When al-Āmir died before him, the ignorant exclaimed, “In this family no imam passes away without leaving a son whose imamate he has explicitly designated.” Al-Āmir did in fact leave a pregnancy, but the child proved to be a daughter. (1)

Al-Ḥāfiẓ was afflicted with recurring colic. Shirmah the Daylamite therefore fashioned for him a drum composed of seven different metals, each corresponding to one of the seven planets. Whoever struck the drum while suffering from colic would expel a large quantity of wind and thereby feel relief. (2)

Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn later found this drum among their treasures. A Kurdish emir beat it, passed wind, grew angry, and tore it apart, unaware of the remedy it offered. (3)

Whenever al-Ḥāfiẓ appointed a vizier and the man gained real authority, the caliph would turn on him, censure him, scheme against him, and seek his ruin. One such victim was Riḍwān. Al-Ḥāfiẓ imprisoned him for seven years. Riḍwān had previously gone to Syria, gathered troops, fought the Egyptians, confronted them at Cairo’s gate, and won. He then entered the city, where al-Ḥāfiẓ kept him in honorable confinement within the palace. Riḍwān tunneled out of his cell, fled to Upper Egypt, returned at the head of a vast army, and engaged in battle once more. The two sides met near the Mosque of Ibn Ṭūlūn; Riḍwān triumphed again and took control. Al-Ḥāfiẓ sent him twenty thousand dinars—the customary stipend for the vizierate—but Riḍwān would not be placated until the sum reached sixty thousand. The caliph then dispatched a force of mamluks against him; Riḍwān and his own retainers fought them, and he was killed. Al-Ḥāfiẓ remained without a vizier for ten years. (4)

When al-Akmal was killed (5), he installed his freedman Yānis (6) as vizier, and Yānis’ stature quickly grew