Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171): The Ismaili Empire of Egypt

The Fatimid Caliphate was a Muslim empire ruled by a dynasty of Ismaili Shia caliphs from 909 to 1171. Founded in Ifriqiya, roughly modern Tunisia, it conquered Egypt in 969 and built a new capital, Cairo, from which it challenged the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad for leadership of the Islamic world. At its height it ruled from North Africa to Syria and the Hejaz, and its capital became one of the great cities of the medieval Mediterranean.

Origins: the Ismaili mission

The Fatimids belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam, which held that leadership of the Muslim community, the imamate, belonged to a line of descendants of Ali and Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter, through Isma’il, son of the imam Ja’far al-Sadiq. In the ninth century Ismaili missionaries, known as da’is, worked secretly across the Islamic world, preaching the coming of a messianic leader, the Mahdi.

One of the most successful was Abu Abdallah al-Shi’i, who from the 890s won over the Kutama Berbers of the mountains of eastern Algeria. With their support he overthrew the Aghlabid rulers of Ifriqiya in 909. He then rescued the Ismaili leader Abd Allah from captivity in Sijilmasa, in present-day Morocco. In January 910 Abd Allah was proclaimed caliph at Raqqada, near Kairouan, taking the title al-Mahdi.

The North African period (909-969)

The early caliphate faced constant challenges. Al-Mahdi had his former champion Abu Abdallah executed in 911, built a fortified coastal capital at al-Mahdiyya in Tunisia, and twice sent armies against Egypt without success.

The greatest threat came from within. From 943 to 947 the Kharijite rebel Abu Yazid, “the man on the donkey”, rallied Berber tribes and besieged al-Mahdiyya itself. The third caliph, al-Mansur, defeated him and founded a new capital, al-Mansuriyya, near Kairouan. Fatimid governors also ruled Sicily, which the Aghlabids had taken from Byzantium after a long conquest that began in 827.

Conquest of Egypt and the founding of Cairo

The fourth caliph, al-Mu’izz (r. 953–975), finally achieved the dynasty’s long-held aim. In 969 his general Jawhar, a former slave of European origin known as al-Siqilli (“the Sicilian”), entered Egypt with a large army and met little resistance from the weakened Ikhshidid regime.

North of Fustat, the old capital, Jawhar laid out a walled palace city that became Cairo, al-Qahira, “the Victorious”. In 970 he began the Mosque of al-Azhar, which grew into one of the oldest continuously operating centres of learning in the world. Al-Mu’izz moved to Cairo in 973, leaving Ifriqiya in the hands of his Zirid governors.

The height of Fatimid power

Under al-Mu’izz and his son al-Aziz (r. 975–996), Fatimid rule extended into Palestine and southern Syria, and Friday prayers were said in their name in Mecca and Medina. Egypt prospered from Nile agriculture and from trade between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. Documents from the Cairo Geniza, a store of medieval papers found in a Fustat synagogue, show a lively trading world that included Jewish, Christian and Muslim merchants.

The caliphs were great patrons of learning. Their missionary organisation trained Ismaili preachers, and in 1005 the caliph al-Hakim founded the Dar al-‘Ilm, the “House of Knowledge”, a library and teaching institution open to scholars.

Government, religion and society

The Fatimid caliph was not only a political ruler but, for his Ismaili followers, the living imam, a divinely guided leader whose teaching was needed to understand the hidden meaning of the Quran. A hierarchy of missionaries, headed by a chief da’i, spread this doctrine within Egypt and abroad, sending agents as far as Yemen, Iran and India.

Yet the Ismailis were always a minority in Egypt. Most Muslims remained Sunni, and Christians, particularly Coptic Christians, and Jews formed large communities. Apart from periods of persecution, the Fatimids generally left these communities to practise their faiths, and Christians and Jews served as officials, physicians and even viziers. One of the most powerful administrators of the early Egyptian period, Ya’qub ibn Killis, was a convert from Judaism.

The state ran on a sophisticated bureaucracy inherited from earlier Egyptian regimes, financed by land taxes on the fertile Nile valley. Its armies combined Berber cavalry from North Africa with Turkish, Daylami and Black African regiments, whose rivalries later caused serious unrest.

Art and architecture

Fatimid Cairo was a city of palaces, mosques and markets. Surviving monuments include al-Azhar, the Mosque of al-Hakim, completed in 1013, and the small al-Aqmar Mosque of 1125, with its richly carved stone facade. Fatimid craftsmen were famous for rock crystal vessels, lustre-painted ceramics, carved ivory and woodwork and fine textiles, many of which later found their way into European church treasuries.

Al-Hakim and al-Mustansir

The reign of al-Hakim (996–1021) is the most controversial. He issued harsh and sometimes erratic decrees, persecuted Christians and Jews for part of his reign, and in 1009 ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. A group of his followers proclaimed his divinity, giving rise to the Druze faith. In 1021 al-Hakim vanished during a night ride outside Cairo; he was probably murdered.

Al-Mustansir reigned for nearly sixty years (1036–1094), the longest reign of any Muslim caliph. In the 1040s the Zirids of Ifriqiya broke away and recognised the Abbasids. In 1058–1059, for about a year, a rebel general had Friday prayers in Baghdad said in al-Mustansir’s name, the high point of Fatimid prestige. Yet Egypt then suffered a devastating crisis between about 1065 and 1072, when low Nile floods, famine and fighting between Turkish and Black African regiments brought the state close to collapse.

In 1073 the Armenian general Badr al-Jamali came from Syria, restored order and ruled as vizier. He rebuilt Cairo’s walls in stone; the gates of Bab al-Futuh, Bab al-Nasr and Bab Zuwayla survive. From then on, military viziers rather than caliphs held real power.

Decline and fall

The death of al-Mustansir in 1094 split the Ismailis. The vizier al-Afdal placed the younger son al-Musta’li on the throne, while supporters of the elder son, Nizar, formed the separate Nizari movement, later known in Europe as the Assassins. The Fatimids lost most of Syria to the Seljuk Turks, and in 1099 the crusaders of the First Crusade took Jerusalem, which the Fatimids had recaptured only the year before.

In the twelfth century the dynasty was weakened by short reigns, child caliphs and rival viziers. In the 1160s both the crusader king of Jerusalem, Amalric, and the Syrian ruler Nur al-Din intervened in Egypt. Nur al-Din’s Kurdish commander Shirkuh became vizier in 1169 and died weeks later, to be succeeded by his nephew Saladin.

In September 1171 Saladin had Friday prayers in Cairo said in the name of the Abbasid caliph. The last Fatimid caliph, al-Adid, died a few days later, and the dynasty came to an end.

Key people

• Abd Allah al-Mahdi (r. 909–934): founder of the dynasty.
• Al-Mu’izz (r. 953–975): conquered Egypt and moved the capital to Cairo.
• Jawhar al-Siqilli (died 992): general who conquered Egypt and laid out Cairo.
• Al-Hakim (r. 996–1021): controversial caliph, founder of the Dar al-‘Ilm.
• Badr al-Jamali (died 1094): vizier who restored the state after 1073.
• Saladin (1137/1138–1193): vizier who ended the dynasty in 1171.

Timeline

• 909: Abu Abdallah al-Shi’i overthrows the Aghlabids of Ifriqiya.
• 910, January: Abd Allah is proclaimed caliph al-Mahdi.
• 943–947: Revolt of Abu Yazid.
• 969: Jawhar conquers Egypt and founds Cairo.
• 973: Caliph al-Mu’izz moves to Cairo.
• 1009: Al-Hakim orders the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
• c. 1065–1072: Famine and civil strife in Egypt.
• 1094: The Nizari-Musta’li split divides the Ismailis.
• 1099: Crusaders take Jerusalem from the Fatimids.
• 1171, September: Saladin ends Fatimid rule; al-Adid dies.

Why it matters

The Fatimids created the only major Shia caliphate in Islamic history and made Egypt the centre of an empire for the first time since antiquity. Their city of Cairo, the institution of al-Azhar and the Ismaili and Druze communities that descend from their era remain part of the world today.