Research Catalog

Title

The theocrat / Bensalem Himmich ; translated by Roger Allen.

Author

Himmich, Ben Salem, 1947-

Publication

Cairo, Egypt ; New York : American University in Cairo Press, c2005.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xv, 206 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

"The Theocrat takes as its subject one of Arab and Islamic history's most perplexing figures, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah ('the ruler by order of God'), the Fatimid caliph who ruled Egypt during the tenth century and whose career was a direct reflection of both the tensions within the Islamic dominions as a whole and of the conflicts within his own mind. In this remarkable novel Bensalem Himmich explores these tensions and conflicts and their disastrous consequences on an individual ruler and on his people. Himmich does not spare his readers the full horror and tragedy of al-Hakim's reign, but in employing a variety of textual styles - including quotations from some of the best known medieval Arab historians; vivid historical narratives; a series of extraordinary decrees issued by the caliph; and, most remarkably, the inspirational utterances of al-Hakim during his ecstatic visions, recorded by his devotees and subsequently a basis for the foundation of the Druze community - he succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a character whose sheer unpredictability throws into relief the qualities of those who find themselves forced to cajole, confront, or oppose him."--BOOK JACKET.

Uniform Title

Majnūn al-ḥukm. English

Alternative Title

Majnūn al-ḥukm.

Subject

• Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh, Caliph of Egypt, 985-approximately 1021 > Fiction
• 640-1250
• Fatimites > Fiction
• Egypt > History > 640-1250 > Fiction

Genre/Form

• Fiction
• History
• Fiction.

Note

• "Dar el Kutub no. 16557/04"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 204).

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

"Dar el Kutub no. 16557/04"--T.p. verso./ Includes bibliographical references (p. 204).

ISBN

977424897X

LCCN

^^2005338258

OCLC

60649989

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library