The role of al-Hakim

The Druze doctrine maintains that, four hundred years after the advent of Islam (one thousand years after Christ), esoteric interpretation of the Qur’an achieved its task and the stage of iman or al-tariqa terminated with the arrival of the caliph-imam, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Just as the Prophet Muhammad had delivered the divine message (literally, islam or shari‘a) and was the last conveyor (natiq) of it, so was al-Hakim the last of the esoteric imams who, starting with ‘Ali ibn ‘Abi Talib down through the Fatimid caliphs, took upon themselves the task of interpreting God’s message and implementing the second stage (iman or tariqa) by establishing the Fatimid state, thus transmitting the esoteric meaning of the divine Word to mankind. (Hence, the Fatimid imam was known as the maqam or ‘station’ of the esoteric divine Word.) With al-Hakim, the third stage started.
Consequently, on 1 Muharram AH 408/30 May AD 1017, al-Hakim, according to the Druze, relinquished the esoteric Imamate and appointed Hamza ibn ‘Ali as the imam of the third stage (tawhid). He also appointed a distant cousin, ‘Abd al-Rahim ibn Ilias, as heir presumptive of the Muslims (wali ‘ahd al-Muslimin) and another Fatimid personality, Abu Hisham ‘Abbas ibn Shu‘ayb, as heir presumptive of the Mu’mins (wali ‘ahd al-Mu’minin). The Fatimid imam was thus replaced by the holders of three different positions, the first dealing with the Muslims (in other words, the followers of exoteric Islam), the second dealing with the Mu’mins (the followers of iman) and the third dealing with the Muwahhidun (the followers of tawhid.) 3 Al-Hakim was now solely the maqam.