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Fatimids - Shiite counter-caliphate. |
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The Fatimids derived their name from the Prophet's daughter, Fatima, and could trace their roots back through nine generations to the last imam, Ismail of the branch of the Shia. Their founder, Abdallah al-Mahdi, (909-934), was helped to power by the Ismaili missionary Abu Abdullah Al-Shii as the future Mahdi and, following the annihilation of the Aghlabids empire, conquered Tunisia, Libya, eastern Algeria, and Sicily, which remained under the rule of the Fatimid's until 1061.
In 969 al-Muizz (953-975) conquered Egypt and founded Cairo; ongoing conflicts emerged with the Abbasids in relation to Syria and with the Spanish Umayyad over northern Africa; between 965 and 1070 the Fatimid's had authority over Mecca. They achieved their political and cultural zenith under al-Aziz (975-996) and al-Hakim (996-1021), whose eccentricities, however, led to religious unrest (including the emergence of the religious community of the Druze).
The long caliphate of Al-Mustansir (1036-1094) was followed by religious division (Nizarites and Mustalites). Under al-Hafiz (1131-1149) the Fatimid's rule was limited to Egypt. The last caliphs were under the influence of various military rulers; the Ayyubid Saladin, vizier in Cairo from 1169, abolished Fatimid's rule in 1171 and returned Egypt to Sunni control.
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