The Fatimid Caliphate lasted from 909 to 1171 CE. After a failed uprising against the Sunni Abbasids in Syria, the head of the Ismaili Shi’a religious movement - who claimed descent from Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah by way of her descendent Ismail - fled to Tunisia. There, with the help of local Berber warriors, he ’seized Ifriqiya - modern Tunisia and Eastern Algeria - took over the trans-Saharan gold-and-slave trade, built two great capitals - first Kairouan, then nearby Mahdiyya - and set up an autonomous state far from the reach of Baghdad’.
[1]
From there, the Fatimids conquered much of North Africa, extending their rule into Egypt. The effective end of the Fatimid Caliphate occurred at the end of the 11th century (though the Caliphate remained nominally intact for nearly another century). At this time, a series of Fatimid viziers increased their control of the military and, ruling from their own palaces, turned the imam-caliph into a nominal figurehead.
[2]
Over many years in the final century, the Fatimid state experienced a long decline marked by incompetent viziers.
[3]
Population and political organization
Although relatively little is known about the Fatimid bureaucracy during the early period (909-969 CE), we can say that it did not have a vizier.
[4]
In Tunisia, the Fatimids used slave eunuchs to command army and naval forces, and, following the precedent of previous Islamic governments, founded cities as administrative and military centres and seats for their courts.
[5]
Suggesting the presence of a highly capable full-time bureaucracy, one of their purpose-built cities, the second capital Mansuriyya (948-975 CE), was supplied with fresh water from a distant spring via an aqueduct ’modelled on the Roman system at Carthage’.
[6]
In 969 CE, the Fatimids conquered Egypt under a military general called Jawhar. This brought the total land area under Fatimid control to 2.4 million square kilometres,
[7]
and the new capital city, al-Qahira (Cairo), was founded in 975 and remained the capital under the fall of the dynasty in 1171.
[8]
In Egypt the vizier, a staple of Islamic Egyptian government, was introduced to Fatimid professional administration, which may suggest that the Fatimids retained much of the lower administration present during the Ikshidid Period as well. Heads of administration are known for the military, treasury, religion, missionary activities, and the judiciary.
[9]
Before 1073 CE, the vizier was a slave who did not have military powers. Between 1073 and 1121, he became the military chief and effectively replaced the iman-caliph as head of government.
[10]
The imam-caliph retreated into a palace that contained a harem run by a ’hierarchical corps of eunuchs’.
[9]
Provinces were ruled through vassals. After the foundation of Cairo, North Africa was ’abandoned’ to the Zirid (972-1148 CE) and Hammadid (1015-1152 CE) Dynasties.
[11]
Within Egypt, two cities enjoyed a measure of self-rule: Fustat was governed by a wali (governor)
[12]
and Alexandria also had its own budget and chief judge.
[13]
The rest of Egypt was divided into seven districts,
[14]
which may have been commanded by amirs (military governors). Towns with markets would have a muhtasib, who oversaw shopkeepers’ and artisans’ activities and ensured that religious law was correctly observed.
[12]
The Fatimids repaired and improved dams and canals
[15]
and Egypt grew exceptionally prosperous under their rule, especially before the mid-10th century. Al-Qahira had eight public baths,
[16]
a caravanserai (funduq) for foreign merchants,
[17]
and possibly the most famous market in the Islamic world at the time, called the Market of the Lamps (Suq al-Qanadil).
[18]
The 10th-century geographer al-Muqaddasi described Suq al-Qanadil as ’the marketplace for all mankind ... It is the storehouse of the Occident, the entrepot of the Orient.’
[19]
Another contemporary traveller, Nasir-i Khusraw, reported that in Cairo the shops were ’all the sultan’s property’ and leased to the shop owners,
[16]
underscoring the power of the caliphs and their dedication to public works.
The population of the Fatimid Caliphate peaked at about 12-13 million in 1000 CE, but subsequently declined as territory was lost to about 4 million in 1100 CE.
[20]
By the end of the 10th century, the population of the caliphate was roughly equivalent to that of Egypt. The city of Fustat, close to Cairo, had approximately 120,000 residents, even after the fire of 1168, and multiple sources report multi-storey residential homes with up to seven levels.
[21]
[1]: (Man 1999, 74) John Man. 1999. Atlas of the Year 1000. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[2]: (Walker 2006, 88) Paul E. Walker. 2006. ’The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i under the Fatimids’, in Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies, edited by Gudrun Kramer and Sabine Schmidtke, 70-94. Leiden: Brill.
[3]: (Raymond 2000, 73) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[4]: (Walker 2011, 104) Paul E. Walker. 2011. ’Responsibilities of Political Office in a Shi’i Caliphate and the Delineation of Public Duties under the Fatimids’, in Islam, the State, and Political Authority: Medieval Issues and Modern Concerns, edited by A. Afsaruddin, 93-110. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
[5]: (Yaacov 1991, 4) Yaacov Lev. 1991. State and Society in Fatimid Egypt. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
[6]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Tahera Qutbuddin. 2011. ’Fatimids’, in Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, Volume 2: Africa, edited by Edward Ramsamy, 37-40. Los Angeles: Sage.
[7]: (Hrbek 1977, 10) Ivan Hrbek. 1977. ’Egypt, Nubia and the Eastern Deserts’, in The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3: From c. 1050 to c. 1600, edited by Roland Oliver, 10-97. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[8]: (Lapidus 2012, 241) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[9]: (Hamblin 2004) William J. Hamblin. 2013. ’Egypt: Fatimids, Later (1073-1171): Army and Administration’, in Encyclopedia of African History, edited by K. Shillington. Online edition. London: Routledge.
[10]: (Lapidus 2012, 243) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[11]: (Lapidus 2012, 242) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[12]: (Raymond 2000, 65) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[13]: (Sanders 1998, 167) Paula A. Sanders. 1998. ’The Fatimid State, 969-1171’, in The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517, edited by Carl F. Petry, 151-74. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[14]: (Lindsay 2005, 108) James E. Lindsay. 2005. Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group.
[15]: (Hrbek 1977, 16) Ivan Hrbek. 1977. ’Egypt, Nubia and the Eastern Deserts’, in The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3: From c. 1050 to c. 1600, edited by Roland Oliver, 10-97. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[16]: (Raymond 2000, 54) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[17]: (Raymond 2000, 41) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[18]: (Raymond 2000, 42) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[19]: (Lindsay 2005, 106) James E. Lindsay. 2005. Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group.
[20]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 219-29, 141-47) Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. London: Allen Lane.
[21]: (Raymond 2000, 62, 65, 78) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
| Year Range | Fatimid Caliphate (tn_fatimid_cal) was in: |
|---|---|
| (970 CE 1170 CE) | Upper Egypt |
Mahdia: 921-948 CE; Al-Mansuriya: 948-975 CE; Cairo: 975-1171 CE
Capital city, al-Qahira (Cairo) founded in 969 CE
[1]
Caliph al-Muizz moved from Tunisia to Cairo in 973 CE. Cairo built to replace the former Egyptian capital al-Fustat with the intention for it to be more glorious than Baghdad.
[2]
Jawhar nor al-Mu’izz "had any great interest in creating an imperial capital in Egypt. The credit for that move should be given to al-Mu’izz’s son and successor, under whose rule the Egyptian capital would rapidly emerge as a brilliant centre of the arts and learning. Prince Nazir, who took the name al-Aziz B’illah, ’Mighty by God’, upon his ascension in 975, publically announced his succession by riding out to offer the prayer for the Feast of the Sacrifice under the mizalla, a parasol shaped like a bejewelled shield hung from the point of a lance held by a courtier. No Fatimid caliph is know to have previously used one, and it seems likely that the Fatimid mizalla was synonymous with and ultimately derived from the shamsa or shamsiyya used earlier by the Abbasid caliphs as a symbol of authority."
[3]
Fustat remained Egypt’s economic and administrative centre.
[1]: (Lapidus 2012, 241)
[2]: (Oliver 1977, 10)
[3]: (Bloom 2007, 110) Bennison A K, Gascoigne A L eds. 2007. Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Routledge.
The Fatimids claimed "biological and spiritual descent from the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah and her husband, the first Shia imam and fourth Sunni caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib" and "the Fatimids (who also called themselves ’Alawids’) challenged the rival caliphate of the Abbasids of Iraq, and asserted that they were the sole legitimate rulers of the Islamic world." [1]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 37) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
"At the peak of their power, their empire spanned Egypt, north Africa (present day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya), Syria, Palestine, Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, parts of Iraq, Sicily, and north-western India with additional covert cells in Byzantine and central Asian lands."
[1]
"Under al-Mu’zz’s son and successor, al-’Aziz (d. 386/996), court life flourished and the Fatimid dynasty (dawla) reached its political, territorial and economic zenith."
[2]
Fatimid power at peak during early years of the reign of al-Mustansir (1036-1094 CE), although "first signs of the empire’s fragile character" 1021-1036 CE under Caliph al-Zahir.
[3]
The Mustansir Crisis. Devastating famine from 1065 CE which peaked 1070 CE with cannibalism and emigration of Jewish minority between 1060-1090 CE. However, a "spectacular recovery" followed Badr al-Jamali’s appointment as minister 1073 CE.
[4]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 37) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[2]: (Cortese and Calderini 2006, 18) Cortese, Delia. Calderini, Simonetta. 2006. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh.
[3]: (Oliver 1977, 14-15)
[4]: (Raymond 2000, 71)
909-969 CE is the Tunisian period. There was no vizarate in Tunisian phase. The Fatimid movement began in Syria and the intention from the outset was global dominance. Tunisia was the starting point.
"The Fatimids’ history really starts in Syria, in the town of Salamiya, where the future caliph Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi became the leader of the Ismaili movement. Missionary efforts were successful in Ifriqiyya in North Africa, and area centred around modern-day Tunisia, where Fatimid propaganda was taken up by the Kutama Berbers."
[1]
Began as revolutionary movement against Abbasids in Syria. "Naturally, Islmaili religious claims and Fatimid political ones were both bitterly opposed by the Abbasids, forcing the Fatimid/Ismaili leadership to flee their first base in Syria in 909. They seized Ifriqiya - modern Tunisia and Eastern Algeria - took over the trans-Saharan gold-and-slave trade, built two great capitals - first Kairouan, then nearby Mahdiyya - and set up an autonomous state far from the reach of Baghdad."
[2]
Ismaili Shias rebelled against Aghlabid rule in Tunisia, 909 CE, then expanded former Aghlabid domain to Morocco. After a number of attempts, with assistance of Berber tribes, annexed Egypt in 969 CE.
[3]
"Isma’ili Shi’i Fatimids ... came to power with the assistance of local Kutama Berber tribesmen from the Little Kabylie Mountains in eastern Algeria."
[4]
"Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi proclaimed himself the first Fatimid Imam in 910."
[5]
893 CE: da’wa activity in North Africa begins under da’i Abu Abd Allah al-Shi’i. 899 CE: Abd Allah al-Mahdi becomes Ismaili imam in Salamiyya, Syria. 902 CE: al-Mahdi migrates to North Africa. 910 CE: Fatimid state established with al-Mahdi first imam-caliph. 913-915 CE: First expedition to Egypt. 919-921 CE: Second expedition to Egypt. 935 CE: Third expedition to Egypt. 943 CE: Khariji revolt of Abu Yazid, who was defeated by al-Mansur in 947 CE. 958 CE: Fourth expedition to Egypt. 973-974 CE: Qaramita forces defeated in Egypt and Syria.
[6]
"At the end of ninth century, an Isma’ili missionary converted Kutama Berber villagers in the mountains of Kabylia in eastern Algeria to the Fatimid cause. The leader of the movement, Ubaydallah, proclaimed himself caliph in 910. The Fatimids conquered Sijilmassa, Tahert, Qayrawan, and much of the rest of North Africa. They destroyed the Khariji principalities. Warfare also destroyed the trade routes and led to the rise of nomadism. The Fatimids conquered Egypt in 969. Moving their capital to Cairo, they abandoned North Africa to local Zirid (972-1148) and Hammadid (1015-1152) vassals."
[7]
In Salamiyya, Syria, around 900 CE an Abd Allah gained leadership of the da’wa and claimed the Imamate (does this mean he claimed to be Hidden-Iman or al-Mahdi?) but not all the da’is accepted this; in 903 CE he was forced to flee to North Africa where a friendly da’is had an established propaganda network.
[8]
In 903 CE the da’is for North Africa began the conquest of Ifriqiya. In 904 CE Abd Allah went to Egypt where a propaganda network existed but returned to Sijilmasa in 905 CE.
[9]
"909 Abu ’Abd Allah and the Kutama took Sijilmasa. Initially, Abd Allah was acclaimed as caliph and towards the end of the year, upon arriving in Raqqada, ’Abd Allah’s mahdi-ship was publicly announced and he was welcomed as ruler. ’Abd Allah al-Mahdi (henceforth al-Mahdi) became the first of a dynasty of imam-caliphs."
[10]
"The Fatimids conquered Egypt in 969. Moving their capital to Cairo, they abandoned North Africa to local Zirid (972-1148) and Hammadid (1015-1152) vassals."
[11]
Fatimid state had long decline period mostly with incompetent viziers except Bahram (1135-1137 CE) and Tala’i ibn Ruzzik (1154-1161 CE).
[12]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 34) Raymond, Andre. Wood, Willard. trans. 2000. Cairo. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.
[2]: (Man 1999) Man, J. 1999. Atlas of the Year 1000. Harvard University Press.
[3]: (Hodgson 1977, 21-28)
[4]: (Lindsay 2005, 74) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
[5]: (Lindsay 2005, 103) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
[6]: (Ahmad 2009, xv-xvi) Ahmad, Taqi al-Din. Jiwa, Shainool. trans. 2009. Towards a Shi’i Mediterranean Empire: Fatimid Egypt and the Founding of Cairo. I.B. Tauris Publishers. London.
[7]: (Lapidus 2012, 374-375)
[8]: (Cortese and Calderini 2006, 15-16) Cortese, Delia. Calderini, Simonetta. 2006. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh.
[9]: (Cortese and Calderini 2006, 16) Cortese, Delia. Calderini, Simonetta. 2006. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh.
[10]: (Cortese and Calderini 2006, 17) Cortese, Delia. Calderini, Simonetta. 2006. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh.
[11]: Lapidus, I M. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[12]: (Raymond 2000, 73) Raymond, Andre. Wood, Willard. trans. 2000. Cairo. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.
"The coming of Badr al-Jamali in 466/1074 altered permanently the structure of the Fatimid state." [1]
[1]: (Walker 2006, 88) Walker, Paul E. The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i Under The Fatimids. Kramer, Gudrun. Schmidtke, Sabine. eds. 2006. Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. BRILL.
Arabic was the main language. Persian, Turkic, Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin also "spoken and studied". [1] At start of Fatimid period rural people were majority Coptic-spreaking Christians, at end of period many of these Christians were conversing in Arabic. [2] Jews started to write Arabic in Hebrew characters. [3]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[2]: (Sanders 1998, 169-170) Sanders, Paula A. The Fatimid state, 969-1171. Petry, Carl F. ed. 1998. The Cambridge History of Egypt. Volume One. Islamic Egypt, 640-1517. Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (Sanders 1998, 170) Sanders, Paula A. The Fatimid state, 969-1171. Petry, Carl F. ed. 1998. The Cambridge History of Egypt. Volume One. Islamic Egypt, 640-1517. Cambridge University Press.
Began as revolutionary movement against Abbasids in Syria. "Naturally, Islmaili religious claims and Fatimid political ones were both bitterly opposed by the Abbasids, forcing the Fatimid/Ismaili leadership to flee their first base in Syria in 909. They seized Ifriqiya - modern Tunisia and Eastern Algeria - took over the trans-Saharan gold-and-slave trade, built two great capitals - first Kairouan, then nearby Mahdiyya - and set up an autonomous state far from the reach of Baghdad." [1]
[1]: (Man 1999) Man, J. 1999. Atlas of the Year 1000. Harvard University Press.
Began as revolutionary movement against Abbasids in Syria. "Naturally, Islmaili religious claims and Fatimid political ones were both bitterly opposed by the Abbasids, forcing the Fatimid/Ismaili leadership to flee their first base in Syria in 909. They seized Ifriqiya - modern Tunisia and Eastern Algeria - took over the trans-Saharan gold-and-slave trade, built two great capitals - first Kairouan, then nearby Mahdiyya - and set up an autonomous state far from the reach of Baghdad." [1] Initially the core region was the region of modern Tunisia but it quickly became Egypt after the capital was moved there.
[1]: (Man 1999) Man, J. 1999. Atlas of the Year 1000. Harvard University Press.
People. Fustat
[1]
even afer the Mustansir Crisis 1065-1073 CE and the fire of 1168.
[2]
"The city of Fustat must have had a surface area of approximately 300 hectares and a population of about 120,000."
[1]
"In Fustat, writes Ibn Hawqal in 950, "the houses have five, six, or even seven stories, and as many as 200 people may live in a building." This description is confirmed by Muqaddasi: "The houses, which have four or five floors, are like lighthouses, with light entering through the center, and each holding about 200 souls." Nasiri-i Khusraw reported "there are houses fourteen stories high, while others are limited to seven."
[3]
al-Qahira (Cairo) covered 160 hectares between 1087-1798 CE.
[4]
Alexandria 100,000 in 900 CE.
[5]
Cairo 135,000 in 1000 CE, 150,000 in 1100 CE, 175,000 in 1200 CE.
[6]
Fustat/Cairo 150,000 in 900 CE, 200,000 in 1000 CE.
[7]
Mecca 100,000 in 1000 CE.
[7]
Kairouan 100,000 in 900 CE
[7]
80,000 in 1000 CE.
[6]
Tinnis (Egypt) 100,000 in 1000 CE.
[7]
, 83,000 in 1000 CE, 110,000 in 1100 CE, 125,000 in 1150 CE.
[6]
"The rab’, a type of collective tenement block let for rent, seems to have existed only in Cairo, close to the centre. Estimates allow us to suppose that up to 10 per cent of the city’s artisans and traders lived in such buildings, which allowed a large, more modest, population to reside close to the centre of Cairo, thus mitigating the otherwise exclusively bourgeois character of this zone."
[8]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 62)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 78)
[3]: (Raymond 2000, 65)
[4]: (Raymond 2000, 55)
[5]: (Modelski 2003, 49)
[6]: (Chase-Dunn Spreadsheet)
[7]: (Modelski 2003, 55)
[8]: (Raymond 2008, 220) Raymond, Andre. The Traditional Arab City. Choueiri, Youssef M. ed. 2008. A Companion to the History of the Middle East. John Wiley & Sons.
KM2. 2,400,000: 969 CE; 1,400,000: 1000 CE; 1,000,000: 1050 CE; 631,000: 1100 CE; 850,000: 1150 CE
"At the peak of their power, their empire spanned Egypt, north Africa (present day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya), Syria, Palestine, Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, parts of Iraq, Sicily, and north-western India with additional covert cells in Byzantine and central Asian lands."
[1]
Abu Yaqub Sejestani (d c.971 CE), da’i of Khorasan, "now endorsed the imamate of the Fatimids and propagated their cause in Knorasan, Sistan, and Makran, where numerous Ismailis rallied to the side of the Fatimid da’wa. The Fatimid da’is also succeeded around 347/958 in establishing a Fatimid vassal state centered in Moltan, in northern India, where the kotba was now read in the name of the Fatimid caliphs, instead of their Abbasid rivals.".
[2]
This Isma’ili state in Multan overthrown by Gaznavids 1005-1006 CE.
[2]
1051 CE Zirids declare independence in Tunisia.
[3]
2,400,000: 969 CE. Egypt conquered 969 CE under General Jawhar.
[4]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 37) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[2]: (Daftary 2009) Daftary, Farhad. 2009. FATIMIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. IX, Fasc. 4, pp. 423-426. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fatimids
[3]: (Oliver 1977, 15)
[4]: (Oliver 1977, 10)
People.
1000 CE
Algeria 2m, Tunisia 1m, Libya 0.5m, Egypt 5m, Palestine and Jordan 0.5m, Hijaz 4m (est. from 4.5m for The Interior).
[1]
1100 CE
Egypt 4m and eastern Libya 0.2m (est. from 0.4m)
[1]
1056 CE low Nile flood severe famine which took "a heavy toll in human life and disrupted collection of state revenues."
[2]
[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd. London.
[2]: (Lev 1987, 348-349)
1. Capital (i.e. Cairo).
2. Provincial capital (e.g. Fustat).
3. Dependent cities (Mecca and Medina).
4. Other large cities.
5. Towns.
6. Villages.
"Housing in the medieval Islamic world included tents, mud huts, reed huts, single-story residences, multistoried tenements, and elaborate palaces."
[1]
[1]: (Lindsay 2005, 122) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
Isma’ilism was the state religion.
[1]
Majority of Egyptians were Sunni Muslims.
[2]
The Ismaili branch of Shi’ite Islam is "a sect within a sect."
[3]
"Under this dynasty these were two of the highest positions: the chief justice, termed the judge of judges (qadi al-qudat), was outranked only by the imam and the wazir. The head da’i, the da’i al-du’at, followed immediately below."
[4]
The Fatimids claimed "biological and spiritual descent from the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah and her husband, the first Shia imam and fourth Sunni caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib" and "the Fatimids (who also called themselves ’Alawids’) challenged the rival caliphate of the Abbasids of Iraq, and asserted that they were the sole legitimate rulers of the Islamic world."
[5]
The da’wa was a "unique institution of religiopolitical proselytizing and education"
[5]
1. First Imam / Caliph
da’wa: international missionary movement, in principle directed by the Fatimid imam in Egypt, but the provincial leaders had virtually complete autonomy.
[1]
"The Imam "stood, for the Ismailis, in the very centre of their religious system; it was of overriding importance; on it depended the continuity of institutional religion as well as the personal salvation of the believer. ’Whosoever dies without recognising the Imam of his time, dies a pagan’s death’ is one of the most often quoted maxims of Ismailism."
[6]
Commander of the Believers
[7]
2. Chief da’i
[8]
closely supervised by the Imam
administrative head, appointed provincial da’i and influenced choice of da’i in non-Fatimid territories
3. Provincial da’i
[8]
in Damascas, Tyre, Acre, Ascalon, Ramla and some rural areas.
4. hujja (or naqib, lahiq or yad) in a jazira (region, or "island")
[8]
"assisted by a number of subordinate da’is of different ranks operating in the localities under his jurisdiction." e.g. China, Byzantium.
5. Subordinate da’is
[8]
6. al ma’dhun, the licentate
[8]
assistant of the subordinate da’i ??
There were scholars (e.g. 11th CE al-Baghdadi in Farq bayna ’l-firaq) who alleged the Fatimids, Ismailis and Carmathians "were all Manichaean dualists, followers of the ancient religion of the Persians to the detriment of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam itself."
[9]
However, Brett suggests "we should probably think in terms of a number of different movements which eventually came together under the leadership of the Fatimids and the rubric of Isma’ilism. ... a world of many doctrines coalescing in the future rather than dividing in the past".
[10]
Provincial da’i in charge of actual provinces within the Caliphate, hujja in charge of regions outside the Caliphate, such as China and Byzantium. EC
[1]: (Lapidus 2012, 242)
[2]: (Oliver 1977, 12)
[3]: (Man 1999) Man, J. 1999. Atlas of the Year 1000. Harvard University Press.
[4]: (Walker 2006, 70) Paul E Walker. 2006. ’The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i Under The Fatimids’ in Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies edited by Gudrun Kramer and Sabine Schmidtke. BRILL.
[5]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 37) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[6]: (Stern 1951, 194) Stern, S. M. 1951. The Succession to the Fatimid Imam al-Amir, the Claims of the Later Fatimids to the Imamate, and the Rise of Tayyibi Ismailism. Oriens. Vol. 4. No. 2. December 31. pp. 193-255.
[7]: (Raymond 2000, 35)
[8]: (Daftary 2005, 74-75 "Ismailis in Medieval Muslim Societies: A Historical Introduction to an Islamic Community")
[9]: (Brett 2001) Brett, Michael. 2001. The Rise of the Fatimids. The World of the Mediterranean & the Middle East in the Tenth Century CE. Koninklijke Brill. Leiden.
[10]: (Brett 2001, 47) Brett, Michael. 2001. The Rise of the Fatimids. The World of the Mediterranean & the Middle East in the Tenth Century CE. Koninklijke Brill. Leiden.
[1]
Note that in 1073 CE Badr al-Jamali "transformed the army" and thereafter the Fatimid Caliphate was dominated by "military wazirs".
[2]
1. Caliph
2. Wazir3. Commander of commanders ("amir al-umara")4. Commander5. Assistant commander6. Khassa (grade I)7. Khassa (grade II)8. Khassa (grade III)*
"three grades of Khassa"9. QaidLowest unit = groups of 10 men.
[3]
"the Kutama were organized in cohorts (’irdfa) under their respective commanders (Curafta). The question whether the cohorts were organized along tribal lines or in terms of military needs remains unanswered."
[4]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996)
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[3]: (Nicolle 1996, 65)
[4]: (Lev 1987, 353)
[1]
[2]
[3]
1. Vizier/Military chief (1073-1171 CE)
after 1073 CE (although transition may have begun under regency of al-Mustansir) position of vizier became de facto ruler, effectively a dictator with nominal caliph. in this period vizier lived in own palace. essentially after 1073 CE Badr al-Jamali the vizier is the chief executive.
1. Caliph
1073 to 1121: the military chiefs replaced the caliphs as the effective heads of government.
[4]
Highly stratified court
[5]
court employed 30,000 people according to traveller Nasir-i Khusraw (c1048 CE?)
[6]
2. Harem"A hierarchical corps of eunuchs controlled the harem and the personal life of the caliph."
[7]
_Central government line_
2. Slave viziers (c970 - 1073 CE)Vizier did not exist for Tunisian period 909-969 CE
al-Badr who assumed the powers of a "military dictator": "Henceforth, with minor exceptions, real power in the Fatimid state remained in the hands of viziers who possessed military bases of power and acted independently, while the caliphs remained the nominal heads of state and as Ismaili imams also functioned as supreme leaders of the ismalil da’wa or religious organization. A distinguishing feature of the Fatimid vizierate during its final century is that several viziers were Christians, notably Armenians."
[8]
of 11 Fatimid rulers 7 came to throne as minors; Egypt frequently ruled by the Vizier.
[9]
Late 11th century viziers became more powerful, called themselves malik (prince).
[10]
3. Heads of administration (e.g. military, treasury, religious, missionary, and judiciary)
[11]
"The post of auditor (zimam) and the office of the audit (diwan al-zimdm) are well known features of the ’Abbasid administration. In the case of the Fatimid administration, the earliest reference to diwan al-zimam is from 402/1011-1012, and the holder of the post (ndzir diwan al-zimdm) was a person of Iraqi origin with previous experience in ’Abbasid administration."
[12]
Chancery (diwan al-inshda)
[12]
4. (inferred) head of state armory (khizdna al-bunud)"Al-Zahir is credited with establishing the state’s armory (khizdna al-bunud), which was an arsenal and a workshop employing 3,000 craftsmen for producing arms."
[13]
5. (inferred) manager of section in state armory
6. Craftsman in state armory
4. Lesser bureaucrats??5. Scribes??
_Provincial line _
2. Subject cites/territoriesE.g. in Hejaz
For a brief period Egypt was run by Jawhar, a proconsul
[14]
2. Provincial governorsE.g. Zirids in Tunisia)
3. ... ? ...Fustat was governed by a wali (governor) who was effectively chief of police.
[15]
4fustat. In Fustat the muhtasib "supervised the activities of shopkeepers and artisans and saw to the observance of religious law."
[15]
5fustat. In Fustat some public services were provided e.g. rubbish collection, sewage system.
[15]
"al-attalun (police force?)"
[16]
4. Village headmen
Abu Yaqub Sejestani (d c.971 CE), da’i of Khorasan, "now endorsed the imamate of the Fatimids and propagated their cause in Knorasan, Sistan, and Makran, where numerous Ismailis rallied to the side of the Fatimid da’wa. The Fatimid da’is also succeeded around 347/958 in establishing a Fatimid vassal state centered in Moltan, in northern India, where the kotba was now read in the name of the Fatimid caliphs, instead of their Abbasid rivals.".
[17]
This Isma’ili state in Multan overthrown by Gaznavids 1005-1006 CE.
[17]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996)
[2]: (Oliver 1977)
[3]: (Raymond 2000)
[4]: (Lapidus 2012, 243)
[5]: (Lapidus 2012, 242)
[6]: (Raymond 2000, 52)
[7]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[8]: (Daftary 2005, 744) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[9]: (Raymond 2000, 40)
[10]: (Raymond 2000, 73)
[11]: (Hamblin 2005, 748) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[12]: (Lev 1987, 353)
[13]: (Lev 1987, 354)
[14]: (Raymond 2000, 39)
[15]: (Raymond 2000, 65)
[16]: (Lev 1987, 341)
[17]: (Daftary 2009) Daftary, Farhad. 2009. FATIMIDS. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. IX, Fasc. 4, pp. 423-426. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fatimids
"The Faitimid military was a standing professional army."
[1]
"The Fatimid army included a professional officer corps and many permanent regular and elite regiments stationed in Cairo or in garrisons throughout Egypt. The army was administered by the Army Ministry (diwan al-jaysh), which oversaw salaries and land grants (iqta’)."
[2]
Kutama and ghilman paid salaries.
[3]
Imam al-Aziz (975-996) and his vizier Ya’qub ibn Killis introduced the system of patronage (istina) to recruit Turkish slaves and freemen, who were specialist cavalry and archers.
[4]
"The Fatimid army was paid in cash, apparently in several installments over the year. My information is derived from a single account describing the arrangement reached between the Kutama and Ibn ’Ammar at the time of al-Hakim’s coronation ceremony."
[5]
al-Mustansir civil war as turning point to Iqta system for military
"In the period prior to al-Mustansir, qadis, administrative personnel, and members of the royal family received grants of iqta in lieu of their salaries or as a part of their remuneration.’ In a previous study, I presented a few examples showing that during al-Hakim’s reign the circle of those receiving iqta was enlarged to include soldiers (junud) and ’abid al-shira’. Since then, I have gathered these further examples ..." Examples includes generals and soldiers.
[5]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[3]: (Lev 1987, 345)
[4]: (Lev 1987, 337)
[5]: (Lev 1987, 355)
At this time majority of the population of Egypt were Christian. [1] inferred from presence of professional Christian priests elswhere during this period
[1]: (Nicolle 1982, 19) Nicolle, D. 1982. The Armies of Islam, 7th-11th Centuries. Osprey Publishing.
"The Faitimid military was a standing professional army."
[1]
"The Fatimid army included a professional officer corps and many permanent regular and elite regiments stationed in Cairo or in garrisons throughout Egypt. The army was administered by the Army Ministry (diwan al-jaysh), which oversaw salaries and land grants (iqta’)."
[2]
Complex military administration maintained by Christian scribes.
[3]
"The Fatimid army was paid in cash, apparently in several installments over the year. My information is derived from a single account describing the arrangement reached between the Kutama and Ibn ’Ammar at the time of al-Hakim’s coronation ceremony."
[4]
al-Mustansir civil war as turning point to Iqta system for military
"In the period prior to al-Mustansir, qadis, administrative personnel, and members of the royal family received grants of iqta in lieu of their salaries or as a part of their remuneration.’ In a previous study, I presented a few examples showing that during al-Hakim’s reign the circle of those receiving iqta was enlarged to include soldiers (junud) and ’abid al-shira’. Since then, I have gathered these further examples ..." Examples includes generals and soldiers.
[4]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 749)
[3]: (Nicolle 1996, 65-69)
[4]: (Lev 1987, 355)
Buildings of the civil service, mints, customs offices etc.
Palace enclosure in Cairo contained administrative offices.
[1]
Different departments of Fatimid central administration included "military, treasury, religious, missionary, and judiciary." There was also a harem.
[2]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 81)
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 748) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
There was an "extensive enrollment of minorities in government." Christians and Jews dominated the central administration.
[1]
Jews rose in the administration to the position of Vizier, whilst Coptic Christians frequently held the important posts within the financial administration.
[2]
However rulers were Shia muslim whilst the majority of the population of Egypt were Sunni Muslim. Discrimination against Sunnis likely.
This is suggested when the Caliph Al-Hakim (996-1021 CE) defied precedent and appointed a Sunni chief qadi "on the ground that he was both the justest and shrewdest man available (on points of law the qadi was guided by Ismaili muftis)."
[3]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 45)
[2]: (Oliver 1977, 22-23)
[3]: (Hodgson 1977, 26)
Efficient civil service.
[1]
Saqaliba - their origin "enigmatic" and land "unidentified". Eunuchs used as courtiers and administrators. E.g. Jawdhar. Some Saqaiba were also used by preceding Ikhshids and owned privately.
[2]
In Tunisia the caliph directly ruled without a vizier. The court administration was run by a vizier after the move to Egypt. "The Fatimids in North Africa had appointed no wazirs and the notion of delegating that level of authority to a subordinate seemed not to have existed."
[3]
The court was highly stratified
[4]
and according to traveller Nasir-i Khusraw (c1048 CE) employed 30,000 people
[5]
, an exaggerated figure which reflects the fact it was involved in more than managing the imam-caliph’s harem and personal life, which was controlled by a "hierarchical corps of eunuchs".
[6]
The court-based government had heads for military, treasury, chancery (domestic and foreign communications), religious and missionary activities, judiciary and an auditor (from 1011 CE).
[7]
From the early 11th century a state armoury employed 3,000 craftsmen.
[8]
"Poets were employed by the state to fill the role of modern-day public relations agents"
[9]
who were "paid to present truth and lies in a palatable manner."
[10]
... At least from 1073 CE the executive became de facto held by the vizier who soon would operate from his own palace. The transition probably began in the regency of the imam-caliph al-Mustansir. Badr al-Jamaili was "a virtual dictator" although "his rank remained that of a wazir, and he was always theoretically subservient to the imam-caliph."
[11]
The son and successor to the famous vizier Badr al-Jamali after 1094 CE built the Palace of the Vizerate (Dar al-Wizara) which became "the official residence of the vizirs until the end of the Fatimid caliphate".
[12]
"The Armenian wazir, Badr al-Jamali, is certainly one of the most famous of these and was the de facto ruler of the Fatimid state (1074-94) as wazir to the Fatimid caliph, al-Mustansir (r. 1036-94)."
[13]
From vizier Badr al-Jamali "Henceforth, with minor exceptions, real power in the Fatimid state remained in the hands of viziers who possessed military bases of power and acted independently, while the caliphs remained the nominal heads of state and as Ismaili imams also functioned as supreme leaders of the ismalil da’wa or religious organization. A distinguishing feature of the Fatimid vizierate during its final century is that several viziers were Christians, notably Armenians."
[14]
Badr al-Jamaili was "a virtual dictator" although "his rank remained that of a wazir, and he was always theoretically subservient to the imam-caliph."
[11]
Badr’s son al-Afdal was murdered in 1121 CE but he had "exercised the same iron-fisted control over the government as had the father."
[15]
In all periods the executive, whether or not it was effectively in the hands of the caliph or the vizier, also held legislative power. The executive exerted power through the court-government. After the Palace of the Vizerate was built the new complex presumably simply replaced the imam-caliph’s palace complex as the seat of the government (or created a command centre for organizing it) but the equivalence of the executive and legislative always remained with the court-government. The Palace of the Vizerate may have been the closest the Fatimids came to a bureaucracy independent of a royal/caliphal court.
[1]: (Oliver 1977, 12)
[2]: (Lev 1987, 339)
[3]: (Walker 2011, 104) Walker, Paul E. Responsibilities of Political Office in a Shi’i Caliphate. Afsaruddin, A. ed. 2011. Islam, the State, and Political Authority: Medieval Issues and Modern Concerns. Spinger.
[4]: (Lapidus 2012, 242) Lapidus, I M. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[5]: (Raymond 2000, 52) Raymond, Andre. Wood, Willard. trans. 2000. Cairo. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.
[6]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[7]: (Hamblin 2005, 748) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[8]: (Lev 1987, 354) Lev, Y. 1987. Army, Regime, and Society in Fatimid Egypt, 358-487/968-1094. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3, August, pp. 337-365.
[9]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[10]: (Hunsberger 2003, 169) Hunsberger, Alice C. 2003. Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher. I.B. Tauris.
[11]: (Walker 2006, 88) Walker, Paul E. The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i Under The Fatimids. Kramer, Gudrun. Schmidtke, Sabine. eds. 2006. Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. BRILL.
[12]: (Raymond 2000, 53) Raymond, Andre. Wood, Willard. trans. 2000. Cairo. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.
[13]: (Lindsay 2005, 74) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
[14]: (Daftary 2005, 744) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[15]: (Walker 2006, 89) Walker, Paul E. The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i Under The Fatimids. Kramer, Gudrun. Schmidtke, Sabine. eds. 2006. Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. BRILL.
specialist judges and courts might suggest a role for professional lawyers. a literate class of religious scholars already existed who could have fulfilled this role as specialist lawyer.
Chief qadis and qadis.
[1]
The chief qadis did not appear until the Egyptian period."
[2]
"Judges hold authority over Muslims, all Muslims, the broader and more inclusive category, while da’is administer to the needs of the true believers, a much smaller but more select group within the larger body of Islam. Strictly from the viewpoint of a believer, the chief da’i is more important than the chief qadi; quite possibly in this respect he holds higher authority, even with regard to questions involving the application of law. But, for the common citizen of the Fatimid empire, non-Muslims and especially non-Ismaili Muslims, the qadi remained, in part because of the greater numbers of those who required what he provided, more important. Most inhabitants of the realm never accepted da’wa and they had no dealings with the da’i."
[3]
[1]: (Cortese 2003, 3) Cortese, Delia. 2003. Arabic Ismaili Manuscripts: The Zahid Ali Collection. I.B. Tauris.
[2]: (Walker 2006, 91) Walker, Paul E. The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i Under The Fatimids. Kramer, Gudrun. Schmidtke, Sabine. eds. 2006. Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. BRILL.
[3]: (Walker 2006, 92) Walker, Paul E. The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i Under The Fatimids. Kramer, Gudrun. Schmidtke, Sabine. eds. 2006. Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. BRILL.
Al-Mu’izz "was responsible for the promulgation and implementation of a distinctive Isma’ili law, mainly formulated by al-Qadi al-Nu’man, which aimed at imprinting with an Isma’ili character every aspect of life."
[1]
"The establishment of the Fatimid rule in North Africa, and the subsequent extension of its power to Egypt, made imperative the development of an Ismaili legal system. This became necessary in order to regulate the religious and juridical affairs of both the Ismaili and non-Ismaili communities living under Fatimid rule, as well as the distribution of responsibilities between the da’wa (mission) and dawla (state)."
[2]
This required elaboration and codification of the official Fatimid doctrines and legal system."
[2]
[1]: (Cortese and Calderini 2006, 18) Cortese, Delia. Calderini, Simonetta. 2006. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh.
[2]: (Cortese 2003, 3) Cortese, Delia. 2003. Arabic Ismaili Manuscripts: The Zahid Ali Collection. I.B. Tauris.
[1]
There was a court of grievances called mazalim "a kind of appeals court".
[2]
Genizah documents refer to "court records".
[3]
A dispute concerning an a contested accusation that a Jewish merchant had abandoned a slave in the Red Sea port of Aydhab was held before the governor. The plaintiff was a slave-agent.
[3]
Were disputes between two Muslims also held before a governor.
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 33)
[2]: (Walker 2006, 77) Walker, Paul E. The Relationship Between Chief Qadi and Chief Da’i Under The Fatimids. Kramer, Gudrun. Schmidtke, Sabine. eds. 2006. Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. BRILL.
[3]: (Perry 2014) Perry, Craig. 2014. The Daily Life of Slaves and the Global Reach of Slavery in Medieval Egypt, 969-1250 CE. James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University. www.academia.edu/6893682/The_Daily_Life_of_Slaves_and_the_Global_Reach_of_Slavery_in_Medieval_Egypt_969-1250_CE
Market of the Lamps (Suq al-Qanadil) was the greatest market. [1] In the caliphal city, al-Qahira Nasir-i Khusraw reported that the shops were "all the sultan’s property" and leased to the shop owners. [2] al-Muqaddasi referred to Fustat (10th CE) as "the marketplace for all mankind ... It is the storehouse of the Occident, the entrepot of the Orient". [3] In Fustat the muhtasib "supervised the activities of shopkeepers and artisans and saw to the observance of religious law." [4]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 42)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 54)
[3]: (Lindsay 2005, 106) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
[4]: (Raymond 2000, 65)
Large-scale plantations [1] (would have required irrigation).
[1]: (Oliver 1977, 12)
[1]
abid troops "attacked area of the grain port (al-sawahil) of the capital looting wheat (qamh), barley (sha’r), and other available grains (hubub)"
[2]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 38, 64)
[2]: (Lev 1987, 341)
Water wheel. [1] "992 water carriers were ordered to cover their containers to avoid splashing passersby" [2] Better residential houses had amenities such as water distribution and waste-water removal. [3] General reference medieval Islamic cities: "Only the wealthy could afford indoor plumbing or ovens as part of their residences." [4] Mansuriyya in Tunisia "had water brought from the distant spring of ’Ayn Ayyub through an aqueduct modeled on the Roman system at Carthage." [5]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 65)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 55)
[3]: (Raymond 2000, 68)
[4]: (Lindsay 2005, 123) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
[5]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
Streets in al-Qahira. [1] Fustat. Maintenance paid for by residents. [2]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 38)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 66)
Port of Asqalan. Qulzum. The acquisition of a rare tree for al-Mu’izz’s coffin via Mecca, Aden and Qulzum "is proof that there existed an efficient trade network between the Indian Ocean and Egypt." [1] "Fustat was the main center of a nexus of trade extending the length and breadth of the Mediterranean and beyond - Fustat and not Alexandria, which was entirely dependent on the former in economic matters. When a load of cargo was shipped overseas, the customs duties had first to be paid in Fustat. To buy Mediterranean products imported through Alexandria, one had to go to Fustat." [2] Mahdiyya, in Tunisia had "a sophisticated harbor" for the Fatimid navy and Mediterranean merchants. [3]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 41)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 60)
[3]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
Festival of the Opening of the Canal in 1050 CE. [1] Used [2] (and therefore maintained). (Silted-up canal between Red Sea and Nile reopened by mid-10th Century - military purpose? Did Fatimids reopen it? [3] ).
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 49)
[2]: (Nicolle 1996, 65-69)
[3]: (Nicolle 1996, 88)
Gold for currency mined in Upper Egypt. [1] Access to gold mines in Upper Egypt and Nubia. [2]
[1]: (Calvert 2005, 741-742) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[2]: (Sanders 1998, 162) Sanders, Paula A. The Fatimid state, 969-1171. Petry, Carl F. ed. 1998. The Cambridge History of Egypt. Volume One. Islamic Egypt, 640-1517. Cambridge University Press.
Arabic was the main language. Persian, Turkic, Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin also "spoken and studied". [1]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
Arabic was the main language. Persian, Turkic, Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin also "spoken and studied". [1]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
Arabic was the main language. Persian, Turkic, Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin also "spoken and studied". [1]
[1]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
Essays on astronomy. Alchemical research. [1] Astronomical tables called Hakimi Zij [2] of Ali b. Yunus (d. 1009 CE). Optical studies of mathematician and physicist Ibn al-Haytham (d. 1039 CE). Medcine flourished, co-written "medical-philosophical polemic" of Ibn Ridwan (d. 1061 CE) and Ibn Butlan (d. 1066 CE). [3]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 47)
[2]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 38) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
[3]: (Oliver 1977, 21)
Works on the laws of every religion. Works relating to the supernatural. [1] [2] "In the ninth century Ismailism appeared in the form of a secret revolutionary organization, proselytizing intensely and sending its da’i (propagandists) into every part of the Muslim world." [2]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 47)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 34)
[1] Under the Fatimids scholars made Cairo "the global centre of Arabic letters and learning. Cairo was likewise the seat ot the religious establishment, of sophisticated, learned, juridical and philosophical Islam. Its al-Azhar mosque was the premier university of the Islamic world." [2]
[1]: (Oliver 1977, 21)
[2]: (Oliver and Atmore 2001, 15) Oliver R and Atmore A. 2001. Medieval Africa 1250-1800. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
History books. Tabari’s "History." Royal biographies. [1] Chroniclers rather than historians: Ibn Zulak (d. 996 CE); al-Musabbili (d. 1029 CE); Ibn al-Sayrafi (d. 1147 CE); al-Qudai (d. 1062 CE). [2] History of Christian monasteries by Al-Shabushti (d. 1008). History of the patriarchs by the Coptic bishop Severus b. al-Muqaffa (d. c.1000 CE). [2] Court historians e.g. Musabbihi. [3]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 47)
[2]: (Oliver 1977, 22)
[3]: (Lev 1987, 353-354)
Traditional lore.
[1]
Caliphs supported poets, writers and scholars but output lower compared to works from Syria, Iraq and Spain during this period.
[2]
"Poets were employed by the state to fill the role of modern-day public relations agents."
[3]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 47)
[2]: (Oliver 1977, 21)
[3]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
Example of products traded at the Market of the Lamps included crystals and ivory [1] and since these were wealthy markets we can imagine trade items probably also included gold and silver.
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 42)
dinars. 220,000 dinars was about 1 ton of refined gold. [1] The value of their gold coinage "remained constant for almost two centuries." [2] Gold dinar from al-Mu’izz who replaced the Ikhshidid currency. [3] In medieval Islamic world dinars generally made of gold, dirhams of silver and fals of bronze or other base metal. [4]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 40)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 41)
[3]: (Calvert 2005, 741-742) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[4]: (Lindsay 2005, 112) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
Example of products traded at the Market of the Lamps included tortoise shell caskets, crystals and ivory. [1] State workshops called tiraz and private factories produced high-quality linen. Frantz-Murphy (1981) argued linen was used as a store of value and asset and that elites grew their own flax. [2]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 42)
[2]: (Findlay and O’Rourke 2009, 56) Findlay, Ronald. O’Rourke, Kevin H. 2009. Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium. Princeton University Press.
coded present for previous period because of inheritance from Abbasid Caliphate. “In the tenth century a commercial network came to exist alongside this state-run system, or at least its emergence is documented for the tenth century and especially for the Fatimid period, when merchants came to play an organized role in transmitting messages…Subsumed under this discussion is an examination of the postal systems in the parallel dynasties such as the tenth- and eleventh-century Fatimids in Egypt—who raised the use of pigeons to a whole new level” [1] .
[1]: (Matthee 2011, 366) Matthee, Rudi., 2011. Review of Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Journal of World History 22(2). https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2S554ZK2/item-list
a ’hamami’ was a "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE. [1] . “In the tenth century a commercial network came to exist alongside this state-run system, or at least its emergence is documented for the tenth century and especially for the Fatimid period, when merchants came to play an organized role in transmitting messages…Subsumed under this discussion is an examination of the postal systems in the parallel dynasties such as the tenth- and eleventh-century Fatimids in Egypt—who raised the use of pigeons to a whole new level” [2] .
[1]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Matthee 2011, 366) Matthee, Rudi., 2011. Review of Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Journal of World History 22(2). https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2S554ZK2/item-list
a ’ḥamā’mi’ referred to those who trained "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE. [1] . “In the tenth century a commercial network came to exist alongside this state-run system, or at least its emergence is documented for the tenth century and especially for the Fatimid period, when merchants came to play an organized role in transmitting messages…Subsumed under this discussion is an examination of the postal systems in the parallel dynasties such as the tenth- and eleventh-century Fatimids in Egypt—who raised the use of pigeons to a whole new level” [2] .
[1]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden.
[2]: (Matthee 2011, 366) Matthee, Rudi., 2011. Review of Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Journal of World History 22(2). https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2S554ZK2/item-list
Second wall built around al-Qahira between 1087-1092 CE. This one had stone gates. [1]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 55-56)
Cairo settlement began as an "encampment" built by a general. The walls were built before the mosque and the palace "which seems to have been something of an afterthought." "Cairo was founded to be a temporary way-station for the Fatimids’ conquest of the Muslim lands in their entirety." [1] Mahdiyya in Tunisia had an 8.3 meters thick wall and 110 towers on its ramparts. [2]
[1]: (Bloom 2007, 103, 110) Bennison A K, Gascoigne A L eds. 2007. Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Routledge.
[2]: (Qutbuddin 2011, 39) Qutbuddin, Tahera. Fatimids. Ramsamy, Edward. ed. 2011. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Volume 2. Africa. Sage. Los Angeles.
Soon after its founding in 969 CE the ramparts were constructed around al-Qahira city out of sun-dried bricks (labin). However this wall had gone by 1050 CE. [1]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 37)
A trench was dug in front of the north wall of Cairo "to protect the city from Qarmat attacks." [1] Dry moat called Khandaq. [2]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 37)
[2]: (Bloom 2007, 102) Bennison A K, Gascoigne A L eds. 2007. Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Routledge.
Fatimid warships used Greek Fire and were "equipped with war machines such as the dabbabas and manganiqs (catapults). [1]
[1]: (Vermeulen 2001, 54) Vermeulen, U. 2001, Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk Eras III: Proceedings of the 6th, 7th and 8th International Colloquium Organized at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in May 1997, 1998, and 1999. Peeters Publishers.
First known use of the counter-weight trebuchet was in 1165 CE by the Byzantines at the siege of Zevgminon. [1]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
"10th-century Berber forces, though they did not abandon the massed use of infantry slingers against enemy horses, had adopted spear-armed Arab cavalry styles, while of foot many of them used Arab bows." [1] The Fatimid arsenals contained slings. [2]
[1]: (Nicolle 2001, 17) Nicolle, D. 2001. The Moors: The Islamic West 7th-15th Centuries AD. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
Fatimid cavalry abandoned the javelin in the late 11th century. [1] Daylam infantry carried the javelin. [2]
[1]: (Nicolle 1982, 19) Nicolle, D. 1982. The Armies of Islam, 7th-11th Centuries. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Lev 1987, 343)
At late 11th Century, an elite unit of c500 marines used light hand-held crossbows. [1]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 88)
"The mace would seem to have been characteristically Arab, for it was not recorded among those Berbers who bore the brunt of Fatimid expansionist wars in the 10th century." [1] The Fatimid arsenals contained two-handed maces. [2] "While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)." [3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1982, 18) Nicolle, D. 1982. The Armies of Islam, 7th-11th Centuries. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[3]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
Swords. [1] "While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)." [2]
[1]: (Lev 1987, 341)
[2]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
Lances and swords used by Masamida Berbers. [1] The Fatimid arsenals contained lances and spears. [2] "While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)." [3]
[1]: (Lev 1987, 342)
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[3]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
The Fatimid arsenals contained pikes. [1]
[1]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
Knives existed as weapons. [1] "While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)." [2]
[1]: (Lev 1987, 354)
[2]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
Cavalry was equipped similar to the Byzantines of this era. [1]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 65-69)
Soldiers on Elephants took part in military parades. [1]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 65-69 and in Raymond 2000, 38)
Huge leather lamt, a Berber shield that originated in southern Morocco/Western Sahara. [1] The Fatimid arsenals contained shields. [2] "While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)." [3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 76)
[2]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
[3]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
The Fatimid arsenals contained "the full range of medieval military technology such as mail, scale armor, horse armor, helmets, shields, pikes, lances, spears, javelins, swords, two-handed maces, slings, bows, and crossbows. [1]
[1]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
The Fatimid arsenals contained "the full range of medieval military technology such as mail, scale armor, horse armor, helmets, shields, pikes, lances, spears, javelins, swords, two-handed maces, slings, bows, and crossbows. [1]
[1]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
Not common. Specialist troops (e.g flag bearer) wore leather gauntlets. [1]
[1]: (Nicolle 1966, 78)
The Fatimid arsenals contained "the full range of medieval military technology such as mail, scale armor, horse armor, helmets, shields, pikes, lances, spears, javelins, swords, two-handed maces, slings, bows, and crossbows. [1]
[1]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
Khudh (heavy). Baydah (light). [1] At a ceremonial occasion the Caliph al-Mu’izz was "surrounded by his four armored and helmeted sons". [2] "While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)." [3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 76)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 38)
[3]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
Mail hauberk. [1] "in 991 AD Egypt’s heavy cavalry was described as wearing hauberks and helmets and riding armoured horses. Half a century later all the elite cavalry appearing on parade were so protected although, of course, one may assume that the remainder were not so well equipped." [2] "While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)." [3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 76)
[2]: (Nicolle 1982, 19) Nicolle, D. 1982. The Armies of Islam, 7th-11th Centuries. Osprey Publishing.
[3]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.
The Fatimid arsenals contained "the full range of medieval military technology such as mail, scale armor, horse armor, helmets, shields, pikes, lances, spears, javelins, swords, two-handed maces, slings, bows, and crossbows. [1]
[1]: (Hamblin 2005, 749) Shillington, K. ed. 2005. Encyclopedia of African History: A - G.. 1. Taylor & Francis.
Fleet of warships on the Nile burned in 996 CE. [1] Fatimids were "naval-minded" and had a strong navy which controlled the sea routes of the Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, and the island of Sicily. [2] Chinese stern-rudders added during 11th Century. [3] Sailors from Sicily and Libya. Naval troops were Arab and Bedouin. Elite "black" marines who were either African or Zawila Saharan. [4]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 41)
[2]: (Hodgson 1977, 21-28)
[3]: (Nicolle 1996, 86)
[4]: (Nicolle 1996, 58)