The Fatimid Empire
Michael Brett (Author)
The Fatimid empire in North Africa, Egypt and Syria was at the centre of the political and religious history of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, from the breakdown of the 'Abbasid empire in the tenth century, to the invasions of the Seljuqs in the eleventh and the Crusaders in the twelfth, leading up to its extinction by Saladin. As Imam and Caliph, the Fatimid sovereign claimed to inherit the religious and political authority of the Prophet, a claim which inspired the conquest of North Africa and Egypt and a following of believers as far away as India. The reaction this provoked was crucial to the political and religious evolution of mediaeval Islam. This book combines the separate histories of Isma'ilism, North Africa and Egypt with that of the dynasty into a coherent account. It then relates this account to the wider history of Islam to provide a narrative that establishes the historical significance of the empire
History
1 online resource (viii, 339 pages) : illustrations, maps
9781474421515, 9781474421522, 1474421512, 1474421520
1002303570
List of boxes
List of illustrations
Introduction: the question of empire
The coming of the Mahdī
The city of the Mahdī
The conquest of Egypt
the constitution of the state
The formation of the empire
A failure of direction: the reign of al-Ḥākim bi Amr Allāh
The regime of the Pen
The crisis of the empire
The Fatimid renascence
The reorientation of the dynasty
The final failure
Conclusion: the Fatimids in retrospect. Genealogy of Shiʻite Imāms
Genealogy of Fatimids
Bibliography
Index of persons
Index of dynasties, peoples and sects
Index of places
Index of subjects