Isa ibn Nasturus

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Isa ibn Nasturus ibn Surus († January / February 997 in Cairo ) was the chief minister of the Fatimid caliph al-Aziz from 994 to 996 .

Ibn Nasturus was a Coptic Christian and began his career as a member of a tax farmer consortium , which after the death of the vizier Yaqub ibn Killis in 991 was entrusted by al-Aziz with the management of state affairs. Within this body he seems to have quickly become the leading authority due to his expertise. In October / November 994 he was finally entrusted with sole supervision of all ministries. Although this position corresponded to that of a vizier , he had not received the corresponding title, which al-Aziz no longer wanted to bestow in memory of his friend Ibn Killis. The appointment of Ibn Nasturus as chief minister, which expressed the growing influence of the Christian and Jewish civil servants in the state, had provoked displeasure in the leading circles of Muslims. The increased efficiency of the state in collecting taxes under his aegis had done the rest of it to make him unpopular among the common sections of the population. After the complaints against Ibn Nasturus for his alleged favoring of Christians and Jews increased, al-Aziz had him and all other Christian and Jewish officials thrown into a dungeon. But Ibn Nasturus resisted this treatment and appealed to the caliph, supported by the princess Sitt al-Mulk, who was sympathetic to him, by reminding him of the devotion he had practiced to date and this by paying a salary of 300,000 dinars from his private pocket into the state treasury demonstrated. The caliph then resumed his minister and all other officials in his grace and reinstated them in their posts.

In 996, pogrom-like unrest broke out in Cairo against the Christian community, which killed more than a hundred people. Ibn Nasturus put down the riot with strict authority and punished some of the ringleaders, which made him even less popular among Muslims. When the caliph died on October 13 of the same year, this also meant the end of the minister. In the name of the underage new caliph al-Hakim , the commander of the Kutama troops Ibn Ammar took over power in a coup d'état, one of whose first measures was the execution of Ibn Nasturu in the first weeks of the year 997.

literature

  • Heinz Halm : The Caliphs of Cairo. The Fatimids in Egypt 973-1074. CH Beck, Munich 2003.

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Halm (2003), pp. 127, 161.
  2. ↑ See Halm (2003), p. 127 f.
  3. ↑ See Halm (2003), p. 164.
  4. ↑ See Halm (2003), p. 172 f.
personal data
SURNAME Isa ibn Nasturus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Isa ibn Nasturus ibn Surus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chief Minister of the Fatimid Caliph al-Aziz (994–996)
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century or 10th century
DATE OF DEATH 997
Place of death Cairo