Druze, the enigmatic personality of the sixth Fāṭimid caliph and sixteenth Ismaili Imam al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (who ruled in Cairo from 386/996 to 411/1021) incited some of his most enthusiastic dāʿīs to proclaim publicly his divinity in the year 408/1017. Considered to be the last and ultimate manifestation of divinity in human form, al-Ḥākim was supposed to have abrogated all previous religions, both in their outward, literal (ẓāhir), and in their hidden, esoteric (bāṭin) aspects.

This doctrine was professed initially by two Ismaili dāʿīs: Ḥamza b. ʿAlī and Nashtakīn al-Darzī…