Founding The Fatimid State

Download or read book Founding the Fatimid State written by Hamid Haji and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2006-05-26 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Covering a major work of one of the most important thinkers of early Islam, this is a fresh translation of a text of inestimable importance to our understanding of Fatimid rule that will appeal to all serious students of early Islamic history and culture. This book, the "Iftitah al-Da'wa", is the most important primary source for the emergence of the Fatimid state in the early years of the tenth century. Its author, Qadi al-Nu'man, was an official historian of the Fatimids and an eminent exponent of Ismaili jurisprudence - as well as being perhaps the most distinguished and creative of all the Fatimid thinkers. The "Iftitah" is al-Nu'man's major historical work, and records in detail the background to the establishment of the Fatimid state, first in Yemen and then in north Africa. It is based on official archival and biographical documents that were accessible to the author at the time, and which have not survived. It is thus a highly significant resource for understanding the social and political conditions which prevailed when the Fatimids began to consolidate their rule.

Download or read book The Fatimids written by Shainool Jiwa and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-12-18 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Emerging from a period of long seclusion, the leader of the burgeoning community of Ismaili Shi'i Muslims was declared the first Fatimid Imam-caliph in the year 909. Abd Allah al-Mahdi founded the only sustained Shi'i dynasty (909-1171) to rule over substantial parts of the medieval Muslim world, rivalling both the Umayyads of Spain and the Abbasids. At its peak, the Fatimid Empire extended from the Atlantic shores of North Africa, across the southern Mediterranean and down both sides of the Red Sea, covering also Mecca and Medina. This accessible history, the first of two volumes, tells the story of the birth and expansion of the Fatimid Empire in the 10th century. Drawing upon eyewitness accounts, Shainool Jiwa introduces the first four generations of Fatimid Imam-caliphs -- al-Mahdi, al-Qa'im, al-Mansur, and al-Mu'izz -- as well as the people who served them and those they struggled against. Readers are taken on a journey through the Fatimid capitals of Qayrawan, Mahdiyya, and Mansuriyya and on to the founding of Cairo. In this lively and comprehensive introduction, readers will discover various milestones in Fatimid history and the political and cultural achievements that continue to resonate today.

Download or read book The Fatimid Caliphate written by Farhad Daftary and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies The Fatimids ruled much of the Mediterranean world for over two centuries. From the conquest of Qayrawan in 909 to defeat at the hands of Saladin in 1171, the Fatimid caliphate governed a vast area stretching, at its peak, from the Red Sea in the East to the Atlantic Ocean in the West. Their leaders - the Ismaili Shi`i Imam-caliphs - were distinctive in largely pursuing a policy of tolerance towards the religious and ethnic communities of their realm, and they embraced diverse approaches to the practicalities of administering a vast empire. Such methods of negotiating government and diversity created a lasting pluralistic legacy. The present volume, edited by Farhad Daftary and Shainool Jiwa, brings together a series of original contributions from a number of leading authorities in the field. Based on analyses of primary sources, the chapters shed fresh light on the impact of Fatimid rule. The book presents little explored aspects of state-society relations such as the Fatimid model of the vizierate, Sunni legal responses to Fatimid observance, and the role of women in prayer. Highlighting the distinctive nature of the Fatimid empire and its legacy, this book will be of special interest to researchers in mediaeval Islamic history and thought.

Download or read book Founding the Fatimid State written by Abåu òHanåifah Nu0måan ibn Muòhammad and published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. This book was released on 2006-07-25 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an annotated English translation of Qadi al-Nu'man's Iftitah al-de' wa. This book is the most important primary source for the emergence of the Fatimid state in the early years of the tenth century. Its author, Qadi al-Nu'man, was an official historian of the Fatimids and an eminent exponent of Ismaili jurisprudence--as well being perhaps the most distinguished and creative of all the Fatimid thinkers. The Iftitah is al-Nu'man's major historical work, and records in detail the background to the establishment of the Fatimid state, first in Yemen and then in north Africa. It is based on official archival and biographical documents that were accessible to the author at the time, and which have not survived.

Download or read book The Founder of Cairo written by Shainool Jiwa and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The reign of the founder of Cairo, the fourth Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (341-365/953-975), marks a watershed in the transformation of the Fatimid state from a regional North African dynasty to an expansive Mediterranean empire. It was also under al- Mu'izz that articulations of the supreme authority of the Fatimid Ismaili imamate were written and disseminated across various regions of Fatimid influence. The writings of Idris 'Imad al-Din (d. 872/1468) provide a distinctive presentation of the Fatimid imamate from the perspective of the Ismaili da'wa itself. as the chief d'ai of the Yemeni Tayyib Ismailis, Idris composed his monumental "Uyun al-akhbar wa funun al-athar' as a record of the Ismaili imamate from its inception to his own time. in doing so, Idris drew upon the rich repertoire of Ismaili and non-Ismaili sources that had been part of the corpus of the Fatimid literary tradition, many of which have subsequently been lost due to the vagaries of time and circumstance. As the only surviving medieval Ismaili work documenting the history of the Fatimid dynasty, the "Uy-un al-akhbar' is among its principal primary sources. This book provides the first annotated English translation of the extensive chapter on al-Mu'izz in the "Uy-un', which remains a vital yet relatively unknown Ismaili source. The introduction to this work not only outlines the salient features of al-Mu'izz's reign but also examines Idris' purpose and approach to historical writing. In providing an insider's account of the reign of one of the most influential rulers of the medieval Muslim world, this work will be of particular interest to students of Ismaili history and thought, medieval Mediterranean history and Muslim historiography.

Download or read book Building the Caliphate written by Jennifer A. Pruitt and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting exploration of how the Fatimid dynasty carefully orchestrated an architectural program that proclaimed their legitimacy This groundbreaking study investigates the early architecture of the Fatimids, an Ismaili Shi‘i Muslim dynasty that dominated the Mediterranean world from the 10th to the 12th century. This period, considered a golden age of multicultural and interfaith tolerance, witnessed the construction of iconic structures, including Cairo’s al-Azhar and al-Hakim mosques and crucial renovations to Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock and Aqsa Mosque. However, it also featured large-scale destruction of churches under the notorious reign of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, most notably the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Jennifer A. Pruitt offers a new interpretation of these and other key moments in the history of Islamic architecture, using newly available medieval primary sources by Ismaili writers and rarely considered Arabic Christian sources. Building the Caliphate contextualizes early Fatimid architecture within the wider Mediterranean and Islamic world and demonstrates how rulers manipulated architectural form and urban topographies to express political legitimacy on a global stage.

Download or read book Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis written by Farouk Mitha and published by I.B.Tauris. This book was released on 2001-11-22 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Al-Ghazali is arguably one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Islam, and his writings have received greater scholarly attention in the West than those of any other Muslim scholar. This study explores an important dimension of his thought that has not yet been fully examined, namely, his polemical engagement with the Ismailis of the Fatimid and early Alamut periods. Published in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies.