Al-'āḍid

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Al-AziD or Al-Adid (1149–1171), also known as Al-Azid and Athid, was the fourteenth and last Caliph of the Fatimid dynasty (1160–1171). He is most famous for a remarkable alliance struck during the Crusades, between his caliphate and that of the Christians in Jerusalem, to support each other against another Muslim invading force, that of Nur ad-Din Zangi. The alliance, brokered by the powerful Egyptian vizier Shawar, was sealed by, at Crusader insistence and to the scandal of the caliph's court, the teenaged caliph Adid actually removing his glove and shaking hands with one of the Christian envoys.

Al-Adid was believed by the Hafizi Ismaili Muslims to be an imam.

He became Caliph as a minor following the death of his brother Al-Faiz (1154–1160). The rule of the Fatimids was so weak and divided by this time that the Crusaders were able to begin invasions of Egypt.

With the help of the Zengids, the Syrian Sultan Nur ad-Din, Shawar was able to establish himself as vizier (1163–1169), and he was the effective ruler of Egypt. With the help of Syrian troops under Shirkuh and Saladin, Shawar's forces were able to fight off the Crusader incursions. Through careful seesaw diplomacy between Crusaders and Zengids, Shawar maintained a fragile grip on power. Eventually, however, the Zengids overthrew Shawar in 1169 and installed Shirkuh as leader, and then after Shirkuh's death two months later, Shirkuh's nephew Saladin became vizier of Egypt. When Al-Adid died of natural causes in 1171, the Fatimid dynasty ended to make way for the Ayyubids (1171–1260), a dynasty named for Saladin's father Ayyub (Job).

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