The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

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CHAP. Lxxii.] THE FATIMIDS 563
not under his real name. He claimed to be descended from
the Imam Isma'il, and called himself 'Obeidallah. The
adventures of this Alehdi in his flight through Egypt and
wanderings as a merchant with a caravan to Tripoli, form
quite a romance of themselves. Suspected by the Aghlabis,
he was cast into prison, and so remained till released by the
victorious Abu 'Abdallah, who for a time professed to be
in doubt whether 'Obeidallah were the veritable Mehdi or
not. At last, however, he placed him on the throne, and 297 a.h.
himself reaped the not unfrequent fruit of disinterested ^°'
labours in the founding of a dynasty ;
for he was assassinated
by command of the Monarch who owed to him his throne,
but had now become jealous of his influence. Assuming the Ffitimid
i'"**^^^-
title. Commander of the Faithful, 'Obeidallah, in virtue of
his alleged descent from the Prophet's daughter Fatima,
became the Fatiniid Caliph of a kingdom which embraced
both the dominions heretofore held by the Aghlabid dynasty,
and the nearer districts of the Caliphate bordering on the
Mediterranean. Its capital was Al-Mehdiya—near Tunis
the " Africa " of Froissart. The name means " belonging to
the Mehdi." He made repeated attempts to gain Egypt 306-309 a.h.
also, but was repulsed by Munis, Al-Muktadir's commander
there. Some fifty years later, however, both Syria and 358 a.h.
Egypt were conquered by his followers, and the foundations 969 ad.
laid firm on the Ffitimid anti-Caliphate. A literary duel
then opened between Fustat and Bagdad on the purity of
'Obeidallah's descent from 'All and Fatima, on which the
claims of the Egyptian dynasty rested. The heated debate
was maintained long after its political moment had ceased.
The Fatimid anti-Caliphate lasted from 909 to 1171 A.D.
When the Fatimid dynasty had passed away, the Isma'ili Druses, circa
faith was banished from Egvpt by Salaciin, who was strictly 400 a.h.
''
1009 A.n.
orthodox in his profession. Another branch of the superstition,
however, still curiously survives,—that namely of the
Druses.^ This strange sect was established, early in the
fifth century, by the impious I'Titimid, Al- Hakim, whom the
Druses were encouraged to worship as an incarnation of the
Deity. Driven from Egypt by his successor, the)- retired to
1
Cf. Dc Sacy, Chrestomathie Arabe, vol. ii. pp. 191 ff. and Expose de
la Religion des Druses.