Africa (6th–10th c.)Politics and state

The Fatimid revolution in Ifriqiya and the founding of Mahdia

In March 909 the Kutama Berbers, won over to Isma'ili Shi'ism by the missionary Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, destroyed the last Aghlabid army and took Raqqada. Their hidden imam, freed from Sijilmasa, was proclaimed caliph as al-Mahdi in January 910 — the birth of the Fatimid caliphate, a Shi'ite rival to Baghdad — and in 916–921 he built a new fortified capital on the coast, Mahdia.

Date: 18 March 909 – 20 February 921exact date · duration: ≈ 12 yearsDate in the Julian calendar
Place: Raqqadatoday: near Kairouan, Tunisia · Africa
Route: Raqqada → Tahert → Sijilmasa → Raqqada → Mahdia
Participants: Fatimid Caliphate, Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah, Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, Kutama, Aghlabids
Threads: Africa (6th–10th c.)
Also known as: Fatimid revolution; Rise of the Fatimids; Battle of al-Aribus; al-Mahdiyya; Фатимидская революция; Аль-Арибус; Махдия

The Isma'ili mission sent Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i to the Kutama of Lesser Kabylia in 893. He won them over to the cause of a hidden imam who would appear as the mahdi and from 902 led them against the Aghlabid emirate, taking Mila, Setif and other towns. Meanwhile the imam himself, Sa'id ibn al-Husayn, head of the mission at Salamiya in Syria, had fled the Abbasids by way of Egypt to Sijilmasa, where he lived for four years disguised as a merchant. On 18 March 909 the Kutama routed the last Aghlabid army at al-Aribus; the emir Ziyadat Allah III fled to Egypt, and on 25 March Abu Abdallah entered the palace city of Raqqada.

In June he marched west, overthrew the Ibadi imamate of Tahert on the way and in August freed his master from Sijilmasa, where the troops acclaimed him. On 5 January 910 a manifesto read in the Friday sermon at Raqqada proclaimed the return of the caliphate to the family of the Prophet and named the new ruler: ‘Abdallah Abu Muhammad, the imam rightly guided by God, Commander of the Faithful’ — hence his regnal name, al-Mahdi bi'llah. The new caliph — a former merchant rather than the miracle-working messiah many had expected — soon fell out with Abu Abdallah, who was killed with his brother in February 911, and he had to put down revolts by disappointed Kutama and by townspeople who resented their dominance, while the Maliki scholars of Kairouan never accepted the Shi'ite rulers.

The unrest showed how vulnerable poorly fortified Raqqada was. Al-Mahdi chose a narrow rocky peninsula on the coast, about 1.4 km long and only 175 m wide at its base, with an ancient harbour cut into the rock; work began on 11 May 916 with a massive landward wall, and on 20 February 921 the court moved into the new city, named Mahdia after him. Palace, arsenal, treasury and stronghold in one, it was reserved for the dynasty and its most loyal followers; little of the Fatimid city survives apart from its Great Mosque, largely rebuilt in the 1960s around its original entrance façade. From Ifriqiya the Fatimids, who claimed to be the rightful imams of all Muslims, launched invasions of Egypt in 914–915 and 919–921 — failures, but the first steps on the road to Cairo.

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Consequences

The Fatimids conquer Egypt and found Cairo6 February 969 – 10 June 973 · Middle East and Egyptthe caliphate founded in Ifriqiya in 909 conquered Egypt and moved its seat to Cairo

Related events

Founding of Sijilmasabetween 757 and 758 · Africathe future caliph lived at Sijilmasa disguised as a merchant until the Kutama army freed him in August 909
Rustamid imamate at Tahertbetween 776 and 778 · Africaon his march to Sijilmasa Abu Abdallah put an end to the Rustamid imamate of Tahert
Ifriqiya under the Aghlabids800 – March 909 · Africathe revolution overthrew the Aghlabids, whose last army was routed at al-Aribus on 18 March 909
Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929 · Western and Central Europethe Umayyad emir Abd al-Rahman III answered the Fatimid claim to the caliphate by taking the title of caliph himself on 16 January 929, and checked their advance into Morocco
Qarmatians sack Mecca and carry off the Black Stonebetween 11 January and 12 January 930 · Middle East and Egyptthe Qarmatians were the Isma'ilis who in 899 refused to recognise the future al-Mahdi as imam; in 930 he wrote to Abu Tahir in reproach after the sack of Mecca
The Zirids rule Ifriqiya for the Fatimids2 October 972 · Africain 945 Ziri ibn Manad helped to relieve Mahdia, the capital founded by al-Mahdi, during the revolt of Abu Yazid