The Fatimid Caliphate

(noun)

An Ismaili Shia Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The dynasty ruled across the Mediterranean coast of Africa, and it was under its rule that Egypt became the center of the caliphate. At its height the caliphate included, in addition to Egypt, varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz.

Related Terms

Examples of The Fatimid Caliphate in the following topics:

  • Post-Byzantine Egypt

    • The Muslim conquest of Egypt took place shortly after Muhammad's death, but it was three centuries later, under the Fatimid Caliphate, that the region became the center of the Islamic world.
    • The Rashidun Caliphate was the Islamic caliphate in the earliest period of Islam, comprising the first four caliphs.
    • The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shia Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
    • During the late 11th century and the twelfth century, the Fatimid Caliphate declined rapidly, and in 1171 Saladin invaded their territory.
    • He founded the Ayyubid dynasty and incorporated the Fatimid state into the Abbasid Caliphate.

  • The Abbasid Empire

    • The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 750 CE, and ruled over a large, flourishing empire for three centuries.
    • The Shiʻa Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah of the Fatimid dynasty, who claimed descent from Muhammad's daughter, declared himself Caliph in 909 CE and created a separate line of caliphs in North Africa.
    • The Fatimid caliphs initially controlled Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, and they expanded for the next 150 years, taking Egypt and Palestine.
    • The Abbasid dynasty finally challenged Fatimid rule, limiting them to Egypt.
    • The Fatimid dynasty broke from the Abbasids in 909 CE and created separate lines of caliphs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Palestine until 1171 CE.

  • The Northern Song Era

    • During the Northern Song (960-1127), the Song capital was in the northern city of Kaifeng, and the dynasty controlled most of what is now Eastern China.
    • The Song court maintained diplomatic relations with Chola India, the Fatimid Caliphate, Srivijaya, the Kara-Khanid Khanate of Central Asia, and other countries that were also trade partners with Japan.
    • From its inception under Taizu, the Song dynasty alternated between warfare and diplomacy with the ethnic Khitans of the Liao dynasty in the northeast and with the Tanguts of the Western Xia in the northwest.
    • However, the poor performance and military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jurchens, who immediately broke the alliance, beginning the Jin–Song Wars of 1125 and 1127; during the latter invasion, the Jurchens captured not only the capital, but also the retired Emperor Huizong, his successor Emperor Qinzong, and most of the imperial court.
    • The extent of the land holdings of the Northern Song dynasty in 1111.

  • Expansion Under the Umayyad Caliphates

    • The Umayyad Caliphate, the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad, expanded the territory of the Islamic state to one of the largest empires in history.
    • The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad.
    • Although the Umayyad Caliphate did not rule all of the Sahara, nomadic Berber tribes paid homage to the caliph.
    • Abd-ar-Rahman stopped the Fatimid advance into caliphate land in Morocco and al-Andalus.
    • This map shows the extension of Islamic rule under Muhammad, the Rashidun Caliphate, and the Umayyad Caliphate.

  • The Crusades

    • The Crusades were military campaigns sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church during the High and Late Middle Ages.
    • Generally, the Crusades refer to the campaigns in the Holy Land sponsored by the papacy against Muslim forces.
    • The Holy Land had been part of the Roman Empire, and thus the Byzantine Empire, until the Islamic conquests.
    • For example, the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but his successor allowed the Byzantine Empire to rebuild it.
    • The heart of Western Europe had been stabilized after the Christianization of the Saxon, Viking, and Hungarian peoples by the end of the 10th century.

  • Spread of Islam

    • In the years following the Prophet Muhammad's death, the expansion of Islam was carried out by his successor caliphates, who increased the territory of the Islamic state and sought converts from both polytheistic and monotheistic religions.
    • The expansion of the Arab Empire in the years following the Prophet Muhammad's death led to the creation of caliphates occupying a vast geographical area.
    • Muslim dynasties were soon established and subsequent empires such as those of the Abbasids, Fatimids, Almoravids, Seljukids, and Ajurans, Adal and Warsangali in Somalia, Mughals in India, Safavids in Persia, and Ottomans in Anatolia were among the largest and most powerful in the world.
    • During the Abbasid Caliphate, expansion ceased and the central disciplines of Islamic philosophy, theology, law, and mysticism became more widespread, and the gradual conversions of the populations within the empire occurred.
    • Discuss the spread of Islam and identify how the caliphs maintained authority over conquered territories

  • Muhammad's Successors

    • Ali would eventually become the fourth Sunni caliph.
    • The followers of Ali later became the Shi'a minority sect of Islam, which rejects the legitimacy of the first three caliphs.
    • The followers of all four Rashidun caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali) became the majority Sunni sect.
    • Under the Rashidun, each region (Sultanate) of the caliphate had its own governor (Sultan).
    • Muawiyah transformed the caliphate into a hereditary office, thus founding the Umayyad dynasty.

  • Islamic Conquest of the Maghreb

    • The Islamic conquest of the Maghreb region took place largely under the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), which at the peak of its influence ruled one of the vastest empires ever to exist.
    • The conquest of the Maghreb region (more or less west of Egypt) took place largely under the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), which was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad.
    • It resulted in a series of four caliphs between the death of Muawiya in 680 and the accession of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (Abdalmalek) in 685.
    • The conventional historical view is that the conquest of North Africa by the Umayyad Caliphate effectively ended Christianity in Africa for several centuries.
    • Age of the Caliphs: [dark purple] Expansion under the Prophet Mohammad, 622-632; [dark pink] Expansion during the Patriarchal Caliphate, 632-661; [dark orange] Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750.

  • The Isaurian Dynasty

    • The Isaurian emperors were successful in defending and consolidating the Empire against the Caliphate after the onslaught of the early Muslim conquests, but were less successful in Europe, where they suffered setbacks against the Bulgars, had to give up the Exarchate of Ravenna, and lost influence over Italy and the Papacy to the growing power of the Franks.
    • By the end of the Isaurian dynasty in 802, the Byzantines were continuing to fight the Arabs and the Bulgars for their very existence, with matters made more complicated when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Imperator Romanorum ("Emperor of the Romans") which was seen as making the Carolingian Empire the successor to the Roman Empire or at least the western half.
    • Leo averted an attack by Maslamah by clever negotiations, in which he promised to recognize the Caliph's suzerainty, but on 25 March 717, he entered Constantinople and deposed Theodosios.
    • Leo secured the Empire's frontiers by inviting Slavic settlers into the depopulated districts and by restoring the army to efficiency; when the Umayyad Caliphate renewed their invasions in 726 and 739, as part of the campaigns of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, the Arab forces were decisively beaten, particularly at Akroinon in 740.
    • The Second Arab siege of Constantinople in 717–718 was a combined land and sea offensive by the Muslim Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate against the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople.

  • Timeline

    • 2560 BCE: The approximate time accepted as the completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest pyramid of the Giza Plateau.
    • 405 CE: Saint Jerome completes the Vulgate, the first Latin translation of the Bible.
    • 632-661: The Rashidun Caliphate results in the Arab conquest of Persia, Egypt, and Iraq, bringing Islam into those regions.
    • 650: The verses of the Qur'an are compliled in the form of a book in the era of Uthman RA, the third Caliph of Islam.
    • 661-750: The Umayyad Caliphate brings Arab conquest of North Africa, Spain, and Central Asia, marking the greatest extent of the Arab conquests bringing Islam into those regions.