States People Centers Other Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn al-Mustanṣir (Arabic: أبو القاسم أحمد بن المستنصر; 15/16 September 1074 – 11/12 December 1101), better known by his regnal name al-Mustaʿlī biʾllāh (المستعلي بالله, lit.

Many communities, especially in Persia and Iraq, split off from the officially sponsored Isma'ili hierarchy and formed their own Nizari movement, holding Nizar and his descendants as the rightful imams.

The Caliphate's core territory in Egypt experienced a period of good government and prosperity, but the Fatimids suffered setbacks in Syria, where they were faced with the advance of the Sunni Seljuk Turks.

[9][12] At the time of his birth, the Fatimid Caliphate, established in Egypt with Cairo as its capital since 973, was undergoing a profound crisis: it had lost most of Syria to the Seljuk Turks, while in Egypt itself, clashes between the Fatimid army's Turkish and black African troops led to the breakdown of the central government and widespread famine and anarchy, leaving al-Mustansir as a powerless figurehead, virtually imprisoned in his palace and at the mercy of military warlords.

[17][18] No formal designation of Nizar as heir is recorded by the time of al-Mustansir's death;[19][7] both Badr al-Jamali and his son and successor al-Afdal Shahanshah favoured the accession of Ahmad.

[20][21] This refusal apparently took al-Afdal completely by surprise, and the brothers were even allowed to leave the palace; but while Abdallah and Isma'il sought refuge in a nearby mosque, Nizar immediately fled Cairo.

[20][21] To add to the confusion, when learning of al-Mustansir's death, Baraqat, the chief missionary (da'i) of Cairo (and thus head of the Isma'ili religious establishment), proclaimed Abdallah as caliph with the regnal name al-Muwaffaq ('The Blessed One').

[23] In 1122, Ahmad's son and successor, al-Amir (r. 1101–1130), issued a public proclamation, the al-Hidaya al-Amiriyya, to defend his father's succession, especially against the claims of Nizar's partisans.

[11] According to Walker, Abu Abdallah's dispatch to Acre, where the strong army of Badr al-Jamali was stationed, is, if anything, an indication of his high importance and of his father's desire to keep him safe.

[11] At the same time, since the reliable al-Maqrizi dates the event to 1068, the underage son left in Cairo was clearly not the future al-Musta'li, who had not been born yet, but rather his namesake older brother.

[26][27][28] Modern historians, such as Farhad Daftary, believe that these stories are most likely attempts to justify and retroactively legitimize Ahmad's accession, which they view as a de facto coup d'état by al-Afdal.

[18][30][31] After fleeing from Cairo, Nizar went to Alexandria, where he gained the support of the local governor and populace, and proclaimed himself imam and caliph with the regnal name of al-Mustafa li-Din Allah ('The Chosen One for God's Religion').

Whether out of conviction or as a convenient excuse, the Persian Isma'ilis under Hassan-i Sabbah swiftly recognized Nizar as the rightful imam, severed relations with Cairo, and set up their own independent hierarchy (the da'wa jadida, lit.

The city was captured after a siege on 15 July 1099, and the subsequent defeat of a Fatimid army under al-Afdal's personal command at the Battle of Ascalon on 12 August 1099 confirmed the new status quo.