Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmed (; –c. 1021) was an 11th-century Persian Ismai'li missionary and founding leader of the Druze. He was born in Zuzan in Greater Khorasan in Samanid-ruled Persia (modern Khaf, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran), and preached his heterodox strand of Isma'ilism in Cairo during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.
Despite opposition from the established Isma'ili clergy, Hamza persisted, apparently being tolerated or even patronized by al-Hakim himself, and set up a parallel hierarchy of missionaries in Egypt and Syria. Following al-Hakim's disappearance—or, most likely, assassination—in February 1021, Hamza and his followers were persecuted by the new regime. Hamza himself announced his retirement in his final epistle to his followers, in which he also promised that al-Hakim would soon return and usher in the end times. Hamza disappeared thereafter, although one contemporary source claims that he fled to Mecca, where he was recognized and executed. His disciple Baha al-Din al-Muqtana resumed Hamza's missionary effort in 1027–1042, finalizing the doctrines of the Druze faith.
Life Origin The life of Hamza ibn Ali and his exact role in the birth of the Druze movement are not entirely clear, as the chief sources about him—the contemporary Christian chronicler Yahya of Antioch, the Muslim historian Ibn Zafir, and Hamza's own epistles—are often contradictory.
According to Ibn Zafir, Hamza ibn Ali was born in Zuzan in Khurasan, and was originally a felt-maker. He emigrated to Fatimid Egypt, and does not appear to have been active before 1017/18, although he may have been present in Cairo already in 1013, as he describes the events surrounding the appointment of Abd al-Rahim ibn Ilyas as heir-apparent () by the Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ().
Background: the Isma'ili daʿwa under al-Hakim At that time, the Isma'ili movement (), the state religion of the Fatimid Caliphate, was in turmoil due to the emergence of heterodox beliefs. These were propagated by al-Hasan ibn Haydara al-Farghani al-Akhram, an Isma'ili from the Farghana Valley. His teachings are only indirectly known, from the polemic writings refuting them by the Isma'ili , Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani. According to al-Kirmani, al-Akhram preached the imminence of the end times, when formal religion and religious law (the ) would be abolished and replaced with the pure, original paradisical worship of God. Such antinomian and millennialist concepts had been a core component of early Isma'ilism. However, as the Fatimid regime consolidated itself and the early Isma'ili messianic promise was relegated into the far future, the official doctrine of the Fatimid imam–caliphs had firmly rejected these potentially revolutionary tenets.
The most explosive of al-Akhram's views, however, was that the line of the imams was at an end, and that God was made manifest in the person of Caliph al-Hakim, who accordingly was the expected messiah, the . This too, was not new: several Shi'a groups, known as the "extremists" () had tended to deify their imams, starting already with Ali (). The fact that Fatimid theologians such as Qadi al-Nu'man continued to condemn such views as heresy in the late 10th century shows their continued currency. Although entirely heretical according to official Fatimid doctrine, al-Hakim not only appears to have tolerated the propagation of such concepts, but reportedly also counted al-Akhram among his close associates, leading to widespread speculation among contemporaries that al-Akhram's heretical ideas were not only approved of, but even originated by, the Caliph. Al-Akhram also tried to win over officials to his cause by sending them letters to that effect. Al-Akhram was murdered in January/February 1018 (or 1019, according to Halm), while accompanying the Caliph on a horseback ride. Al-Hakim's reaction to the event—the murderer was swiftly executed, and the victim buried in rich clothes brought from the palace—only served to deepen suspicion that he sympathized with al-Akhram's views. However, in the aftermath of the murder, al-Hakim cut off contact with al-Akhram's followers, and the movement he had started became dormant for a while.
Start of Hamza's mission Hamza also followed similar teachings: he established himself at a mosque on the Raydan Canal, outside the city gate of Bab al-Nasr, and there expounded the view that in al-Hakim, God had become incarnate. He adopted the title of "leader of the adepts" (), and his following quickly grew. According to the medieval chroniclers, he too enjoyed signs of favour from al-Hakim: when he complained to the Caliph that his life was in danger, he was given weapons, which he demonstratively hung on every entrance to the Raydan Mosque. It is unclear when exactly Hamza began his mission. The earliest of his epistles to contain a date comes from July 1017. In the previous, undated fifth epistle, Hamza had declared a new oath () to his followers, who were for the first time referred to as "The People of Monotheism" (). In it, they pledged to abandon every previous allegiance and swear obedience to "our Lord al-Hakim, the One, the Unique, the Sole One" and to place themselves at his disposal body and soul, including all their possessions and even their children.
Al-Hakim is generally portrayed in the historical sources to have been favourably disposed towards Hamza's movement. Modern historians are more skeptical about claims—mostly transmitted by hostile Sunni historians—that the Caliph actually instigated the new doctrine himself. The historian David R. W. Bryer writes that "al-Hakim played no active part in building up what was to be the Druze , nor, astute politician that he was, did he hesitate to withdraw all visible support from the movement in times of real difficulty", and that he "did not wish to be seen to be involved in the movement that was forming until he saw how the majority of the people reacted to it". Indeed, due to the disturbances provoked by the new doctrine, the Caliph forced Hamza to suspend his mission during the following year (409 AH, 1018/19 CE), which is thus not counted in the Druze calendar (which starts with the year 408 AH). It is only from May 1019 (in 410 AH), that Hamza resumed his activity, presumably with the Caliph's permission.
Hamza and al-Darzi Although Hamza was the real founder of the Druze religion, it received its name by another like-minded propagandist—and soon to become rival—the Turk al-Darazi (probably derived from the Persian word for tailor). From him, the followers of Hamza became known as the "Darzites" () and "Druzes" (from the broken plural form ). The exact relation between Hamza and al-Darzi is unclear. Yahya of Antioch presents him as a disciple of Hamza, but Ibn Zafir has it the other way round.
The modern historian Marshall Hodgson attempted to discern doctrinal differences between the two, positing that al-Darzi was still within the limits of Isma'ilism, while Hamza's teachings about al-Hakim's divinity effectively put his doctrine outside the boundaries not only of Isma'ilism, but of Islam in general. This thesis was rejected by Bryer, and al-Darzi is now considered by historians as a particularly zealous adherent of al-Hakim's divinity, writing letters to senior Fatimid officials and commanders urging them to join him. Indeed, in his epistles, Hamza is critical of his colleague, both for al-Darzi's disputing Hamza's role as the leader of their movement, as well as for his followers' over-zealous, extremist and provocative actions, which revealed the movement's ideas prematurely and placed it under danger of attack.
The Day of According to Yahya of Antioch, the chief opponent of the doctrines propagated by Hamza and al-Darzi was the leader of the established Isma'ili , the Turkish chief missionary (), Qut Tegin. Indeed, the Turkish (slave soldiers) of the Fatimid army appear to have been generally opposed to the new teachings. During this time, the followers of the rival leaders engaged in regular brawls in the streets of Cairo, cursing one another as infidels.
The conflict between the two parties came to a head at the Amr ibn al-As Mosque at Fustat (Old Cairo) on 19 June 1019 (12 Ṣafar 410 AH), known in Druze tradition as the "Day of ", a name whose meaning is unknown. On that day, some of Hamza's followers entered the Mosque of Amr, loudly proclaiming their beliefs, but encountered the opposition of the locals, who began streaming to the mosque. When the Sunni chief judge () learned of events, he went to the mosque, where Hamza's men tried to have him read out a statement affirming the divinity of al-Hakim. The demurred, and the assembled multitude became incensed, so that they lynched Hamza's followers, dragging their corpses through the city's streets. On the same day, al-Hakim dismissed the police prefects of the capital, and punished the instigators of the lynchings. This only served to provoke the populace and the troops: on 29 June, the Turkish soldiers surrounded al-Darzi's house and, after a brief battle with his followers who had barricaded themselves there, stormed it. Some forty of al-Darzi's supporters were killed, but al-Darzi himself managed to escape and found refuge in the caliphal palace. The Turks then assembled before the palace gates, demanding that he be delivered to them for punishment; the historical sources are silent on al-Darzi's fate, but Hamza's epistles report that he was executed by al-Hakim.
Robbed of their original target, the Turkish troops turned on Hamza and his followers, attacking the Raydan Mosque and setting its gate on fire. Hamza himself reports in two of his epistles (10 and 19) how, with only twelve followers, of whom five were either too old or too young to fight, he managed to hold back the attacks of his enemies for a whole day, before a 'miraculous' appearance of al-Hakim forced their attackers to withdraw. Hamza places this miracle on the day of the Islamic new year (1 Muharram 410 AH/9 May 1019 CE), which thus marked the resumption of the Druze's missionary activity (the "divine call"). The riots spread, the discipline of the soldiers collapsed, and order was restored only after much of Cairo had been burned down. Chroniclers hostile to al-Hakim, like Yahya of Antioch or later Sunni historians, saw in this a deliberate attempt by the Caliph to punish the Cairenes for opposing the Druze teachings.
Final years The doctrines current during the later years of al-Hakim's reign were apparently propagated simultaneously and independently by a number of missionaries. Their roles and their mutual relationships are unclear. Al-Akhram for example is assigned a major role by later Sunni historians, but is passed over in silence by Hamza. Nevertheless, Hamza does appear to have played a leading role: even if al-Darzi had his own followers, the sources do suggest that he acknowledged Hamza's leadership on some matters. In any event, with the death of al-Darzi, by 1019 Hamza was the almost undisputed leader of the new movement.
More importantly, it was Hamza who built up the new religion into an organized movement similar to the official Isma'ili , by appointing his own in Egypt and Syria. He furthermore selected some of his senior disciples and established them in a hierarchy of "ranks", headed by himself (see below).
Al-Hakim's disappearance and Hamza's death