7. Khwaja Mu'ayyid.

Before we proceed to the question of Nasir's works, we may say a few words about his "Warden of the Gates" of the Holy City under whose supreme command he probably was.

Sayyid-na al-Mu'ayyid fi'd-din Abu Nasr Hibatu'l-lah b. al-Husayn b. ‘Ali b. Mhd ash-Shirazi as-Salmani, a native of Shiraz or Ahwaz, where he flourished, ame to Cairo in the same year as Nasir, 439/1047, and died there in 470/1077. Contrary to Nasir, he was exceptionally well educated, knew Arabic excellently, wa a public man, playing a prominent part in the Daylam, i.e. Persian Shi'ite party in its struggle against the "fifth columnists," the Atrak, or pro-Turkish Sunni part, which raised its head wowing to the development of the Saljuq successes. With the advance of the Saljuq the position of the Daylam, and his own together with them, gradually deteriorated, and he had to flee to Egypt. In his autobiography, Sirat Sayyid-na Al- Mu;ayyid, or as-Sirat al-Mu'ayyidiyya, he gives an interesting picture of the state of Western Asia at the period of the Saljuq invasion. It merits careful study by the historians of Persia. It has little or nothing to do with religious matters and Ismailism, and is a vivid contrast to Nasir's Safar-nama in every respect. It comes better in the head of memoirs such as those by Usama b. Munqidh, Ibn Khaldun, and Nuwayri.

Sayyid-na Al-Mu'ayyid was a prolific author, and his main work was eight volumes of his Majlis, each volume containing one hundred summaries of his lectures, written in highly ornate prose. In their present form they have been edited by the post-Fatimid da'i, Hatim b. Ibrahim (d.596/1199). He also prepared a synopsis of the whole work, in 18 babs, under the title of al-Mu'ayyiddiyya, arranging the quotations according to the subjects.

For other works of al-Mu'ayyid see my "Guide," pp. 48-49. Here we may only note that he has to his credit a small volume of Aran=bic poems. As he was probably a native of Ahwaz, and as possibly he wrote also poetry in Persian, we may suggest that perhaps the mysterious poet Ahwazi, referred to by Nasir, may in fact be al-Mu'ayyid in his young days. A Persian translation of Qadi Nu'man's classic Asasu'l-ta'wil is also attributed to him. Copies of this are very rare, but I managed to see one. Its language was quite modern, and this may have been due to the fact that it was repeatedly modernized, or, more probably, that it was prepared by some one in India in modern times, and was attributed to al-Mu'ayyid simply beecause he was known as a Persian.

The works of al-Mu'ayyid still enjoy great popularity amongst the Musta'lian branch of the Ismailis in India; from a literary point of view they present outstanding specimens of artistic prose of the fifth/eleventh c., well meriting an edition. From the viewpoint of their contents, and their value for the study of the history of Ismailism their importance would hardly be great, however.

There is no doubt that he ultimately occupied a very high position at the court of al-Mustansir bi'l-lah, but this must have taken place towards the end of his life. When Nasir-i Khusraw came to Cairo, he also was a newcomer. Therefore Nasir's praises, the title of "the Warden of the Gates" of the Holy City, etc., obviously belong to a much, later period, when he was himself already in Yumgan.