Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd, known by the

regnal name A regnal name, or 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 ...

of Badr al-Dīn () among the

Isma'ili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...

faithful, was the 26th and last imam of

Hafizi Isma'ilism Hafizi Isma'ilism ( ar, حافظية, Ḥāfiẓiyya or , ) was a branch of Musta'li Isma'ilism that emerged as a result of a split in 1132. The Hafizis accepted the Fatimid caliph Abd al-Majid al-Hafiz li-Din Allah () and his successors as imam ...

. Like his father, he spent most of his life in captivity at the hands of the Ayyubid dynasty.

Life

The Fatimid Caliphate had been ended by

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

in 1171. In the aftermath, Saladin and his Ayyubid successors imprisoned the surviving members of the Fatimid dynasty, including the heir-apparent, Daoud ibn al-Adid, who was still recognized by the

Hafizi Hafizi Isma'ilism ( ar, حافظية, Ḥāfiẓiyya or , ) was a branch of Musta'li Isma'ilism that emerged as a result of a split in 1132. The Hafizis accepted the Fatimid caliph Abd al-Majid al-Hafiz li-Din Allah () and his successors as imams ...

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

al-Kamil Al-Kamil ( ar, الكامل) (full name: al-Malik al-Kamil Naser ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Muhammad) (c. 1177 – 6 March 1238) was a Muslim ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Cr ...

(), that Sulayman was captured and confined in the Cairo Citadel, where the rest of the 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 Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justic ...

'. 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 end 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 Arabs 13th-century Islamic religious leaders