Fatimid Caliphate

• 1. Origins And Early Expansion

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  In the year 902, a missionary named Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i stood among the Kutama Berbers of Little Kabylia. He preached to them about an awaited messiah who would restore true Islamic government. The Kutama were already dissatisfied with their rulers and found his message compelling. By 903, he had established a secret network that operated in the shadows of the Aghlabid Caliphate. This network spread from Kufa to Yemen and eventually reached the Maghreb. In 905, the Kutama forces defeated an Aghlabid expedition near Constantine. They captured a large booty which attracted more supporters to their cause. The battle marked the beginning of a military campaign that would overthrow the existing regime. By 907, they controlled Baghaya, a fortified town on the southern Roman road. This victory opened a hole in the defensive system of Ifriqiya. In early 908, they captured Maydara after defeating an army near Dar Madyan. The winter of 908, 909 saw them take control of Tuzur, Nafta, and Qafsa. On the 25th of February 909, Abu Abdallah led an army of 200,000 men toward Kairouan. The remaining Aghlabid army met them near al-Aribus on the 18th of March. A contingent of Kutama horsemen outflanked the enemy and caused a rout. Ziyadat Allah III fled towards Egypt with his treasures. On the 24th of March, Kutama horsemen secured Raqqada. Two days later, Abu Abdallah entered the city himself. He then traveled west to Sijilmasa to bring forward Abdallah, who became the first Fatimid caliph in 909.

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• 2. Capital Relocation To Cairo

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  In 969, the general Jawhar launched a carefully prepared invasion of Egypt. He had received specific instructions from Caliph al-Mu'izz to carry out a plan after the conquest. One of his first actions was to found a new capital named al-Qahira, which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Conqueror." The name referenced the planet Mars rising in the sky at the time construction began. The city was located several miles northeast of Fustat, the older regional capital founded by Arab conquerors in the seventh century. In 970, Jawhar sent a force to invade Syria and remove the remaining Ikhshidids who had fled there. This force was led by a Kutama general named Ja'far ibn Falah. They occupied Damascus that same year but were forced to call off their advance against the Byzantines. A month later, the Qarmati imam Hasan al-A'sam led an army into Egypt without opposition. The Qarmatis spent time occupying the Nile Delta region, giving Jawhar time to organize a defense of Fustat and Cairo. The Kalbid relief force arriving by sea secured the expulsion of the Qarmatis from Egypt. Ramla, the capital of Palestine, was retaken by the Fatimids in May 972. Once Egypt was sufficiently pacified, Jawhar sent for al-Mu'izz in Ifriqiya. The caliph, his court, and his treasury departed from al-Mansuriyya in fall 972. They traveled by land while shadowed by the Fatimid navy sailing along the coast. After making triumphant stops in major cities along the way, the caliph arrived in Cairo on the 10th of June 973. Like other royal capitals before it, Cairo was constructed as an administrative and palatine city. It housed the palaces of the caliph and the official state mosque, Al-Azhar Mosque. In 988, the mosque also became an academic institution central to the dissemination of Isma'ili teachings.

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• 3. Military Ethnic Factions

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  The incorporation of Turkish troops into the Fatimid army had long-term consequences. On one hand, they were necessary additions to compete militarily with other powers in the region. The Fatimids began to recruit ghilman much as the Abbasids had done before them. They were soon joined by recruited Daylamis from Iran. Black Africans from the Sudan were also recruited afterward. In the short term, the Kutama warriors remained the most important troops of the Caliph. However, resentment and rivalry eventually grew between the different ethnic components of the army. Bajkur, based in Raqqa, made another unsuccessful attempt against Aleppo in 991 which resulted in his capture and execution. That same year, Ibn Killis died and Munir was accused of conducting treasonous correspondence with Baghdad. These difficulties triggered a strong response in Cairo. A major military campaign was prepared to impose Fatimid control over all of Syria. Along the way, Munir was arrested in Damascus and sent back to Cairo. Circumstances were favorable to the Fatimids as the Byzantine emperor Basil II was campaigning far away in the Balkans. Manjutakin, the Turkish Fatimid commander, advanced methodically north along the Orontes valley. He took Homs and Hama in 992 and defeated a combined force from Hamdanid Aleppo and Byzantine-held Antioch. In May 995, however, Basil II unexpectedly arrived in the region after a forced march with his army through Anatolia. This forced Manjutakin to lift the siege and return to Damascus. Before another expedition could be sent, Basil II negotiated a one-year truce with the caliph. The Fatimids used this time to recruit and build new ships for their fleet. In August 996 al-Aziz died and the objective of Aleppo became secondary to other concerns. Starting in 1060, various local leaders began to break away or challenge Fatimid dominion in Syria. While the ethnic-based army was generally successful on the battlefield, it had begun to have negative effects on internal politics. Traditionally, the Kutama element of the army had the strongest sway over political affairs. As the Turkish element grew more powerful, it began to challenge this. In 1062, the tentative balance between the different ethnic groups within the Fatimid army collapsed. They quarreled constantly or fought each other in the streets. At the same time, Egypt suffered a seven-year period of drought and famine known as the Mustansirite Hardship. Viziers came and went in a flurry, the bureaucracy broke down, and the caliph was unable or unwilling to assume responsibilities in their absence. Declining resources accelerated the problems among the different ethnic factions and outright civil war began. It occurred primarily between the Turks under Nasir al-Dawla ibn Hamdan and Black African troops. The Berbers shifted alliance between the two sides. The Turkish faction seized partial control of Cairo but their leader was not given any official title. In 1067, 1068, they plundered the state treasury and then looted any treasures they could find in the palaces.

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• 4. Religious Pluralism And Policy

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  Fatimid society was highly pluralistic. Isma'ili Shi'ism was the religion of the state and the caliph's court, but most of the population followed different religions or denominations. Most of the Muslim population remained Sunni, and a large part of the population remained Christian. Jews were a smaller minority. As in other Islamic societies of the time, non-Muslims were classified as dhimmis. This term implied both certain restrictions and certain liberties, though practical circumstances varied from context to context. Scholars generally agree that on the whole, Fatimid rule was highly tolerant and inclusive towards different religious communities. Unlike western European governments of the era, advancement in Fatimid state offices was more meritocratic than hereditary. Members of other branches of Islam like Sunnis were just as likely to be appointed to government posts as Shiites. Tolerance was extended to non-Muslims such as Christians and Jews who occupied high levels in government based on ability. There were exceptions to this general attitude of tolerance, however, most notably by al-Hakim. His reign lasted until his mysterious disappearance in 1021 and is the most controversial in Fatimid history. Traditional narratives have described him as either eccentric or outright insane. More recent studies have tried to provide more measured explanations based on political and social circumstances. He also unsettled the plurality of Egyptian society by imposing new restrictions on Christians and Jews. He ordered or sanctioned the destruction of a number of churches and monasteries which was unprecedented. In 1009, for reasons that remain unclear, he ordered the demolition of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Al-Hakim greatly expanded the recruitment of Black Africans into the army. They subsequently became another powerful faction to balance against the Kutama, Turks, and Daylamis. Despite his policies against Christians, he maintained a ten-year truce with the Byzantines that began in 1001. For most of his reign, Aleppo remained a buffer state that paid tribute to Constantinople.

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• 5. Economic Trade Networks

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  Once Egypt was sufficiently pacified and the new capital was ready, Jawhar sent for al-Mu'izz in Ifriqiya. The caliph arrived in Cairo on the 10th of June 973. Under the Fatimids, Egypt became the center of an empire that included at its peak parts of North Africa, Sicily, the Levant, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Tihamah, Hejaz, Yemen, and Multan. Egypt flourished, and the Fatimids developed an extensive trade network both in the Mediterranean and in the Indian Ocean. Their trade and diplomatic ties extended all the way to China under the Song Dynasty. This eventually determined the economic course of Egypt during the High Middle Ages. The Fatimid focus on agriculture further increased their riches and allowed the dynasty and the Egyptians to flourish. The use of cash crops and the propagation of the flax trade allowed Fatimids to import other items from various parts of the world. In 1048, Ali Muhammad al-Sulayhi captured San'a in Yemen. In 1060, he began a campaign to conquer all of Yemen, capturing Aden and Zabid. In 1062 he marched on Mecca where Shukr ibn Abi al-Futuh's death provided an excuse. Upon arriving in Mecca, he installed Abu Hashim Muhammad ibn Ja'far as the new sharif and custodian of the holy sites under the suzerainty of the Fatimids. His brother founded the city of Ta'izz while the city of Aden became an important hub of trade between Egypt and India. This brought Egypt further wealth. Badr al-Jamali also used his relations with the Coptic Church for political advantage. He enlisted Cyril II to secure the allegiance of Christian kingdoms of Nubia and Ethiopia as vassals to the Fatimid state.

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• 6. Crusader Encounters And Decline

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  As the military viziers effectively became heads of state, the Caliph himself was reduced to the role of a figurehead. The reliance on the iqta system ate into Fatimid central authority. More and more military officers at the far ends of the empire became semi-independent. During al-Afdal's tenure from 1094 to 1121, the Fatimids faced a new external threat: the First Crusade. Although initially both sides intended to reach an agreement and an alliance against the Seljuk Turks, these negotiations eventually broke down. First contact seems to have been established by the crusaders who sent in May or June 1097 an embassy to al-Afdal. In return the Fatimids dispatched an embassy to the crusading forces which arrived in February 1098 during their siege of Antioch. They witnessed and congratulated the crusaders on their victory against the Seljuk emirs Ridwan of Aleppo and Sökmen of Jerusalem. It is uncertain whether an agreement was reached but it seemed that parties expected to conclude in Cairo. Al-Afdal took advantage of the crusader victory at Antioch to reconquer Jerusalem in August 1098. The next time both parties met was at Arqah in April 1099 where an impasse was reached regarding ownership over Jerusalem. Following this, the crusaders crossed into Fatimid territory and captured Jerusalem in July 1099 while al-Afdal was leading a relief army trying to reach the city. The two forces finally clashed in the Battle of Ascalon in which al-Afdal was defeated. Nevertheless, the initial negotiations were held against the Fatimids. Ibn al-Athir wrote that it was said that the Fatimids had invited the crusaders to invade Syria. This defeat established the Kingdom of Jerusalem as a new regional rival. Although many crusaders returned to Europe having fulfilled their vows, the remaining forces often aided by Italian maritime republics overran much of the coastal Levant. Tripoli, Beirut, and Sidon fell to them between 1109 and 1110. The Fatimids retained Tyre, Ascalon, and Gaza with the help of their fleet. In January 1153, the Crusader king Baldwin III of Jerusalem besieged Ascalon, the last remaining Fatimid foothold in the Levant. In April, Ibn Sallar was murdered in a plot organized by Abbas and his son Nasr. As no relieving force arrived, Ascalon surrendered in August on the condition that inhabitants could leave safely for Egypt. It was on this occasion that the head of Husayn was allegedly brought from Ascalon to Cairo where it was housed in what is now the al-Hussein Mosque. Shawar came into conflict with his rival Dirgham when he was driven out of Cairo by Dirgham in 1163. He sought refuge and help with Nur ad-Din who sent his general Asad al-Din Shirkuh to seize Egypt and reinstall Shawar as vizier. He accomplished this task in the summer of 1164 when Dirgham was defeated and killed. In 1168, Shawar infamously set fire to Fustat in an attempt to deny the Crusaders a base from which to besiege the capital. After forcing the Crusaders to leave Egypt again, Shirkuh finally had Shawar murdered in 1169 with the agreement of Caliph al-Adid. Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub known in the West as Saladin was appointed as al-Adid's vizier but died unexpectedly two months later. The position passed to his nephew Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub. He finally and officially deposed al-Adid, the last Fatimid caliph, in September 1171. This ended the Fatimid dynasty and began the Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt and Syria.

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