Editing History of Tunisia (section)

==Fatimids: Shi'a Caliphate, and the Zirids==
As the [[Fatimids]] grew in strength and numbers nearby to the west, they began to launch frequent attacks on the Aghlabid regime in Ifriqiya, which of course contributed to its political instability and general unrest.<ref>Ifriqiya continued to endure strife between the orthodox Sunnis of the [[Maliki]]te [[madhhab]], and the remnants of the [[Kharijite]] Berbers to south and east. I. Hrbek, "The emergence of the Fatimids" in ''General History of Africa,'' volume III, p. 163 (Paris: UNESCO; Berkeley: Univ.of California 1992, abridged edition).</ref> The Fatimids eventually managed to capture Kairouan in 909, forcing the last of the Aghlabid line, [[Ziyadat Allah III]], to evacuate the palace at Raqadda. On the east coast of Ifriqiaya facing Egypt, the Fatimids built a new capital on top of ancient ruins, calling the seaport [[Mahdia|Mahdiya]] after their ''mahdi''.<ref>Laroui, ''The History of the Maghrib'' (1977) pp. 130–132.</ref>

===Maghribi Origin of the Fatimids===
The Fatimid movement had originated locally in al-Maghrib, among the [[Kotama]] Berbers in [[Kabylia]] (Setif, south of [[Bougie]], eastern Algeria).  However, both founders of the movement were recent immigrants from the Islamic east, religious dissidents: Abu 'Abdulla ash-Shi'i, originally from [[San'a]] in [[Yemen|al-Yemen]]; and, coming from [[Salamiyah]] in [[Syria]], 'Ubaidalla Sa'id (who claimed descent from [[Fatimah|Fatima]] the daughter of the prophet [[Muhammad]], and who was to proclaim himself the Fatimid [[Mahdi]]). Their religious affiliation was the [[Ismaili]] branch of the [[Shia]].

By agreement, the first founder to arrive (circa 893) was Abu 'Abdulla, the Ismaili ''[[Da'i]]'' or propagandist, who found welcome in the hostility against the [[Caliphate]] in [[Baghdad]] freely expressed by the Kotama Berbers.<ref>Glasse, ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam'' re "Fatimid" pp. 123–125, remarks on the pre-Islamic Berber connections to [[Gnostic]] doctrines, and to [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] leadership near Baghdad, as further reasons for their resonance with the Ismaili ''Da'i'', p. 124.</ref> After his success in recruitment and in building the organization, Abu 'Abdulla was ready in 902 to send for 'Ubaidalla Sa'ed, who (after adventures and imprisonment) arrived in 910, proclaimed himself Mahdi, and took control of the movement. Abu 'Abdulla was killed in a dispute over leadership.<ref>Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' (1971) pp. 80–81.</ref>
[[File:Fatimid Caliphate.PNG|thumb|Evolution of the Fatimid Caliphate]]
From the start the Mahdi was focused on expansion eastward, and he soon attacked [[Egypt]] with a Fatimid army of Kotama Berbers led by his son, once in 914, and again in 919, both times quickly taking Alexandria but then losing to the [[Abbasids]]. Probing for weakness, the Mahdi then sent an invasion ''westward'', but his forces met with mixed results. Many Sunnis, including the [[Caliphate of Cordoba|Umayyad Caliph of al-Andalus]] and the [[Maghrawa|Zenata Berber kingdom]] in [[Morocco]], effectively opposed him because of his Ismaili Shi'a affiliation. The Mahdi did not follow [[Maliki]] law, but taxed harshly, incurring further resentment. His capital [[Mahdiya]] was more a fort than a princely city. The Maghrib was disrupted, being contested between the [[Zenata]] and the [[Sanhaja]] favoring the Fatimids.<ref>Julien, ''History of North Africa'' pp. 56–60.</ref><ref>The Sanhaja Berbers were associated with the Kotama. H. Mones, "The conquest of North Africa and the Berber resistance" in ''General History of Africa'' (1992), volume III, pp. 118–119.</ref>

After the death of the Mahdi, there came the [[Kharijite]] revolt of 935, which under [[Abu Yazid]] (nicknamed "the man on a donkey") was said by 943 to be spreading chaos far and wide.<ref>This view of the revolt has been questioned. Cf., Aziz al-Azmeh, ''Ibn Khaldun in Modern Scholarship'' pp. 215–218.</ref> The Mahdi's son, the Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im, became besieged in Mahdiya. Eventually Abu Yazid was defeated by the next Fatimid caliph, Ishmail, who then moved his residence to [[Kairouan]]. Fatimid rule continued to be under attack from Sunni Islamic states to the west, e.g., the Umayyad Caliphate in Al Andalus.<ref>Perkins, ''Tunisia: Crossroads of the Islamic and European Worlds'' pp. 36 & 39; Julian, ''History of North Africa'' pp. 66–67.</ref>

In 969 the Fatimid caliph [[al-Mu'izz]] sent his best general Jawhar al-Rumi leading a [[Kotama]] Berber army against Egypt. He managed the conquest without great difficulty. The Shi'a Fatimids founded al-Qahira ([[Cairo]]) ["the victorious" or the "city of Mars"]. In 970 the Fatimids also founded the world-famous [[al-Azhar mosque]], which later became the leading Sunni theological center.<ref>I. Hrbek, "The emergence of the Fatimids" in ''General History of Africa,'' volume III, pp. 163–175, 171 (Paris: UNESCO; Berkeley: Univ.of California 1992, abridged edition).</ref> Three years later al-Mu'izz the caliph left Ifriqiyah for Egypt, taking everything, "his treasures, his administrative staff, and the coffins of his predecessors."<ref>Laroui, ''History of the Maghrib'' p. 133.</ref> Once centered in Egypt the Fatimids expanded their possessions further, northeast to [[Syria]] and southeast to [[Mecca]], while retaining control of Northwest Africa. From Cairo they were to enjoy relative success; they never returned to Ifriqiyah.<ref>Meanwhile, the Kotama Berbers, worn out from their conflicts on behalf of the Fatimids, disappeared from the life of al-Maghrib. Julien, ''History of North Africa'' pp. 54–55.</ref>

===Zirid succession===
[[File:Zirid control circa 980 (version 2).png|thumb|Maximum extent of the Zirid Kingdom]]
After removing their capital to Cairo, the Fatimids withdrew from direct governance of al-Maghrib, which they delegated to a local vassal, namely [[Buluggin ibn Ziri]] a Sanhaja Berber of the central Maghrib. As a result of civil war following his death, the Fatimid vassalage split in two: for Ifriqiya the [[Zirid]] (972–1148); and for the western lands [present day Algeria]: the [[Hammadid]] (1015–1152).<ref>Perkins, ''Tunisia: Crossroads of the Islamic and European Worlds''(1986) pp. 36 & 39. The Hammadids were named for Hammad, Buluggin's son.</ref> Civic security was chronically poor, due to political quarrels between the Zirids and the Hammadids, and attacks from Sunni states to the west.

Although the Maghrib remained submerged in political confusion, at first the Fatimid province of Ifriqiya continued relatively prosperous under the Zirids. Soon however the [[Trans-Saharan trade|Saharan trade]] began to decline, caused by changing consumer demand, as well as by encroachments by rival traders from the Fatimids to the east and from the rising power of the [[Almoravid|al-Murabit]] movement to the west. This decline in the Saharan trade caused a rapid deterioration to the city of [[Kairouan]], the political and cultural center of the Zirid state. To compensate, the Zirids encouraged the commerce of their coastal cities, which did begin to quicken; however, they faced tough challenges from [[History of the Mediterranean region|Mediterranean]] traders of the rising city-states of [[Genoa]] and [[Pisa]].<ref>Perkins, ''Tunisia: Crossroads of the Islamic and European Worlds'' (1986) pp. 40–41, 42. Later, Normans from Sicily invaded coastal Ifriqiya. ''Ibid.'', p. 43.</ref>

In 1048, for economic and popular reasons, the Zirids dramatically broke with the [[Shia|Shi'a]] Fatimid suzerainty from Cairo; instead the Zirids chose to become [[Sunni]] (always favored by most Maghribi Muslims) and declaring their allegiance to the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] of [[Baghdad]]. Many shia were killed in disturbances throughout Ifriqiya. The Zirid state seized Fatimid coinage. Sunni Maliki jurists were reestablished as the prevailing school of law.<ref>Perkins, ''Tunisia: Crossroads of the Islamic and European Worlds'' (1986) pp. 39–40, 41.</ref> In retaliation, the Fatimids sent against the Zirids an invasion of nomadic Arabians who had already migrated into Egypt; these bedouins were induced by the Fatimids to continue westward into Ifriqiya.<ref>{{cite book|last=Julien|first=Charles–Andre|orig-year=1931 |year=1970|title=History of North Africa|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofnorthaf0000juli|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofnorthaf0000juli/page/68 68], 72–74|publisher=New York, Praeger|isbn=9780710066145}}</ref><ref>The Arabian tribe Banu Hilal, as well as the Banu Sulaym, both then residing in upper Egypt. I. Hrbek, "The emergence of the Fatimids" in ''General History of Africa,'' volume III, pp. 163–175, 173–174 (Paris: UNESCO; Berkeley: Univ.of California 1992, abridged edition).</ref>

[[Image:Banu Amir Branches.JPG|thumb|right|150px|[[Banu Hilal]] in genealogical scheme of the [[Banu Amir|Banu 'Amir]].]]

The arriving [[Bedouin]]s of the [[Banu Hilal]] defeated in battle Zirid and Hammadid armies and sacked Kairouan in 1057. It has been said at much of the Maghrib's misfortunes to follow could be traced to the chaos and regression occasioned by their arrival, although opinion is not unanimous.<ref>Negative view of the Banu Hilal has been challenged; cf., Aziz al-Azmeh, ''Ibn Khaldun in Modern Scholarship'' pp. 218–222.</ref> In Arab lore [[Abu Zayd al-Hilali]] the leader of the Banu Hilal is a hero, as in the folk epic [[Taghribat Bani Hilal]]. The Banu Hilal originated from the tribal confederacy of the [[Banu Amir|Banu 'Amir]], located generally in southwest Arabia.<ref>Cf. Laroui, ''The History of the Maghrib'' pp. 147–156.</ref>  As the Banu Halali tribes took control of the plains, the local sedentary people were forced to take refuge in the mountains; in prosperous central and northern Ifriqiya farming gave way to pastoralism. Even after the fall of the Zirids the Banu Hilal were a source of disorder, as in the 1184 insurrection of the [[Banu Ghaniya]].<ref>Julien, ''History of North Africa'', p. 116.</ref><ref>[[Ibn Khaldun]] viewed the Banu Hilal as destroying locust. Perkins, ''Tunisia: Crossroads of the Islamic and European Worlds'' (1986) pp. 41–42.</ref> These rough Arab newcomers did constitute a second large Arab immigration into Ifriqiya, and accelerated the process of Arabization, with the [[Berber languages]] decreasing in use in rural areas as a result of this Bedouin ascendancy.<ref>Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' pp. 80–86.</ref>

Substantially weakened, the Zirids lingered on, while the regional economy declined, with civil society adrift.

===Perspectives and trends===
The Fatimids were [[Shi'a]] (specifically, of the more controversial [[Isma'ilis]] branch), whose leadership came from the then unpopular east. Today, of course, the majority of Tunisians now identify as members of the opposing [[Sunni]]. The Fatimids did initially inspire the allegiance of Berber elements. Yet once installed Fatimid rule greatly disrupted social harmony in Ifriqiya; they imposed high, unorthodox taxes, leading to the [[Kharijite]] revolt.<ref>Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' (1971) pp. 83–84.</ref> Later, the Fatimids relocated to [[Cairo]]. Although originally a client of the Fatimid Shi'a Caliphate in Egypt, eventually the Zirids expelled the Fatimids from Ifriqiya. In return, the Fatimids managed to send the destructive [[Banu Hilal]] to Ifriqiya, which led to chaotic, ragged social conditions, during a period of economic decline. The Zirid dynasty has been viewed historically as a Berber kingdom, essentially founded by a [[Sanhaja]] Berber leader.<ref>Perkins, ''Tunisia: Crossroads of the Islamic and European Worlds'' (1986) pp. 39–40.</ref> Also, from the far west of [[al-Maghrib]], the Sunni Umayyad [[Caliphate of Cordoba|Caliphate of Córdoba]] long opposed and battled against the Shi'a Fatimids, whether based in Ifriqiya or in Egypt.<ref>Laroui, ''The History of the Maghrib'' (1977) pp. 134, 138, 141, 147.</ref> Accordingly, Tunisians may evidence faint pride in the great extent and relative endurance, the peace and prosperity at Fatimid rule brought to Egypt, and in the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] in Islamic history.

During the interval of Shi'a rule, the Berber people appear to have moved ideologically, from a popular antagonism to the Sunni east, toward an acquiescence to its orthodoxy, though of course mediated by their own [[Maliki]] law (viewed as one of the four orthodox [[madhhab]] by the Sunni). In addition to the above grievances against the Fatimids, during the Fatimid era the prestige of exercising cultural leadership within al-Maghrib shifted decisively away from [[Ifriqiya]] and instead came to be the prize of [[al-Andalus]].<ref>Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' (1971) p. 90.</ref>