Fatimid Caliphate

The rise of the Fatimid Caliphate began not in a grand palace, but with the tireless preaching of an Isma'ili Shi'a missionary named Abu Abdallah, who marshaled the Kutama forces of North Africa to overthrow the Aghlabids between 902 and 909 CE. This military triumph cleared the path for Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah, retrieved from Sijilmasa, to be proclaimed the first Caliph of a dynasty that traced its sacred lineage back to Fatima, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad. Initially ruling from Ifriqiya, the dynasty established successive capitals at al-Mahdiyya in 921 and al-Mansuriyya in 948, before the pivotal conquest of Egypt in 969 under the reign of al-Mu'izz. This victory prompted the relocation of the imperial center to the newly founded capital of Cairo in 973, transforming Egypt into the political and cultural heart of a sprawling empire that stretched from the western Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

At its height, the Caliphate incorporated Sicily, the Levant, the Hejaz, and much of the Maghreb, cultivating a distinctive Arabic culture that was remarkably tolerant of Jews, Christians, and non-Shi'a Muslims, even as the native Egyptian population resisted converting to the dynasty's Isma'ili faith. The empire's zenith eventually gave way to a domestic shift under the long reign of al-Mustansir, who withdrew from active governance, allowing powerful viziers to command the state. A devastating civil war in the 1060s, fueled by military factionalism, was briefly arrested by the vizier Badr al-Jamali, but external pressures soon mounted. Encroachments by Seljuk Turks and the arrival of Western Crusaders shattered the empire's borders. In 1171, Saladin finally abolished the dynasty, steering Egypt back into the Sunni sphere of the Abbasid Caliphate, ending a brilliant era of Shi'a imperial power in the Mediterranean world.