The Curse of the Egyptian ʿAlawī as a Protest against the Policies of Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn

Abstract “The Curse of the Egyptian ʿAlawī”, preserved in Muhaj al-daʿ⁠awāt (The Lifeblood of Supplications) by Raḍī al-Dīn Ibn Ṭāwūs (d. 664/1266), is known in Twelver Shiʿi tradition as an effective supplication for thwarting tyrants and oppressors. Ibn Ṭāwūs recorded the text in two versions that date from the fourth/tenth century, both accompanied by a framing account set in the time of Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn, the Abbasid governor of Egypt in 254–270/868–884. Analysis of the account suggests that it was written originally by a sayyid who opposed Ibn Ṭūlūn’s policies, particularly after the Damascus Assembly of Dhū al-Qaʿda 269/May 883, when he had a document drawn up that deposed the Abbasid heir-apparent al-Muwaffaq and declared jihād against him. Ibn Ṭūlūn attempted to establish virtual independence from the Abbasid administration in Iraq and to control all of Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz. In doing so, he sought to enlist the support of the learned class, some of whom resisted his coercive efforts. It is argued here that the frame account in its current form differs significantly from its original form. The original text was likely modified by a Shiʿi scholar in the mid-fourth/tenth century in order to focus on the historical oppression of Shiʿis and to stress the intervention of the occulted Twelfth Imam.