The Fatimids and the Institutionalization of Sunni-Shi’ah Conflicts

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design

International Islamic University Malaysia E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com

The Mosque of al-Azhar.

The Shi’ah Fatimids were a major Isma’ili Shi’ah dynasty. They founded their own caliphate, in rivalry with the ‘Abbasids, and ruled over different parts of the Islamic world, from North Africa and Sicily to Palestine and Syria. The Fatimid period was also the golden age of Isma’ili thought and literature. Established in 297 AH /909 CE in Ifriqiyah (today’s Tunisia, Western Libya and Eastern Algeria), the seat of the Fatimids was later transferred to Egypt in 362 AH /972 CE, and the dynasty was finally overthrown by Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (Saladin) (d. 590 AH /1193 CE) in 567 AH /1171 CE, when the fourteenth and last Fatimid caliph, al-‘Adid li Dinillah (d. 567 AH /1171 CE), lay dying in Cairo.1 The Isma’ilis came into being after the death of Ja’far b. Muhammad al-Sadiq (d. 148 AH/ 765 CE), the sixth Shi’i imam. Jaʿfar’s eldest son, Isma’il (d. 158 AH/ 774 CE) was accepted as his successor only by a minority, who became known as the Isma’ilis. Those who accepted Jaʿfar’s younger son, Musa b. Ja’far al-Kazim (d. 183 AH/ 799 CE), as the

1 Fatimids, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fatimids (accessed November 23, 2013).

seventh Imam and acknowledged his successors through the 12th Imam became known as Ithna ʿAshariyyah (Twelvers), the largest and most conservative of the Shi’i sects. Certain of the Isma’ilis (known as Waqifiyah, or Stoppers) believed Isma’il to have been the seventh and last Imam and were designated as Seveners (Sab’iyah), while the majority of the Isma’ilis believed the imamate continued in the line of the Fatimid caliphs. However, the term Seveners, in some circles, is applied to all the adherents of Isma’iliyyah.2 The time between the seventh Imam and the emergence of the first Fatimid Imam and caliph, by and large, is shrouded in a myriad of mysteries and controversies. As a result, several Isma’ili sub-sects were formed and got separated from the Isma’ili mainstream. The time in question -- a period of more than a hundred years -- is marked by the likelihood of an interim occultation which was followed by the intensive Isma’ili da’wah or a secret religio-political movement designated as al-da’wah al-hadiyah (the rightly guiding mission).3 The Isma’ili or Fatimid da’wah or mission culminated in Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah (d. 323 AH /934 CE), the fourth da’i or missionary of the Isma’ili mission, openly declaring himself as Imam and the first Fatimid caliph. At first, Isma’ili missionaries became established in many parts of the Islamic state, preaching a doctrine of revolution against the Sunni order and the ‘Abbasid state. After a number of unsuccessful risings, the Isma’ilis were able to establish a firm base in Yemen. From there they sent emissaries to North Africa, where they achieved their greatest success. By 297 AH /909 CE they were strong enough for their Imam, who had been in hiding, to emerge and proclaim himself caliph, with the messianic title of mahdi (the divinely guided one). This marked the beginning of a new state and dynasty, the Fatimid state and dynasty. For the first half-century the Fatimid caliphs ruled only in North Africa and Sicily, where they had to deal with many problems. Most of their subjects were Sunnis of the Maliki school; others -- a substantial minority -- were the Khawarij. Neither group was well disposed toward the Isma’ili doctrines of the new rulers, and they offered stubborn resistance to them.4

From North Africa, the Fatimids aimed to expand to the East. In 359 AH /969 CE, they conquered the Nile Valley and advanced across Sinai into Palestine and southern Syria. In the process, the city of Cairo, which became the capital and, at the same time, a symbol of the Fatimid triumphs and presence, was built. Hence the name Cairo, or al-Qahirah in Arabic, was given, which means “the Vanquisher”. Naser Khosraw (d. 481 AH/ 1088 CE), a famed 5th AH / 11th CE century traveler from Iran who visited Cairo, commented that the city was so called because the Fatimid army had gained victory there.5 Also, for the same reasons, as part of the nascent Cairo urbanization scheme, building the 2 Shi’ite, Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/540503/Shiite (accessed November 23, 2013). Isma’ilite, Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/296133/Ismailite, (accessed September 22, 2013). 3 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 23, 2013). 4 Fatimid Dynasty, Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/202580/Fatimid-Dynasty (accessed November 23, 2013). Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ilis, their History and Doctrines, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 98-116. 5 Naser Khosraw, Book of Travels, translated from Persian by W. M. Thackston, Jr., (Albany: Bibliotheca Persica, 1986), p. 45.

mosque of al-Azhar as a focal point of the city was commissioned. The meaning of the mosque’s name is “the mosque of the most dazzling”. Customarily, moreover, the mosque’s name is thought to allude to the Prophet’s daughter Fatimah (d. 11 AH/ 632 CE) who was given the title al-Zahra’ “the shining one” to show Muslims’ admiration of her moral and physical characteristics. However, this was seen as a desperate attempt by the Fatimids to enhance and authenticate their claims that they were genuine descendents of Fatimah, something which remained highly controversial6 until today. That was likewise meant to symbolize the chief spiritual objective of the Fatimid existence and mission, that is to say, illuminating the right path to the people and safely guiding them towards, and on, it. Isma’ili doctrine stressed the dual nature of Qur’anic interpretation, exoteric (zahir) and esoteric (batin), and made a distinction between the ordinary Muslim and the initiated Isma’ili. The secret wisdom of the Isma’ilis was accessible only through a hierarchical organization headed by the Imam and was disseminated by da’is (missionaries), who introduced believers into the elite through carefully graded levels.7 In addition, the Isma’ilis share with the rest of their Shi’ah brethren some of the most fundamental Shi’i teachings and principles. For example, they all share “the belief in the permanent need of mankind for a divinely guided, sinless and infallible Imam, who, after the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), would act as the authoritative teacher and guide of men in all their spiritual affairs. This Imam was entitled to temporal leadership as much as to religious authority; his mandate, however, did not depend on his actual rule. The doctrine further taught that the Prophet himself had designated his cousin and son-in-law ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, who was married to the Prophet's daughter Fatimah, as his successor under divine command; and that the imamate was to be transmitted from father to son among the descendants of ‘Ali and Fatimah, through their son Husayn until the end of time. This ‘Alid Imam was in possession of a special knowledge or ‘ilm and had perfect understanding of the exoteric (zahir) and esoteric (batin) meanings of the Qur’an and the commandments and prohibitions of the Shari’ah or the sacred law of Islam. Recognition of this Imam, the sole legitimate Imam at any time, and obedience to him were made the absolute duties of every believer.”8

The Faṭimid rulers pursued their aim of establishing the universal Isma’ili imamate. The Fatimid caliphate was a regime at once imperial and revolutionary. At home, the caliph was a sovereign, governing a vast empire and seeking to expand it by normal military and political means. Its heart was Egypt; its provinces at its peak included North Africa, Sicily, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and Hijaz, with the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. Control of these was of immense value to a Muslim ruler, conferring great religious prestige and enabling him to exploit the annual pilgrimage to his

6 Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az al-Hunafa bi Akhbar al-A’immah al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa, (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2001), vol. 1 p. 118-125. Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol. 11 p. 191. Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali, Fada’ih al-Batiniyyah, (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2002), p. 23-27. 7 Isma’ilite, Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/296133/Ismailite, (accessed September 22, 2013). Ahmad ‘Arafat, Al-Fikr al-Siyasi ‘ind al-Batiniyyah, (Cairo: al-Hay’ah al-Masriyyah al-‘Ammah li al-Kitab, 1993), p. 109-128. 8 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 23, 2013).

advantage.9 Furthermore, the Fatimids ruled their imperial domain as both caliphs and as, more importantly, Imams in the full Shi’i sense of that term which made them the supreme authority in all religious as well as secular affairs. For the Isma’ilis “the reigning Imam had a status equivalent to that of the Prophet (pbuh), except that he did not receive revelation from God. In all other respects the Fatimid rulers were the divinely ordained successors of the Prophet (pbuh), heirs thus to the full extent of his sanctity and sacral authority. Isma’ili doctrine was thus intimately bound up in the progress of Fatimid government.”10 Accordingly, as an illustration, in the first cities thoroughly controlled by the Isma’ilis in North Africa, such as Qayrawan and Raqqadah, the first Fatimid Imam and caliph, Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah, issued a decree, ordering it to be invoked from the pulpits of mosques. He prescribed invocation of blessings upon himself after the invocation of blessings of God upon the Prophet (pbuh), ‘Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, Husayn and the Imams from his posterity. This same tradition continued with all the Fatimid rulers throughout their tenures as Fatimid Imams and caliphs, and all over their vast domains.11 The Fatimids existed in what could be described as the twilight of the Islamic golden age. By the time they arrived at the Islamic religious, intellectual and civilizational scene, the Muslim world was in rapid decline. The matter was compounded and further exacerbated by the advent of the Shi’ah Buyids (323-447 AH /934-1055 CE) who controlled most of modern-day Iraq and Iran, including the city of Baghdad, the capital of the ‘Abbasid caliphate. The Buyids might have been at first the followers of the Zaydiyyah branch of Shi’ism, but later converted to the Ithna ʿAshariyyah (Twelvers) branch, as the idea of the occultation of the twelfth Imam appears to have been more suitable and more politically attractive to them.12 Besides, they were not of ‘Ali b. Abi Talib’s descendents. They were a dynasty of Daylamite origin (today’s Gilan province in Iran along the Caspian Sea). Luckily for the rest of the Muslim world, especially Sunnis, the Isma’ili Fatimids and the Imami or Ithna ʿAshariyyah (Twelvers) Buyids were perennially at odds with each other, even confronting one another along the Syria-Hijaz-Yemen line. The Buyids regarded the Fatimids as agents of a hostile power. In their capacity as the Imami or Ithna ʿAshariyyah Shi’is, they also must have regarded the Isma’ili Fatimids as deviationists. According to Murtada Mutahhari, “the Isma’ilis are so-called Shi’is who believe in six Imams. But all the Twelve Imami Shi’i scholars are unanimous in the opinion that in spite of their belief in six Imams, the Isma’ilis stand at a greater distance from the Shi’i faith than the non-Shi’i sects. The Sunnis, who do not believe in any of the Imams in the same sense as the Shi’is do, nevertheless are nearer to the Shi’is than these ‘Six Imami Shi’is’. The Isma’ilis, on account of their batini (esoteric) beliefs and secretive practices have played a treacherous role in

9 Fatimid Dynasty, Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/202580/Fatimid-Dynasty (accessed November 23, 2013). Ahmad ‘Arafat, Al-Fikr al-Siyasi ‘ind al-Batiniyyah, p. 163-189. 10 Paul E. Walker, Fatimid History and Ismaili Doctrine, (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2008), p. vii (Introduction). 11 Hamid Haji, Founding the Fatimid State, an annotated English translation of al-Qadi al-Nu’man’s Iftitah al-Da’wah, (London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2006), p. 205. 12 Paul Ernest Walker, Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani: Ismaili Thought in the Age of al-Hakim, (London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 1999), p. 13.

the history of Islam and have had a big hand in causing serious deviations in the realm of Islam.”13 The time when the Fatimid cause and mission reached their peak, was a time when much of the Muslim world was in disarray. It was an inter-state system with unstable components, fluid boundaries and powerful non-governmental, inter-state movements. The main religious groupings were not territorially defined.14 Conceptually, too, much ambiguity still lingered pertaining to a host of issues and quandaries. Religious sectarianism was rampant. Each sect, or group, aspired to convert all the others to the “right path”.15 Macro and collective unity, cooperation and brotherhood, consequently, were rather illusory. They were the matters of the past. The condition impeccably corresponded to the Qur’anic disclosure: “…Of those who have divided their religion and become sects, every faction rejoicing in what it has.” (Al-Rum, 32). Thus the Muslim Ummah was on the “right track” to reach the nadir of its existential turmoil. The stage was getting perfectly set for the occurrence of the most devastating events ever witnessed by Muslims, i.e., the Crusades during which Muslims lost Jerusalem to the invading Crusaders, precisely in 493 AH /1099 CE, and the subsequent loss of Baghdad as the capital city to the invading Mongols in 657 AH /1258 CE which spelled the end of the ‘Abbasid caliphate. The Fatimids promised the masses that they will restore the leadership of Muslims to ahl al-bayt whose legitimate rights to leadership had been successively usurped by the Umayyads and the ‘Abbasids. The ‘Abbasids were especially targeted because at the time of the Isma’ili or Fatimid da’wah and throughout their subsequent existence as an independent state, they stood at the helm of the Muslim Sunni leadership, and also because the ‘Abbasids, while rising against and successfully overthrowing the Umayyads, made the same promises. They capitalized on the strong ahl al-bayt sentiment, thus attempting nothing but to garner wide public support for their own designs and plots. In the end, however, the ‘Abbasids let many people down, above all the Shi’ah and ahl al-bayt sympathizers, by deceiving them and manipulating their moral and material support.16 Ultimately, the Isma’ili and Fatimid missionaries won an increasing number of converts among a multitude of discontented groups of diverse social backgrounds, such as landless peasantry and Bedouin tribesmen whose interests were set apart from those of the prospering urban classes. The missionaries also exploited regional grievances.17 According to Farhad Daftary, therefore, “on the basis of a well-designed da’wah strategy, the da’is were initially more successful in nonurban milieus, removed from the administrative centers of the ‘Abbasid caliphate. This explains the early spread of Isma’ilism among rural

13 Murtada Mutahhari, The Shi’i Interpretation of the Qur’an, in: Shi’ism: Doctrines, Thought and Spirituality, (Ads.) Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi & Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, (New York: State University of New York Press, 1988), p. 31. 14 Antony Black, The History of Islamic Political Thought, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012), p. 45-65. 15 Al-Qadi al-Nu’man, Ikhtilaf Usul al-Madhahib, (Beirut: Dar al-Andalus, 1983), p. 46-68. 16 Husayn ‘Atwan, Al-Da’wah al-‘Abbasiyyah, Mabadi’ wa Asalib, (Beirut: Dar al-Jayl, 1984), p. 91-107. Husayn ‘Atwan, Al-Da’wah al-‘Abbasiyyah, Tarikh wa Tatawwur, (Amman: Maktabah al-Muhtasib, n.d.), p. 331-351. 17 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). Hatim Mahamid, Isma’ili Da’wah and Politics in Fatimid Egypt, http://www.nobleworld.biz/images/Mahamid.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). Khidr Ahmad, Al-Hayah al-Fikriyyah fi Misr fi al-‘Asr al-‘Fatimi, (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-‘Arabi, 1989), p. 40-99.

inhabitants and Bedouin tribesmen of the Arab lands, notably in southern Iraq, eastern Arabia (Bahrayn) and Yemen. In contrast, in the Iranian lands, especially in the Jibal, Khorosan and Transoxania, the da’wah was primarily addressed to the ruling classes of the educated elite.”18 In due course, by acquiring political power and then transforming the embryonic Fatimid establishment into a flourishing empire, Isma’ilis presented their Shi’i challenge to ‘Abbasid hegemony and Sunni interpretation of Islam. “Isma’ilism, too, had now found its own place among the state-sponsored communities of interpretation in Islam. Henceforth, the Fatimid caliph-Imam could claim to act as the spiritual spokesman of Shi’i Islam in general, much like the ‘Abbasid caliph was the mouthpiece of Sunni Islam.”19 The Fatimids aimed to extend their authority and rule not only over the entire Muslim Ummah, but also over the regions of the world inhabited and controlled by non-Muslims.20 Hence, when supplicating after a Jumu’ah sermon for al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah (d. 365 AH /975 CE), the first Fatimid caliph-Imam who moved from Ifriqiyah to Egypt following the creation of Cairo, the prayer leader in the mosque of ‘Amr b. al-‘As in Egypt implored God to unite the whole Muslim Ummah in submission to the Fatimid caliph-Imam, whom he called in his supplication the rightly guided commander of the faithful (amir al-mu’minin). He also prayed for Muslims’ hearts to get united in their loyalty and devotion to the new ruler, and that God makes him inherit the easts and wests of the earth, just as He had promised in the Qur’an for His faithful servants.21 This supplication was made in the presence of Jawhar al-Siqili (d. 382 AH /992 CE), the most important military leader in Fatimid history and the conqueror of Egypt and builder of Cairo. It was made in the mosque of ‘Amr b. al-‘As in 358 AH /968 CE, the year Jawhar al-Siqili arrived in Egypt as a conqueror and laid the foundation of Cairo, and about one year before building the mosque of al-Azhar commenced. The prayer leader read out the mentioned supplication from a label, which shows that the supplication was prepared earlier for him and he just had to read it out verbatim.22

In 362 AH/ 972 CE, the caliph-Imam al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah arrived in Egypt and stayed in a just-completed caliphal palace complex inside a just-completed walled city of Cairo.23 At its peak, the Fatimid empire encompassed and supplications for its leaders, as well as for its Shi’i ancestors, were read across territories in North Africa, Sicily, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and Hijaz with the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. The Fatimid caliphs-Imams, therefore, used to prepare and send the covering (kiswah) for the Ka’bah in Makkah every year during the pilgrimage season (hajj). The caliph-Imam al-Mustansir Billah (d. 487 AH /1094 CE) did so twice a year.24 As soon as they arrived in the new territories, the Fatimids went about intensifying their propaganda against the ‘Abbasid rule. They doubled their efforts towards uprooting

18 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az al-Hunafa bi Akhbar al-A’immah al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa, vol. 1 p. 186. 22 Ibid., vol. 1 p. 186. 23 Ibn Taghribirdi, Al-Nujum al-Zahirah, (Cairo: Wizarah al-Thaqafah wa al-Irshad al-Qawmi, n.dp.), vol. 4 p. 66. 24 Naser Khosraw, Book of Travels,p. 59.

the ‘Abbasids and installing themselves as lawful leaders. Weakening and discrediting Sunnism, while enhancing and venerating Shi’ism, stood at the heart of the same plan. Thus, the goals, means and strategies of the Isma’ili da’wah (mission) took on some unprecedented moves which would have been unlikely were it not for the creation of the Isma’ili and Fatimid empire. As a result, as early as in 359 AH /969 CE in the mosques of Egypt as part of adhan (call for prayers), the words “come to the best of deeds”, as a symbol of Shi’ism in a area, were added.25 That routine continued until the arrival of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (Saladin) in Egypt when the Fatimids were cast out, following which Sunnism and its jurisprudence and creed were officially reinstalled. Moreover, no sooner had he arrived and settled down in Cairo in 362 AH/ 972 CE, al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah wrote to Egypt’s religious leaders, acquainting them with a new Shi’i-Isma’ili creed as the future official state creed, that after the Prophet (pbuh), the best person was the commander of the faithful (amir al-mu’minin), ‘Ali b. Abi Talib.26 In the same year, commemorating the anniversary of the Prophet’s alleged appointment of ‘Ali b. Abi Talib as his successor at Ghadir al-Khumm, took place for the first time in Egypt.27 The following year, in 363 AH/ 973 CE, a major Shi’ah festival of public wailing and mourning on the anniversary of the death of Husayn, accompanied by collective visiting of Shi’ah tombs such as those of Nafisah bt. Hasan b. Zayd b. al-Hasan b. ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (d. 210 AH /825 CE) and Kulthum b. Muhammad b. Ja’far b. Muhammad al-Sadiq, was likewise observed, resulting in a chaos and skirmishes that involved a number of Shi’is and non-Shi’is.28 However, according to Ibn Taghribirdi (d. 874 AH /1469 CE), publicly observing the anniversary of the death of Husayn, with all the formal rites and ceremonies that are normally associated with it, did not occur until the year 366 AH / 976 CE,29 three years later than what al-Maqrizi (845 AH /1441 CE) in the earlier narrative has mentioned. Ibn Taghribirdi explicitly wrote that that was the first time when such abhorrent custom was held in Egypt, and it persisted until the demise of the Fatimid state.30 Nonetheless, it seems that the two masters of Egypt’s history did not contradict each other. What al-Maqrizi had in mind, in all probability, was the celebration of the said event by the commoners, which however was yet to get an overt seal of approval and full-fledged support from the Fatimid government, and which in some circles was part of a popular culture even prior to the arrival of the Fatimids. So, therefore, with or without the Fatimids, the culture of elaborate and heartrending memorializing of Husayn’s martyrdom would have continued with different degrees of scope and intensity. On the other hand, what Ibn Taghribirdi wanted to convey, presumably, was the full-scale commemoration of the festival with the Fatimid government leading the way. The first occasion thus could be seen as a precursor to the second one which needed a few years to fully materialize.

This explanation becomes more plausible when we remember that in the territories controlled by the Fatimids, most people were and remained Sunnis, so they had to be extremely careful when issuing and applying edicts, in particular during the early years of

25 Al-Maqrizi, Al-Khitat al-Maqriziyyah, (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1998), vol. 4 p. 46. Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az al-Hunafa bi Akhbar al-A’immah al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa, vol. 1 p. 190. 26 Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az al-Hunafa bi Akhbar al-A’immah al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa, vol. 1 p. 204. 27 Ibid., vol. 1 p. 209. 28 Ibid., vol. 210. 29 Ibn Taghribirdi, Al-Nujum al-Zahirah, vol. 4 p. 126. 30 Ibid., vol. 4 p. 126.

their rule and in connection with those matters which were highly sensitive. That said, Farhad Daftary maintains that, by and large, the Fatimids behaved leniently towards Egyptians, declaring general amnesty upon their arrival in Egypt as victors. “Subsequently, the Fatimids introduced the Isma’ili madhhab only gradually in Egypt, where Shi’ism had never acquired a stronghold. Fatimid Egypt remained primarily Sunni, and the Shafi’i madhhab, with an important community of Christian Copts. The Fatimids never attempted forced conversion of their subjects and the minoritarian status of the Shi’ah remained unchanged in Egypt despite two centuries of Isma’ili Shi’i rule.”31

However, there were times when such leniency and tolerance were replaced with relative fear and hostile attitudes and practices. The two patterns were intermittent and the Fatimid rulers with different levels of involvements were responsible for them. It is for example reported that a man in Cairo was beaten and dragged through the streets of the city merely because he possessed a copy of Malik b. Anas’s work, al-Muwatta’.32 This other side of the coin, surely, al-Suyuti had in mind when he said that the Fatimids in the process of establishing their Shi’i madhhab in Egypt eliminated the leaders of the three Sunni schools of jurisprudence or madhhabs: the Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanafi schools. They did so by means of condemnations, executions and banishments.33

In the same vein, Ibn Taghribirdi charged the Fatimids with the felonies of extinguishing the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) and decimating the intellectual elite. He thus did not hesitate to declare that the Fatimid claims that they were genealogical heirs of ‘Ali and Fatimah were a sheer forgery,34 indirectly implying that the exterminators of the Sunnah and the persecutors of the scholars, the true and only inheritors of the Prophet (pbuh) and his heavenly legacy, cannot be associated even indirectly with ahl al-bayt or the household of the Prophet (pbuh), let alone be their successors. Ibn Taghribirdi explicitly said about the caliph-Imam al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah that he was not noble; he was just a pretender. He narrated that when he arrived in Cairo, he gathered all the city’s nobles. He then unsheathed his sword and said ominously: “This is my lineage”. Next, he distributed lots of gold to them and said: “This is my account.” All those who were present then responded: “We heard, and we obeyed.”35 On account of the Fatimid caliphs-Imams’ certain repulsive religious novelties, it was a custom for the people to prostrate themselves and say a prayer when a caliph-Imam passed.36 Furthermore, about the caliph-Imam al-Hakam, Ibn Taghribirdi narrated that he was a controversial personality beset with extremes. For example, he loved knowledge but often harassed and killed scholars; he loved reforms but often persecuted and killed reformers; at times he was generous, but at other times he was miserly even about the things which nobody was ever miserly about. He killed an incalculable number of scholars and other righteous individuals.37 So controversial a personality was al-Hakim that even such blasphemous ideas as transmigration of the soul from one person to another (tanasukh al-arwah), the incarnation of God, and prohibiting

31 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). 32 Ahmad ‘Arafat, Al-Fikr al-Siyasi ‘ind al-Batiniyyah, p. 191. 33 Khidr Ahmad, Al-Hayah al-Fikriyyah fi Misr fi al-‘Asr al-‘Fatimi, p. 146. 34 Ibn Taghribirdi, Al-Nujum al-Zahirah, vol. 4 p. 74-77. 35 Ibid., vol. 4 p. 77. 36 Naser Khosraw, Book of Travels,p. 50. 37 Ibn Taghribirdi, Al-Nujum al-Zahirah, vol. 4 p. 176.

the permissible and permitting the prohibited, were associated with him and his time in power. Consequently, he is often referred to as the “mad caliph” due to whose actions the people, apparently not only Sunnis but also a great many Shi’is, were constantly very infuriated. For most Sunnis, he was an outright apostate, an infidel.38

Moreover, for the purpose of realizing their multifaceted socio-political and ideological objectives, the Fatimids created a number of distinctive traditions and institutions, the most remarkable ones, perhaps, having been those related to teaching and learning.39 The da’wah as the lifeblood of the Isma’ili movement and the Fatimid regime was mainly concerned with the religious education of converts, who had to be duly instructed in Isma’ili esoteric doctrine. For that purpose a variety of teaching sessions addressed to different audiences were organized. Some sessions were private in nature and others public; some were for women and others for men. There were also public lectures on Isma’ili law or jurisprudence which was adopted as the official system of religious law in the Fatimid state. “But the Isma’ili legal code, governing the juridical basis of the daily life of the Muslim subjects of the Fatimid state, was new and its precepts had to be explained to Isma’ili as well as non-Isma’ili Muslims. As a result, public sessions on the Shari’ah as interpreted by Isma’ili jurisprudence, were held by al-Qadi al-Nu’man (d. 351 AH/ 962 CE) and his successors as chief qadis (judges), after the Friday midday (Jumu’ah) prayers, in the Fatimid capital.”40

Public disputations with Sunni scholars were also occasionally held. The main objective of those meetings was to expound the Shi’i foundations of the new Fatimid regime and the legitimate rights of ahl al-bayt to the leadership of the Islamic community,41 and to elucidate how illegitimate the purported rights of the Sunni ‘Abbasids and their Umayyad predecessors to the same mantle, were. Understandably, an institution of public and semi-public debate or dispute was known to the Fatimids from the days of their first victories in North Africa, in that they were originally a proselytizing organization and then a proselytizing government. Their development and continued existence, to a large extent, depended on it. Paul E. Walker said that “from the first days of their victory in North Africa and before the liberation and advent of al-Mahdi, the brothers Abu Abdullah al-Shi’i and Abu al-‘Abbas orchestrated a series of munazarat (disputations or debates) in which one or the other of them tested the leading non-Isma’ili figures from Qayrawan and the former territories of the Aghlabids. As a direct result, substantial numbers of former Hanafis and Shi’is, plus some others, converted and joined the Fatimid movement.”42

38 Ibid., vol. 4 p. 222. Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az al-Hunafa bi Akhbar al-A’immah al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa, vol. 1 p. 395. 39 Paul E. Walker, Fatimid History and Ismaili Doctrine, p. 1-39. Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996), p. 627-629. 40 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). Hatim Mahamid, Isma’ili Da’wah and Politics in Fatimid Egypt, http://www.nobleworld.biz/images/Mahamid.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). 41 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). 42 Paul E. Walker, Fatimid History and Ismaili Doctrine, p. 4.

Teaching sessions were held most regularly and most systematically in mosques which functioned as community centers,43 in the Fatimid caliphal palace complex, in private houses, and in some newly emerged institutions of learning such as Dar al-‘Ilm (the House of knowledge). Libraries with massive collections of books were also built, the most significant of which was the one incorporated into the Dar al-‘Ilm.44 As a small digression, Dar al-‘Ilm was founded in 395 AH / 1005 CE by the third (sixth overall) Fatimid caliph-Imam in Cairo, al-Hakim (d. 412 AH / 1021 CE). It was an educational institution where a wide variety of religious and non-religious sciences were taught. Many Fatimid da’is (missionaries) received at least part of their education at the Dar al-‘Ilm. By later Fatimid times, the Dar al-‘Ilm more closely served the needs of the da’wah.45 Clearly, the establishment was a true institute for advancement, preservation and propagation of knowledge and with no other purpose. “In many respects it was unprecedented, although the Bayt al-Hikmah (the House of wisdom) frequently cited as a foundation of the ‘Abbasids some two centuries earlier in Baghdad, was a possible model.”46

For the same reasons entailed in the da’wah, during the reign of the first (fourth overall) Fatimid caliph-Imam in Egypt, al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah, the process of codifying Isma’ili law attained its climax. It was done mainly through the efforts of al-Qadi al-Nu’man, the foremost Fatimid jurist. Al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah “officially commissioned al-Qadi al-Nu’man, who headed the Fatimid judiciary from 337 AH/ 948 CE in the reign of the third Fatimid caliph-Imam al-Mansur (d. 342 AH/ 953 CE), to promulgate an Isma’ili madhhab. His efforts culminated in the compilation of the Da’a’im al-Islam (the Pillars of Islam), which was endorsed by al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah as the official code of the Fatimid dawlah. The Isma’ilis, too, now possessed a system of law and jurisprudence as well as an Isma’ili paradigm of governance.”47

That the mosques were playing a major role in the Fatimid da’wah and their general educational systems, plus a very few governmental institutions as well as private residences, could be corroborated by what al-Maqrizi wrote about the evolution of the madrasah (school) institution. Al-Maqrizi said that the madrasah as an independent and systematic educational institution did not materialize until the 5th AH/ 11th CE century, and its birthplace and early flourishing were in the Muslim East, i.e., in Khorosan, Iran and Iraq.48 The madrasah phenomenon did not officially spread in Egypt until the arrival of the Ayyubids, following their ousting of the Fatimids in 567 AH /1171 CE. Madrasahs founded for teaching and disseminating Sunnism were an effective measure for uprooting Isma’ili Shi’ism and replacing it with Sunni orthodoxy in territories formerly controlled by the Fatimids, much like the Saljuqs’ tactics against the Shi’i Buyid dynasty in modern-day Iraq 43 Khidr Ahmad, Al-Hayah al-Fikriyyah fi Misr fi al-‘Asr al-‘Fatimi, p. 110-122. Hatim Mahamid, Isma’ili Da’wah and Politics in Fatimid Egypt, http://www.nobleworld.biz/images/Mahamid.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). 44 Paul E. Walker, Fatimid History and Ismaili Doctrine, p. 28. Ibn Taghribirdi, Al-Nujum al-Zahirah, vol. 4 p. 101, 222. Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, p. 629. 45 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). Khidr Ahmad, Al-Hayah al-Fikriyyah fi Misr fi al-‘Asr al-‘Fatimi, (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-‘Arabi, 1989), p. 161-199. 46 Paul E. Walker, Fatimid History and Ismaili Doctrine, p. 20. 47 Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ili Da’wa outside the Fatimid Dawla, http://www.iis.ac.uk/SiteAssets/pdf/Daftary_fatimid_dawa_outside.pdf (accessed November 25, 2013). 48 Al-Maqrizi, Al-Khitat al-Maqriziyyah, vol. 4 p. 199.

and Iran after they had overthrown them, especially in Iraq, approximately a century ago in 447 AH /1055 CE. Exactly those developments in the Muslim East as regards the downfall of the Shi’i Buyids and the rapid rise of the Sunni Saljuqs, and the critical role of madrasahs in their wake, al-Maqrizi had in mind when he affirmed that the madrasah phenomenon came about only in the 5th AH/ 11th CE century and in the East. As to the Fatimid era, it was a transitional period in which the mosque’s perennial function as a learning center was gradually developing into an institution, but still remained both physically and conceptually under the jurisdiction and framework of the mosque as a community development center. Madrasahs’ full and autonomous institutionalization came to pass in the timeframe mentioned by al-Maqrizi. It came to pass firstly in the regions which he also mentioned, and thence the new educational trend expanded to the rest of the Muslim world. About a century, or so, later, it arrived in Egypt too, with the arrival of the Ayyubids.49

Thus, al-Maqrizi said that in the absence of madrasahs in Cairo – one of the reasons having been the fact that the Fatimids followed a different (Shi’i) madhhab from the (Sunni) madhhab of most of the Muslims in Khorosan, Iran and Iraq, subsequent to the toppling of the Buyid Shi’ah dynasty there, as a result of which the two blocs vastly differed not only concerning the substance and interpretation of various aspects of the Islamic message, but also concerning the ways, means and procedures of knowledge incubation, propagation and delivery – the official study circles were held firstly in the mosque of al-Azhar, then in the mosque of ‘Amr b. al-‘As. When Naser Khosraw visited Cairo in the 5th AH /11th CE century, he remarked that in the mosque of ‘Amr b. al-‘As, as part of its astonishing function and ambiance, there were always teachers and Qur’an-readers.50 Al-Maqrizi also mentioned Dar al-‘Ilm (the House of knowledge) set up by the caliph-Imam al-Hakim, and that the house of Ya’qub b. Killis, the first Fatimid vizier in Cairo, served as an Isma’ili educational center where Isma’ili jurists and other erudite men used to gather, learn and teach.51 The vizier himself was an outstanding scholar. He composed several books some of which were used as main references in Isma’ili scholarship.

About further educational activities of the vizier Ya’qub b. Killis, Paul E. Walker wrote that in the year 378 AH /988 CE, he “asked the caliph (al-‘Aziz Billah, d. 386 AH /996 CE) for a grant of funds as stipends for a group of fuqaha’ (jurists) and he then provided for them a cash stipend in an amount suitable for each one. He ordered that they acquire a house in the vicinity of the al-Azhar mosque and renovate it to suit their purpose. On Fridays they would assemble at the mosque and hold a halqah (study circle) in it following the noon prayer and lasting until the ‘asr (afternoon) prayer. In addition, they were to receive a grant out of the funds of the vizier each year. There were thirty-five individuals in this group.”52 Based on this account, the vizier appears to have created a residential college associated with the al-Azhar mosque for the teaching of Isma’ili creed and jurisprudence. An indication of an endowment that might perpetuate the college’s existence beyond the vizier’s time is especially significant in terms of mapping out the history of the madrasah

49 Ibid., vol. 4 p. 200. George Makdisi, The Rise of Colleges, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981), p. 20-32. 50 Naser Khosraw, Book of Travels, p. 53. 51 Al-Maqrizi, Al-Khitat al-Maqriziyyah, vol. 4 p. 199-200. 52 Paul E. Walker, Fatimid History and Ismaili Doctrine, p. 15-16.

phenomenon.53 Paul E. Walker went so far as to claim that the vizier, in fact, created the equivalent of a madrasah at the al-Azhar mosque.54 The claim, however, is not far from truth because the pointed out events clearly reveal that by the end of the 4th AH /10th CE century, the transition of teaching and learning activities from a mere function or a purpose of the mosque as a community development center, regardless of how advanced such function or purpose might have been, to an independent and self-sufficient educational institution, was maturing and was approaching its completion. There were no madrasahs as full-fledged institutions affiliated with al-Azhar until approximately the middle of the Mamluki era in the early 8th AH /14th CE century.55 Furthermore, the vizier Ya’qub b. Killis employed a portion of his personal wealth for the support of a cadre of scholars and intellectuals who were attached to his private retinue and who participated as an audience in numerous public and semi-public munazarat or debates that often featured, among a wide array of Muslims, local Jews and Christians of different factions.56

Reviling and insulting a number of leading companions of the Prophet (pbuh) was a well known Isma’ili norm. After the establishment of the Fatimid state, the matter was taken to a whole new level. Insulting and abusing the companions was done more commonly, more systematically and more freely. The most responsible caliph-Imam for the misdemeanor, certainly, was al-Hakim. Apart from the conventional practices and means, he in the year 395 AH / 1004 CE ordered that near the entrances to the mosques and in the streets, insults and abuses against Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, ‘A’ishah, Talhah (d. 36 AH/ 656 CE), Zubayr (d. 36 AH/ 656 CE), Mu’awiyah and ‘Amr b. al-‘As (d. 44 AH /664 CE), be written. He also asked his state administrators outside Cairo to follow suit. However, two years later he rescinded his malicious initiative, although the practice of disparaging the companions continued unabated till the end of the Fatimid tenure.57 Al-Maqrizi furnishes us with far more details about those actions of al-Hakim. He said that both the interior and exterior of the mosques, with no section thereof left, were covered with insulting and cursing phrases. The doorways of shops, houses, tombs and bazaars were also used for the same purpose. The insulting and cursing slogans were either written or engraved, using color and sometimes even gold.58

53 Ibid., p. 16. 54 Ibid., p. 16. 55 Al-Azhar: The Mosque and the Institution, http://www.onislam.net/english/back-to-religion/religious-institutions/412054-al-azhar-the-mosque-and-the-institution.html (accessed November 28, 2013). 56 Paul E. Walker, Fatimid History and Ismaili Doctrine, p. 5. 57 Ibn Taghribirdi, Al-Nujum al-Zahirah, vol. 4 p. 176-178, 218. 58 Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az al-Hunafa bi Akhbar al-A’immah al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa, vol. 1 p. 357.

The Mosque of al-Hakim.

Elaborately decorated front facade of the al-Aqmar Mosque.

The Fatimids, it could be thus inferred, were among the first in Islamic civilization who used the power of writing signs on buildings in order to advance and publicize their ideological struggle.59 The earliest Muslim example of using buildings and building decoration systems as a means for promoting a spiritual mission and cause could be traced back to the creation of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem which was initially completed in 72 AH /691 CE at the order of the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (d. 86 AH /705 CE). Via the ways the building and its decorative styles and strategies were perceived, planned and executed, the local Jewish and Christian population was mainly targeted.60 However, the way the Fatimids made recourse to utilizing the power of letters and symbols on buildings for advertizing and promoting their struggle and cause was like what nobody has ever seen before.

The relatively small mosque of al-Aqmar (the Moonlit, or Gray mosque) in Cairo founded by Ma’mun al-Bata’ihi (d. 519 AH /1125 CE), vizier of the caliph-Imam al-Amir Biahkamillah (d. 525 AH /1130 CE) in 519 AH /1125 CE, is an ideal extant illustration of this Fatimid tradition. A striking feature of the building is the decoration of its projecting portal and the entire front façade which faces the major al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah street which, in turn, forms the main axis of the city of Cairo stretching from Bab (Gate) al-Zuwayla in the south to Bab (Gate) al-Futuh in the north, and virtually dividing the city into two corresponding parts. The hood of each niche on the mosque’s façade is composed of radiating flutes with a central medallion.61 The following Qur’anic words are inscribed in a concentric circle medallion over the imposing entrance portal: “…Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity (of sin), O people of the (Prophet's) household, and to purify you with (extensive) purification.” (Al-Ahzab, 33). In the centre of that medallion are the names of Muhammad and ‘Ali. Inside another two smaller medallions at right and left wings there is the name of ‘Ali encircled with the name of Muhammad written 5 times. Moreover, at each of the mosque’s two corners which flank the mosque’s front wall, there are three small niches, one above the other two, wherein the following Qur’anic words: “Indeed, Allah is with (the top niche) those who fear Him (the bottom right niche) and those who are doers of good (the bottom left niche).” (Al-Nahl, 128), are engraved. On both sides of the top niche there are discs the right one having the name of Muhammad and the left one of ‘Ali. Hence, the top portion can be also read as: “Indeed, Allah is with Muhammad and ‘Ali”.62 In the whole of the mosque, in addition, there are 25 elaborately decorated stucco window grills with the names of Muhammad and ‘Ali etched inside two small discs placed almost in the middle on the right and left of each grill. Inside the right disk is the name of Muhammad and in the left one the name of ‘Ali. Of those 25 intricately embellished stucco window grills, 23 face the interior of the mosque and two the exterior. The latter is part of the rich decorative style and language of the mosque's front facade. And finally, above the praying niche or mihrab of the mosque, tributes for the Fatimid (Isma’ili) Imams and caliphs are evidenced.

59 Irene A. Bierman, Writing Signs, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), p. 1-27. 60 S. D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968), p. 147. 61 Al-Aqmar Mosque, http://archnet.org/library/dictionary/entry.jsp?entry_id=DIA0022&mode=full (accessed November 30, 2013). 62 Irene A. Bierman, Writing Signs, p. 110-112. Aqmar Mosque, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqmar_Mosque (accessed November 30, 2013).

That said, ornamental deep and shallow niches, as well as flat arches, with their hoods composed of radiating flutes with or without circle medallions being placed either in the center or independently next to those niches and arches -- irrespective of whether there are inscriptions or not in the midpoints of those medallions – denote, perhaps, the most recognizable features of the Fatimid art and architecture. To Irene A. Bierman, circle disk medallions are “immediately recognizable by Isma’ilis as the sign of Isma’ilism.”63 What is more, the hood composed of radiating flutes, or the ribbed shell hood, with its pierced medallion in the mosque of al-Aqmar was the prototype of all the later cusped, ribbed, blind, keel-arch decoration which remains somewhat vogue in Cairo’s buildings.64 As a matter of fact, both fluted niche hoods and a brand of medallions as simple and inelaborate decorative media existed in Egypt even before the Fatimids, as evidenced by the way the mosque of Ahmad b. Tulun (d. 271 AH / 884 CE) had been decorated. However, the Fatimids perfected those media and made sure that ever after they remained integral to the vocabulary of diverse Islamic art and architecture in Egypt and beyond.

Without a doubt, elaborately decorating the front facade of the al-Aqmar mosque with intriguing inscriptions suggestive of Shi’ism, plus setting the façade at a different angle from the rest of the mosque to ensure that it faced onto, and was parallel with, the main al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah street, radiated certain messages to both Shi’is and Sunnis. To the former, it was a message of intrinsic unanimity, espousal, endorsement and even craved-for revival, bearing in mind that at the time of the mosque’s construction, the Fatimid power was rapidly on the wane and was marred by the loss of some important territories to the Crusaders, as well as by the escalating internal schism. The founder of the mosque, the vizier Ma’mun al-Bata’ihi, therefore, was known as the restorer of “Shi’i orthodoxy”.65 To Sunnis, on the other hand, the front façade of the mosque and the way it was positioned and adorned was an oblique and, at the same time, unaggressive message that insinuated Sunni religious inferiority, inadequacy, and an urge for soul searching as to who exactly was right and who was wrong. Hence, unlike the fanatical initiatives of al-Hakim, which caused widespread resentment and hostilities, and so, their speedy rescinding, the more amiable ones, such as the ornamental styles and themes of the mosque of al-Aqmar, remained undisturbed and operative.

Aside from being planned to face and be parallel to the main city’s street and its artery, so as to convey the intended messages to the meant audiences, it likewise was not by chance that the al-Aqmar mosque for the same socio-political and spiritual purposes was located near the site which was occupied by two great Fatimid palaces. As a result, the whole area, and the part of the al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah street, which adjoined the palaces and stood in the vicinity of the mosque, were always bustling with life. There rarely ever were anywhere in the city more people, shops, institutions and generally life activities than in the said areas. This applied not only to the Fatimid era, but also to the subsequent Ayyubid and Mamluki eras, as hinted by Ibn Battuta (d. 779 AH /1377 CE) who visited the city of Cairo in 727 AH / 1326 CE.66 63 Irene A. Bierman, Writing Signs, p. 111. 64 El-Aqmar Mosque, http://www.touregypt.net/aqmarm.htm (accessed November 30, 2013). 65 Al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ma%27mun_al-Bata%27ihi#Restoration_of_Shi.27ite_orthodoxy (accessed November 30, 2013). 66 Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa, translated and selected by H. A. R. Gibb, (London: Darf Publishers LTD, 1983), p. 50.

Moreover, in the mosque of al-Hakim, there is a huge medallion with the names of Muhammad and ‘Ali etched in its center. The medallion serves as an ornament and is positioned just above the mosque's praying niche (mihrab). Bearing in mind the time difference between the mosque of al-Hakim and the al-Aqmar mosque, and between the reigns and years of the people responsible for their construction, it seems as though the medallion functioned as a precursor for what later emerged with slight design and content variations as a distinct Fatimid trend.

On the same note, inside the mausoleum of Sayyidah Ruqayyah, a daughter of ‘Ali b. Abi Talib whose mother, however, was not Fatimah but another wife of ‘Ali, in the center of the hood of a praying niche there is a medallion in the center of which the name of ‘Ali is carved. The name is framed with the name of Muhammad etched in an interlocking fashion six times. What's more, just above the niche, the following Qur’anic words with reference to the Prophet’s household are inscribed: “Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity (of sin), O people of the (Prophet's) household.” (Al-Ahzab, 33) The mausoleum was built by the Fatimids in 528 AH / 1133 CE. That was a facet of their conspicuous culture of architecturally glorifying some of the deceased members of ahl al-bayt, genuinely or otherwise. Parenthetically, it was the Shi’ah at large who contributed one of the greater shares to the evolution of funerary architecture, or the architecture of dead, within the fold of Islamic culture and civilization.

As soon as they arrived in Egypt, it seems that the Fatimids went on an offensive with regard to using and manipulating the great potential of signs, symbols and canon writing. Thus, just above the Fatimid Cairo’s Bab (Gate) al-Nasr on a panel, and on the city's wall adjoining the Bab (Gate) al-Futuh in a band, there are identical inscriptions which read as follows: “In the Name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful; there is no god but Allah, the only One without a partner; Muhammad is Allah’s messenger; ‘Ali is Allah’s wali (friend and one vested with the authority of God).” We have already mentioned that the Cairo walls and its gates were of the early structures erected in Egypt by Jawhar al-Siqili, the conqueror of the place and the builder of Cairo. Both inscriptions faced the outside of the city. That means that every visitor to it was first and foremost welcomed by, and reminded of, their meanings, significance and role in shaping the Fatimid society, mind and culture.

Correspondingly, the mosque of Ahmad b. Tulun, which had been built exactly 94 years before the arrival of the Fatimids in Egypt, has a stucco panel with an elaborate arabesque whose highlight are the words: “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is Allah’s messenger; ‘Ali is Allah’s wali or friend”. But to an insightful observer, such decorative panel is an alien addition to the mosque and its extremely modest and straightforward decorative style, especially in terms of the panel’s placement, content and design. The panel rather looks like an adopted and directly transported element from the subsequent decoration and embellishment realms of the mosques of al-Hakim, al-Azhar, al-Aqmar and indeed of all the other Fatimid buildings, in particular those of the later periods. At any rate, it is believed that the decorative panel was part of what is today called "the Fatimid mihrab or praying niche" inside the mosque of Ahmad b. Tulun. The Fatimid mihrab was one of a few mihrabs that existed inside the mosque. This additionally boosts an argument that the mosque of Ahmad b. Tulun had somewhat a special place in the Fatimid psyche, as a result of which much of the form of its colossal and massive colonnades and the spacious courtyard served as a source of inspiration for the same inside the mosque of al-Hakim.

As a small digression -- finally -- even the Shi’ah Buyids in the Muslim East, especially in Baghdad, adopted moderately a similar approach in their own ideological confrontations with Sunnis. On the mosques, as well as on some erected posts and signboards, the standard words “Muhammad and ‘Ali are the best of people; he who is content (with that) is grateful, and he who rejects (that), is an infidel” were regularly inscribed, now and again even with gold.67 But this campaign’s intensity and scale were rather restricted and one-dimensional, so to speak. They were no match for those which the sophisticated Fatimid ideological promotional drive and machinery epitomized and set in motion.

This is one of 25 identical stucco window grills in the al-Aqmar Mosque. The right small circle contains the

name “Muhammad” and the left one “‘Ali”.

67 Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol. 12 p. 67-73.

The following Qur’anic words are inscribed in a circle medallion over the imposing portal of al-Aqmar

Mosque: “…Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity (of sin), O people of the (Prophet's) household, and to purify you with (extensive) purification.” (al-Ahzab, 33). In the centre of that medallion are

the names “Muhammad” and “‘Ali”.

Another medallion in the center of the hood of a side niche ornamenting the front facade of al-Aqmar Mosque.

The hood of another side niche on the façade of al-Aqmar Mosque which is composed of radiating flutes with

a central medallion. Just like the previous medallion, this medallion, too, contains the name “‘Ali” encircled with the name “Muhammad” written 5 times.

A corner of the Mosque of al-Aqmar.

A huge medallion above the mihrab of the Mosque of al-Hakim. In the centre of the medallion are the names of

Muhammad and ‘Ali.

An inscription above the Bab (Gate) al-Nasr in Cairo.

An inscription in the Mosque of Ahmad b. Tulun in Cairo.

A Sunni Response

So, therefore, during the lengthy and somewhat ideologically antagonistic Fatimid rule, Sunni-Shi’ah conflicts were intensified more than ever before. Throughout the same epoch, furthermore, modeling Shi’ism in general, and Isma’ilism in particular, as a conglomerate ideology and a comprehensive system of thought was perfected. This, in turn, called for the total crystallization of the concept of ahl al-sunnah wa al-jama’ah and the establishment of its exact implications, contents and parameters in the midst of the rife and epidemic sectarianism with numerous protagonists involved. Bringing into the mix the nuisance of Mu’tazilah, obviously, the matter was becoming much like a tit-for-tat tactic, making many impending moves and designs rather predictable. It goes without saying, therefore, that the fall of the Fatimids – as well as the fall of the Buyids – came as a great relief to many Muslims. In their wake, efforts were doubled for the all-embracing explication, propagation and implementation of Sunnism whenever and wherever such was considered necessary and possible. The wounds caused by the Buyids and Fatimids needed a long time to heal, and so, no sooner had they gone than certain measures were taken lest similar tribulations should recur, at least not in a foreseeable future and with the same intensity and scope. Restoring Sunnism, both conceptually and functionally, topped the agenda of everyone concerned.

Thus, for example, it is said about the Ayyubids, who deposed and succeeded the Fatimids, that they embarked on vigorously strengthening Sunni Muslim dominance in the region by introducing into Egypt, Syria and Jerusalem the concept of madrasah. Madrasahs were constructed in all Ayyubid major cities. They functioned primarily as academies of religious sciences aiming to teach and promote Sunnism and to try to convert Shi’is and

Christians to Sunni Islam.68 The Ayyubids built scores of madrasahs in support of all four Sunni madhhabs, namely the Shafi’i, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali madhhabs. In the mid-7th AH / 13th CE century, which signified the final phase of the Ayyubid reign, some estimates suggest that in Damascus alone there were 40 Shafi'i, 34 Hanafi, 10 Hanbali, and three Maliki madrasahs.69 Comparable, or slightly lower, figures, it stands to reason, existed in Cairo, Alexandria, Aleppo and Jerusalem as well. When the traveler Ibn Jubayr (d. 614 AH /1217 CE) was in Damascus in 580 AH / 1184 CE, which was the early phase of the Ayyubid dynasty under Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (Saladin), he commented that there were 20 madrasahs in the city and they all symbolized the pride of (Sunni) Islam.70 Such was the intellectual climate under the Ayyubids that their rulers’ wives, sons and daughters, commanders and nobles established and financed numerous educational institutions as well. What was really unusual of the time -- some accounts reveal -- even some common people followed suit. In Egypt alone, about 18 madrasahs, including two medical institutions, were established by commoners.71

What is more, there were Ayyubid madrasahs wherein teaching was jointly conducted according to all four recognized madhhabs. Such madrasahs, surely, stood out as the most authentic Sunni establishments where mutual collaboration, acceptance and tolerance among the major Sunni sections and systems of thought were both preached and practiced. One of such madrasahs in Cairo was the Madrasah al-Salihiyyah which was founded by Sultan al-Malik al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub (d. 647 AH /1249 CE) in 641 AH / 1243 CE. Al-Maqrizi, while dwelling on this madrasah, observed that that was the first time in the history of Egypt that teaching was performed according to all four madhhabs at one place.72 Truly, the age of the Ayyubids was the age of Sunni learning and its numerous institutions. Educational institutions were regarded as prestigious institutions in society. In the words of Abdul Ali, “an idea of their importance may be derived from the fact that it was not possible to get a job in the government for anyone who did not receive his education in a madrasah.”73

On the same note, Sunnis were increasingly resorting to idolizing their spiritual and intellectual leaders and heroes, and to architecturally glorify them. A culture of inventing and venerating “Sunni saints” was steadily creeping in. As an illustration, the grave of Shafi’i, at once the symbol and tower of strength of Islamic orthodoxy, became extremely popular for Sunnis in Egypt. Shafi’i’s saintly personality and remarkable spiritual and scholarly legacy were revered, by some even venerated, not only in Egypt, but also beyond throughout the Muslim world. This practice was further popularized by the fact that Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (Saladin), the victor over the Fatimids, founded a madrasah dedicated to the Shafi'i madhhab of the Islamic law near Shafi’i’s grave. Later, a mausoleum with a wooden dome over Shafi’i’s grave was erected in 608 AH /1211 CE by the fourth Ayyubid ruler al-Malik al-Kamil (d. 636 AH /1238 CE), whose grave, along with his mother's, is also under this dome and a few steps away from Shafi’i’s grave. This “is the first officially

68 Ayyubid Dynasty, Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/46670/Ayyubid-dynasty (accessed November 30, 2013). 69 Abdul Ali, Islamic Dynasties of the Arab East, (New Delhi: MD Publications PVT LTD, 1996), p. 39. 70 Ibn Jubayr, Rihlah Ibn Jubayr, (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2003), p. 221. 71 Abdul Ali, Islamic Dynasties of the Arab East, p. 39. 72 Al-Maqrizi, Al-Khitat al-Maqriziyyah, vol. 4 p. 217. 73 Abdul Ali, Islamic Dynasties of the Arab East, p. 39.

sponsored mausoleum to be built for a Sunni theologian after the extinguishing of the Isma'ili Fatimids in 567 AH /1171 CE. It is also the largest detached mausoleum in Egypt. Paradoxically, the Fatimid practice of building domed mausoleums for ‘Alid (Shi’i) saints as a means of promoting their Shi'i agenda and gathering popular support for the Fatimid Imams was adopted by the same leaders who eradicated all signs of Shi'ism in Egypt. In fact, this mausoleum is regarded as the symbol of the triumph of orthodoxy over heterodoxy.”74 Similarly, a mausoleum and madrasah in the name of Abu Hanifah, another symbol and pillar of strength of Islamic orthodoxy, were erected in Baghdad in 459 AH /1066 CE, approximately 11 years after the Sunni Saljuqs had retaken the ‘Abbasid capital from the Buyids.75

Surely, it was not by chance that during the Fatimid period, as well as that of the Buyids, some major works on elucidating, defending and rationalizing Sunnism and its creedal, jurisprudential and ethical beliefs and practices were composed. Abu Ja’far al-Tahawi, who was the first to officially use in academic circles the idiom ahl al-sunnah wa al-jama’ah, died around 24 years after the establishment of the Fatimids in Ifriqiyah, and two years before the emergence of the Buyids. The science of heresiography was basically born during the same period in question. Some of the most celebrated heresiographers, such as Shahrastani (d. 548 AH/ 1153 CE) and Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi, lived then. In the same vein, the most eminent speculative theologians, such as Abu al-Hasan al-Ash’ari, Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, Abu Bakr al-Baqilani and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali also lived during the same critical era. It was thus natural for Abu Hamid al-Ghazali to compose a book against Isma’ilis and the Isma’ili doctrines entitled Fada’ih al-Batiniyyah (Ignominies of the Esoterics). The name of al-Mawardi (d. 450 AH /1058 CE), a jurist of the Shafi’i madhhab, could be mentioned here as well. His significance lies in the fact that he contributed a vital share in philosophically and jurisprudentially reasserting and shoring up the authority of the ‘Abbasid caliphs, and with it the legitimacy and authority of the caliphate as an institution, in the face of the unrelenting Shi’i menace. Al-Mawardi wrote a famous book called al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyyah (the Ordinances of Government). In it, an influential statement of Muslim (Sunni) political theory was made. Details were also furnished concerning the significance and functions of the caliphate government, which under the Buyids were rendered vague and indefinite. Lastly, that the sixth and final Sunni canonical hadith collection was completed just around the appearance of the Fatimids as a religious and political force ought to be mentioned, too, although such a feat took place in distant Khorosan. The last of the six hadith collectors was al-Nasa’i, who died in 303 AH /915 CE, six years after the Fatimids had established themselves as the overambitious rulers of Ifriqiyyah in 297 AH /909 CE.

Not even the fields of art and architecture were overlooked. After the departure of the Shi’ah nuisance from the scene, many purely religious buildings, erected especially by the Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottoman Turks, were meant to display a Sunni spirit and character. Those buildings often featured, as part of their rich decorative styles and strategies, Qur’anic verses where the Prophet’s companions are recognized and honored. The al-Fath or Victory chapter, or certain sections thereof, was often used for that

74 Qubba al-Imam al-Shafi'i, http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=3417 (accessed November 30, 2013). 75 Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol. 12 p.101.

purpose.76 A wide genre of verses with general meanings pertaining to the importance of following the Prophet (pbuh) (the Sunnah), unity, cooperation and brotherhood (jama’ah) also featured prominently. Inscribing the names of the four rightly-guided caliphs, plus the names of several foremost companions of the Prophet (pbuh), in particular those most abused and insulted by Shi’is, such as Talhah and Zubayr, was very popular too, principally with the Ottoman Turks. Writing the names of ‘Ali’s sons: Hasan and Husayn, was likewise favored, thereby hinting at the Sunni position towards ahl al-bayt and at the essence of what we earlier called “Sunni Shi’ism”. Even some authentic hadiths (traditions) and those Qur’anic ayat or verses that either explicitly or implicitly refer to the theme of the excellence of ahl al-bayt and how excellently they are to be treated, have occasionally been used for the purpose, like, for example in Cairo, in the funerary complex of Shafi’i, in the mosque cum mausoleum of Husayn whose grounds allegedly contain the head of Husayn b. ‘Ali, and in the mosque cum mausoleum of Sayyidah Nafisah who was the great-granddaughter of Hasan b. ‘Ali. Although the last two buildings were initially built by the Fatimids, as part of their booming funerary architecture meant for the members of ahl al-bayt, they were later fully embraced by Sunnis following the demise of the Fatimid caliphate, and were keenly restored and rebuilt several times by members of subsequent Sunni dynasties, especially by the Mamluks and Ottoman Turks. It stands to reason that the Ottoman Turks had an extra motivation for their actions of advocating “Sunni Shi’ism” because they every so often were engaged in military campaigns against Safavids who established the Ithna ʿAshariyyah Shi’ah branch as their official state religion. Some key Muslim territories, including the city of Baghdad, a couple of times exchanged hands between the two arguably most powerful Muslim empires of the day.

It is noteworthy that the Fatimids were also inclined to decorating their buildings with the same al-Fath or Victory Qur’anic surah or chapter. Each one of the al-Hakim, al-Azhar and al-Aqmar mosques features that chapter or some of its sections. However, the Fatimids had their own Shi’ism and Isma’ilism-loaded interpretations of the notions of victory (al-fath) and sahabah or the companions of the Prophet (pbuh). Needless to say that the victory meant the victory of Isma’ili Shi’ism in territories that at one point stretched from North Africa and Sicily to Palestine and Syria, as well as to Yemen and Hijaz, with the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, and hopefully one day elsewhere not only in the Muslim world but also in the world at large. That is why, in the same way, one of the gates of the Fatimid Cairo was called Bab al-Futuh or the Gate of victories, and another Bab al-Nasr or the Gate of (divine) help. Whereas the idea of the companions implied those companions of the Prophet (pbuh) who after the Prophet's death stayed the course, did not deviate from the right path, nor became hypocrites or apostates, and did not let down those subsequent Shi’ah Imams whose contemporaries they became. For the same reason, on the face of it, the mosque of al-Hakim repeatedly used for its numerous stucco window grills these Qur’anic words as an informative decoration component: “And certainly We wrote in the Book after the reminder that (as for) the land, My righteous servants shall 76 These are some examples of the buildings in old Cairo which make use of different portions of the al-Fath or victory chapter as an aspect of their decoration: the madrasah of Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay, the complex of Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri, the funerary complex of Sultan Qaytbay, the mosque of Muhammad ‘Ali, the mosque cum mausoleum of Husayn b. ‘Ali, the mosque of Nasir b. Qalawun, the mosque of al-Azhar, the mosque of al-Amir al-Mas al-Hajib, the public fountain of Ummu ‘Abbas, and the mosque cum mausoleum of Sayyidah Sakinah.

inherit it.” (Al-Anbiya’, 105). Parenthetically, as a small digression, the mosque of al-Azhar had a significant portion of the al-Fath chapter engraved twice on it: firstly inside a praying arcade as part of the Fatimid al-Azhar, and secondly on the outside facade of the ‘Abbasi riwaq and madrasah (1315 AH / 1898 CE) built as a part of the ever expanding Sunni al-Azhar as a social, political and educational center. This is yet another piece of evidence accentuating a segment of the perennial Sunni-Shi’ah struggle for one’s ideological legitimacy and supremacy at the expense of the other, and how, at times, similar ways and means were resorted to, albeit with different intensities, interpretations and ethos.

The complex of the Mamluki Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri (d. 922 AH / 1516 CE) could be taken as an interesting illustration. The complex contains a portion of the al-Fath or Victory Qur’anic surah or chapter both on the inside and outside facades of some of its component buildings. The complex likewise contains inside as well as outside a proclamation that in a way represents the core of the Sunni creed. The proclamation asserts the unity or tawhid of God, the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh), and then implores God to bless and protect the family of the Prophet (pbuh) (ahl al-bayt) and all of the Prophet’s companions (sahabah). The complex of al-Ghuri and its decorative aspects become all the more significant on account of its strategic location. The complex buildings flank the street of al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah, the main artery of the Fatimid Cairo. The complex is also in the vicinity of the al-Azhar mosque. It consists of a mosque-madrasah, a Sufi khanqah, a caravanserai, a mausoleum, a sabil (public fountain) and a kuttab (school for beginners). Similar assertions of Sunni faith - albeit only once - are found inside the madrasah of the Mamluki Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay (d. 842 AH / 1438 CE) as well, which lies just a stone’s throw away from the complex of al-Ghuri, on the western side of the al-Mu’izz Li-Dinillah street.

The core of the Sunni creed on the outer façade of the complex of the Mamluki Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri in

Cairo

The names of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, ‘Ali, Hasan and Husayn were used to decorate the interior of

Shehzade Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.

Apart from the names of the four rightly-guided caliphs, the names of a few prominent companions of the

Prophet (pbuh) were also employed for decoration of Sultan al-Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.