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Rasad
Rasad ( fl. 1078), also known as Sayyida Rasad, was a politically active Egyptian Caliph mother. She was the de facto regent of Fatimid Egypt as the influential mother of her son, the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah, between 1044 and 1071. The name Rasad literally means "observed". Life Rasad was of Sub-Saharan African origin. Variously described as being Sudanese, Ethiopian and Nubian, she first entered the harem of Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt as a slave concubine when the ruler purchased her from Abu Sa'd al-Tustari, a Jewish merchant. Rasad soon became her husband's favourite, and was later given the title ''malika'', often translated as queen, signifying that she was formally a part of the royal family rather than a slave concubine. When she later gave birth to a son that they named al-Mustansir Billah, a delighted az-Zahir declared that the young prince would succeed to the Fatimid throne upon his own demise. De facto ruler In 1036, her son al-Mustansir ascended ...
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Al-Mustansir Billah
Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Mustanṣir biʾllāh ( ar, أبو تميم معد المستنصر بالله‎; 2 July 1029 – 29 December 1094) was the eighth Fatimid Caliph from 1036 until 1094. He was one of the longest reigning Muslim rulers. His reign, otherwise mixed, was the twilight of the Fatimid state. The start of his reign saw the continuation of competent administrators running the Fatamid state ( Anushtakin, al-Jarjara'i, and later al-Yazuri), overseeing the state's prosperity in the first two decades of al-Mustansir's reign. However, the break out of court infighting between the Turkish and Berber/Sudanese court factions following al-Yazuri's assassination, coinciding with natural disasters in Egypt and the gradual loss of administrative control over Fatamid possessions outside of Egypt, almost resulted in the total collapse of the Fatamid state in the 1060s, before the appointment of the Armenian general Badr al-Jamali, who assumed power as vizier in 1073, and beca ...
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Al-Mustansir Billah
Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Mustanṣir biʾllāh ( ar, أبو تميم معد المستنصر بالله‎; 2 July 1029 – 29 December 1094) was the eighth Fatimid Caliph from 1036 until 1094. He was one of the longest reigning Muslim rulers. His reign, otherwise mixed, was the twilight of the Fatimid state. The start of his reign saw the continuation of competent administrators running the Fatamid state ( Anushtakin, al-Jarjara'i, and later al-Yazuri), overseeing the state's prosperity in the first two decades of al-Mustansir's reign. However, the break out of court infighting between the Turkish and Berber/Sudanese court factions following al-Yazuri's assassination, coinciding with natural disasters in Egypt and the gradual loss of administrative control over Fatamid possessions outside of Egypt, almost resulted in the total collapse of the Fatamid state in the 1060s, before the appointment of the Armenian general Badr al-Jamali, who assumed power as vizier in 1073, and beca ...
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Fatimids
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 east. The Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, a dynasty of Arab origin, trace their ancestry to Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, Fatima and her husband Ali, ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, the first Imamate in Shia doctrine, Shi‘a imam. The Fatimids were acknowledged as the rightful imams by different Isma'ilism, Isma‘ili communities, but also in many other Muslim lands, including Persia and the adjacent regions. Originating during the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimids conquered Tunisia and established the city of "Mahdia, al-Mahdiyya" ( ar, المهدية). The Ismaili dynasty ruled territories across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the center of the caliphate. At its height, the caliphate included – in addition to Egypt – varying ...
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Ali Az-Zahir
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن الحاكم; 20 June 1005 – 13 June 1036), better known with his regnal name al-Ẓāhir li-iʿzāz Dīn Allāh ( ar, الظاهر لإعزاز دين الله, , He Who Appears Openly to Strengthen the Religion of God), was the seventh caliph of the Fatimid dynasty (1021–1036). Al-Zahir assumed the caliphate after the disappearance of his father al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Reign At the time of al-Hakim's disappearance on 14 February 1021, his sister, Sitt al-Mulk, took the reins of power. She disregarded the previous appointment of a cousin, Abd al-Rahim ibn Ilyas, as heir apparent by al-Hakim, and instead raised al-Hakim's 16-year-old son Ali to the throne. Ali received the public oath of allegiance on 28 March, with the regnal name ''al-Zāhir li-iʿzāz Dīn Allāh''. His rival, Abu'l-Qasim, was recalled from Damascus, where he was serving as governor, to Cairo, where he died—reportedly by sui ...
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Ali Ibn Ahmad Al-Jarjara'i
Abu’l-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Jarjarāʾī was a Fatimid official of Iraqi origin, who served as the Fatimid vizier from 1027 until his death on 27 March 1045. 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 ...
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Fatimid Egypt
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili 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 east. The Fatimids, a dynasty of Arab origin, trace their ancestry to Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, the first Shi‘a imam. The Fatimids were acknowledged as the rightful imams by different Isma‘ili communities, but also in many other Muslim lands, including Persia and the adjacent regions. Originating during the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimids conquered Tunisia and established the city of " al-Mahdiyya" ( ar, المهدية). The Ismaili dynasty ruled territories across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the center of the caliphate. At its height, the caliphate included – in addition to Egypt – varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and the Hijaz. Between 902 to 909 the foun ...
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Abu Muhammad Al-Yazuri
Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Yazuri (or al-Husayn) ibn Ali ibn Abd al-Rahman (died 1058) was a vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate, holding office from 1050 to 1058. Biography Al-Yazuri was born in Yazur where he later worked as a judge, before traveling to Ramla. When faced with the governor of Ramla, al-Yazuri fled to Cairo and entered service as a eunuch servant to the princess mother of al-Mustansir Billah called Rasad. In 1050, relations between the Fatimids and the Zirid dynasty were strained after the Zirids adopted Sunni Islam and subsequently recognized the Abbasid caliph. In 1052, Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis, ruler of the Zirids, put his own name before the name of the caliph in an official letter and came to the Arab tribes Banu Riyah and Banu Zughba who were plundering Egypt and sent requests for alliances to the tribes of Ifriqiya as well as the Banu Sulaym tribe of Cyrenaica. The Byzantine Empire and Egypt were at peace for some time, and had an agreement to lead each other a ...
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Al-Zahir Li-i'zaz Din Allah
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن الحاكم; 20 June 1005 – 13 June 1036), better known with his regnal name al-Ẓāhir li-iʿzāz Dīn Allāh ( ar, الظاهر لإعزاز دين الله, , He Who Appears Openly to Strengthen the Religion of God), was the seventh caliph of the Fatimid dynasty (1021–1036). Al-Zahir assumed the caliphate after the disappearance of his father al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Reign At the time of al-Hakim's disappearance on 14 February 1021, his sister, Sitt al-Mulk, took the reins of power. She disregarded the previous appointment of a cousin, Abd al-Rahim ibn Ilyas, as heir apparent by al-Hakim, and instead raised al-Hakim's 16-year-old son Ali to the throne. Ali received the public oath of allegiance on 28 March, with the regnal name ''al-Zāhir li-iʿzāz Dīn Allāh''. His rival, Abu'l-Qasim, was recalled from Damascus, where he was serving as governor, to Cairo, where he died—reportedly by su ...
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Al-Maqrizi
Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, known for his interest in the Fatimid dynasty and its role in Egyptian history. Life A direct student of Ibn Khaldun, Al-Maqrīzī was born in Cairo and spent most of his life in Egypt. When he presents himself in his books he usually stops at the 10th forefather although he confessed to some of his close friends that he can trace his ancestry to Al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allāh – first Fatimid caliph in Egypt and the founder of al-Qahirah – and even to Ali ibn Abi Talib. He was trained in the Hanafite school of law. Later, he switched to the Shafi'ite school and finally to the Zahirite school. Maqrizi studied theology under one of the primary masterminds behind the Zahiri Revolt, and his vocal support and sympathy with that revolt against ...
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Theodora Porphyrogenita
Theodora Porphyrogenita ( el, Θεοδώρα Πορφυρογέννητη, ''Theodōra Porphyrogenítē''; c. 98031 August 1056) was Byzantine Empress from 21 April 1042 to her death on 31 August 1056, and sole ruler from 11 January 1055. She was born into the Macedonian dynasty that ruled the Eastern Roman Empire for almost 200 years. Theodora was the youngest daughter of Emperor Constantine VIII. After Theodora's father died in 1028, her older sister Zoë co-ruled with her husbands Romanos III and Michael IV, keeping Theodora closely watched. After two foiled plots, Theodora was exiled to an island monastery in the Sea of Marmara in 1031. A decade later, the people of Constantinople rose against Michael IV's nephew and successor, Michael V, and insisted that Theodora return to rule alongside Zoë. After 65 days Zoë married again, to Constantine IX, who assumed the imperial responsibilities. Theodora seemingly retired to a convent after Zo ...
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Mirdasids
The Mirdasid dynasty ( ar, المرداسيون, al-Mirdāsiyyīn), also called the Banu Mirdas, was an Arab dynasty which ruled an Aleppo-based emirate in northern Syria and the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) more or less continuously from 1024 until 1080. History Dominance of the Kilab in northern Syria The Mirdasids were a family of the Bedouin (nomadic Arab) tribe of Banu Kilab. The Kilab's ancestral home was in central Arabia and its tribesmen first established themselves in northern Syria and the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) in the years after the 630s–Muslim conquest. A second major wave of Kilabi tribesmen migrated to northern Syria from Arabia in the 9th century. The political vacuum and frequent revolts throughout the region during that period paved the way for the Kilab to strengthen their influence, becoming the predominant tribe in the region north of the Palmyrene steppe and west of the Euphrates River by the early to mid-10th century. A third maj ...
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