Abu Hashim Muhammad ibn Ja'far

In 1070, the Shiite Fatimid Caliphate, the nominal overlord of Mecca and Media, was in crisis due to inner turmoil and rebellions and stopped sending the yearly donations to the cities. The same year, the Sunnite Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan marched on Fatimid Syria and send bribes to Abū Hāshim Muḥammad to convince him to change the khutbah in the name of the Shiite Fatimid Caliph to the Sunnite Abbasid Caliph, which Abū Hāshim Muḥammad agreed to on 15 April 1071.^[1] Shortly after Badr al-Jamali became Fatimid vizier in July 1074, two Fatimid ambassadors berated Abū Hāshim Muḥammad for having changed the khutba, but did not achieve a change back. A year later, al-Jamali sent another unsuccessful envoy to Abū Hāshim Muḥammad, after which al-Jamali approached some relatives of the sharif and offered to make one of them sharif instead of Abū Hāshim.^[2] Finally, the al-Jamali's bribes and especially the dependency of Mecca and Medina on Egyptian grain resulted in Abū Hāshim changing his mind and thus the khutbah was changed again to the name of the Fatimid Caliph in 1075.^[3]

Ibn al-Athir writes, "There was nothing about him that was praiseworthy." Al-Dhahabi writes, "He was unjust, lacking in goodness." He was succeeded by his son Qasim.^[4]