Al-Hakim I

Life

Al-Hakim I held the position of the Caliph of Cairo from 1262 to 1302. He was an alleged great-great-great grandson of the Abbasid caliph al-Mustarshid (r. 1118–1135), who had died in 1135. When Baghdad fell to the Mongols in 1258, al-Hakim I escaped to Damascus where he befriended the Arab tribal chief Isa ibn Muhanna, who tried to set him up as caliph, but in the confusion surrounding the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1259–1260, he ended up in Aleppo, where he was proclaimed. However, the much closer and probably genuine uncle of the last Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim, Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad al-Mustansir, was proclaimed caliph in Cairo in 1261. Al-Hakim I joined Ahmad al-Mustansir's invasion of Iraq, also submitting to Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad as caliph, but the latter was slain with most of the invaders near Hīt in Iraq by the Mongols. Only about fifty troops escaped with al-Hakim, who, making his way back to Cairo and after a careful scrutiny of his genealogical claim to be an Abbasid, was proclaimed caliph in succession to al-Mustansir in 1262. Since al-Hakim's connection with the Abbasids is distant and faint, it cannot now be determined whether he was really from that family as he claimed or not. In any case, al-Hakim I had no further adventures, served as a legitimating and ceremonial functionary for the Mamluk sultans in Cairo, reigned for thirty-nine years, and became the progenitor of all the subsequent Caliphs of Cairo, whether he was really an Abbasid or not. Although he was kept in office after 1262, the Mamluk sultans kept him as a virtual prisoner in the citadel, until Sultan Lajin released him in December 1296, allowing him to live in a house in the city and giving him a bigger financial emolument.

Family tree

Al-Hakim traced his roots back to Al-Mustarshid in the following line: Abu 'Ali al-Hasan, the son of Abu Bakr, the son of al-Hasan, the son of 'Ali, son of al-Mustarshid. His relation with the dynasty was distant and faint.

ibn](abd-al-muttalib) ʿHāshīm ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib](abdullah-ibn-abd-al-muttalib) al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib](abbas-ibn-abd-al-muttalib) ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib](abd-al-muttalib) al-Nabiyyin Abū'l-Qāsīm Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh](muhammad) ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās](ibn-abbas)

ʿAbd Allāh al-Sajjad](ali-ibn-abd-allah-ibn-al-abbas) al-Hānafīyya

"al-Imām"](muhammad-ibn-ali-ibn-abdallah)

716/7 - 743**

750–754

750–751 ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad](abd-allah-ibn-muhammad-ibn-al-hanafiyya)

(Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn)](ali-al-sajjad)

"al-Imām"](ibrahim-al-imam)

743 - 749** ʿAbd Allāh al-Mānṣūr](al-mansur)**

r. 754–775 ʿAbd Allāh as-Saffāh](al-saffah)**

r. 750–754

al-Mahdī](al-mahdi)**

r. 775–785

762–764

748–755

750–765

Shāh Ghāzī** (ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad)](abdullah-shah-ghazi)

al-Hādī](al-hadi)**

r. 785–786 ar-Rāshīd](harun-al-rashid)**

r. 786–809

• Mūsā

• Ismā'īl

• Dā'wūd}}

al-Amin](al-amin)**

r. 809–813 al-Ma'mun](al-ma-mun)**

r. 813–833 al-Mu'tasim](al-mu-tasim)**

r. 833–842

al-Wathiq](al-wathiq)**

r. 842–847

r. 847–861 al-Mu'tasim](muhammad-ibn-al-mu-tasim)

al-Musta'in](al-musta-in)**

r. 862–866

870–891 al-Muntasir](al-muntasir)**

r. 861–862

al-Muhtadi](al-muhtadi)**

r. 869–870 al-Mu'tadid](al-mu-tadid)**

r. 892–902 al-Mu'tazz](al-mu-tazz)**

r. 866–869

850–861 Al-Ukhayḍhir**

al-Mu'tamid](al-mu-tamid)**

r. 870–892 ar-Rassī ibn IbrāhīmṬabāṭabā](al-qasim-al-rassi)**

al-Muktafī](al-muktafi)**

r. 902–908 al-Muqtadir](al-muqtadir)**

r. 908–929, 929–932 al-Qāhir](al-qahir)**

r. 929, 932–934

875–892 Al-Ukhayḍhir**

Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥusayn

al-Mustakfī](al-mustakfi)**

r. 944–946 al-Muttaqī](al-muttaqi)**

r. 940–944 al-Rādī](al-radi)**

r. 934–940 al-Mutīʿ](al-muti)**

r. 946–974 al-Ṭāʾiʿ](al-ta-i)**

r. 974–991 al-Qāʿdīr](al-qadir)**

r. 991–1031

1039–1056 al-Mūqtādī](al-muqtadi)**

r. 1075–1094 al-Mūstāzhīr](al-mustazhir)**

r. 1094–1118 Muhammad ibn Zayd

Hasan ibn Zayd

r. 1118–1135 Hasan al-Utrush

al-Rāshīd](al-rashid-billah)**

r. 1135–1136 al-Qabī al-Mūqtāfī](al-muqtafi)**

r. 1136–1160 ibn Alī al-Mūstānjīd](al-mustanjid)**

r. 1160–1170 ibn al-Hāsān al-Mūstādī'](al-mustadi)**

r. 1170–1180 al-Nāsīr](al-nasir)**

r. 1180–1225 az-Zāhīr](al-zahir-bi-amr-allah)**

r. 1225–1226

r. 1260–1277 al-Hakim I**

r. 1262–1302 al-Mūstānsīr](al-mustansir-i)**

r. 1226–1242 al-Mūstānsīr**

r. 1261 al-Mustakfī I**

r. 1302–1340| boxstyle_A02=color:yellow; background-color:YellowGreen; border-width:3px al-Ḥākim bi-amr Allāh al-Mūstā'sīm](al-musta-sim)**

r. 1242–1258 al-Hakim II**

r. 1341–1352 al-Mu'tadid I**

r. 1352–1362 al-Wāṯiq I**

r. 1340–1341 al-Mutawakkil I**

r. 1362–1377, 1377–1383, 1389–1406 al-Musta'sim**

r. 1377, 1386–1389 al-Wāṯiq II**

r. 1383–1386 al-Mu'tadīd II**

r. 1414–1441 al-Mustakfī II**

r. 1441–1451 al-Qāʾim**

r. 1451–1455 al-Mustanjid**

r. 1455–1479 al-Mutawakkil ʿalā'Llāh al-Mutawakkil II**

r. 1479–1497 al-Mustamsik**

r. 1497–1508, 1516–1517 al-Mutawakkil III**

r. 1508–1516, 1517 |}

References

Bibliography

• Amitai-Preiss, Reuven. Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War 1260-1281. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. 58–59, 61–63.
• Glubb, John Bagot. Soldiers of Fortune: The Story of the Mamlukes. New York: Dorset Press, 1988. Pp. 77, 80, 171.