Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

428 страница из 560

There are three women of the name of Fāt̤imah mentioned in the Traditions: (1) Fāt̤imah, the daughter of Muḥammad; (2) The mother of ʿAlī; (3) The daughter of Ḥamzah, the uncle of Muḥammad.

AL-FĀT̤IMĪYAH (الفاطمية‎). “The Fatimides.” A dynasty of K͟halīfahs who reigned over Egypt and North Africa from A.D. 908 to A.D. 1171. They obtained the name from the pretensions of the founder of their dynasty Abū Muḥammad ʿUbaidu ʾllāh, who asserted that he was a Saiyid, and descended from Fāt̤imah, the daughter of the Prophet and ʿAlī. His opponents declared he was the grandson of a Jew of the Magian religion.

There were in all fourteen K͟halīfahs of this dynasty:—

(1) ʿUbaidu ʾllāh, the first Fatimide K͟halīfah, was born A.D. 882. Having incurred the displeasure of al-Muktafī, the reigning Abasside K͟halīfah, he was obliged to wander through various parts of Africa, till through fortunate circumstances he was raised in A.D. 910 from a dungeon in Segelmessa to sovereign power. He assumed the title of al-Mahdī, or “the Director of the Faithful.” [MAHDI.] He subdued the Amīrs in the north of Africa, who had become independent of the Abbasides, and established his authority from the Atlantic to the borders of Egypt. He founded Mahadi on the site of the ancient Aphrodisium, a town on the coast of Africa, about a hundred miles south of Tunis, and made it his capital. He became the author of a great schism among the Muḥammadans by disowning the authority of the Abassides, and assuming the titles of K͟halīfah and Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn, “Prince of the Faithful.” His fleets ravaged the coasts of Italy and Sicily, and his armies frequently invaded Egypt, but without any permanent success.