''Wāsiṭa'' ("intermediary") was a title given to the senior administrative official in

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The title signified the role of the chief minister as the "intermediary" between the Fatimid

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

s and the administration and the people, but was junior to the rank of

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

(''wazīr''), which was more common in the Islamic world. It was first given to

al-Hasan ibn Ammar Hasan ibn Ali ( ar, الحسن بن علي, translit=Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī; ) was a prominent early Islamic figure. He was the eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He briefly ruled as caliph from Ja ...

in 996, and continued to be held by several chief ministers during the reigns of

al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr (13 August 985 – 13 February 1021), better known by his regnal name al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh ( ar, الحاكم بأمر الله, lit=The Ruler by the Order of God), was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili ima ...

(r. 996–1021) and

Ali az-Zahir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن الحاكم; 20 June 1005 – 13 June 1036), better known with his regnal name al-Ẓāhir li-iʿzāz Dīn Allāh ( ar, الظاهر لإعزاز دين الله, ...

(r. 1021–1036). With the rise of powerful military leaders who occupied the position of chief minister in the second half of the 11th century, however, the title was abandoned again in favour of that of vizier.

References

Sources

* {{EI2 , title = Wāsiṭa , first = Yaacov , last = Lev , authorlink = , volume=11 , page = 171 Government of the Fatimid Caliphate Heads of government Titles in Egypt