page_title: Ridwan ibn Walakhshi
section_title: Overthrow of Bahram
hierarchical_section_title: Ridwan ibn Walakhshi / Overthrow of Bahram
caption_attribution_description: English: Original caption: ISLAMIC, Fatimids. al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. AH 526-544 / AD 1131-1149. AV Dinar (22mm, 4.29 g, 8h). Third series. al-Iskandariya (Alexandria) mint. Dated AH 544 (AD 1149/50). Nicol 2610; Album 735.3; ICV 850. VF, die rust, edge marks. Rare.
context_page_description: Ridwan ibn Walakhshi was the vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate in 1137–1139, under Caliph al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. He was a Sunni military commander, who rose to high offices under caliphs al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah and al-Hafiz. He participated in the coup of Kutayfat, which in 1130–1131 briefly overthrew the Fatimid dynasty, serving as gaoler of the future caliph al-Hafiz. Under al-Hafiz he rose to the powerful position of chamberlain, and emerged as the leader of the Muslim opposition during the vizierate of the Christian Bahram al-Armani in 1135–1137, when he served as governor of Ascalon and the western Nile Delta.
  In February 1137 he rose in revolt against Bahram, drove him from Cairo, and was in turn appointed to the vizierate with the title of "Most Excellent King" denoting his ambitions and status as a de facto monarch in his own right. His tenure lasted two years and five months, and was marked by a reorganization of the government and by a persecution of Christian officials, who were replaced by Muslims, as well as by the introduction of restrictions on Christians and Jews.
context_section_description: When the Armenian Bahram became vizier in 1135, Ridwan emerged as the leader of the Muslim reaction to Bahram's pro-Christian policies. Bahram tried to dispose of him by sending him to govern Ascalon in May 1135, but there Ridwan busied himself with blocking the Armenian immigration, earning plaudits from the Muslim street of Cairo. As a result, Bahram recalled him in November 1136 and sent him to govern his own former province at Gharbiyya (the western Nile Delta).
  The move backfired, as Ridwan was now placed in possession of an independent power base close to the capital: leading Cairene officials began making contact with him, and Ridwan did not hesitate to preach jihād against Bahram from the pulpit of the mosque. Finally, in early 1137 Ridwan raised an army from the local Bedouin and marched on Cairo. Echoing the Battle of Siffin in 657, his soldiers hung copies of the Quran from their lances. Bahram set out from Cairo to confront him, but his Muslim soldiers deserted to Ridwan, and Bahram had to withdraw to the city. On 3 February, the Armenian vizier fled Cairo with 2,000 Armenian soldiers, making for Qus, where his brother Vasak was governor.
  At Qus, Bahram found his brother killed and defiled by the local townfolk. After plundering the city, Bahram made for Aswan on the southern border of the Fatimid realm, but the local governor barred his gates to him, and Bahram was forced to retreat to Akhmim. There Bahram accepted an offer of amnesty and protection (amān) by the Caliph, and entered a monastery near Akhmim.
caption: Gold dinar of al-Hafiz, minted at Alexandria in 1149
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