The Status of Christians in Yahia of Antioch’s Histories: The Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim Bi Amr Allah’s Era Exemplified

Abstract

     This study sheds light on the conditions of Christians in Fatimid Egypt under the Caliph Al-Hakim ca. 996-1020 A.D., as detailed in the histories authored by Yahia of Antioch, a medieval Egypt-based Christian historian. To achieve this, a comprehensive preview of the social, political, economic, intellectual, ritual, and religious conditions of those Christians is introduced. Fatimid Egypt under Al-Hakim saw various multi-level changes most of which are attributed to the politics introduced by Al-Hakim, who imposed a lot of freedom-limiting restrictions. Remarkably, most of these anti-Christian restrictions were meant to curb any religious or ritual manifestations. Later on, as Yahia’s account indicates in this respect, most of these restrictions were abolished.