Al-Ḥākim put a number of emirs to death without the slightest wrongdoing, and he even slaughtered two of his own judges.
As for ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Ilyās al-ʿUbaydī, al-Ḥākim named him his heir and in 410 AH sent him to Damascus as viceroy. Once there he gave himself over to revelry and wine; the troops mutinied against him, fighting and looting broke out in Damascus, and he levied heavy exactions on the populace. When al-Ḥākim died, the emirs seized the crown prince, imprisoned him, and assassinated him. Others say that he slit his own throat while in prison ⦗1⦘.
To recount al-Ḥākim’s conduct and oppression would fill volumes.
- al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim ibn al-ʿAzīz
The ruler of Egypt, al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh, Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim Manṣūr ibn al-ʿAzīz Nizār ibn al-Muʿizz, an ʿUbaydī from Egypt. I do not deem it permissible to call him an ʿAlid or Fatimid, for I am convinced he was an impostor. Some say his kunya was Abū Hāshim.
He received the oath of allegiance while still a boy, after his father was killed in Shawwāl 411 AH. His realm comprised Egypt, Syria, and the Maghrib, yet several factions coveted the fringes of his dominions. Consequently, Ḥassān ibn Mufarrij al-Ṭāʾī, lord of Ramla, seized much of Syria, and the ʿUbaydī emirate was somewhat weakened ⦗2⦘.