretically the lowest, was peculiar to the Assassin sect, and
consisted of “devoted ones” (fidaʿi) who do not seem to have been
initiated, but were bound to a blind and unquestioning obedience
which has its parallel in the discipline of the various darwish orders,
but was here carried to exceptional extremes. These fidaʿis were
carefully trained and were especially practised in the use of various
forms of disguise, after all only a more perfect refinement of the
methods originally evolved by the Hashimite missionaries; but these
were not disguised for the purpose of acting more efficiently as
missionaries and for penetrating different communities as teachers,
but solely for the purpose of carrying out the specific orders of the
Chief Daʿi, and thus formed a most formidable branch of what soon
became an exceptionally powerful secret society. In many cases the
acts entrusted to the fidaʿis were acts of murder, and it is from this
that the name of “assassin” has received its peculiar meaning in
most of the languages of Western Europe. The fidaʿi, trained to the
use of disguise, sometimes as a servant, or as a merchant, or
darwish, or as a Christian monk, was able to penetrate into almost
any society and to strike down suddenly the victim marked out; and
counted it a triumphant success if this act involved his own death as
well. A deliberate effort was made to surround the sect with an
atmosphere of terror; a Muslim prince would be struck down whilst
he was acting as leader at prayer, or a Crusading knight as he was
attending high mass at the head of his troops, or if there was not
actual murder, a leader might wake up in his tent to find a message
from the Assassins pinned by a dagger to the ground beside his
couch, or a doctor of the law would find a similar message between
the pages of the text book from which he was lecturing. All this was
developed more elaborately as time went on, but already in the days
of Mustali the sect had rendered itself prominent by getting rid of
some leading men whom it regarded as its enemies, such as in 485
Nidhamu l-Mulk the great wazir of the Saljuq sultans, in 491 ʿAbdu
r-Rahman as-Samayrami the wazir of Barkiyaruq’s mother, and in
494 Unru Bulka, the rival of Nidhamu l-Mulk and the emir of greater
influence in Isfahan. The higher members of the sect were domiciled
at Alamut, or in some one or other of the various mountain
fortresses they secured in Northern Persia and afterwards in Syria,
but adherents were found everywhere scattered through western
Asia. In its development the sect of Assassins was almost entirely
Asiatic, but as professed adherents of Nizar the eldest son of
Mustansir, the Assassins were, at least nominally, of Egyptian origin.
So far the danger most threatening to the Fatimids had been the
advance of the Saljuq Turks, pledged to the destruction of the
Ismaʿilian heresy, from the east: but in the fourth year of Mustali’s
reign a new danger appeared. This was the appearance of the
Franks embarked on the First Crusade, who reached Syria in the
year 490, when the Saljuq influence was already on the decline. The
great Saljuq leader Tutush had died in the preceding year, and his
two sons at once became rivals, the one, Duqaq, established at
Damascus, the other, Rudwan, at Aleppo. Rudwan was anxious to
obtain Fatimid assistance and inserted Mustali’s name in the khutba,
but the Fatimid state regarded the Saljuqs with dread and suspicion,
and was disposed to welcome the Franks as possible allies against
the Turks. Jerusalem remained in Saljuq hands under the control of
the sons of Ortuk b. Aksab who had governed in the name of
Tutush, and they formed an outpost of the Saljuq empire which the
Fatimid government regarded as its chief enemy in the east.
The Crusaders professed to be the champions of the Christian
religion and declared their aim as being the deliverance of the
sacred sites from the occupation of the Muslims. Before reaching
Syria, however, they had made it plain that this was not to be
understood in a literal sense, for they had shown marked hostility
towards the Greek Church, and throughout the whole of their career
they were the uncompromising enemies of all the eastern churches.
No doubt this can be partly explained by a total lack of
understanding or sympathy towards religious bodies whose general
customs and external organisation, and more particularly whose
liturgy, differed so markedly from the forms developed in the west;
but the fact remains that their fellow Christians in the east soon
came to regard the Crusaders with as much dislike as the Muslims.
This antagonism towards the Greek and eastern churches generally
was fully defined before their arrival in Syria. But in fact they were
not even the champions of Latin Christianity. Some, no doubt, were
sincere in their desire to rescue the Holy Land from non-Christian
occupation, but for the most part they were adventurers desirous of
carving out principalities in lands which they were well aware were
much richer and more prosperous than their own countries in the
west. From their own point of view the time at which this Crusade
arrived was exceptionally promising: the Saljuq power was broken
and there was a temporary lull in the migration of the virile and
warlike Turkish races westwards, whilst the Muslim community was
divided between ʿAbbasids and Fatimids beyond the possibility of
united resistance. Twenty years earlier, or fifty years later they would
certainly not have been able to establish themselves in Palestine, but
just at the moment circumstances were favourable.
Arriving in Syria in a.h. 490 the Crusaders under Baldwin (or
Bardawil as he appears in the Arabic writers) took the city of Edessa
and then proceeded to lay siege to Antioch which fell into their
hands on the 16th of Rajab 491 (20th June, 1098). News of their
arrival and first successes had early reached Egypt, and al-Afdal
prepared to welcome them as likely auxiliaries against the Turks: it
seemed fully possible that the Franks and Fatimids might divide
Western Asia between them, and such indeed would have been
feasible. Under this impression al-Afdal sent an army into Palestine
and wrested Jerusalem from Sokman the son of Ortuk, who held it
as a part of the Saljuq empire, at the same time sending forward an
embassy to the Franks welcoming them and asking to make an
alliance with them. The Franks absolutely rejected these proposals
and declined to accept any friendly overtures from Muslims. Very
soon they proceeded to attack Jerusalem, and in the month of
Shaban, 492, took it, plundering the mosques, slaughtering the
Muslim population, and showing themselves hostile to orthodox and
Shiʿite alike. This disillusioned al-Afdal and made it clear to him that
it was impossible to expect any sort of alliance with the new-comers.
After taking Jerusalem and expelling the Fatimid government the
Franks elected Godfrey king of Jerusalem, a rank which he held until
the following year, and during this time he did his best to introduce
western customs and jurisprudence in the city as well as the Latin
rite in the churches.
In the following year (493) the Franks attacked the Egyptian army
before Ascalon, which now remained the only important possession
of the Fatimids in Palestine. Before the battle the wazir sent an
envoy with a flag of truce, but this the Franks disregarded and made
an assault upon those who, according to the customary usages of
war, should have been sacred. In the ordinary way such attacks
made in disregard of a flag of truce, reported in practically every
war, ought not to be treated too seriously by the historian: it is
almost impossible, even in the best disciplined army, to make sure
that no abuse of this kind shall ever occur, but in the case of the
Crusaders there seems to have been a deliberate intention to treat
the Muslims as outside the ordinary conventions which were more or
less observed amongst Christian nations: although it must be
remembered that we are dealing with times before the rise of
chivalry and the humaner attitude which characterised mediaeval
warfare, all more fully developed after contact with the Muslims who
did much to refine Frankish manners and usages; and, moreover, the
very mixed multitude loosely held together in the Crusading ranks
was undisciplined even beyond the wont of those days. In the
succeeding engagement the Franks defeated al-Afdal and his forces,
and he was compelled to embark for Egypt. Ascalon, however, was
not taken as the citizens, alarmed by the recent savagery of the
Franks in Jerusalem and perceiving that they were, for the most
part, simply out for booty, bribed them to leave the city alone.
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