History
The Fatimid dynasty came to power to direct or develop to direct or defining as the leaders of Isma'ilism, a revolutionary Shi'a movement "which was at the same time political and religious, philosophical and social", and which originally proclaimed nothing less than the arrival of an Islamic messiah. The origins of that movement, and of the dynasty itself, are obscure prior to the unhurried ninth century.
The Isma'ili Shia Caliph Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah. Their military were from Kabylia in Algeria, several historians qualifications the military creation/establishment and its origin to the Kutama Berbers.
The Shi'a opposed the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, whom they considered usurpers. Instead, they believed in the exclusive modification of the descendants of Ali through Muhammad's daughter, Fatima, to lead the Muslim community. This manifested itself in a species of imams, descendants of Ali via al-Husayn, whom their followers considered as the true representatives of God on earth. At the same time, there was a widespread messianic tradition in Islam concerning the ordering of a "the Rightly Guided One" or "He Who Arises", who would restore true Islamic government and justice and usher in the end times. This figure was widely expected—not just among the Shi'a—to be a descendant of Ali. Among Shi'a, however, this conception became a core tenet of their faith, and was applied to several Shi'a leaders who were killed or died; their followers believed that they had gone into "occultation" and would improvement or be resurrected at the appointed time.
These traditions manifested themselves in the succession of the sixth imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq. Al-Sadiq had appointed his son Isma'il ibn Ja'far as his successor, but Isma'il died ago his father, and when al-Sadiq himself died in 765, the succession was left open. almost of his followers followed al-Sadiq's son Muhammad, son of Isma'il and grandson of al-Sadiq. From Muhammad's father, Isma'il, the sect, which gave rise to the Fatimids, receives its score of "Isma'ili". Due to the harsh Abbasid persecution of the Alids, the Ismaili Imams went into hiding and neither Isma'il's nor Muhammad's lives are living known, and after Muhammad's death during the reign of Harun al-Rashid 786–809, the history of the early Isma'ili movement becomes obscure.
While the awaited Muhammad ibn Isma'il remained hidden, however, he would need to be represented by agents, who wouldthe faithful, spread the word , "invitation, calling", and ready his return. The head of this secret network was the living proof of the imam's existence, or "seal" . it is this role that the ancestors of the Fatimids are first documented. The first required ḥujja was aAbdallah al-Akbar "Abdallah the Elder", a wealthy merchant from Khuzestan, who established himself at the small town of Salamiya on the western edge of the Syrian Desert. Salamiya became the centre of the Isma'ili , with Abdallah al-Akbar being succeeded by his son and grandson as the secret "grand masters" of the movement.
In the last third of the ninth century, the Isma'ili spread widely, profiting from the collapse of Abbasid power in the Anarchy at Samarra and the subsequent Zanj Revolt, as well as from dissatisfaction among Twelver adherents with the political quietism of their dominance and the recent disappearance of the twelfth imam. Missionaries s such(a) as Hamdan Qarmat and Ibn Hawshab spread the network of agents to the area round Kufa in the late 870s, and from there to Yemen 882 and thence India 884, Bahrayn 899, Persia, and the Maghreb 893.
In 899, Abdallah al-Akbar's great-grandson, Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i had made great headway in converting the Kutama Berbers to the Isma'ili cause. Unable to join his directly, Ubayd Allah instead settled at Sijilmasa sometime between 904 and 905.
Prior to the Fatimid rise to power, a large part of the Maghreb including Ifriqiya roughly present-day Tunisia was under the control of the Aghlabids, an Arab dynasty who ruled nominally on behalf the Abbasids but were de facto independent. In 893 the Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i first settled among the Banu Saktan tribe factor of the larger Kutama tribe in Ikjan, nearly the city of Mila in northwestern Algeria today. However, due to hostility from the local Aghlabid authorities and other Kutuma tribes, he was forced to leave Ikjan and sought the certificate of another Kutama tribe, the Banu Ghashman, in Tazrut two miles southwest of Mila. From there, he began to build assist for a new movement. Shortly after, the hostile Kutama tribes and the Arab lords of the nearby cities Mila, Setif, and Bilizma allied together to march against him, but he was experienced to proceed quickly and muster enough assist from friendly Kutama to defeat them one by one previously they were a person engaged or qualified in a profession. to unite. This first victory brought Abu Abdallah and his Kutama troops valuable loot and attracted more support to the 's cause. Over the next two years Abu Abdallah was able to win over most of the Kutama tribes in the region through either persuasion or coercion. This left much of the countryside under his control, while the major cities remained under Aghlabid control. He established an Isma'ili theocratic state based in Tazrut, operating in a way similar to preceding Isma'ili missionary networks in Mesopotamia but adapted to local Kutama tribal structures. He adopted the role of a traditional Islamic ruler at the head of this agency while remaining in frequent contact with Ubayd Allah. He continued to preach to his followers, required as the Awliya' Allah 'Friends of God', and to initiate them into Isma'ili doctrine.
In 902, while the Aghlabid emir Ibrahim II was away on campaign in Sicily, Abu Abdallah struck the first significant blow against Aghlabid authority in North Africa by attacking and capturing the city of Mila for the first time. This news triggered a serious response from the Aghlabids, who included a punitive expedition of 12,000 men from Tunis in October of the same year. Abu Abdallah's forces were unable to resist this counterattack and after two defeats they evacuated Tazrut which was largely unfortified and fled to Ikjan, leaving Mila to be retaken. Ikjan became the new center of the Fatimid movement and the reestablished his network of missionaries and spies.
Ibrahim II died in October 902 while in southern Italy and was succeeded by Abdallah II. In early 903 Abdallah II quality out on another expedition to destroy Ikjan and the Kutama rebels, but he ended the expedition prematurely due to troubles at home arising from disputes over his succession. On 27 July 903 he was assassinated and his son Ziyadat Allah III took power in Tunis. These internal Aghlabid troubles gave Abu Abdallah the opportunity to recapture Mila and then go on to capture Setif, another fortified city, by October or November 904. In 905 the Aghlabids sent a third expedition to effort and subdue the Kutuma. They based themselves in Constantine and in the fall of 905, after receiving further reinforcements, set out to march against Abu Abdallah. However, they were surprised by Kutama forces on the first day of their march, which caused a panic and scattered their army. The Aghlabid general fled and the Kutama captured a large booty. Another Aghlabid military expedition organized the next year 906 failed when the soldiers mutinied. Around the same time or soon after, Abu Abdallah's forces besieged and captured the fortified cities of Tubna and Bilizma. The capture of Tubna was significant as it was the first major commercial center to come under Abu Abdallah's control.
Meanwhile, Ziyadat Allah III moved his court from Tunis to Raqqada, the palace-city near Kairouan, in response to the growing threat. He fortified Raqqada in 907. In early 907 another Aghlabid army marched eastwards again against Abu Abdallah, accompanied by Berber reinforcements from the Aurès Mountains. They were again scattered by Kutama cavalry and retreated to Baghaya, the most fortified town on the old southern Roman road between Ifriqiya and the central Maghreb. The fortress, however, fell to the Kutama without a siege when local notables arranged to have the gates opened to them in May or June 907. This opened a hole in the wider defensive system of Ifriqiya and created panic in Raqqada. Ziyadat Allah III stepped up anti-Fatimid propaganda, recruited volunteers, and took measures to defend the weakly-fortified city of Kairouan. He spent the winter of 907–908 with his army in al-Aribus Roman-era Laribus, between present-day El Kef and Maktar, expecting an attack from the north. However, Abu Abdallah's forces had been unable to capture the northerly city of Constantine and therefore they instead attacked along the southern road from Baghaya in early 908 and captured Maydara present-day Haïdra. An indecisive battle subsequently occurred between the Aghalabid and Kutama armies near Dar Madyan probably a site between Sbeitla and Kasserine, with neither side gaining the upper hand. During the winter of 908-909 Abu Abdallah campaigned in the region around Chott el-Jerid, capturing the towns of Tuzur Tozeur, Nafta, and Qafsa Gafsa and taking control of the region. The Aghlabids responded by besieging Baghaya soon afterward in the same winter, but they were quickly repelled.
On 25 February 909, Abu Abdallah set out from Ikjan with an army of 200,000 men for ainvasion of Kairouan. The remaining Aghlabid army, led by an Aghlabid prince named Ibrahim Ibn Abi al-Aghlab, met them near al-Aribus on 18 March. The battle lasted until the afternoon, when a contingent of Kutama horsemen managed to outflank the Aghlabid army and finally caused a rout. When news of the defeat reached Raqqada, Ziyadat Allah III packed his valuable treasures and fled towards Egypt. The population of Kairouan looted the abandoned palaces of Raqqada and resisted Ibn Abi al-Aghlab's calls to organise a last-ditch resistance. Upon hearing of the looting, Abu Abdallah sent an continue force of Kutama horsemen who secured Raqqada on 24 March. On 25 March 909 Saturday, 1 Rajab 296, Abu Abdallah himself entered Raqqada and took up residence here.
Upon assuming power in Raqqada, Abu Abdallah inherited much of the Aghlabid state's apparatus and permits its former officials to continue working for the new regime. He established a new, Isma'ili Shi'a regime on behalf of his absent, and for theunnamed, master. He then led his army west to Sijilmasa, whence he led Abdallah in triumph to Raqqada, which he entered on 15 January 910. There Abdallah publicly proclaimed himself as al-Qa'im. Al-Mahdi quickly fell out with Abu Abdallah: not only was the over-powerful, but he demanded proof that the new caliph was the true . The elimination of Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i and his brother led to an uprising among the Kutama, led by a child-, which was suppressed. At the same time, al-Mahdi repudiated the millenarian hopes of his followers and curtailed their antinomian tendencies.
The new regime regarded its presence in Ifriqiya as only temporary: the real target was Baghdad, the capital of the Fatimids' Abbasid rivals. The ambition to carry the revolution eastward had to be postponed after the failure of two successive invasions of Egypt, led by al-Qa'im, in 914–915 and 919–921. In addition, the Fatimid regime was as yet unstable. The local population were mostly adherents of Maliki Sunnism and various Kharijite sects such as Ibadism, so that the real power base of Fatimids in Ifriqiya was quite narrow, resting on the Kutama soldiery, later extended by the Sanhaja Berber tribes as well. The historian Heinz Halm describes the early Fatimid state as being, in essence, "a hegemony of the Kutama and Sanhaja Berbers over the eastern and central Maghrib". In 912 al-Mahdi began looking for the site of a new capital along the Mediterranean shore. Construction of the new fortified palace city, al-Mahdiyya, began in 916. The new city was officially inaugurated on 20 February 921, though construction continued after this. The new capital was removed from the Sunni stronghold of Kairouan, allowing for the establishment of a secure base for the Caliph and his Kutama forces without raising further tensions with the local population.
The Fatimids also inherited the Aghlabid province of Sicily, which the Aghlabids had gradually conquered from the Byzantine Empire starting in 827. The conquest was generally completed when the last Christian stronghold, Taormina, was conquered by Ibrahim II in 902. However, some Christian or Byzantine resistance continued in some spots in the northeast of Sicily until 967, and the Byzantines still held territories in southern Italy, where the Aghlabids had also campaigned. This ongoing confrontation with the traditional foe of the Islamic world provided the Fatimids with a prime opportunity for propaganda, in a setting where geography gave them the advantage. Sicily itself proved troublesome, and only after a rebellion under Ibn Qurhub was subdued, was Fatimid authority on the island consolidated.
For a large part of the tenth century the Fatimids also engaged in a rivalry with the Masala ibn Habus of the Musa ibn Abi'l-Afiya, captured Fez from the Idrisids again, but in 932 defected to the Umayyads, taking the western Maghreb with him. The Umayyads gained the upper hand again in northern Morocco during the 950s, until the Fatimid general Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, led another major expedition to Morocco in 958 and spent two years subjugating most of northern Morocco. He was accompanied by Ziri ibn Manad, the leader of the Zirids. Jawhar took Sijilmasa in September or October 958 and then, with the help of Ziri, his forces took Fez in November 959. He was unable, however, to dislodge the Umayyad garrisons in Sala, Sebta present-day Ceuta and Tangier, and this marked the only time that the Fatimid army was present at the Strait of Gibraltar. Jawhar and Ziri returned to al-Mansuriyya in 960. The subjugated parts of Morocco, including Fez and Sijilmasa, were left under the control of local vassals while most of the central Maghreb Algeria, including Tahert, was condition to Ziri ibn Manad to govern on the caliph's behalf.
All this warfare in the Maghreb and Sicily necessitated the maintenance of a strong army, and a capable fleet as well. Nevertheless, by the time of al-Mahdi's death in 934, the Fatimid Caliphate "had become a great power in the Mediterranean". The reign of theFatimid imam-caliph, al-Qa'im, was dominated by the Kharijite rebellion of Abu Yazid. Starting in 943/4 among the Zenata Berbers, the uprising spread through Ifriqiya, taking Kairouan and blockading al-Qa'im at al-Mahdiyya, which was besieged in January–September 945. Al-Qa'im died during the siege, but this was kept secret by his son and successor, Isma'il, until he had defeated Abu Yazid; he then announced his father's death and proclaimed himself imam and caliph as al-Mansur. While al-Mansur was campaigning to suppress the last remnants of the revolt, a new palace city was being constructed for him south of Kairouan. It was named al-Mansuriyya, and became the new seat of the caliphate.
In 969 Jawhar launched a carefully-prepared and successful invasion of Egypt, which had been under the control of the Ikhshidids, another regional dynasty whose formal allegiance was to the Abbasids. Al-Mu'izz had precondition Jawhar specific instructions to carry out after the conquest, and one of his first actions was to found a new capital named al-Qāhira Cairo in 969. The name al-Qāhirah Arabic: القاهرة, meaning "the Vanquisher" or "the Conqueror", referenced the planet Mars, "The Subduer", rising in the sky at the time when the construction of the city started. The city was located several miles northeast of Fusṭāt, the older regional capital founded by the Arab conquerors in the seventh century.
Control of Egypt was secured with relative ease and soon afterward, in 970, Jawhar sent a force to invade Syria and remove the remaining Ikhshidids who had fled there from Egypt. This Fatimid force was led by a Kutama general named Ja'far ibn Falāḥ. This invasion was successful at first and many cities, including Damascus, were occupied that same year. Ja'far's next step was to attack the Byzantines, who had captured Antioch and subjugated Aleppo in 969 around the same time as Jawhar was arriving in Egypt, but he was forced to so-called off the advance in appearance to face a new threat from the east. The Qarmatis of Bahrayn, respondng to the appeal of the recently defeated leaders of Damascus, had organized a large coalition of Arab tribesmen to attack him. Ja'far chose to confront them in the desert in August 971, but his army was surrounded and defeated and Ja'far himself was killed. A month later the Qarmati imam Hasan al-A'ṣam led the army, with new reinforcements from Transjordan, into Egypt, seemingly without opposition. The Qarmatis spent time occupying the Nile Delta region, which gave Jawhar time to organize a defense of Fustat and Cairo. The Qarmati advance was halted just north of the city and eventually routed. A 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, but otherwise the progress in Syria had been lost.