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Shāwar

بيانات التعريف

Gender
Male
Dates
Posthumous mentions
1169 CE
Social role
  • State official

Description / Bio

Vizier of the last Fāṭimid caliph, al-ʿĀḍid li-Dīn Allāh. Drew the forces of Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd al-Zangī into Egypt against the Franks. Endured Frankish captivity until 516/1122. In 555/1160, appointed governor of Upper Egypt in Qūṣ by the vizier Ṭalāʾiʿ b. Ruzzīk. In 558/1162, proclaimed Fatimid vizier, and served until 558/1163, when Ḍirghām ousted him. He then sought support at the court of Nūr al-Dīn in Damascus and was restored in 559/1164. Probably responsible for the burning of Fusṭāṭ in Ṣafar 564/November 1168, ostensibly to deny the attacking Crusaders the city and its resources; the Syrian army of Nūr al-Dīn then plotted his assassination on Saturday 17 Rabīʿ II 564/18 January 1169, and its commander Shīrkūh then succeeded him as Fāṭimid vizier. (Information from D. S. Richards, s.v. "Shāwar," in EI2.)

Marina Rustow, "Shāwar," available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/shawar/, accessed August 23, 2026.
https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/shawar/