Fatimid Caliphate

The Fatimid Caliphate was ruled by the al-Fātimiyyūn (Arabic: الفاطميون) dynasty from 5 January 909 to 1171. It was an Arab Shi'a dynasty It ruled the fourth and final Arab caliphate. In different times different areas of the Maghreb, Egypt, and the Levant belonged to the caliphate.

Fatimid Islamic Caliphate الدولة الفاطمية
909–1171
Chronological map of the Fatimid Caliphate
Capital	Mahdia (909-969) Cairo (969-1171)
Religion	Ismaili Shi'a Islam
Government	Monarchy
Caliph
• 909-934 (first)	Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah
• 1160-1171 (last)	Al-'Āḍid
History
•	5 January 909
• Foundation of Cairo	August 8, 969
•	1171
Area
Population
•	62000000
Currency	Dinar
Preceded by Succeeded by Abbasid dynasty Ayyubid dynasty Almohad dynasty

The Egyptian city of Cairo was made the capital. The term Fatimite is sometimes used to refer to the citizens of this caliphate as well. The ruling elite belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shi'ism. The leaders were also Shia Ismaili Imams. They had a religious significance to Ismaili Muslims. They are also part of the chain of holders of the office of Caliph, as recognized by most Muslims, the only period in which the Shia Imamate and the Caliphate were united to any degree. There was only one other exception: the Caliphate of Ali himself.

The Fatimids were famous for religious tolerance towards non-Ismaili sects of Islam as well as towards Jews, Maltese Christians and Coptic Christians, but there were some exceptions nevertheless.

Rise of the Fatimids

Mosque of Al-Hakim, the sixth Caliph

The Fatimids came from Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia and eastern Algeria. The dynasty was founded in 909 by ˤAbdullāh al-Mahdī Billah, who legitimised his claim through descent from Muhammad by way of his daughter Fātima as-Zahra and her husband ˤAlī ibn-Abī-Tālib, the first Shīˤa Imām, hence the name al-Fātimiyyūn "Fatimid".

Abdullāh al-Mahdi's control soon extended over all of central Maghreb, an area consisting of the modern countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, which he ruled from Mahdia, his newly-built capital in Tunisia.

Decay and fall

In the 1040s, the Zirids (governors of North Africa under the Fatimids) declared their independence from the Fatimids and their conversion to Sunni Islam, which led to the devastating Banū Hilal invasions. After about 1070, the Fatimid hold on the Levant coast and parts of Syria was challenged first by Turkic (Seljuk) invasions, then the Crusades, so that Fatimid territory shrank until it consisted only of Egypt.

After the decay of the Fatimid political system in the 1160s, the Zengid ruler Nūr ad-Dīn had his general, Shirkuh, seize Egypt from the vizier Shawar in 1169. Shirkuh died two months after taking power, and the rule went to his nephew, Saladin. This began the Kurdish Ayyubid Dynasty.

Fatimid caliphs

1. Abū Muḥammad ˤAbdu l-Lāh (ˤUbaydu l-Lāh) al-Mahdī bi'llāh (909-934) founder Fatimid dynasty
2. Abū l-Qāsim Muḥammad al-Qā'im bi-Amr Allāh (934-946)
3. Abū Ṭāhir Ismā'il al-Manṣūr bi-llāh (946-953)
4. Abū Tamīm Ma'add al-Mu'izz li-Dīn Allāh (953-975) Egypt is conquered during his reign
5. Abū Manṣūr Nizār al-'Azīz bi-llāh (975-996)
6. Abū 'Alī al-Manṣūr al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (996-1021)
7. Abū'l-Ḥasan 'Alī al-Ẓāhir li-I'zāz Dīn Allāh (1021-1036)
8. Abū Tamīm Ma'add al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh (1036-1094)
9. al-Musta'lī bi-llāh (1094-1101) Quarrels over his succession led to the Nizari split.
10. al-Āmir bi-Aḥkām Allāh (1101-1130) The Fatimid rulers of Egypt after him are not recognized as Imams by Mustaali Taiyabi Ismailis.
11. 'Abd al-Majīd al-Ḥāfiẓ (1130-1149)
12. al-Ẓāfir (1149-1154)
13. al-Fā'iz (1154-1160)
14. al-'Āḍid (1160-1171).

Fatimid Caliphate Media

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  Map of Abu Abdallah's campaigns and battles during the overthrow of the Aghlabids

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  Fatimid ewer, 10th century CE

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  Fatimid Caliph al-Mahdi Billah receiving an envoy from Simeon I of Bulgaria, Madrid Skylitzes, 12th century.

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  Fragments of mosaic pavement from the palace of al-Qa'im in al-Mahdiyya (Mahdia), on display at the Mahdia Museum

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  Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, built by the Fatimids between 970 and 972

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  Architectural fragment from a bathhouse in al-Fustat, 11th century CE (pre-1168 CE). Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, 12880.

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  Image 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.

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  Fatimid gold dinar minted during the reign of al-Mustansir Billah (1036–1094)

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  Al-Juyushi Mosque, Cairo, overlooking the city from the Muqattam Hills

Other websites

• Fatimids entry in the Encyclopaedia of the Orient. Archived 2010-11-01 at the Wayback Machine
• Institute of Ismaili Studies London. Archived 2007-04-26 at the Wayback Machine