The Fatimid dynasty () was an
Isma'ili Shi'a
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
dynasty of
Arab descent
that ruled an extensive empire, the
Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
, between 909 and 1171 CE. Claiming descent from
Fatima
Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, th ...
and
Ali, they also held the Isma'ili
imamate
{{expand Arabic, date=April 2021
The term imamate or ''imamah'' ( ar, إمامة, ''imāmah'') means "leadership" and refers to the office of an ''imam'' or a state ruled by an ''imam''.
Theology
*Imamate, in Sunni doctrine the caliphate
:* Naqshb ...
, claiming to be the rightful leaders of the Muslim community. The line of
Nizari Isma'ili imams, represented today by the
Aga Khan
Aga Khan ( fa, آقاخان, ar, آغا خان; also transliterated as ''Aqa Khan'' and ''Agha Khan'') is a title held by the Imām of the Nizari Ismāʿīli Shias. Since 1957, the holder of the title has been the 49th Imām, Prince Shah Karim ...
s, claims descent from a branch of the Fatimids.
The Fatimid dynasty emerged as the leaders of the clandestine early Isma'ili missionary movement () in the ninth century CE, ostensibly acting on behalf of a hidden imam, implied at the time to be
Muhammad ibn Isma'il. The Isma'ili spread widely across the Islamic world, then ruled by the
Abbasid Caliphate. In 899, the future first Fatimid caliph,
Abdallah
Abd Allah ( ar, عبدالله, translit=ʻAbd Allāh), also spelled Abdallah, Abdellah, Abdollah, Abdullah and many others, is an Arabic name meaning "Servant of God". It is built from the Arabic words '' abd'' () and '' Allāh'' (). Although the ...
, proclaimed himself to be the expected imam, causing a rift in the Isma'ili as the
Qarmatians
The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ilism, Isma'ili Shia Islam, Shia movement centred in Al-Ahsa Oasis, al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a Utopia#Religious utopias, religious-utopian Socialis ...
, who did not recognize his imamate, split off. In the meantime, Isma'ili agents had managed to conquer large parts of
Yemen and
Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...
, as well as launch uprisings in Syria and Iraq. Fleeing Abbasid persecution to Ifriqiya, Abdallah proclaimed himself openly and established the Fatimid Caliphate in 909. From there, the Fatimid imam–caliphs extended their rule over most of the
Maghreb as well as
Sicily, before
conquering Egypt in 969. Founding
Cairo as their new capital, for the next two centuries, the Fatimids would be based in Egypt and identified with the country. At their height, the Fatimids claimed control or suzerainty over much of North Africa, Sicily, Egypt, the
Levant, the
Hejaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
, Yemen, and
Multan.
The Fatimids' claimed pedigree of descent from Fatima and Ali was central to their legitimacy as the legitimate imams in an unbroken, divinely ordained line from Ali onwards. Their initial obscurity, and the publication of conflicting and incorrect genealogies by the first Fatimid caliph,
Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh/ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (), 873 – 4 March 934, better known by his regnal name al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi'a caliphate in Islamic history, and the e ...
(known by the diminutive Ubayd Allah by his detractors), cast doubt on the accuracy of these claims, which were usually rejected by contemporary
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
and
Twelver Shi'a alike, who considered them impostors and usurpers. As a result, many sources into the 20th century referred to the Fatimids by the derogatory name Ubaydids.
Fatimid expansion into the Levant, and the ideological challenge that the
ascendancy of Shi'a regimes represented, resulted in the Sunnis rallying around the
Abbasid Caliphate in response, triggering the
Sunni revival of the 11th century. Faced with internal turmoil, and the arrival of the
Seljuk Turks and then the
Crusades, Fatimid power began to decline in the later 11th century. the dynasty was saved by passing power to powerful military
viziers
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...
, but this also meant that the imam–caliphs often were mere puppet rulers. The initial dynamism of the was diminished by bitter succession disputes, which resulted in large parts of the Isma'ili community, such as the
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
,
Nizaris
The Nizaris ( ar, النزاريون, al-Nizāriyyūn, fa, نزاریان, Nezāriyān) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent ...
, and
Tayyibis
Tayyibi Isma'ilism is the only surviving sect of the Musta'li branch of Isma'ilism, the other being the extinct Hafizi branch. Followers of Tayyibi Isma'ilism are found in various Bohra communities: Dawoodi, Sulaymani, and Alavi.
The Tayyibi ...
, breaking off from the Fatimid allegiance, and tarnished the prestige and authority of the dynasty. The last of the Fatimid imam–caliphs were powerless child rulers that were pawns in the hands of their viziers. The last of these viziers,
Saladin, deposed the dynasty in 1171, after the death of Caliph
al-Adid. The remaining members of the dynasty and their offspring were placed under house arrest in Cairo until their deaths; the last members of the dynasty died in the mid-13th century.
Origin
Background: early Shi'ism
Since the death of
Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
in 661 AD, which led to the establishment of the
Umayyad Caliphate, a part of the
Muslim community rejected the Umayyads as usurpers and called for the establishment of a regime led by a member of the
Ahl al-Bayt
Ahl al-Bayt ( ar, أَهْل ٱلْبَيْت, ) refers to the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, but the term has also been extended in Sunni Islam to apply to all descendants of the Banu Hashim (Muhammad's clan) and even to all Muslims. ...
, the Family of Muhammad. The
Abbasids
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, who claimed descent from Muhammad's paternal uncle
Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and thus claimed membership of the wider Family, profited from this during their
rise to power
Rise or RISE may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* '' Rise: The Vieneo Province'', an internet-based virtual world
* Rise FM, a fictional radio station in the video game ''Grand Theft Auto 3''
* Rise Kujikawa, a video ...
against the Umayyads; but their claim was rejected by the
Shi'a
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
, who insisted on the exclusive right of the descendants of
Hasan (d. 670) and
Husayn (d. 680), Ali's sons by Muhammad's daughter
Fatima
Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, th ...
. A line of
imams emerged from the offspring of Husayn, who did not openly lay claim to the caliphate, but were considered by their followers as the true representatives of God on earth.
The sixth of these imams,
Ja'far al-Sadiq, appointed () his son
Isma'il ibn Ja'far
Abū Muḥammad Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar al-Mubārak ( ar, إسماعيل بن جعفر; c.719 AD – c.762 AD) was the eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. He is also known as Isma'il al-Ãraj ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq (اسماعيل الاعرج ...
as his successor, but Isma'il died before his father, and when al-Sadiq himself died in 765, the succession was left open. One faction of al-Sadiq's followers held that he had designated another son,
Musa al-Kadhim
Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim ( ar, مُوسَىٰ ٱبْن جَعْفَر ٱلْكَاظِم, Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar al-Kāẓim), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan, Abū ʿAbd Allāh or Abū Ibrāhīm, was the seventh Imam in Twelver Shia Islam, after hi ...
, as his heir. Others followed other sons,
Muhammad al-Dibaj and
Abdallah al-Aftah—shortly after his death, his followers went over to Musa's camp—or even refused to believe that al-Sadiq had died, and expected his return as a
messiah. Musa's adherents, who constituted the majority of al-Sadiq's followers, followed his line down to the twelfth imam,
Muhammad al-Mahdi
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī ( ar, محمد بن الحسن المهدي) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justic ...
, who vanished in 874. Adherents of this line are known as the
Twelvers. Another branch believed that Ja'far was followed by a seventh imam, who also had gone into hiding; hence this party is known as the Seveners. The exact identity of that seventh imam was disputed, but by the late ninth century had commonly been identified with
Muhammad, son of Isma'il and grandson of al-Sadiq. From Muhammad's father, Isma'il, the sect receives its name of 'Isma'ili'. Neither Isma'il's nor Muhammad's lives are well known, and after Muhammad's death during the reign of
Harun al-Rashid (), the history of the early Isma'ili movement becomes obscure.
Fatimid genealogies and controversies
Official Fatimid doctrine claimed an uninterrupted line of succession between the first Fatimid caliph,
Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh/ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (), 873 – 4 March 934, better known by his regnal name al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi'a caliphate in Islamic history, and the e ...
(), and Ali and Fatima, via Muhammad ibn Isma'il. However, as the historian
Heinz Halm comments, "The alleged descent of the dynasty from Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad's daughter Fatima has been called into question by contemporaries from the very beginning and cannot be proven".
The main problem arises with the succession linking al-Mahdi with Isma'il ibn Ja'far. According to Isma'ili doctrine, the imams that followed Muhammad ibn Isma'il were in concealment (), but early Isma'ili sources do not mention them, and even later, official Isma'ili genealogies diverge on the number, names and identities of these 'hidden imams' (), a problem complicated by the claims that the hidden imams assumed various aliases for safety. Al-Mahdi, in one genealogy sent to the Isma'ili community in Yemen, even claimed not to be descended from Isma'il ibn Ja'far, but from his older brother Abdallah al-Aftah. Notably, later official Fatimid genealogies rejected this version.
While pro-Fatimid sources emphasize their Alid descent—the dynasty named itself simply as the 'Alid dynasty' ()—many
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
sources only refer to them as the 'Ubaydids' ( ar, بنو عبيد, Banu Ubayd), after the diminutive form Ubayd Allah for al-Mahdi's name, commonly used in Sunni sources with an apparently pejorative intent. Medieval anti-Fatimid polemicists, starting with
Ibn Rizam and
Akhu Muhsin
Abu'l-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ali (), better known by his nickname Akhu Muhsin (), was a 10th-century anti- Isma'ili writer.
Himself of Alid descent, Akhu Muhsin lived in Damascus, and was one of the first writers interested in Alid genealogy. Based ...
, were keen to discredit Isma'ilism as an
antinomian heresy and generally considered Fatimid claims to
Alid
The Alids are those who claim descent from the '' rāshidūn'' caliph and Imam ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (656–661)—cousin, son-in-law, and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad—through all his wives. The main branches are the (inc ...
descent fraudulent. Instead, they put forth a counter claim that al-Mahdi descended from Abdallah, the son of a certain
Maymun al-Qaddah
The Fatimid dynasty () was an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty of Arab descent that ruled an extensive empire, the Fatimid Caliphate, between 909 and 1171 CE. Claiming descent from Fatima and Ali, they also held the Isma'ili imamate, claiming to be the right ...
from
Khuzistan, that al-Mahdi's real name was Sa'id, or that al-Mahdi's father was in reality a Jew (a common antisemitic trope among medieval Arab authors). This anti-Isma'ili 'black legend', as
Farhad Daftary calls it, influenced Sunni historiographers throughout the following centuries, and became official doctrine with the
Baghdad Manifesto
The Baghdad Manifesto was a polemical tract issued in 1011 on behalf of the Abbasid caliph al-Qadir against the rival Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate.
Background
The manifesto was the result of the steady expansion of the Fatimid Caliphate since its es ...
of 1011. Due to the paucity of actual Isma'ili material until Isma'ili sources started to become available and undergo scholarly examination during the 20th century, the Sunni version was adopted even by some early modern
Orientalists.
Early Isma'ili sources ignore the existence of Maymun al-Qaddah, but later, Fatimid-era sources were forced to confront their opponents' claims about his person, and tried to reconcile the conflicting genealogies accordingly. Some sectarian Isma'ili—especially
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
—sources even claimed that during the period of concealment of the Isma'ili imams, the Isma'ili movement was actually led by the descendants of Maymun al-Qaddah, until the restoration of the true line with the Fatimid caliphs. Later
Tayyibi Isma'ili authors also used the figures of Maymun al-Qaddah and his son Abdallah to argue for the legality of there being a substitute or representative of the imam, whenever the latter was underage. A further controversy that emerged already in medieval times is whether the second Fatimid caliph,
Muhammad al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, was the son of al-Mahdi, or whether the latter was merely usurping the position of a still-hidden imam; that would mean that al-Qa'im was the first true Fatimid imam-caliph.
Modern authors have tried to reconcile the genealogies. The Arabist
Bernard Lewis suggested the existence of two parallel series of imams: trustee () imams, descended from Maymun al-Qaddah, whose task was to hide and protect the existence of the real (, ) imams. Lewis posited that al-Mahdi was the last of that line, and that al-Qa'im was the first of the imams to sit on the throne. Research by
Vladimir Ivanov, on the other hand, has conclusively shown that the supposed Qaddahite descent of the Fatimids is a legend, likely invented by Ibn Rizam himself: the historical Maymun al-Qaddah is now known to have been a disciple of
Muhammad al-Baqir (recognized by both Isma'ilis and Twelvers as an imam), and both he and his son Abdallah hailed from the
Hejaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
. For reasons of chronology alone, Ibn Rizam's version is thus proven to be untenable. Access to more sources has furthermore led to the partial reconciliation of the conflicting accounts by positing that some of the variant names in the genealogies were indeed cover names for the Isma'ili imams: thus Maymun ('the Fortunate One') is suggested as the sobriquet for Muhammad ibn Isma'il, especially since a source connects him with a sect known as the Maymuniyya. This explanation is also present in an epistle by the fourth Fatimid caliph,
al-Mu'izz, in 965. This would make the claim of al-Mahdi's descent from an 'Abdallah ibn Maymun' actually correct, and lead hostile sources to confuse him with the earlier Shi'a figure. Another suggestion, by Abbas Hamdani and F. de Blois, is that the officially published genealogies represent a compromise between two different lines of descent from
Ja'far al-Sadiq, one from Isma'il and another (per al-Mahdi's letter to the Yemenis) from Abdallah al-Aftah.
The Fatimids and the early Isma'ili
Both the Twelvers and the Seveners held that their final imams were not dead, but had simply gone into concealment, and that they would soon return as a messiah, the ('the Rightly Guided One') or ('He Who Arises'), to
usher in the end times. The would rapidly overthrow the usurping Abbasids and destroy their capital
Baghdad, restore the unity of the Muslims, conquer
Constantinople, ensure the final triumph of Islam and establish a reign of peace and justice. The Isma'ilis in particular believed that the would reveal the true, 'inner' () meaning of religion, which was until then reserved for a few select initiates. The would abolish the 'outer' () forms and strictures of Islam, since henceforth the true religion, the religion of
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
, would be manifested without the need for symbols and other mediating devices.
While the Muhammad ibn Isma'il remained hidden, however, he would need to be represented by agents, who would gather the faithful, spread the word (, 'invitation, calling'), and prepare his return. The head of this secret network was the living proof of the imam's existence, the (). The first known was a certain Abdallah al-Akbar, a wealthy merchant from
Askar Mukram, in what is now southwestern
Iran. Apart from improbable stories circulated by later anti-Isma'ili polemicists, his exact origin is unknown. His teachings led to his being forced to flee his native city to escape persecution by the Abbasid authorities, and seek refuge in
Basra, where he claimed to belong to the Aqil branch of the
Banu Hashim
)
, type = Qurayshi Arab clan
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, nisba = al-Hashimi
, location = Mecca, Hejaz Middle East, North Africa, Horn of Africa
, descended = Hashim ibn Abd Manaf
, parent_tribe = Qu ...
, the clan of Muhammad. Once again, his teachings attracted the attention of the authorities, and he moved on to the small town of
Salamiyah
A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995)
Salamieh ( ar, سلمية ') is a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate. It is located southeast of Hama, northeast of Homs. The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was t ...
on the western edge of the
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of sou ...
. There he settled as a merchant from Basra, and had two sons, Ahmad and Ibrahim. When Abdallah died , Ahmad succeeded his father as the head of the Isma'ili movement, and was in turn succeeded by his younger son, Muhammad, known as Abu'l-Shalaghlagh. In later Fatimid doctrine, Abdallah al-Akbar was presented as the eldest son of Muhammad ibn Isma'il, and his successor as imam, followed by Ahmad. While Muhammad Abu'l-Shalaghlagh was the head of the , however, the imamate passed to another son,
al-Husayn (d. 881/2), and thence to al-Husayn's son, Abdallah or Sa'id, the future Caliph al-Mahdi, who was born in 873/4. Isma'ili texts suggest that Abu'l-Shalaghlagh was the guardian and tutor of al-Mahdi, but also that he tried to usurp the succession for his own sons but failed, as the latter all died prematurely.
During the late ninth century,
millennialist
Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future ...
expectations increased in the Muslim world, coinciding with a deep crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate during the decade-long
Anarchy at Samarra, the rise of breakaway and autonomous regimes in the provinces, and the large-scale
Zanj Rebellion, whose leader claimed Alid descent and proclaimed himself as the . In this chaotic atmosphere, and with the Abbasids preoccupied with suppressing the Zanj uprising, the Isma'ili spread rapidly, aided by dissatisfaction among Twelver adherents with the
political quietism
In the political aspects of Islam, political quietism in Islam is the religiously-motivated withdrawal from political affairs or skepticism that mere mortals can establish a true Islamic government. It is the opposite of political Islam, which ...
of their leadership and the recent disappearance of their twelfth imam. Missionaries (s) like
Hamdan Qarmat
Hamdan Qarmat ibn al-Ash'ath ( ar, حمدان قرمط بن الأشعث, Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ ibn al-Ashʿath; CE) was a Persian ruler and the eponymous founder of the Qarmatian sect of Isma'ilism. Originally the chief Isma'ili missionary () in ...
and his brother-in-law
Abu Muhammad Abdan
Abu or ABU may refer to:
Places
* Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan
* Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan
* Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria
* Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...
spread the network of agents to the area round
Kufa in the late 870s, and from there to
Yemen (
Ibn Hawshab
Abu'l-Qāsim al-Ḥasan ibn Faraj ibn Ḥawshab ibn Zādān al-Najjār al-Kūfī ( ar, أبو القاسم الحسن ابن فرج بن حوشب زاذان النجار الكوفي ; died 31 December 914), better known simply as Ibn Ḥawshab, ...
, 882) and thence India (884),
Bahrayn (
Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi
Abu Sa'id Hasan ibn Bahram al-Jannabi (; 845/855–913/914) was the founder of the Qarmatian state in Bahrayn (an area comprising the eastern parts of modern Saudi Arabia as well as the Gulf emirates). By 899, his followers controlled large part ...
, 899),
Persia, and
Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...
(
Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i
Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya, better known as Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i ( ar, ابو عبد الله الشيعي, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ash-Shi'ī), was an Isma'ili missionary ('' dāʿī'') active in Yemen and North Africa, mainly amon ...
, 893). The real leadership of the movement remained hidden at Salamiyah, and only the chief s of each region, such as Hamdan Qarmat, knew and corresponded with it. The true head of the movement remained hidden even from the senior missionaries, however, and a certain Fayruz functioned as chief missionary () and 'gateway' () to the hidden leader.
Qarmatian schism and flight to the Maghreb
In about 899, Abdallah ibn al-Husayn assumed the leadership of the . Soon, he began making alterations to the doctrine, which worried Hamdan Qarmat. Abdan went to Salamiyah to investigate the matter, and learned that Abdallah claimed that the expected was not Muhammad ibn Isma'il, as commonly propagated, but Abdallah himself, and that Abdallah's ancestors, far from being simply the s of the imams, were actually the imams themselves. In a letter to the Yemeni community, Abdallah claimed that 'Muhammad ibn Isma'il' was actually a cover name assumed by each incumbent imam, and denied any particular role of Muhammad ibn Isma'il as the expected who was to usher in the end times. These doctrinal innovations caused a major rift in the movement, as Hamdan denounced the leadership in Salamiyah, gathered the Iraqi s and ordered them to cease the missionary effort. Shortly after this Hamdan "disappeared" from his headquarters, and Abdan was assassinated by
Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh, ( ar, زکرويه بن مهرويه) often misspelled as Zikrawayh in modern sources, was an Isma'ili and Qarmatian leader in Iraq who led a series of revolts against the Abbasid Caliphate in the 900s, until his defeat an ...
, who had remained loyal to Salamiyah.
The schism left the early Isma'ili divided into two factions: those who accepted Abdallah's claims, and continued to follow him, and became the Isma'ilis proper, and those who rejected them and continued to believe in the return of Muhammad ibn Isma'il as , who became known as the
Qarmatians
The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ilism, Isma'ili Shia Islam, Shia movement centred in Al-Ahsa Oasis, al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a Utopia#Religious utopias, religious-utopian Socialis ...
(although anti-Fatimid sources also used the label for the Fatimids themselves). In Iraq and Persia, the community was split between the two factions, but in Bahrayn, the local s split off from Salamiyah and established an independent Qarmatian state that lasted into the 1070s. On the other hand, Zakarawayh and his loyalists now began a series of anti-Abbasid uprisings in Iraq and Syria in 902–907, with the support of the
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
tribes. Calling themselves the , the uprisings enjoyed some ephemeral success, but were eventually suppressed by the still potent Abbasid army. Zakarawayh apparently moved without Abdallah's authorization or prior knowledge, and thus placed him in danger: the Abbasid authorities began a crackdown on the , and Zakarawayh's sons unwittingly revealed the location and identity of Abdallah to the Abbasids, who launched a man-hunt against him. Already in 902, Abdallah with his household left Salamiyah for
Ramla. As the revolts instigated by Zakarawayh were suppressed, Abdallah moved to
Tulunid Egypt in early 904. As the Abbasids recovered control of Egypt in the next year, the small party fled again. While his companions expected to head to Yemen, where the Isma'ili had enjoyed great success, Abdallah turned westward, and established himself at the oasis town of
Sijilmasa
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, image = 1886608-the ruins of Sijilmassa-Rissani.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Sijilmasa ruins
, map_type = Morocco
, map_alt =
, coordinates =
, location = Errachidia, Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco
, region =
, type = Sett ...
, in what is now southwestern
Morocco, in August 905.
Ruling an empire
Establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate
In the meantime, in Ifriqiya, the Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i had managed to convert the
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
tribe of the
Kutama to the Isma'ili cause. From 902 on, the Kutama had gradually conquered the region from its Abbasid clients, the
Aghlabids
The Aghlabids ( ar, الأغالبة) were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya and parts of Southern Italy, Sicily, and possibly Sardinia, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a cen ...
. On 25 March 909, Abu Abdallah and his Kutama entered the Aghlabid palace city of
Raqqada in triumph. The proclaimed a Shi'a regime, but kept the name of his master secret as yet, only using the title , 'God's proof'; and soon set out westward, at the head of a large army, to bring his imam to Ifriqiya. The Kutama army destroyed the Kharijite
Rustamid
The Rustamid dynasty () (or ''Rustumids'', ''Rostemids'') was a ruling house of Ibadi, Ibāḍī imam, imāms of Persian people, Persian descent centered in Algeria. The dynasty governed as a Muslim theocracy for a century and a half from its cap ...
emirate on its way, and arrived at Sijilmasa in August 909. There Abdallah was acclaimed caliph by the troops. On 4 January 910, Abdallah entered Raqqada, where he publicly proclaimed himself caliph with the
regnal title of , 'the imam rightly guided by God'.
The first crisis of the new regime occurred quickly. Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i and his brother demanded proof of Abdallah being the , or resented the limitations on their authority placed by the new ruler. Al-Mahdi Billah was able to eliminate them in 911, but this led to a Kutama revolt, led by a child as a figurehead. The uprising was defeated, and the Fatimid control over the Kutama consolidated. Nevertheless, Fatimid power remained fragile, as it was based almost exclusively on the—often truculent—Kutama, and later the
Sanhaja tribe as well. Conversely, the local Arabs of Ifriqiya were
Maliki Sunnis, while most Berber tribes further west—notably the
Zenata confederation—adhered to various forms of
Kharijism, and thus opposed to the Isma'ili regime of the Fatimids.
Imperial expansion
Given the semi-divine status they claimed as the rightful imams of Islam, the Fatimids' ambitions were not limited to Ifriqiya. The Fatimid caliphs aimed to overthrow not only the rival Muslim monarchs—the Abbasids of Baghdad and the
Umayyads of
Cordoba—but also the
Byzantine Empire, claiming a divine right to universal sovereignty.
Fatimid power quickly expanded across the sea to
Sicily, which had been
conquered
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
by the Aghlabids from the Byzantines, but Fatimid rule was established there only after a series of revolts by the local Muslims, who at times declared for the Abbasids, were suppressed. Sicily was also important as a battleground against the Byzantines, which among other things allowed the Fatimids to present themselves as champions of Islam, engaged in
holy war against the infidels. In practice, relations were often more pragmatic, and warfare alternated with periods of truce. From 948 on, a series of hereditary governors, the
Kalbid dynasty
The Kalbids () were a Muslim Arab dynasty in the Emirate of Sicily, which ruled from 948 to 1053. They were formally appointed by the Fatimids, but gained, progressively, ''de facto'' autonomous rule.
History
In 827, in the midst of internal By ...
, governed Sicily on the Fatimids' behalf.
The Fatimids also expanded west to the rest of the Maghreb, where
Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
and Sijilmasa were captured in 920–921, although these conquests were difficult to hold, and brought the Fatimids into conflict with the Umayyads of Cordoba. In an attempt to supplant the Abbasids, al-Mahdi's son and heir, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, led campaigns eastward to capture Egypt in
914 and
919
__NOTOC__
Year 919 ( CMXIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By Place
Byzantine Empire
* March 25 – Romanos Lekapenos, admiral (''droungarios'') of the ...
. Both endeavours failed, leaving only the
Cyrenaica in Fatimid hands.
Revolt of Abu Yazid
![Connjunt de la Skifa Kahla](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Connjunt_de_la_Skifa_Kahla.jpg)
Between 916 and 921, al-Mahdi built a new residence, the fortified palace city of
Mahdiyya, on a rocky promontory on the Ifriqiyan coast. When Al-Mahdi died in 934, he was succeeded by his son, al-Qa'im (), who continued his father's policies. Another attempted invasion of Egypt in 935 was defeated by the country's new strongman ruler,
Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid.
The most notable event of al-Qa'im's reign was the revolt of the Zenata Berbers under the Khariji preacher
Abu Yazid in 943/44: almost all of Ifriqiya succumbed to the rebels, and in January 945, the rebels laid siege to Mahdiyya itself. Al-Qa'im died during the siege, and was succeeded by his son, Abu Tahir Isma'il (). The new caliph concealed his father's death, took to the field, and in a series of battles defeated the rebel armies and captured Abu Yazid in August 947. The victory over the rebel leader, who had almost destroyed the Fatimid state and was symbolically called the ('the false Messiah') by the Isma'ili , was the moment when Abu Tahir declared himself as the imam and caliph in succession to his father, with the name of
al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah ('The Victor with the Help of God'). Al-Mansur moved the Fatimid court to a new palace city,
al-Mansuriyya near
Kairouan, but died soon after, and was succeeded by his son,
al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah
Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah ( ar, ابو تميم معد المعزّ لدين الله, Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, Glorifier of the Religion of God; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid calip ...
().
Conquest of Egypt and move of the capital to Cairo
Al-Mu'izz was an excellent planner and organizer, and the state he inherited had regained internal stability, after the turmoils of Abu Yazid's revolt. His early reign saw successes against the Byzantines, where the last remaining Byzantine strongholds were extinguished with the
Fall of Rometta in 965, as well as the reconquest of the western Maghreb by the Fatimid general
Jawhar in 958–960, temporarily expelling Umayyad influence from the region and extending Fatimid rule to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
After these successes, al-Mu'izz once again turned to the abandoned project of the conquest of Egypt. Meticulous military and political preparations were undertaken, and the agents of the Isma'ili engaged to promote the Fatimid cause in Egypt and suborn officials of the weakened
Ikhshidid
The Ikhshidid dynasty (, ) was a Turkic mamluk dynasty who ruled Egypt and the Levant from 935 to 969. Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, a Turkic mamluk soldier, was appointed governor by the Abbasid Caliph al-Radi. The dynasty carried the Arabic ti ...
regime. As a result, when the Fatimid army under Jawhar
arrived in Egypt in summer 969, it faced little organized resistance. Jawhar entered the Egyptian capital,
Fustat, in July 969, and claimed the country for his master. Immediately he began establishing a new capital city near Fustat, which came to be known as ('the Victorious One of al-Mu'izz'), modern
Cairo.
Jawhar governed Egypt for the next four years as viceroy of al-Mu'izz, restoring the country's finances. It was not until August 972 that al-Mu'izz left Ifriqiya, appointing the Berber
Buluggin ibn Ziri as his viceroy there. In June 973, the Fatimid court arrived in Egypt and al-Mu'izz took up residence in Cairo.
Expansion into Syria
In the meantime, immediately after the conquest if Egypt Jawhar had tried to extend Fatimid rule into
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. The first Fatimid invasion failed largely due to the opposition of the Qarmatians of Bahrayn, who did not hesitate to align themselves with the Abbasid caliph and denounce al-Mu'izz in public. The Qarmatian leader
al-Hasan al-A'sam
Abu Ali al-Hasan al-A'sam ibn Ahmad ibn Bahram al-Jannabi (al-Ahsa Oasis, 891 – Ramla, 977) was a Qarmatian leader, chiefly known as the military commander of the Qarmatian invasions of Syria (especially around Damascus and Palestine) in 968 ...
led two invasions of Egypt in 971 and again, despite al-Mu'izz's efforts to win him over, in 974. Both invasions were beaten back at the gates of Cairo, forcing the Qarmatians to retreat to Bahrayn, and opening the path for a renewed Fatimid attempt to conquer Syria. At the same time, around 970/71, the two holy cities of
Mecca and
Medina, recognized Fatimid suzerainty, an important symbolic victory for the Fatimids.
In 978, Caliph
al-Aziz () captured Damascus, but Fatimid power in Syria continued to be challenged, whether by powerful generals or by the restive Bedouin of Palestine under the
Jarrahids. Al-Aziz's attempts to capture the
Hamdanid emirate of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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brought the Fatimids into conflict with the Byzantines, who considered the city their protectorate. Attempts to take Aleppo failed in 983, 992/3 and 994/5, and effective Fatimid power reached little past
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
in the north. In 987, the Fatimid suzerainty was recognized by the
Ya'furids in Yemen, but Fatimid attempts to induce the fellow Shi'a rulers of Iraq, the
Buyids, to recognize their suzerainty, failed; the Buyids rejected the Fatimids' claims of Alid descent. Al-Aziz's reign saw also a transformation in the structure and nature of the Fatimid state: the Kutama, who had been the main pillar of the early Fatimid regime, were now complemented by Turkish military slaves () as well as Black African slave soldiers, while under the guidance of
Ya'qub ibn Killis, the Fatimid administration became organized and regularized.
Reign of al-Hakim
Al-Aziz died in 996, while preparing a major campaign against the Byzantines and Hamdanids. He was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son,
al-Hakim (). Initially under the tutelage of powerful officials, al-Hakim managed to seize the reins of power for himself in 1000. The early years of his reign saw the conclusion of peace with Byzantium in 1001, as well as the great tribal revolts of
Abu Rukwa in
Cyrenaica in 1005, and of
Mufarrij ibn Daghfal
Mufarrij ibn Daghfal ibn al-Jarrah al-Tayyi (), in some sources erroneously called Daghfal ibn Mufarrij, was an emir of the Jarrahid family and leader of the Tayy tribe. Mufarrij was engaged in repeated rebellions against the Fatimid Caliphate, wh ...
in Palestine in 1012–13. In the north, the
Uqaylids of
Mosul briefly acknowledged Fatimid suzerainty in 1010, and in 1015, Aleppo did the same, with Fatimid troops entering the city and imposing direct control in 1017. Relations with the Zirids, who quickly had begun distancing themselves from Cairo's authority, became more strained under al-Hakim due to disputes over Cyrenaica and
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
, and in 1016/7, the new Zirid emir,
al-Mu'izz ibn Badis, launched a pogrom against the remaining Isma'ilis in Ifriqiya.
From 1015 on, the Fatimid Caliphate, and the Isma'ili community, were confronted by a rise in sectarianism: a series of preachers who propagated extremist versions of Isma'ilism appeared, preaching the imminence of the end times, the divinity of al-Hakim, and the abolition of the
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
. The Fatimid religious establishment opposed such
antinomian views, but al-Hakim seems to have tolerated, if not encouraged them. Although al-Hakim never officially espoused their views, the teachings of men such as
al-Darzi and
Hamza ibn Ali resulted in the birth of the
Druze
The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...
faith. At the same time, al-Hakim made curious innovations in the succession, by splitting up his office in two: one to succeed the caliphate, i.e. the secular office, and one to succeed as imam, i.e. as leader of the Isma'ili community. Furthermore, he sidelined his own son and appointed two cousins to the posts, thereby arousing the hostility of the Fatimid elites. As a result of a conspiracy among the latter, al-Hakim was murdered during one of his night rides outside Cairo, and his corpse disposed of, never to be found.
Family trees
References
Sources
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Shia dynasties