Fatimid Caliphate

, .

From the industry religious Shia and Ismaili - where the caliph should be chosen from among the descendants of Ali , cousin and son of the Prophet of Islam Mohammed , the Fatimids consider the Abbasids Sunni usurpers of this title.

al-Ftimiyyn Fatimid dynasty
909 - 1171
Flag of the Fatimids
Maximum extension of the Fatimid Empire in 969
General Information

Summary 1 History 2 cultivation in the Fatimid dynasty 3 Fatimid art 4 List of Fatimid caliphs 5 Fatimid Dynasty 6 Bibliography 7 Related Articles 7.1 External Links 8 References

History

The Fatimids traced their origins to the tribes along the Berbers of Kutama in Algeria. The dynasty was founded in 909 by Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi who started the movement with Kutama Kabyle tribes and later converted them to Islam shi 'ite.

The da `i Ismaili Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi founded the Fatimid dynasty in Ikdjane (eastern Algeria), where he found a favorable response to its millenarian preaching and managed to win many supporters among the Berbers and to extend its authority over much of North Africa , the eastern end of Morocco to Libya. Powerful enough to challenge the authority of the caliph of Baghdad , he chose another capital by founding the city of Mahdiyya , on a peninsula of the Tunisian Sahel , where he proclaimed himself caliph in 909. This should also encourage the emir of Cordoba to do the same in 929 , establishing a Caliphate Umayyad in Spain.

Abu Yezid , a Berber chief of Ifriqiya , lifts and holds the largest rebellion against the Fatimids in the middle ^of the tenth century in North Africa. Because, the Fatimids move their capital to Egypt. The Zirids native Kabylie take in hand the conflict and wage war against opponents of the Fatimid regime. The Maghreb ablaze in endless battles until the late tenth ^century. The Zirid eventually prevail.

The Fatimids conquered the Egypt in 969 , thanks to General Jawhar al-Siqill on the orders of the caliph al-Mu'izz. The General went to Al-Fustat on 7 July 969 , in a country plagued by disorganization and famine. They founded, near this city, a new capital he named al-Qahira ( Cairo ), which means "the Victorious". They continued to extend their conquests until Syria and succeeded in reaching Malta and Sicily , and temporarily put one foot in Italy south. Become an imperial city, with both palace and mosque al-Azhar , Cairo is surrounded by a rampart of limestone in the late eleventh ^century by the Byzantine architects. A century later, plagued by fever and inflation, the Fatimid empire collapsed under the blows of the kingdom franc of Jerusalem.

Unlike other Muslim authorities, the Fatimids accepted within their jurisdiction, not on criteria of tribal, ethnic or even religious, but primarily on merit and competence, the members of other faiths of Islam. They were admitted to the highest positions, and this tolerance was even extended to Jews and Christians. He survived a significant minority in Egypt Copt , a Christian who has flourished.

The empire continued to prosper until the caliph al-Hakim , whose reign began with the completion of the Cairo mosque from al-Bab al-Bab al-Futuh and an-Nasr (the mosque of al-Hakim) , begun under the reign of his predecessor, al-Aziz Billah. Contrary to tradition, he mingled with people to better appreciate their feelings.

He is the founding of the House of Wisdom (in Arabic : " Dar al-Hikma ", or" Dar al-'Ilm), which will be promoted the study of Hellenistic science. Lawyers, doctors, astronomers, mathematicians attending his extensive library.

The only exception to the policy of religious tolerance of the Fatimids was under the reign of al-Hakim. The latter is poorly portrayed in the Sunni sources ( Ibn al-Athir , Khallikan Ibn , Ibn al-Sayraf ...) often as a dictator and a tyrant that makes the study of his reign very difficult. PK Hitti in The Origins of the Druze People and Religion, takes a critical stance vis--vis these sources it is too negative to be completely true.

According to the historian al-Maqrizi (d. 1442), the economic and social life had deteriorated at that time. The da `i al-Din Hamid Ismaili Kirman (d. 1021), in his treatise Al-Risalat al-w'iza, described the critical period when a great famine of 999 in 1005. According PJ Vatikiotis, several hostile measures taken temporarily by al-Hakim could be explained by the historical context in which several members of the population were extremely disturbed by the growing prosperity of Ahl al-Kitab (Jews and Christians) and their disproportionate power in the state. Al-Hakim would probably defeat the Byzantine Empire , which threatened northern Syria. In 1009 , al-Hakim ordered destroyed by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The rigid attitude of al-Hakim temporarily taken vis--vis women followed a palace intrigue up mainly by his sister Sitt al-Mulk. According to al-Maqrizi, confiscating the property of women, al-Hakim wished to restrict his mother and sister, who, lacking money, could foment new storylines. If one considers the entire Fatimid period as a whole, we must emphasize that Muslims, Jews and Christians have lived peacefully and have worked together for the welfare of the Empire throughout the Ifriqiyah.

Al-Hakim will disappear on 13 February 1021 , during an evening walk on Mount Muqattam, after being away for two squires to whom he had given orders to wait. Five days later they found his clothes torn from stab wounds. He was murdered at the instigation of his sister Sitt al-Muk or murdered by a stranger.

The Druze , who today remain in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine believe in an occultation (ghayba) al-Hakim who is remembered for the divine character that some of his supporters attributed to him and which became the center of the Druze faith.

Already in 1017 , two Persians had claimed that al-Hakim was the manifestation of the divine intellect. His loss strengthened the belief and thus was born the religion of the Druze. For them, al-Hakim is the Messiah (Mahdi) expected return.

From 1060 , the territory of the Fatimids was reduced until no further understand that Egypt. In 1098 the Turks defeated the Fatimids and captured Jerusalem. But the following year, the first Crusaders chased the Fatimids in Jerusalem. Twenty days after the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, the army of Al-Afdhal , Fatimid vizier of Egypt, thirty thousand strong, reached Palestine and took a seat near Ashkelon , where the Fatimid caliph Al-Mustansir Billah had built the previous year a Mashhad (Arabic: Mashad, "instead of a martyr") to receive the head of Husayn , the third Imam Shia.

The vizier Al-Afdhal sends emissaries to Godfrey of Bouillon , proposing an arrangement if it leaves Palestine. He refuses and walks on the Egyptian army, he routs the 12 August 1099 , killing 10 000 people. After a long siege , the Crusaders managed to capture temporarily Ascalon in 1102. Nine years later, the younger brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem , succeeded in obtaining a tribute to the Governor Fatimid Ascalon. But in July 1102, the latter was assassinated, and the people revolted against the Crusaders, who took control of the city. Takeover by the Fatimids, Ascalon was their last stronghold in Palestine, taken by the Crusaders during a second siege , in 1153, during which the master of the Knights Templar , Bernard Tramelay dies with all the Templars in his orders.

At the death of the last Fatimid caliph al-Adid, 13 September 1171 , Saladin append the caliphate to that of Baghdad, making it the Sunnis. It takes Ascalon to Baldwin III then Richard the Lion-Heart in exchange for a peace treaty with the Crusaders.

Culture under the Fatimid dynasty

The arrival of the Fatimid dynasty, marks a major cultural revival. The Fatimids are of great interest to books, libraries and literature. They established a large library right inside their palace, where they host many writers, historians, lawyers, scholars and poets who come to document, to write works of literature, history, science or codes Legal. Real patrons, and they maintain a large number of intellectuals, writers and poets, which they attribute to large sums of money and many gifts.

One poets best known of this period is called Ibn Hani al-Andalusi (d. 973 ), who lived during the reign of Caliph al-Mu'izz. He was famous for making very colorful descriptions and praise for his art, he expressed in hagiography, not very faithful to reality. Another poet whose history has retained the name, al-Emara Yamane , lived at the time of Caliph Al-Fa'iz , who reigned from 1154 to 1160. He praised the caliph, and that of his Minister Salih al-Tal'i Ibn Ruzzk. The grammarian 'Uthman Ibn al-Wazzin (d. 957 ), 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Ayadi (d. 976 ), or Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Kazzaz Tamimi (d. 956 ), are some figures Fatimid highlights of this literature.

Fatimid art

List of Fatimid caliphs