Facing the Sea of Sand by Barry Cunliffe;

Author:Barry Cunliffe; [Cunliffe, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192674753
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
Published: 2023-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

The Rise of the Fatimids

When Muhammad died in 632, the question of succession became a contentious issue, one which has divided the Muslim world ever since. The problem was that the Prophet had no sons. Some of the community believed that legitimacy lay with the Prophet’s closest followers. These became known as Sunni, from sunnah, meaning lawful, that is, following the teachings of the Prophet. Others argued that leadership should pass to Muhammad’s cousin Ali, who had married the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, since they believed that the spirit which had inspired Muhammad had passed to him and his descendants. These were the Party of Ali (the Shia-t-Ali), who became known as the Shia. Ali’s great-great-grandson had two sons, Musa and Ismail, and a schism arose as to who had inherited the spirit. Those who followed Ismail, the Ismailis, were presented as heretics by the Abbasid caliphate. One of their beliefs which traditionalists found it hard to accept was that a messianic figure, the Mahdi, descended from the Prophet through his daughter Fatima, would one day return to the world and sweep away all the tyrannies, bringing peace and justice.

In 893 an Ismaili missionary, Abu Abd Allah, who had made his way to North Africa and was preaching to the Kutama, a Berber tribe living in the mountainous region of northern Algeria, found that they were receptive to his message that the Mahdi would soon come among them. The tribe made their islam (submission) to the Muslim community, recognizing Abu Adb Allah as prophet, judge, and commander. Under his leadership they became a highly effective force and began to drive out the Aghlabids, establishing a new order. After successes in western Algeria in 907–8 they launched their attack on Ifriqiya, eventually taking Kairouan in March 909, displacing the Aghlabid elite.

Meanwhile, an Ismaili imam, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah (873–934), disguised as a merchant, was waiting in Sijilmasa. Abu Adb Allah declared him to be the Mahdi, announcing his coming. In triumph the army set off to the west to meet him, conquering, en route, the Rustamid imamate and driving the Ibadis from their capital, Tahert. The Mahdi entered Kairouan in December 909 or January 910, becoming the first imam and caliph of the Fatimid dynasty (so named after the Prophet’s daughter). It was an astonishing achievement, an obscure Berber tribe inspired by a charismatic religious leader making themselves masters of much of North Africa. It demonstrated the ferocious power of the remote tribesmen, yet for all its revolutionary fervour it did little more than effect a regime change. There were many who opposed the new Shi’ite elite, not least the Sunnis who lived in the coastal region and the stern Kharijites of the Atlas Mountains. Religious divides and personal rivalries provided fertile ground for discontent to grow.

The early Fatimid caliphate in North Africa was bent on expansion. To the west lay a number of petulant polities that needed to be brought to heel, but it would be hard work for little return. To

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.