The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

most illustrious lord al-Afdal, the sword of the imam, the illustrious
of Islam’. The fact that al-Afdal, the vizier, is given equal billing to
the imam-caliph al-Mustali is significant.
The imam-caliph al-Mustali (1094–1101), the youngest of
al-Mustansir’s sons, was 18 when he was put on the throne by the
vizier al-Afdal. He was chosen because he was the most amenable
of al-Mustansir’s successors, while the eldest, Nizar, was imprisoned
and later disappeared. However, al-Mustali died at the age of
twenty-four in 1101 and throughout his short reign he served only
as a puppet, while the real power was in the hands of al-Afdal, who
ruled Egypt for 20 years. Following the death of al-Mustali, his
successor, al-Amir, came to the throne as a five-year-old infant, thus
guaranteeing al-Afdal’s continuance of power. Al-Afdal’s manipulation
of the succession caused instability in Egypt, and Fatimid weakness
abroad led to serious territorial losses in Syria and Palestine, first to the
Seljuk Turks and then to the Crusaders. It was during the campaign
of 1099 that the Lord and Bishop of Apt acquired the ‘Veil of St Anne’
in the plunder that followed the capture of Jerusalem and a serious
military defeat for al-Afdal near Ascalon. It was these events that
precipitated the downfall of the Fatimid dynasty and the eventual rise
of Salah al-Din and Ayyubid rule in Egypt.
The Decorative Arts of the Tulunids and Fatimids 99