Editing Fatimid dynasty (section)

==The dynasty in power==
Members of the dynasty were carefully kept out of public affairs; even princes and princesses of the blood did not have a special position at court, let alone being entrusted with the governance of provinces or the command of armies as in other medieval states, which might result in an independent power base that could threaten the orderly father-to-son succession of the imamate and caliphate.{{sfn|Halm|2014|p=149}} The sole exception was the designated successor, such as al-Qa'im, al-Mansur and Abdallah ibn al-Mu'izz, and that only in the early decades of the dynasty; as the caliphs increasingly ascended the throne as children, this practice was also dropped.{{sfn|Halm|2015|p=93}} This did not remove inter-family feuds, however, most notably in the sidelining of Nizar and the other sons of al-Mustansir at the accession of al-Musta'li, which was followed by repeated attempts by Nizar's descendants to raise a revolt and reclaim power.{{sfn|Halm|2015|pp=93–94}} This led to differences in rank: a detailed list of court precedence from 1122, during the reign of al-Amir, the caliph's single full brother ({{Transliteration|ar|shaqiq}}), Ja'far, is accorded first place in the hierarchy, while their half-brothers from other women are listed much lower, after the caliph's own concubines, followed by the "sons and daughters of cousins".{{sfn|Halm|2015|pp=94–95}}

For similar reasons, Fatimid princesses were usually not wed outside the family, and the caliphs themselves did not usually engage in a [[Marriage in Islam|full marriage]], but had slave concubines, who could rise to the high status of an {{Transliteration|ar|[[umm walad]]}} upon the birth of a son.{{sfn|Halm|2014|pp=149–150}} Several caliphal daughters are not even known by name, and for those that are, it is likely that they never married at all as a matter of policy, even though they are often mentioned only by their [[Kunya (Arabic)|teknonym]]s.{{sfn|Halm|2015|pp=95–96}}

Although politically inactive, the members of the dynasty enjoyed immense riches, founded on the possession of properties in the capital, Cairo, and its environs, as well as commerce.{{sfn|Lev|1991|pp=65–67}} The caliph himself was not above such enrichment, and owned extensive parts of Cairo; according to the mid-11th traveller [[Nasir Khusraw]], all 20,000 shops in the city, as well as its [[caravanserais]] and baths, and 8,000 other buildings that paid a monthly rent to the caliph's private purse ({{Transliteration|ar|diwan al-khass}}) or the private treasury ({{Transliteration|ar|khizana al-khass}}).{{sfn|Lev|1991|p=65}} Fatimid princesses are likewise recorded as being extremely wealthy, in part from estates allocated to them, and in part due to their own commercial and entrepreneurial activities. Thus at their death in 1050/51, two daughters of Caliph al-Mu'izz left estates of about 1.7 million gold dinars each, while Sitt al-Mulk is known to have employed an extensive staff of able administrators of both sexes for her far-flung economic interests.{{sfn|Lev|1991|pp=68–69}}