From the earliest days of the Islamic Empire, the more distant areas of Africa were under less direct control from the caliph and the central government. Additionally, many Berbers were converted by the Kharijites, who were outside the mainstream of Sunni Islam and always opposed the reigning caliphs. As a result, separate Islamic states were set up in what are now Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. Soon, the Kharijite groups had spread to modern-day Chad, Niger, and Mali.
The first of these separate Islamic African kingdoms was established around 800. At this time, the Abbasid caliph was forced to recognize North African governor Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab as hereditary governor. This meant the office of governor could be passed on to his relatives and the caliph would not appoint him. For the next 100 years, the Aghlabids ruled the area and barely acknowledged the Abbasids as caliphs.
The most powerful Islamic kingdom in Africa was run by the Fati-mids, a Shiite family originally from southwestern Persia. The Fatimids took control of North Africa in 909. The family was headed by Ubayd Allah (871-934). He claimed to be descended from Ali’s wife Fatima, who was Muhammad’s daughter. The Fatimids believed Ubayd Allah was the rightful caliph of the whole Islamic Empire. He also claimed to be the Mahdi, Arabic for “the rightly-guided one.” According to some Islamic traditions, the Mahdi will come before the end of time to restore Islam to its original perfection.
After taking control of North Africa with the help of Berber tribes, the Fatimids gave themselves the title of caliph. In 914, they founded a new capital called Mahdiyah (in what is now Tunisia). Although the Fatimids hated the Abbasids, they laid out their towns in much the same way as Baghdad had been designed—in a circular pattern with the palace at its center.
The Fatimid caliphs took the idea of royalty to an extreme. Anything the caliph touched was considered sacred. His clothing or even the sight of him was considered to have baraka, or grace, which was passed on to anyone who saw him or came in contact with him. The caliph was also thought to be able to heal the sick and bring rain to dry areas.
The Fatimids faced internal opposition, but managed to hold onto power for two centuries. One of their major accomplishments was taking control of Egypt in 969 (although, soon after, they lost control of Tunisia and other lands farther to the west). The loss of Egypt, which was a rich, money-making province, was a serious blow to the Abbasids.
Sicily
Sicily was the only other region in Europe (besides Spain) that the Islamic Empire managed to conquer and control for a significant period of time. Aghlabids, Muslim Berbers from North africa, first captured sicily in 827. In 909, the Fatimids defeated the aghlabids and took control of sicily and North africa.
Under Islamic control, palermo became a center of culture, knowledge, and commerce. It was famous for sugar, flax, olives, and silk weaving. By the 11th century, the island had about 300 mosques, according to contemporary muslim reports.
When the Normans (people from Normandy, a region in what is today northwestern france) conquered the region after about 250 years of muslim rule, they were impressed with the island's sophisticated culture.
Unlike the catholics in spain, the Normans did not try to get rid of all muslim
Influences in sicily. the Norman ruler, Roger (ca. 1031-1101), allowed Muslims to continue practicing their religion, welcomed Muslim soldiers into his army, and embraced Muslim scholars. On the day he was crowned, the new king of sicily wore a robe with Arabic words stitched into it. He also continued to follow the Islamic calendar.
The Muslim cultural influence in sicily continued for centuries. Frederick II of sicily (1272-1337), who later became Holy Roman Emperor, dressed in Muslim fashions and kept a harem (a group of women, usually relatives including multiple wives, who lived in a secluded part of the house). Arab scholars and administrators were a key part of his court, and Arabic was one of the four official sicilian languages. It was at Frederick's University of Naples that st. Thomas Aquinas, an important Christian scholar, first read Arabic translations of classical Greek texts.
The Fatimids established the city of Cairo (now the capital of Egypt) and founded al-Azhar University, which is the oldest continuously open university in the world.
From 975 to 1036, the Fatimid caliphs were the most powerful in the Islamic Empire. At one point the Friday prayers in Mecca and Medina were actually changed, offering blessings to the Fatimid caliph in Egypt instead of the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.
Although they enjoyed support in many areas of the kingdom, the Fatimids were not recognized in Baghdad. Their dynasty eventually weakened. In the 11th century they were defeated by the Seljuk Turks, who were now the “protectors” of the Abbasid dynasty.
Al-Azhar Mosque and University in Cairo,
Egypt, is one of the oldest universities in the world. The mosque and university are named in honor of Fatima al-Zahraa, the daughter of Muhammad, from whom the Fatimid dynasty is descended. The mosque was built in two years, beginning in ca. 971 c. E.
By 1073 the once-powerful Fatimids were in the same position as their Abbasid enemies: reduced to puppets under the control of powerful government officials and military commanders. In 1171, Kurdish military leader Saladin (1138-1193), known in the East as Salah al-Din, seized control of Egypt and brought an end to the Fatimid dynasty. He declared himself the sultan of Egypt and founded the Ayyubid dynasty.
Saladin’s descendants controlled Egypt until 1250, when Turkish slave soldiers called the Mamluks took control. The Mamluks were the last great dynasty of the Islamic Empire.
World History
