Imam al-Amir bi-Ahkamillah (AS) — Father of the Hidden Imam

The Last Imam Before the Second Satr

Sayyidna al-Amir bi-Ahkamillah (الآمِرُ بِأَحكَامِ اللَّه — He Who Commands by Allah’s Decree) is the 22nd Imam in the full Ismaili Tayyibi count — and the last Fatimid Imam to exercise public rule. His son Imam al-Tayyib (AS) was the Imam who entered the Second Satr (ghaybat) in 524/526 AH — the concealment that continues to the present day.

Al-Amir ruled from 495–524 AH / 1101–1130 CE — twenty-nine years. He came to power after the death of his father Imam al-Musta’li (AS), who had succeeded al-Mustansir in the disputed succession that split the Ismaili world.

Succession from al-Musta’li

When Imam al-Musta’li (AS) died in 495 AH / 1101 CE, he was succeeded by his son al-Amir, who was approximately five years old at the time. For the first decade of his caliphate, power was exercised by the vizier al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali — the same man who had installed al-Musta’li as Caliph over the older son Nizar.

When al-Amir grew to maturity, he reasserted Fatimid Caliphal authority and had al-Afdal assassinated in 515 AH / 1121 CE. Al-Amir then ruled more directly for the remaining years of his caliphate.

The Encyclical Against the Nizaris

One of al-Amir’s most significant acts was the issuance of a formal theological encyclical defending the legitimacy of the Musta’li-Amir line of Imamate against the claims of the Nizaris (who followed the elder son Nizar).

This document — known as the Hidayat al-Muttaqi (Guidance for the God-Fearing) — is an important theological text in the Ismaili Tayyibi tradition. It laid out the argument for why the nass from al-Mustansir had gone through the Musta’li-Amir line, not through Nizar.

The Dawoodi Bohra tradition follows the Musta’li-Amir-Tayyib line. Al-Amir’s encyclical is the formal theological statement of this position.

The Birth of Imam al-Tayyib (AS)

In 524 AH / 1130 CE, Imam al-Amir (AS) was assassinated by Nizari assassins in Cairo. He died suddenly, and the succession question arose.

In the Ismaili Tayyibi tradition, al-Amir had received a son — al-Tayyib — who was a young child at the time of his father’s assassination. The nass of the Imamate had been transmitted to al-Tayyib.

Sayyida Arwa al-Sulayhi (RA), the queen of Yemen and Hujja al-Yaman (the highest representative of the Imam in Yemen), received word of the birth of Imam al-Tayyib and the nass from al-Amir’s trusted servants. She accepted this, and the Yemeni-Indian dawat continued under her leadership in the name of Imam al-Tayyib.

In 526 AH / 1132 CE, Imam al-Tayyib (AS) entered ghaybat (concealment) — the Second Satr — at the young age of two or three years. He was hidden from the Fatimid court in Cairo (which had fallen under the control of a regent and later the Nizari-sympathetic faction) and has remained in concealment ever since.

The Second Satr Begins

The Second Satr is not like ordinary historical concealment — it is the Imam’s withdrawal from the visible world for profound theological reasons, parallel to the First Satr of the four hidden Imams before al-Mahdi.

With Imam al-Tayyib’s entry into the Satr, the office of Dai al-Mutlaq was established as the Imam’s representative to the community. Sayyida Arwa (RA) appointed the first Dai al-Mutlaq in 530 AH / 1135–1136 CE — a chain of succession that continues, unbroken, to the present 53rd Dai, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin (TUS).

Al-Amir’s role in this sequence is essential: without his transmission of the nass to al-Tayyib, and without the events of his caliphate that created the conditions for the Second Satr, the Dawoodi Bohra community as it exists today would not have its present form.

His Place in the Imam Chain

Note on the counting: The Ismaili Tayyibi tradition counts from Imam Ali (AS) as the 1st Imam, and Imam al-Tayyib as the 21st. This is because the tradition accepts the same chain of 21 Imams up to and including al-Tayyib. The “22nd” and “23rd” counts above include al-Musta’li and al-Amir as separate from the Nizari-disputed branches — different scholarly traditions number slightly differently.

See also: Imam Al Tayyib, Imam Al Mustansir Billah, Sayyida Arwa Al Sulayhi, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution, Satr Period Hidden Imams