Al-Hakim's persecutions of christians

The aim of my study is to outline the reasons behind al-hakim bl-amr allah's persecutions of christians,as well as the reasons that made him change his policy concerning the christian minority closely before his death. the factors taken into account are,among others,the overall tendencies in the muslim world before and during al-hakim 's reign,when a number of attacks on christians were made in response to byzantine military victories. the particular circumstances of al-hakim's reign were just as important,since,at certain times,they created political,social and financial incentives for taking anti-christian actions,in order to present the ruler as the enforcer of the muslim law,to detract public attention from other issues,or to obtain much needed funds (f.e. after the revolt of abu rakwa,which was followed by natural disasters and a financial crisis). some of al-hlakim's other policies,while perhaps not originally destined to be anti-christian,likely had a ricochet effect on christians as well. for example,the ban on wine and grapes trade can be linked to the alleged ban on celebrating mass,finally,one should also not forget the anti-christian bias of certain people in al-hakim's court,such as hutkin and al-husayn ibn tahir al-wazzan,which might have influenced his own attitude. the main sources of the study are: the continuation of the chronicle of said ibn batriq by yahya ibn said al-antaki; the works of ai-maqrizi; the continuation of the chronicle of sawirus ibn al-muqaffa' by michael of tinnis,as well as the works of ar-rudrawari,ibn al-atir,ibn tagri birdi,ibn hallikan,bar hebraeus,'amr ibn matta etc,for additional information.