Abu 'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn al-Salar

Abu 'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn al-Salar was a Fatimid vizier, the son of an Artukid officer who entered Fatimid service after the Egyptians took Jerusalem in 491/1098. He seized the vizierate in 544/1149 and was killed in 548/1153.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), unsigned, says that the father, an Artukid officer, entered Fatimid service after the taking of Jerusalem in 491 (1098), and that the son married the widow of a Zirid prince who had died in exile at Alexandria. Ibn al-Salar first appears as governor of Alexandria at the beginning of the reign of al-Zafir. On 7 Sha'ban 544 (10 December 1149) he marched on Cairo with troops and installed himself in the vizier's house, which his predecessor Ibn Masal had left. Al-Zafir was forced to accept him as vizier with the title al-Malik al-'Adil. ¹

He tried to plot against the caliph, but the caliph learned of it and took a bloody revenge by wiping out the corps of pages. Ibn al-Salar was himself killed by his stepson 'Abbas b. Abi 'l-Futuh, who had his son Nasr assassinate him on 6 Muharram 548 (about 3 April 1153). Nasr informed 'Abbas by carrier pigeon, and 'Abbas, who had been commanding the garrison of Ascalon, hastened back to Cairo to take power. The article's important point is that Ibn al-Salar was the first to consider an entente with Nur al-Din to make common cause against the Franks. As proof of good will he sent Egyptian fleets against Jaffa, Sidon, Beirut and Tripoli in 546 (1151), as reprisal for the Frankish sack of Farama the year before. ²