Maʿadd al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh (r. 341–65/953–75) was the fourth caliph of the Fāṭimid dynasty in Ifrīqiya. He acceded to the throne on 29 Shawwāl 341/19 March 953 at the age of 21, having been born on 11 Ramaḍān 319/26 September 931. One of the main sources on his personality is al-Nuʿmān’s (d. 363/974) Kitāb al-majālis wa-l-musāyarāt (“Audiences and companionable rides”), which in 292 episodes gives a detailed panorama of court life, ceremonial, religious disputes, family intrigues, foreign policy, and so forth.

His first concern was to pacify the Awrās mountains, refuge of…