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Introduction
The Fatimid Caliphate or Fatimid Empire (/ˈfætɪmɪd/; Arabic: ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْفَاطِمِيَّة, romanized: al-Khilāfa al-Fāṭimiyya) was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shia dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, it ranged from the western Mediterranean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids trace their ancestry to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband Ali, the first Shia 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). 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 Maghreb, Sicily, the Levant, and the Hejaz.
Between 902 and 909, the foundation of the Fatimid state was realized under the leadership of da'i (missionary) Abu Abdallah, whose conquest of Aghlabid Ifriqiya with the help of Kutama forces paved the way for the establishment of the Caliphate. After the conquest, Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah was retrieved from Sijilmasa and then accepted as the Imam of the movement, becoming the first Caliph and founder of the dynasty in 909. In 921, the city of al-Mahdiyya was established as the capital. In 948, they shifted their capital to al-Mansuriyya, near Kairouan. In 969, during the reign of al-Mu'izz, they conquered Egypt, and in 973, the caliphate was moved to the newly founded Fatimid capital of Cairo. Egypt became the political, cultural, and religious centre of the empire, which developed a new and "indigenous Arabic" culture. After its initial conquests, the caliphate often allowed a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Shia sects of Islam, as well as to Jews and Christians. However, its leaders made little headway in persuading the Egyptian population to adopt its religious beliefs. (Full article...)
Selected articles
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Image 1Abu Ali al-Mansur (Arabic: أبو علي المنصور, romanized: Abū ʿAlī al-Manṣūr; 13 August 985 – 13 February 1021), better known by his regnal name al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (Arabic: الحاكم بأمر الله, romanized: al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh, lit. 'The Ruler by the Order of God'), was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam (996–1021). Al-Hakim is an important figure in a number of Shia Ismaili sects, such as the world's 15 million Nizaris and 1–2 million Musta'lis, in addition to 2 million Druze.
Histories of al-Hakim can prove controversial, as diverse views of his life and legacy exist. Historian Paul Walker writes "Ultimately, both views of him, the mad and despotic tyrant (like Germanic and Roman despots) irrationally given to killing those around him on a whim, and the ideal supreme ruler, divinely ordained and chosen, whose every action was just and righteous, were to persist, the one among his enemies and those who rebelled against him, and the other in the hearts of true believers, who, while perhaps perplexed by events, nonetheless remained avidly loyal to him to the end." critics misname him as "Nero of Egypt". (Full article...) -
Image 2Abu'l-Faraj Ya'qub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis (Arabic: يعقوب ابن كلس, romanized: Abu’l-Faraj Yaʿqūb ibn Yūsuf ibn Killis, Hebrew: יעקוב אבן כיליס), (930 in Baghdad – 991), commonly known simply by his patronymic surname as Ibn Killis, was a high-ranking official of the Ikhshidids who went on to serve as vizier under the Fatimids from 979 until his death in 991.
Ya'qub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis was born in Baghdad in 930 in a Jewish family. After his family moved to Syria he came to Egypt in 943 and entered the service of the Regent Kafur. As soon as he became the household and property administrator, he was in charge of the Egyptian state's finances. Despite converting to Islam in 967, he was imprisoned by Kafur's successors after losing their favor. He was able however to purchase his freedom and went to Ifriqiya, where he put himself at the service of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mu'izz. (Full article...) -
Image 3Abū'l-Futūh Barjawān al-Ustādh (عَبْدُ الْفُتُوحِ بَرْجَوَانِ الْأُسْتَاذِ; died 25/26 March 1000) was a eunuch palace official who became the prime minister (wāsiṭa) and de facto regent of the Shia Fatimid Caliphate in October 997, and held the position until his assassination. Of obscure origin, Barjawan became the tutor of heir-apparent al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who became caliph in 996 with the death of al-Aziz Billah. On al-Hakim's coronation, power was seized by the Kutama Berbers, who tried to monopolize government and clashed with their rivals, the Turkic slave-soldiers. Allied with disaffected Berber leaders, Barjawan was able to seize the reins of government for himself in 997. His tenure was marked by a successful balancing act between the Berbers and the Turks, as well as the rise of men of diverse backgrounds, promoted under his patronage. Militarily, Barjawan was successful in restoring order to the Fatimids' restive Levantine and Libyan provinces, and set the stage for an enduring truce with the Byzantine Empire. The concentration of power in his hands and his overbearing attitude alienated al-Hakim, however, who ordered him assassinated and thereafter assumed the governance of the caliphate himself. (Full article...)
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Image 5El-Mansuriya or Mansuriya (Arabic: المنصورية), 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. (Full article...) -
Image 6The Great Palaces of the Fatimid Caliphs (or Great Fatimid Palaces, among other name variants) were a vast and lavish palace complex built in the late 10th century in Cairo, Egypt, to house the Fatimid caliphs, their households, and the administration of their state. There were two main palace complexes, the Eastern and the Western Palace. They were located in the center of the walled city of Cairo around the area still known today as Bayn al-Qasrayn ("Between the Two Palaces"). (Full article...)
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Image 7The Qarmatians (Arabic: قرامطة, romanized: Qarāmiṭa; Persian: قرمطیان, romanized: Qarmaṭiyān) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious—and, as some scholars have claimed, proto-socialist or utopian socialist—state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adhered to a syncretic branch of Sevener Ismaili Shia Islam, and were ruled by a dynasty founded by Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, a Persian from Jannaba in coastal Fars. They rejected the claim of Fatimid Caliph Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah to imamate and clung to their belief in the coming of the Mahdi, and they revolted against the Fatimid and Abbasid Caliphates.
Mecca was sacked by a Qarmatian leader, Abu Tahir al-Jannabi, outraging the Muslim world, particularly with their theft of the Black Stone and desecration of the Zamzam Well with corpses during the Hajj season of 930 CE. (Full article...) -
Image 8Abu Tahir Isma'il (Arabic: أبو طاهر إسماعيل, romanized: Abū Ṭāhir ʾIsmāʿīl; January 914 – 18 March 953), better known by his regnal name al-Mansur Billah (Arabic: المنصور بالله, romanized: al-Manṣūr biʾllāh, lit. 'The Victor through God'), was the third caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya, ruling from 946 until his death. He presided over a period of crisis, having to confront the large-scale Kharijite rebellion of Abu Yazid. He succeeded in suppressing the revolt and restoring the stability of the Fatimid regime. (Full article...)
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Image 9Abu 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 968–977. Already in 968, he led attacks on the Ikhshidids, capturing Damascus and Ramla and extracting pledges of tribute. Following the Fatimid conquest of Egypt and the overthrow of the Ikhshidids, in 971–974 al-A'sam led attacks against the Fatimid Caliphate, who began to expand into Syria. The Qarmatians repeatedly evicted the Fatimids from Syria and invaded Egypt itself twice, in 971 and 974, before being defeated at the gates of Cairo and driven back. Al-A'sam continued fighting against the Fatimids, now alongside the Turkish general Alptakin, until his death in March 977. In the next year, the Fatimids managed to overcome the allies, and concluded a treaty with the Qarmatians that signalled the end of their invasions of Syria. (Full article...)
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Image 10The Battle of the Blacks or Battle of the Slaves was a conflict in Cairo, on 21–23 August 1169, between the black African units of the Fatimid army and other pro-Fatimid elements, and Sunni Syrian troops loyal to the Fatimid vizier, Saladin. Saladin's rise to the vizierate, and his sidelining of the Fatimid caliph, al-Adid, antagonized the traditional Fatimid elites, including the army regiments, as Saladin relied chiefly on the Oghuz and Kurdish troops that had come with him from Syria. According to the medieval sources, which are biased towards Saladin, this conflict led to an attempt by the palace majordomo, Mu'tamin al-Khilafa, to enter into an agreement with the Crusaders and jointly attack Saladin's forces to get rid of him. Saladin learned of this conspiracy and had Mu'tamin executed on 20 August. Modern historians have questioned the veracity of this report, suspecting that it may have been invented to justify Saladin's subsequent move against the Fatimid troops.
This event provoked the uprising of the black African troops of the Fatimid army, numbering some 50,000 men, who were joined by Armenian soldiers and the populace of Cairo the next day. The clashes lasted for two days, as the Fatimid troops initially attacked the vizier's palace, but were driven back to the large square between the Fatimid Great Palaces. There the black African troops and their allies appeared to be gaining the upper hand until al-Adid came out publicly against them, and Saladin ordered the burning of their settlements, located south of Cairo outside the city wall, where the black Africans' families had been left behind. The black Africans then broke and retreated in disorder to the south, until they were encircled near the Bab Zuwayla gate, where they surrendered and were allowed to cross the Nile to Giza. Despite promises of safety, they were attacked and almost annihilated there by Saladin's brother Turan-Shah. (Full article...) -
Image 11Abu'l-Hasan Ali al-Adil ibn al-Sallar or al-Salar (Arabic: أبو ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻦ ﻋﻠﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﺩﻝ ﺍﺑﻦ ﺍﻟﺴﻠﺎﺭ, romanized: Abu’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī al-ʿĀdil ibn al-Sallār; died 3 April 1154), usually known simply as Ibn al-Sal[l]ar, was a Fatimid commander and official, who served as the vizier of Caliph al-Zafir from 1149 to 1154. A capable and brave soldier, Ibn al-Sallar assumed senior gubernatorial positions, culminating in the governorship of Alexandria. From this position in 1149 he launched a revolt, along with his stepson Abbas ibn Abi al-Futuh. Defeating the army of the then vizier, Ibn Masal, he occupied Cairo and forced the young Caliph al-Zafir to appoint him vizier instead. A mutual disdain and hatred bound the two men thereafter, and the Caliph even conspired to have Ibn al-Sallar assassinated. During this tenure, Ibn al-Sallar restored order in the army and strove to halt Crusader attacks on Egypt, but with limited success. He was assassinated at the behest of his ambitious stepson Abbas, who succeeded him as vizier. (Full article...)
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Image 12The Nizaris (Arabic: النزاريون, romanized: al-Nizāriyyūn) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent reasoning or ijtihad; pluralism—the acceptance of racial, ethnic, cultural and inter-religious differences; and social justice. Nizaris, along with Twelvers, adhere to the Jaʽfari school of jurisprudence. The Aga Khan, currently Aga Khan IV, is the spiritual leader and Imam of the Nizaris. The global seat of the Ismaili Imamate is in Lisbon, Portugal. (Full article...)
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Image 13Abu Mansur Nizar ibn al-Mustansir (Arabic: أبو منصور نزار بن المستنصر, romanized: Abū Manṣūr Nizār ibn al-Mustanṣir; 1045–1095) was a Fatimid prince, and the oldest son of the eighth Fatimid caliph and eighteenth Isma'ili imam, al-Mustansir. When his father died in December 1094, the powerful vizier, al-Afdal Shahanshah, raised Nizar's younger brother al-Musta'li to the throne in Cairo, bypassing the claims of Nizar and other older sons of al-Mustansir. Nizar escaped Cairo, rebelled and seized Alexandria, where he reigned as caliph with the regnal name al-Mustafa li-Din Allah (Arabic: المصطفى لدين الله, romanized: al-Muṣṭafā li-Dīn Allāh). In late 1095 he was defeated and taken prisoner to Cairo, where he was executed by immurement.
During the 12th century, some of Nizar's actual or claimed descendants tried, without success, to seize the throne from the Fatimid caliphs. Many Isma'ilis, especially in Persia, rejected al-Musta'li's imamate and considered Nizar as the rightful imam. As a result, they split off from the Fatimid regime and founded the Nizari branch of Isma'ilism, with their own line of imams who claimed descent from Nizar. This line continues to this day in the person of the Aga Khan. (Full article...) -
Image 14Abu Mansur Nizar ibn al-Mustansir (Arabic: أبو منصور نزار بن المستنصر, romanized: Abū Manṣūr Nizār ibn al-Mustanṣir; 1045–1095) was a Fatimid prince, and the oldest son of the eighth Fatimid caliph and eighteenth Isma'ili imam, al-Mustansir. When his father died in December 1094, the powerful vizier, al-Afdal Shahanshah, raised Nizar's younger brother al-Musta'li to the throne in Cairo, bypassing the claims of Nizar and other older sons of al-Mustansir. Nizar escaped Cairo, rebelled and seized Alexandria, where he reigned as caliph with the regnal name al-Mustafa li-Din Allah (Arabic: المصطفى لدين الله, romanized: al-Muṣṭafā li-Dīn Allāh). In late 1095 he was defeated and taken prisoner to Cairo, where he was executed by immurement.
During the 12th century, some of Nizar's actual or claimed descendants tried, without success, to seize the throne from the Fatimid caliphs. Many Isma'ilis, especially in Persia, rejected al-Musta'li's imamate and considered Nizar as the rightful imam. As a result, they split off from the Fatimid regime and founded the Nizari branch of Isma'ilism, with their own line of imams who claimed descent from Nizar. This line continues to this day in the person of the Aga Khan. (Full article...) -
Image 15Ridwan ibn Walakhshi (Arabic: رضوان بن ولخشي) was the vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate in 1137–1139, under Caliph al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. He was a Sunni military commander, who rose to high offices under caliphs al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah and al-Hafiz. He participated in the coup of Kutayfat, which in 1130–1131 briefly overthrew the Fatimid dynasty, serving as gaoler of the future caliph al-Hafiz. Under al-Hafiz he rose to the powerful position of chamberlain, and emerged as the leader of the Muslim opposition during the vizierate of the Christian Bahram al-Armani in 1135–1137, when he served as governor of Ascalon and the western Nile Delta.
In February 1137, he rose in revolt against Bahram, drove him from Cairo, and was in turn appointed to the vizierate with the title of "Most Excellent King" (al-malik al-afḍal) denoting his ambitions and status as a de facto monarch in his own right. His tenure lasted two years and five months, and was marked by a reorganization of the government and by a persecution of Christian officials, who were replaced by Muslims, as well as the introduction of restrictions on Christians and Jews. Ridwan also planned to depose al-Hafiz and the Fatimid dynasty in favour of a Sunni regime headed by himself, but the Caliph raised the army and the people of Cairo against him, forcing him to flee his post in June 1139. Ridwan rallied his followers and tried to capture Cairo, but was defeated and had to surrender. (Full article...) -
Image 16Abu Mansur Nizar (Arabic: أبو منصور نزار, romanized: Abū Manṣūr Nizār; 10 May 955 – 14 October 996), known by his regnal name as al-Aziz Billah (Arabic: العزيز بالله, romanized: al-ʿAzīz biʾllāh, lit. 'the Mighty One through God'), was the fifth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, from 975 to his death in 996. His reign saw the capture of Damascus and the Fatimid expansion into the Levant, which brought al-Aziz into conflict with the Byzantine emperor Basil II over control of Aleppo. During the course of this expansion, al-Aziz took into his service large numbers of Turkic and Daylamite slave-soldiers, thereby breaking the near-monopoly on Fatimid military power held until then by the Kutama Berbers. (Full article...)
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Image 17Shawar ibn Mujir al-Sa'di (Arabic: شاور بن مجير السعدي, romanized: Shāwar ibn Mujīr al-Saʿdī; died 18 January 1169) was an Arab de facto ruler of Fatimid Egypt, as its vizier, from December 1162 until his assassination in 1169 by the general Shirkuh, the uncle of the future Ayyubid leader Saladin, with whom he was engaged in a three-way power struggle against the Crusader Amalric I of Jerusalem. Shawar was notorious for continually switching alliances, allying first with one side, and then the other, and even ordering the burning of his own capital city, Fustat, just so that the enemy could not have it. (Full article...)
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Image 18The navy of the Fatimid Caliphate was one of the most developed early Muslim navies and a major force in the central and eastern Mediterranean in the 10th–12th centuries. As with the dynasty it served, its history is in two phases. The first was c. 909 to 969, when the Fatimids were based in Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia); the second lasted until the end of the dynasty in 1171, when they were based in Egypt. During the first period, the navy was employed mainly against the Byzantine Empire in Sicily and southern Italy, where it enjoyed mixed success. It was also in the initially unsuccessful attempts to conquer Egypt from the Abbasids and brief clashes with the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba.
During the first decades after the eventual Fatimid conquest of Egypt in 969, the main naval enemy remained the Byzantines, but the war was fought mostly on land over control of Syria, and naval operations were limited to maintaining Fatimid control over the coastal cities of the Levant. Warfare with the Byzantines ended after 1000 with a series of truces, and the navy became once more important with the arrival of the Crusaders in the Holy Land in the late 1090s. (Full article...) -
Image 19Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn al-Mustanṣir (Arabic: أبو القاسم أحمد بن المستنصر; 15/16 September 1074 – 12 December 1101), better known by his regnal name al-Mustaʿlī biʾllāh (المستعلي بالله, lit. 'The One Raised Up by God'), was the ninth Fatimid caliph and the nineteenth imam of Musta'li Ismailism.
Although not the eldest (and most likely the youngest) of the sons of Caliph al-Mustansir Billah, al-Musta'li became caliph through the machinations of his brother-in-law, the vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah. In response, his oldest brother and most likely candidate for their father's succession, Nizar, rose in revolt in Alexandria, but was defeated and executed. This caused a major split in the Isma'ili movement. Many communities, especially in Persia and Iraq, split off from the officially sponsored Isma'ili hierarchy and formed their own Nizari movement, holding Nizar and his descendants as the rightful imams. (Full article...) -
Image 20Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥākim (Arabic: أبو الحسن علي ابن الحاكم; 20 June 1005 – 13 June 1036), better known with his regnal name al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh (Arabic: الظاهر لإعزاز دين الله, lit. '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. (Full article...)
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Image 21Abu'l Muzaffar Bahram al-Armani al-Hafizi (Arabic: بهرام) was the vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate in 1135–1137, under the Caliph al-Hafiz li-Din Allah. (Full article...)
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Image 22Abu Ali Salih ibn Mirdas (Arabic: ابو علي صالح بن مرداس, romanized: Abū ʿAlī Ṣāliḥ ibn Mirdās), also known by his laqab (honorific epithet) Asad al-Dawla ('Lion of the State'), was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of Aleppo from 1025 until his death in May 1029. At its peak, his emirate (principality) encompassed much of the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), northern Syria and several central Syrian towns. With occasional interruption, Salih's descendants ruled Aleppo for the next five decades.
Salih launched his career in 1008, when he seized the Euphrates river fortress of al-Rahba. In 1012, he was imprisoned and tortured by the emir of Aleppo, Mansur ibn Lu'lu'. Two years later he escaped, capturing Mansur in battle and releasing him for numerous concessions, including half of Aleppo's revenues. This cemented Salih as the paramount emir of his tribe, the Banu Kilab, many of whose chieftains had died in Mansur's dungeons. With his Bedouin warriors, Salih captured a string of fortresses along the Euphrates, including Manbij and Raqqa, by 1022. He later formed an alliance with the Banu Kalb and Banu Tayy tribes and supported their struggle against the Fatimids of Egypt. During this tribal rebellion, Salih annexed the central Syrian towns of Homs, Baalbek and Sidon, before conquering Fatimid-held Aleppo in 1025, bringing "to success the plan which guided his [Banu Kilab] forebears for a century", according to historian Thierry Bianquis. (Full article...) -
Image 23Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Fatak, better known as al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi (Arabic: المأمون البطائحي), was a senior official of the Fatimid Caliphate in the early 12th century, during the reign of al-Amir. His origin is obscure, but his father had held high military office, and thus al-Bata'ihi belonged to the Fatimid Egyptian elite. In 1107, at the age of about 21, he was chosen as chief of staff of the vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah, the de facto ruler of the state. In this capacity al-Bata'ihi carried out tax reforms which raised revenue and ensured the payment of the military. Al-Afdal was assassinated in 1121, officially by agents of the rival Nizari branch of Isma'ilism, which opposed the official Fatimid Musta'li Isma'ilism and did not recognize al-Amir as caliph and imam. However, both Caliph al-Amir and al-Bata'ihi are suspected to have been involved in the murder by some sources. Al-Amir appointed al-Bata'ihi to the vacant vizierate, establishing a partnership between caliph and vizier that brought the former once again into the public view, while retaining for the latter the de facto governance of the state. As vizier, al-Bata'ihi was noted for his ability, justice, and generosity. He celebrated lavish festivals, where al-Amir had the opportunity to play a central role, and commissioned several buildings, of which the most important and only surviving one is the Aqmar Mosque in Cairo. Al-Bata'ihi also hunted down Nizari agents and sympathizers; the al-Hidaya al-Amiriyya, issued in 1122, rebuffed Nizari claims and affirmed the legitimacy of Musta'li Isma'ilism. During his tenure, the Fatimids became more directly involved in Yemen, often ignoring their Sulayhid ally, Queen Arwa. In the Levant, attempts to take the offensive against the Crusaders failed, with a naval defeat at the hands of the Venetian Crusade in 1123 followed by the loss of Tyre in 1124. These failures, coupled with the caliph's resentment at al-Bata'ihi's power, led to his dismissal and imprisonment by al-Amir in 1125. He was then kept imprisoned until July 1128, when al-Amir ordered his execution. His son, Musa, wrote a biography that survives in fragments and is a key source for al-Bata'ihi's career. (Full article...)
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Image 24Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Iyadi al-Tunisi (Arabic: علي بن محمد الإيادي, romanized: ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Iyādī; died 976) was a 10th-century Maghrebi Arabic poet in the service of the Fatimid caliphs al-Qa'im, al-Mansur, and al-Mu'izz.
His exact origin is unknown. The nisba "al-Tunisi" has led to suggestions that he was born in Tunis, but his other nisba of "al-Iyadi" suggests ties to the Iyad, a clan of the Arab Banu Hilal tribe settled near Msila. Pro-Shi'ite, he was court poet of the Isma'ili Shi'a caliphs al-Qa'im, al-Mansur, and al-Mu'izz. His reputation during his lifetime was considerable, and he was highly regarded by later critics. However, possibly due to his pro-Shi'a partisanship, which may have led to an attempted damnatio memoriae after the Zirid dynasty turned to Sunni Islam, or due to shifting literary tastes, none of his works survives in complete form. His work survives mostly in fragments that were appreciated and gathered together by later anthologists for their vivid and evocative language, such as descriptions of the Fatimid navy, a galloping horse, or the so-called Lake Palace in the palace city of Mansuriya. The only evidently pro-Shi'a works surviving are a eulogy for al-Mansur, and a moving description of the end of the famous anti-Fatimid rebel Abu Yazid. Al-Iyadi died in 976, probably in Cairo, where he had followed the Fatimid court following the Fatimid conquest of Egypt in 969. (Full article...) -
Image 25Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh (Arabic: أبو القاسم محمد ابن عبد الله; March/April 893 – 17 May 946), better known by his regnal name al-Qāʾim (القائم) or al-Qāʾim bi-Amr Allāh (القائم بأمر الله), was the second caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, ruling in Ifriqiya from 934 to 946. He was the twelfth Isma'ili Imam, succeeding his father Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah (r. 909–934). (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that Qadi al-Fadil began his career under the Fatimids, became Saladin's chief minister, and was renowned for the elegance of his epistolary writing?
- ... that the last Fatimid caliph, al-Adid, came to the throne as a child, was dominated by his viziers, and died a few days after Saladin abolished the Fatimid regime?
- ... that Abd al-Rahim ibn Ilyas, heir apparent of the Fatimid Caliphate, was arrested after the caliph's death and died in captivity under unclear circumstances?
- ... that the minbar of the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron was originally made for a Fatimid shrine in Ashkelon?
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If you are interested in reading more about the Fatimid caliphate, some up-to-date summary books and encyclopedia articles are:
- Brett, Michael (2017). The Fatimid Empire. The Edinburgh History of the Islamic Empires. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-4076-8.
- Daftary, Farhad (1999). "Fatimids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume IX/4: Fārs II–Fauna III. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 423–426. ISBN 978-0-933273-32-0.
- Halm, Heinz (2014). "Fāṭimids". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
- Sanders, Paula (1998). "The Fāṭimid state, 969–1171". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–174. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.
- Walker, Paul E. (1998). "The Ismā'īlī Da'wa and the Fātimid caliphate". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 120–150. ISBN 0-521-47137-0.
- Walker, Paul E. (2018). "Fāṭimids". In Madelung, Wilferd; Daftary, Farhad (eds.). Encyclopaedia Islamica Online. Brill Online. ISSN 1875-9831.
Selected images
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Image 1Map of Abu Abdallah's campaigns and battles during the overthrow of the Aghlabids (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 4Fatimid gold dinar minted during the reign of al-Mustansir Billah (1036–1094) (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 5Cover page of the Leningrad Codex, a manuscript of the Hebrew Bible copied in Cairo/Fustat in the early 11th century (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 6The Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo, commissioned by al-Aziz in 990 and completed by al-Hakim in 1013 (later renovated in the 1980s by the Dawoodi Bohra) (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 7Image of two standing soldiers. 11th century, Fatimid period, from Fustat near Cairo. Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, inv. no. 13703. Attribution to the Fatimid period is sometimes questioned. (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 8Architectural fragment from a bathhouse in al-Fustat, 11th century CE (pre-1168 CE). Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, 12880. (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 9Fatimid horseman on a plate, 12th century CE. (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 11Al-Salih Tala'i Mosque in Cairo, built by Tala'i ibn Ruzzik in 1160 and originally intended to house the head of Husayn (the head ended up being interred instead at the present-day al-Hussein Mosque) (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 12Fatimid Caliph al-Mahdi Billah receiving an envoy from Simeon I of Bulgaria, Madrid Skylitzes, 12th century. (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 13Bab al-Futuh, one of the gates of Cairo dating from Badr al-Jamali's reconstruction of the city walls (1987) (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 14Fragments of mosaic pavement from the palace of al-Qa'im in al-Mahdiyya (Mahdia), on display at the Mahdia Museum (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 15Lustreware Plate with Bird Motif, 11th century. Archaeological digs have found many kilns and ceramic fragments in al-Fustat, and it was likely an important production location for Islamic ceramics during the Fatimid period. (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 16Men hunting, on ivory panel, 11th century (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 17Side chapel in the Hanging Church in Old Cairo, including frescoes (partly visible behind the screen here) dating from the late 12th or 13th century, before the church's later renovation (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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Image 18Al-Juyushi Mosque, Cairo, overlooking the city from the Muqattam Hills (from Fatimid Caliphate)
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