Abū al-Najm Amīr al-Juyūsh (d. 487/1094), was the renowned commander of the armies (amīr al-juyūsh) and vizier at the time of the Fāṭimid Imam-Caliph al-Mustanṣir. He was originally an Armenian serving the Syrian emir of Ṭarābulus, Jamāl al-Dawla Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAmmār, who brought him up from childhood and became his patron, whence his name al-Jamālī.

Because of his military and political capabilities and skills, he rapidly rose through the ranks in emir Jamāl al-Dawla’s administration (Ibn Ṣayrafī, 55; al-Sijilliyyāt, 63; al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffā, 2/394), and so, in Rabīʿ…