Ali Ibn Ahmad Al-Jarjara'i

As his nisba shows, he came from the locality of Jarjaraya, south of Baghdad. He came to Egypt along with his brother Abu'l-Barakat al-Husayn al-Jarjara'i, and held a succession of offices in the Fatimid bureaucracy. He entered the service of Sitt al-Mulk, before becoming secretary to the police chief of Cairo. He was convicted of disloyalty when he opened letters of the secret services in 1013, as a result of which his hands were cut off. However the Caliph al-Hakim soon regretted this harsh punishment, and took him back into the palace and promoted him to high office.

In 1015/6 he was appointed head of the dīwān al-nafaḳāt (bureau of expenditure), before rising to the post of wāsiṭa (the official intermediary between Caliph and the people) in 1021/2, and finally achieving the post of vizier in 1027. He held the post under the caliphs Ali az-Zahir and al-Mustansir until his death in March 1045.

During his tenure, after the pacification of Syria by Anushtakin al-Dizbari, al-Jarjara'i, concerned himself with improving relations with the Byzantine Empire. A ceasefire had been in place since 1027, and after fresh fighting in 1036 a peace treaty was agreed. The main point of contention was the suzerainty over the Emirate of the Mirdasids in Aleppo, which both powers made claim to. In practice a kind of dual control came into operation.

Al-Jarjara'i assumed the regency during Caliph al-Mustansir's early reign, though his rule was moderated for its duration by the influence of the caliph's powerful mother Rasad.

• al-Imad, Leila S. (1990). The Fatimid Vizierate (979-1172). Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag. ISBN 3-922968-82-1.
• Sourdel, Dominique (1965). "al-D̲j̲ard̲j̲arāʾī". In Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume II: C–G. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 461–462. OCLC 495469475.