Fatimid (Latin: al-Sulalahal-Fatimiyyah) was a hereditary feudal dynasty established by the Shia sect of Islam in the Middle Ages in North Africa and the Middle East. It was founded in 909 A.D. and perished in 1171 A.D. Because its flags and costumes advocate green, Chinese history books are mostly called "green clothes and big food". Western history is known as the "Southern Saracen Empire". The dynasty was named after Fatima, the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

The dynasty was created

In 747 A.D., Abu Abbas, a descendant of the Abbasids, used the power of the Persian slave Abu Muslims in Khorasan to unite with Shia Muslims to overthrow the Umayyad dynasty in 750 A.D. (752 A.D.) and establish the Abbasid dynasty (750~1258). After the establishment of the Abbasid Dynasty, the Shiites were repeatedly oppressed by the rulers, and some of them moved to North Africa en masse. In 893 A.D., Abu Abdullah al-Hussein, a missionary teacher of the Ismaili tribe of Shia in Yemen, accepted the invitation of the Hajj pilgrims of the Berber tribes of North Africa during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, and was sent by the Ismaili headquarters to accompany the pilgrims to Tunisia and began to spread the teachings of the Ismailis among the Kitama tribes, declaring that the "Mahdi" was about to return to the world, calling on Muslims to rise up and destroy the existing order and establish a fair and just Islamic society. Abu Abdullah Hussein won the support of many believers in his missionary work, and he took the opportunity to form an armed force and became a prominent political and religious leader in the region. Soon after, Ismaili Imam Sa'id ibn Hussein, fleeing persecution by the caliphate, traveled from the headquarters of the Ismaili Ismaili in northern Syria to join Abu Abdullah from the headquarters of the Ismaili sect of Saleiye, but was captured and imprisoned by the emir of the Ahrib dynasty, Ziadatullah II. In 902 A.D., Abu Abdullah led a revolt against the Berber army and launched a fierce attack on the armies of the Aghraib dynasty. [1]

Dynasty development

In March 909, Abu Abdullah led the Berber army to capture the capital city of Raqada (present-day Kairouwan), overthrew the Al Ghraib dynasty, rescued Sa'id ibn Hussein from prison, and proclaimed him caliph. Saeed claimed to be a descendant of Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and a descendant of the seventh Shia Imam Ismaili. The capital was first established in Raqada and moved to the city of Mahdia (now the southeast coast of Kairouan) in 920 AD.

After Saeed (r. 909~934 AD), he took the throne politically against the Abbasids in Baghdad. Religiously, he became the religious leader of the Ismailis by following the Shia Ismailis as the state religion and blessing Ali and the Caliph in the prayers on Juji. Sa'fought in the west and west, suppressing Abu Abdullah's rebellion internally and expanding his territory to Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Sicily, laying the foundation for the Fatimids. After Said's death in 934 AD, his successors continued to pursue a policy of outward expansion.

In the later years of the reign of the fourth caliph al-Muyiz (r. 952~975), he sent Jawharal-Siqilli?~992 to lead the navy and army to launch several expeditions to the west, and in 967 A.D., the influence of the Umayyad dynasty in the Maghreb after Córdoba was eliminated. In 968, Zhaohaier led an army of 100,000 to conquer Egypt. In 969 AD, Zhaohail occupied Fustatt, the capital of the Ikhshid dynasty in Egypt, and sent his lieutenants to occupy Syria, Palestine, and the Hijaz, which were formerly part of the Ikhshid dynasty, and annexed them to the territory of the Fatimid dynasty. In 970~972 A.D., Muyiz built the new capital of Cairo in the northern suburbs of Fustadt. In 973 A.D., Caliph al-Muyiz moved his capital here. The largest mosque was built in 972 AD. This was followed by the annexation of Mecca and Medina. The center of dynastic rule was then shifted to Egypt. During the reign of the fifth caliph al-Aziz (975~996 AD), the country flourished and became a powerful Islamic state spanning the two continents of Asia and Africa, forming a strong momentum with the Abbasids in Baghdad and the post-Umayyad dynasty in Spain.

Aziz died in 996 and was succeeded by his son Abu Ali al-Mansur al-Hakim (996-1021) at the age of eleven. During his reign, he killed ministers, destroyed Christian churches such as the Holy Sepulchre, and discriminated against Christians and Jews. Later, al-Hakim claimed to be the incarnation of Allah, and a new sect was followed, the Druze, which was still practiced in Lebanon.

In 1021 A.D., al-Hakim was assassinated, and his son Zahir succeeded to the throne (1021-1035 A.D.) at the sixteenth year. In the agreement with the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VIII, the Roman Emperor allowed the name of the Caliph to be reinscribed in the mosques of Eastern Rome, and the Caliph allowed to rebuild the Mosque of Constantinople, and the Caliph allowed to rebuild the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In 1035 A.D., Maiad al-Mustan Syr (r. 1035-1094 A.D.) ascended to the throne at the age of eleven, and his mother was sold as a Jewish slave girl by the Jews and became regent with the Jews. During his reign of sixty years, the state declined rapidly. In 1043 A.D. Syria was lost to the Seljuk Turks. Western North Africa and Sicily were also lost. In 1058 A.D., the former Baghdad general Pessasiri forced the Abbasid Caliph to transfer the symbols of his position (including the cloak of the Prophet and other relics) to Cairo, and Muslims everywhere began to worship the Cairo Caliphate.

In the late 11th century, the Fatimids began to decline, and power fell to the Armenian soldier Badr Jemali. In 1094, Mustan Sil died, and Bedr's son, Merek Evdler, appointed his youngest son, Muste Ali. The coups d'état of the court were frequent, the military was good at government, the young lords were frequent, the land controlled by the state was shrinking day by day, and the financial revenue was embarrassed. The military and political power of the dynasty fell into the hands of ministers and officers of the Mamluk Praetorian Guard. The commander-in-chief of the army controlled the power of the state, the bureaucratic system developed into a hereditary system, and the caliph was in a protected position. Governors were divided, tax revenues plummeted, and the treasury was empty. The Ismailis were divided within themselves, with Persia, Iraq, and Central Asia severing ties with the Fatimids. Tunisia and Algeria broke away from dynastic control.

During 1096~1144 AD, most of Syria and Palestine were occupied by the Seljuks and the Crusaders. In 1071, the Normans occupied Sicily and encroached on some lands on the continent. After the Crusaders invaded Egypt, Sudan al-Din of the Zenji Dynasty of West Asia sent his generals Shirku and his nephew Saladin to their aid at the request of Adid, the last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty. In 1171 A.D., Saladin overthrew the Fatimid caliph Adidi (1160~1171 A.D.), established himself as a sultan, destroyed the Fatimid dynasty, established the Ayyubid dynasty, and restored the Sunni status of Islam in Egypt.

The Fatimid dynasty inherited and developed the Islamic culture of the Arab East, rewarded scientific research, developed education, developed culture, and prospered academically. In 972 AD, the Al-Azhar Mosque was founded in Cairo and developed into a religious and academic university where students from all over the world came to study and became the religious and academic cultural center of Shia Islam. Caliph Aziz established a royal library in Cairo with a collection of 200,000 volumes, including a large collection of rare books in various languages, including 2,400 copies of the Qur'an written in gold clay alone.

In 1005 A.D., in order to teach and propagate Shia teachings and promote Islamic academic culture, Caliph al-Hakim founded the Daral-Hikmah Science Museum, which invited famous scholars from all over the world to conduct academic research in various fields including religion, philosophy and natural sciences. It also has a school, a library, and an observatory, and the school attached to it specializes in training scholars and officials of Shia religion, and in addition to various religious disciplines, there are also medical and astronomical departments. Astronomer Ibn Yunus and optician Ibn al-Haitham all made scientific achievements here. The dynastic cultural cities of Cairo, Kairouan, Fez and Baghdad are equally famous.

Religiously, Islam was further spread and developed. The dynasty built a large number of mosques in various places, all of which were attached to religious schools, sent teachers and judges to various places to spread Shia doctrine and teachings, and presided over religious affairs, the caliph ordered to bless Ali and the caliph on the day of mosque gatherings in various places, and strictly prohibited drinking, music and entertainment, in the study of scriptures and teachings, emphasizing their hidden meanings, and interpreting the doctrines and teachings according to the Shia viewpoint, forming the Bajne'a (Inner School), which split from the Ismailis at the end of the dynasty. Adopt a policy of tolerance toward Christians and other pagans.