At the beginning of his reign Hakim had forbidden the use of the honorific titles customarily applied to the Fatimid Khalifs. He now forbade the custom of kissing the ground before him, and of kissing his hand or stirrup. These customs, he stated, were imitated from the Byzantine court and so not seemly for Muslims. In salutation he desired the use of the simple formula: “Hail to the Commander of the faithful; may the mercy and blessing of God be on him.” Never in speech or in writing might the formula be used, “God be propitious to him,” as this was applied to the patriarchs and saints. In writing petitions, etc., the formula should be, “May the peace of God, his abundant favour and blessing, rest upon the Commander of the faithful.” Similar forms, and no others, were to be used in praying for the Khalif: in the _khutba_ the form approved was, “O God, be propitious to Muhammad thy chosen; grant peace to ʿAli the first of believers, whom thou hast honoured with thy bounty: O God, grant peace to the princes of the believers, the fathers of the Commander of the faithful: O God, may thy most excellent peace rest on thy servant and vicar” (Maq. ii. 288, Ibn Khall. iii. 451). At the palace the use of cymbals and trumpets when the guard made the rounds was forbidden, all was to be done without music. A new seal was engraved for the use of the Khalif bearing the inscription, “By the help of God most high and beneficent, the Imam ʿAli will be victorious” (Maq. id.). Various events of passing interest are associated with the month of Jumada II. of this year, the month, it will be remembered, in which the Emir of Mecca abandoned his claim to the Khalifate and was reconciled to Hakim. On the very day on which the Emir’s envoy was received Hakim commenced building an observatory at Karafa. This observatory was never finished. It should be noted in passing that various occasional references in the historians justify us in regarding Hakim as greatly interested in astrology as well as in other branches of natural science, and in this he was true to the Fatimid tradition. After receiving the submission of the Emir of Mecca Hakim wrote a letter to the Sultan, Mahmud of Ghazna, the great champion of orthodoxy, asking for his allegiance. It could hardly be expected that Mahmud would tolerate or recognise any Shiʿite, least of all the head of the Fatimid dynasty. On receiving the letter the Sultan tore it in pieces and spat on the fragments, afterwards sending them to the ʿAbbasid Khalif al-Qadir.