The most stable of the successor dynasties founded in the ninth and tenth centuries was that of the Fatimids, a branch of Shi’is. The Fatimids won their first success in North Africa, where they established a rival caliphate at Raqqadah near Kairouan and, in 952, embarked on a period of expansion that within a few years took them to Egypt.
For a time the Fatimids aspired to be rulers of the whole Islamic world, and their achievements were impressive. At their peak they ruled North Africa, the Red Sea coast, Yemen, Palestine, and parts of Syria. The Fatimids built the Mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo – from which developed al-Azhar University, now the oldest university in the world and perhaps the most influential Islamic school of higher learning. Cairo became an important center of art and learning. Fatimid merchants traded with Afghanistan and China and tried to divert some of Baghdad’s Arabian Gulf shipping to the Red Sea.
But the Fatimids’ dreams of gaining control of the Islamic heartland came to nothing, partly because many other independent states refused to support them and partly because they, like the ‘Abbasids in Baghdad, lost effective control of their own mercenaries. Such developments weakened the Fatimids, but thanks to a family of viziers of Armenian origin they were able to endure until the Ayyubid succession in the second half of the twelfth century – even in the face of the eleventh-century invasion by the Seljuk Turks.
Fatimid founder
At the begining of the 10th century an Ismaili leader named Ubayd Allah went to Ifriqiya (present day Tunisia) in north Africa. He claimed descent from the Prophet’s [saw] daughter Fatima through Ismail’s son Muhammad, making him the “hidden imam” for whom the Ismailis were waiting. In 909 he proclaimed himself al-Mahdi (“the Rightly Guided One”), build a new capital on the coast, called Mahiya, and started to put together a large fleet of ships. He reigned until 934 as the first Fatimids caliph.
The Legacy
The Fatimid Empire lasted until the late 1100s. It weakened considerably through the 1000s and 1100s, with internal revolts by Sunnis and the Crusades severely hampering its power. The lights went out for the Fatimids in 1171, when Salah al-Din, officially abolished the empire and “caliphate”, reuniting Egypt with the Sunni world, much to the happiness of the Egyptians that were formerly under Fatimid rule.
Despite their chaotic and turbulent 200+ years in power, the Fatimids did not leave much of an intellectual legacy. Ismailism went underground again, this time in the form of terror cells spread throughout the Muslim world (the Assassins). Indeed, even during the height of the Fatimids, very few people willingly converted to Ismailism. Most of the population remained Sunni, even under very stringent oppression. Al-Azhar University was founded by the Fatimids in Cairo in an attempt to convert the locals, but it failed miserably in this endeavor and it was converted into a mainstream Muslim university by Salah al-Din.
In conclusion, the Fatimids can be seen as an invading, oppressive religious force in the medieval Muslim world. They cannot be fully counted as Muslims, as their actions and beliefs directly contradicted mainstream Islam. The myths of their religious tolerance as supported by Orientalist and apologetic scholars are clearly false, as has been stated and referenced. It is important to understand the different perspectives and not simply accept one line of thinking without evidence. This article has provided proof and evidence for the truth of the Fatimid Empire and its history. 1
Footnotes: