Nizar ibn al-Mustansir
c. 1045 CE–c. 1095 CE · Alexandria
Nizar ibn al-Mustansir was a prince of the Fatimid dynasty, the Cairo-based Shia Ismaili caliphate that then ruled Egypt. He was the eldest son of al-Mustansir, who held the joint office of caliph (political ruler) and imam (spiritual leader). Reliable sources report that al-Mustansir at one point designated Nizar his heir through nass, the formal naming of a successor that Ismaili doctrine regards as binding.
When al-Mustansir died at the end of 1094, the powerful army commander and vizier (chief minister) al-Afdal Shahanshah instead installed Nizar's younger half-brother, who took the throne as al-Musta'li. Nizar fled to the port of Alexandria, where the governor and townspeople backed him; he proclaimed himself caliph under the regnal title al-Mustafa li-Din Allah ("the Chosen for God's Religion"), a claim confirmed by a gold coin found in 1994. His revolt failed: he was besieged, surrendered, was carried back to Cairo, and there killed by being walled up alive (immurement), reportedly in 1095.
Whether the designation of Nizar or of al-Musta'li was the valid one is a matter on which Ismailis themselves divide, and this site does not adjudicate it. The dispute produced a permanent split: Ismailis who upheld Nizar's claim became the Nizari branch, whose imamate is traced by tradition through his line down to the Aga Khans. Those who recognized al-Musta'li formed the Musta'li branch.
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AlexandriaEgypt
What they did here
After the vizier al-Afdal raised his younger brother al-Musta'li to the throne in Cairo on al-Mustansir's death (late 1094), Nizar fled to Alexandria, where the governor (reported as Nasr al-Dawla Aftakin) and the population supported him. He proclaimed himself caliph as al-Mustafa li-Din Allah; a surviving gold dinar bearing this title corroborates the claim. His forces initially repulsed al-Afdal but were defeated by late 1095. Sources: EI2 s.v. 'Nizar b. al-Mustansir'; Daftary; IIS.
About Alexandria
Alexandria (al-Iskandariyya) is the great Mediterranean port-city of northern Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE and a leading centre of learning in antiquity. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt (642) it remained a major commercial and scholarly hub; the Shadhili Sufi Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari (d. 1309) took his nisba from the city, and the modernist reformer Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) was active in Egypt's intellectual life there and in Cairo.
The world in their lifetime
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