Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd (), known by the

regnal name A regnal name, regnant name, or reign name is the name used by monarchs and popes during their reigns and subsequently, historically. Since ancient times, some monarchs have chosen to use a different name from their original name when they accede ...

of Badr al-Dīn () among the

Isma'ili Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the ...

faithful, was the 26th and last

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

Hafizi Isma'ilism Hafizi Isma'ilism (), also known as Majidi Isma'ilism (), was a branch of Musta'li Ismailism, Musta'li Isma'ilism that emerged as a result of a split in 1132. The Hafizis accepted the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid caliph al-Hafiz, Abd al-Majid al-Haf ...

. Like his father, he spent most of his life in captivity at the hands of the Ayyubid government. He died apparently childless, thereby ending the line of Hafizi imams and of the

Fatimid dynasty The Fatimid dynasty () was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Fatimid Caliphate, between 909 and 1171 CE. Descended from Fatima and Ali, and adhering to Isma'ili Shi'ism, they held the Isma'ili imamate, and were regarded as the rightful leaders o ...

Life

The

Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, i ...

was abolished by

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

in 1171. In the aftermath, Saladin and his

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

successors imprisoned the surviving members of the Fatimid dynasty, including the heir-apparent, Daoud ibn al-Adid, who was still recognized by the Hafizi

faithful as their rightful imam. A series of pro-Fatimid conspiracies and uprisings in the 1170s failed to topple the new Ayyubid regime, and Daoud spent his life in prison, until his death in 1207–8. Despite the separation of male and female prisoners, Daoud apparently managed to beget two sons, reportedly with slave women secretly smuggled into his chambers. Sulayman, given the epithet Badr al-Din () by his followers, was the oldest. As soon as his mother had conceived him, she was reportedly smuggled to

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

, where pro-Fatimid sentiment lingered, and where her son was born. Later, likely under the Ayyubid sultan

al-Kamil Al-Malik al-Kamil Nasir ad-Din Muhammad (; – 6 March 1238), titled Abu al-Maali (), was an Egyptian ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Crusade. He was known to the Franki ...

(), Sulayman was captured and confined in the

Cairo Citadel The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin () is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residenc ...

, where the rest of the surviving Fatimid clan was being held as well. Sulayman died in 1248, apparently childless, thus ending the direct Fatimid line. Some Isma'ili partisans claimed that he had a son who was hidden, repeating the common motif of the '

Hidden Imam Occultation (, ') in Shia Islam refers to the eschatological belief that the Mahdi, a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, has already been born and he was subsequently concealed, but he will reemerge and he will establish justice and pe ...

'. As late as 1298, a pretender claiming to be Daoud, the son of Sulayman, appeared in Upper Egypt, but by this time the Isma'ilis had been reduced to small isolated enclaves, the last traces of which disappear in the 14th century.

References

Sources

* * {{Portal bar, Islam, Fatimid Caliphate, Egypt, Biography 1248 deaths Fatimid dynasty Egyptian Ismailis Hafizi imams People who died in prison custody Prisoners and detainees of the Ayyubid Sultanate 13th-century Arab people 13th-century Islamic religious leaders