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About Tunisia History Arab Moslem Era
About Tunisia History Arab Moslem Era
Fatimids |
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From the start the Mahdi was focused on expansion eastward, and he soon attacked Egypt with a Fatimid army led by his son, once in 914, and again in 919, both times quickly taking Alexandria but then losing to the Abbasids. Turning west, the Mahdi invaded with his Ismaili Shia Fatimid armies of Kotama Berbers, but with mixed results. Many Sunnis, including the Umayyad Caliph of al-Andalus, opposed him. The Mahdi did not follow Maliki law, but taxed harshly, incurring further resentment. His capital Mahdiya was more a fort than a princely city. The Maghrib was disrupted, being contested between the Zenata and the Sanhaja. After the death of the Mahdi, there came the Kharijite revolt of 935, which under Abu Yazid (nicknamed "the man on a donkey") was said by 943 to be spreading chaos far and wide. The Mahdi's son, the Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im, became besieged in Mahdiya. Eventually Abu Yazid was defeated by the next Fatimid caliph, Ishmail, who then made his residence in Kairouan. Fatimid rule was also under attack from Sunni Islamic states to the west, e.g., the Umayyad Caliphate of Al Andalus, and the Zenata Berber kingdoms of Morocco.
In 969 the Fatimid caliph al-Mu'izz sent his best general Jawhar al-Rumi leading a Kotama Shia army against Egypt. He managed the conquest without great difficulty. The Fatimids founded al-Qahira (Cairo) ["the victorius" or the "city of Mars"]. Three years later al-Mu'izz the caliph left Ifriqiyah for Egypt, taking everything, "his treasures, his administrative staff, and the coffins of his predecessors." Once centered in Egypt the Fatimids expanded their possessions further, northeast to Syria and southeast to Mecca, while retaining control of North Africa. From Cairo they were to enjoy relative success; they never returned to Ifriqiyah. |
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