Those who were keen Shiʿites naturally were encouraged by this legislation to become somewhat aggressive in their attitude. When the caravan of African, that is to say Moroccan and Tunisian, pilgrims on their way home from Mecca passed through Egypt and rested at Cairo, some of the more ardent Shiʿites tried to induce them to utter curses against ʿUmar and the other early Khalifs, and the refusal of the pilgrims to do so led to some disturbances. At the beginning of the year 396 the usual Shiʿite feast of the _Ashura_ commemorating the martyrdom of ʿAli and his sons, a regular occasion for an outbreak of Shiʿite fanaticism at the present day, was duly celebrated on the first ten days of Muharram. This time the offensive attitude of the Shiʿites caused a good deal of annoyance, and one man was arrested for shouting: “Such be the recompense of those who curse ʿAyesha and her husband.” For this he was beheaded. In 393 al-Hakim commenced the strict observance of the old laws, now long obsolete, against the Christians and Jews. We are left in no doubt as to the reason why these ancient penal laws were revived and strictly enforced. Maqrizi tells us that it was due to the arrogance and wealth of those Christians and Jews who had been unduly favoured by the Fatimids. The greater part of the civil service was filled by them, and some Christians, such as ʿIsa b. Nestorius and Fahd b. Ibrahim, were then acting as ministers of state. To a large extent we may ascribe al-Hakim’s treatment of Christians and Jews as due to the pressure of public opinion, and it is rather interesting to observe how such opinion was brought to bear upon a mediaeval Khalif. One day as al-Hakim was riding through the streets he was confronted by a female guy made of paper bearing in her outstretched hand a document which Hakim took, and read: “In the name of him who has honoured the Jews in Manasseh, and the Christians in ʿIsa b. Nestorius, and has dishonoured the Muslims in himself, deliver us from the evil state we are in, in good time” (Abu l-Feda, _Annal. Mosl._ ii. 591).