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Fatimids
The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, it ranged from the western Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids traced their ancestry to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband Ali, the first Shia, Shi'a imam. The Fatimids were acknowledged as the rightful imams by different Isma'ili communities as well as by denominations in many other Muslim lands and adjacent regions. Originating during the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimids initially conquered Ifriqiya (roughly present-day Tunisia and north-eastern Algeria). They extended their rule across the Mediterranean coast and ultimately made Egypt the center of the caliphate. At its height, the caliphate included—in addition to Egypt—varying areas of the M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatimid Conquest Of Egypt
The Fatimid conquest of Egypt took place in 969 when the troops of the Fatimid Caliphate under the general Jawhar (general), Jawhar captured Medieval Egypt, Egypt, then ruled by the autonomous Ikhshidid dynasty in the name of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Fatimids launched repeated invasions of Egypt soon after coming to power in Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia and eastern Algeria) in 909, but failed against the still-strong Abbasid Caliphate. By the 960s, however, while the Fatimids had consolidated their rule and grown stronger, the Abbasid Caliphate had collapsed, and the Ikhshidid regime was facing prolonged crisis: foreign raids and a severe famine were compounded by the death in 968 of the strongman Abu al-Misk Kafur. The resulting power vacuum led to open infighting among the various factions in Fustat, the capital of Egypt. The atmosphere of crisis was deepened by the simultaneous advances of the Byzantine Empire against the Muslim states of the Eastern Mediterranean. Meanwhile, F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdullah Al-Mahdi Billah
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (; 31 July 874 – 4 March 934), better known by his regnal name al-Mahdī biʾllāh (, "The Mahdi, Rightly Guided by God"), was the founder of the Isma'ilism, Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate in History of Islam, Islamic history, and the eleventh Imamate in Ismaili doctrine, Imam of the Isma'ili branch of Shi'ism. He was born as Saʿīd ibn al-Ḥusayn () in Askar Mukram to a family that led the secret Isma'ili missionary network (), propagating on behalf of the hidden imam, Muhammad ibn Isma'il, who would return as the prophesied Islamic messiah (). Orphaned at a young age, he moved to Salamiya, the family's base of operations, where he was adopted by his uncle. In the mid-890s Sa'id succeeded to the leadership of the expanding , which had expanded and gained adherents across the then Muslim world. However, his claims of not merely being a trustee of the hidden imam, but of him and his ancestors ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatimid Dynasty
The Fatimid dynasty () was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Fatimid Caliphate, between 909 and 1171 CE. Descended from Fatima and Ali, and adhering to Isma'ili Shi'ism, they held the Isma'ili imamate, and were regarded as the rightful leaders of the Muslim community. The line of Nizari Isma'ili imams, represented today by the Aga Khans, claims descent from a branch of the Fatimids. The Alavi Bohras, predominantly based in Vadodara, also claim descent from 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, proclaimed himself to be the expected imam, causing a rift in the Isma'ili as the Qarmatians, who did not recognize his imamate, split off. In the meanti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isma'ilism
Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept Musa al-Kazim, the younger brother of Isma'il, as the Imamah (Shia doctrine), true Imām. After the death of Muhammad ibn Isma'il in the 8th century CE, the teachings of Ismailism further transformed into the belief system as it is known today, with an explicit concentration on the deeper, esoteric meaning () of the Islamic religion. With the eventual development of Usulism and Akhbarism into the more literalistic () oriented, Shia Islam developed into two separate directions: the metaphorical Ismaili, Alevism, Alevi, Bektashi Order, Bektashi, Alians, Alian, and Alawites, Alawite groups focusing on the mysticism, mystical path and nature of God in Islam, God, along with the "Imam of the Time" representing the mani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isma'ili Shi'a
Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept Musa al-Kazim, the younger brother of Isma'il, as the true Imām. After the death of Muhammad ibn Isma'il in the 8th century CE, the teachings of Ismailism further transformed into the belief system as it is known today, with an explicit concentration on the deeper, esoteric meaning () of the Islamic religion. With the eventual development of Usulism and Akhbarism into the more literalistic () oriented, Shia Islam developed into two separate directions: the metaphorical Ismaili, Alevi, Bektashi, Alian, and Alawite groups focusing on the mystical path and nature of God, along with the "Imam of the Time" representing the manifestation of esoteric truth and intelligible divine reality, with the more literalistic Usuli and Akhbari groups fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatimid Coinage
Fatimid coinage comes from the Fatimid Caliphate, an Isma'ili Shi'a empire that ruled large parts of North Africa, western Arabia, and the Levant, first from Tunisia (Ifriqiya) and then from Egypt. The coinage was minted after the typical pattern of Islamic coinage. The Fatimids were particularly known for the consistently high quality of their gold dinars, which proved a potent political tool in their Fatimid conquest of Egypt, conquest of Egypt and led to them being widely imitated by the Crusader states in the 12th century. Fatimid silver coinage (dirhams) on the other hand, although widely issued, declined in quality with the weakening of the Fatimid state, and has been mostly ignored in modern times. The Fatimids minted almost no copper coinage. Starting from designs imitating Abbasid coinage, adapted merely with slogans befitting the new regime and the names of the Fatimid caliphs, from the reign of Caliph al-Mu'izz on, Fatimid coinage included overtly Shi'a formulas and achie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mansouria, Tunisia
El-Mansuriya or Mansuriya (), also known as Sabra or Sabra al-Mansuriyya, near Kairouan, Tunisia, was the capital of the Fatimid Caliphate during the rule of the Ismaili Imams al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah (r. 946–953) and al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (r. 953–975). Built between 946 and 972, el-Mansuriya was a walled city holding elaborate palaces surrounded by gardens, artificial pools and water channels. It was briefly the centre of a powerful state that encompassed most of North Africa and Sicily. It continued to serve as provincial capital of the Zirids until 1057, when it was destroyed by the invading Banu Hilal tribes. Any useful objects or relics were scavenged during the centuries that followed. Today, only faint traces remain. Background The Fatimid Caliphate originated in an Ismaili Shia movement launched in Syria by Abd Allah al-Akbar. He claimed descent through Ismail, the seventh Shia imam, from the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah. The Fatimid Dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shia
Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to have been usurped by a number of Muhammad's companions at the meeting of Saqifa where they appointed Abu Bakr () as caliph instead. As such, Sunni Muslims believe Abu Bakr, Umar (), Uthman () and Ali to be ' rightly-guided caliphs' whereas Shia Muslims only regard Ali as the legitimate successor. Shia Muslims assert imamate continued through Ali's sons Hasan and Husayn, after whom different Shia branches have their own imams. They revere the , the family of Muhammad, maintaining that they possess divine knowledge. Shia holy sites include the shrine of Ali in Najaf, the shrine of Husayn in Karbala and other mausoleums of the . Later events such as Husayn's martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala (680 CE) further influenced the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Adid
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥāfiẓ (; 1151–1171), better known by his regnal name al-ʿĀḍid li-Dīn Allāh (), was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, and the twenty-fourth imam of the Hafizi Isma'ili branch of Shi'a Islam, reigning from 1160 to 1171. Like his two immediate predecessors, al-Adid came to the throne as a child, and spent his reign as a puppet of various strongmen who occupied the vizierate. He was a mostly helpless bystander to the slow collapse of the Fatimid Caliphate. Tala'i ibn Ruzzik, the vizier who had raised al-Adid to the throne, fell victim to a palace plot in 1161, and was replaced by his son, Ruzzik ibn Tala'i. Ruzzik was in turn overthrown by Shawar in 1163, but the latter lasted only a few months in office before being overthrown by Dirgham. The constant power struggles in Cairo enfeebled the Fatimid state, allowing both the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Sunni ruler of Syria, Nur al-Din, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shi'a
Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor ( caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community ( imam). However, his right is understood to have been usurped by a number of Muhammad's companions at the meeting of Saqifa where they appointed Abu Bakr () as caliph instead. As such, Sunni Muslims believe Abu Bakr, Umar (), Uthman () and Ali to be ' rightly-guided caliphs' whereas Shia Muslims only regard Ali as the legitimate successor. Shia Muslims assert imamate continued through Ali's sons Hasan and Husayn, after whom different Shia branches have their own imams. They revere the , the family of Muhammad, maintaining that they possess divine knowledge. Shia holy sites include the shrine of Ali in Najaf, the shrine of Husayn in Karbala and other mausoleums of the . Later events such as Husayn's martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala (680 CE) further influence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna (), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (roughly western Libya). It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of Africa Proconsularis and extended beyond it, but did not include the Mauretanias. To the south, Ifriqiya was bounded by the semi-arid lands and salt marshes named el-Djerid. The northern boundary fluctuated from as far north as Sicily to the North African coastline, and the western boundary usually reached Béjaïa. Ifriqiya is bordered to the west by the Central Maghreb, with which the borders are fluid depending on the chroniclers and the eras. The capital was briefly Carthage, then Kairouan, Qayrawan (Kairouan), then Mahdia, then Tunis. The Aghlabids, from their base in Kairouan, initiated the invasion of Southern Italy beginning in 827, and established the Emirate of Sicily, which lasted until it was conquered by the Normans, and the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cairo
Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of largest cities in the Arab world, the Arab world, and List of largest metropolitan areas of the Middle East, the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is List of largest cities, one of the largest in the world by population with over 22.1 million people. The area that would become Cairo was part of ancient Egypt, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis, Egypt, Memphis and Heliopolis (ancient Egypt), Heliopolis are near-by. Located near the Nile Delta, the predecessor settlement was Fustat following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 next to an existing ancient Roman empire, Roman fortress, Babylon Fortress, Babylon. Subsequently, Cairo was founded by the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid dynasty in 969. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
