A Critical Assessment of Heinz Halm's Views on the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt al-Hākim bi-Amr Allāh

Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (reign 996-1021), the sixth Fatimid caliph in North Africa, is one of the most controversial characters in the history of Islam, who has engendered different and sometimes conflicting views of historians. Adopting a descriptive-analytical method, the present study aimed to assess the views of Heinz Halm, the contemporary Ismaili era researcher, on al-Hakim. Although al-Hakim has gone down the history as a brutal, wicked-minded man, Halm in The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning (1997) refers to al-Hakim as a highly-respected person among Egyptians, as a person who had a stable character with consistency in religious policies. Moreover, Halm depicts al-Hakim as totally opposed to the Druze who emerged, as a religious sect, with a belief in al-Hakim's divinity.1 The results of the study showed that Halm, drawing eclectically on historical sources, reports, and statements to depict al-Hakim's character as justified and sound, had foregrounded, marginalized, and eliminated historical data about al-Hakim.