The caliph of the age, the Imām (1) al-Muʿtaḍid (2)—hardly will the passage of time discover his equal for gracious manners, sound belief, and noble adornment. And how should it be otherwise, when he descends from that first, distinguished stock (3) which long ago mastered land and people through sheer merit and filled every region with judgments of equity? They are the cousins of the Chosen Prophet Muhammad, the best of creation beyond all doubt—may Allah, Lord of Majesty, bless him for as long as days and nights endure.

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As for the Fāṭimids, they were few in number, yet their tenure was prolonged. They held power for a little over sixty years, beginning two hundred years after the Hijrah, and those decades passed as swiftly as a single year (5). Their caliphs numbered fourteen: al-Mahdī, al-Qāʾim, al-Manṣūr, and al-Maʿadd (6)—that is, al-Muʿizz, the founder of Cairo—followed by al-ʿAzīz and al-Ḥākim, scourge of the unbelievers; then al-Ẓāhir, al-Mustanṣir, al-Mustaʿlī, and after them al-Āmir and al-Ḥāfiẓ, from whom evil deeds were withheld (7); next came al-Ẓāfir and al-Fāʾiz, and finally al-ʿĀḍid, the last of their line—about this no one disputes.

The dynasty was wiped out after those sixty-odd years, more than five hundred years having preceded them. I have recorded each ruler’s lifespan above his name, and the length of the dynasty beneath the entry (8).