Fatimid

Fatimid

(făt`ĭmĭd) or

Fatimite

(–ĭmīt), dynasty claiming to hold the caliphate on the basis of descent from Fatima, a daughter of Muhammad the Prophet. In doctrine the Fatimids were related to other Shiite sects. The dynasty's founder, Said ibn Husayn of NE Syria, was long engaged in religious activity. A follower went (c.893) to NW Africa and inspired the Berbers to rebel against their Sunni Aghlabid rulers. Said ibn Husayn attempted (c.903) to join Al-Shii in NE Algeria, but he was arrested at Tripoli by the Aghlabid governor. He was rescued (909) by Al-Shii who in the meantime had overthrown the Aghlabids and won Tunisia, Sicily, NE Algeria, and NW Libya for the Fatimids. Said ibn Husayn was then hailed as the Mahdi. He took the name Ubaidallah (Obaidallah) and set up a caliphate in opposition to the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad. His execution of Al-Shii caused (911) a short-lived rebellion among the tribes who had first supported the Fatimid claims. From their fortress capital of Mahdia, the Fatimids dominated most of NW Africa. Their fleets continually ravaged the W Mediterranean. After Ubaidallah's death in 934, Malta, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearics, and, for a time, Genoa were taken and held. In the reign (953–75) of the 4th caliph, Moizz, Fatimid fortunes reached their height. Moizz's great general, Jahr, easily took Egypt in 969. Subsequently, Jahr conquered Palestine, parts of Syria, and W Arabia. In 973, Moizz moved his capital to Egypt and the new city of Cairo. The policy of employing mercenary troops begun by the 5th caliph, Aziz, was to prove fatal to the dynasty. Hakim (996–1021), the 6th caliph, abandoned the religious toleration of his ancestors. He persecuted the Jews and Christians and destroyed (1010) the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. In 1020, Hakim proclaimed himself the reincarnation of God. This claim was accepted only in Syria, where it is still espoused by the Druze. After Hakim's assassination, Fatimid power rapidly declined. Factious mercenary soldiers thereafter constantly threatened to destroy the state. The caliphs lost power to a series of viziers who eventually even took the title of king. Syria, Algeria, and Tunisia fell away (1043–48). By 1071 the Normans had conquered Sicily. Palestine was taken (1099) by the Crusaders, and the Fatimids were left with little more than Egypt. When the Assassins killed (1130) Amir, the last caliph of any ability, the country lapsed into anarchy. In 1171 Adid, the 14th and last of the Fatimid rulers, died.

Bibliography

See D. L. O'Leary, Short History of the Fatimid Khalifate (1923).

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Fatimid

 

a dynasty of Arabic caliphs (ruled 909–1171), who traced their ancestry to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. The Fatimid dynasty established itself in Ifriqiyah (now in Tunisia) as a result of the country’s conquest by the Berbers, who were waging a struggle against the Aghlabid dynasty in order to establish a state based on the Ismailian Shiite principles of social equality and justice. However, the Fatimids themselves soon began to act as ordinary feudal rulers. By the mid-tenth century, they had conquered almost all of North Africa and Sicily; in 969 they conquered Egypt, which they made the center of their caliphate. By the end of the tenth century, the authority of the Fatimids was accepted in the Hejaz, Yemen, and Syria.

The Fatimid Caliphate was a feudal military-theocratic state, with the caliph also recognized as the Ismailian imam. In 973 the state capital, which had been at Kairouan until 921 and subsequently at Mahdia, was transferred to Cairo. Agriculture was the leading sector of the economy. State ownership of land increased until approximately the mid-11th century. The Fatimids also encouraged the growth of waqf (the giving of land and other types of property for religious or charitable purposes). Handicraft production, which was under state control and primarily served the court, flourished, as did foreign trade.

In the mid-11th century, the Fatimids declined as a result of army insubordination, resistance by the subjugated peoples, and schisms among the ruling elite. North Africa broke away from the Fatimid Caliphate in 1048, and Sicily was conquered by the Normans between 1061 and 1091. Syria came under the control of the Crusaders and the Seljuks. In 1169 the Syrian commander Saladin was appointed vizier in the Fatimid Caliphate. In 1171 he seized power, thus ending the Fatimid dynasty.

REFERENCE

Semenova, L. A. Iz istorii fatimidskogo Egipta: Ocherki i materialy. Moscow, 1974. (Contains references.)

L. A. SEMENOVA

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.