Fatimid Caliphate

The Fatimid Caliphate was a major Shia Islamic empire centred on North Africa and later Egypt, and one of only a few states in history ruled by an Ismaili Shia dynasty.

It was established in 909 CE in Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia), when the leader of the Ismaili movement, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatima (hence the dynasty's name), overthrew the local Aghlabid rulers and proclaimed himself caliph in direct opposition to the Sunni Abbasids of Baghdad. This created a rival caliphate that disputed leadership of the entire Islamic world. The defining moment of Fatimid history came in 969, when their general Jawhar conquered Egypt and founded a new capital, Cairo (al-Qahira), along with the great mosque and teaching institution of al-Azhar, which became a renowned centre of learning. From Egypt the Fatimids built a wealthy and cosmopolitan empire that at its height under caliphs such as al-Mu'izz controlled North Africa, Sicily, the Levant, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, dominating Red Sea and Mediterranean trade and rivalling Baghdad in splendour. The Fatimid state was notable for its religious character, propagating Ismaili doctrine through a sophisticated missionary network, while generally governing its overwhelmingly Sunni and Coptic Christian subjects with a degree of tolerance, and employing officials of varied faiths. From the late eleventh century the caliphate declined amid factional strife, the growing power of military viziers, the loss of Syria and Palestine to the Seljuk Turks and then the Crusaders, and recurrent economic and dynastic crises. Real power passed to a series of strongmen while the caliphs became figureheads. The dynasty was finally extinguished in 1171 when Saladin, who had risen to power as the Fatimids' last vizier, abolished the caliphate, restored Sunni orthodoxy and nominal Abbasid allegiance, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt.

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