Introduction the Fatimid Empire and Its Population

Medieval Medieval Encounters 21 (2015) 323–344 Jewish, Christian and Muslim Culture Encounters in Confluence and Dialogue

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Introduction ⸪

The Fatimid Empire and its Population

Johannes den Heijer Institut des civilisations, arts et lettres (INCAL), Université catholique de Louvain, Place Blaise Pascal 1, bte L3.03.32, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium [email protected]

Yaacov Lev Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel

Mark N. Swanson Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 1100 East 55th Street, Chicago, IL 60615, USA

The Fatimid Empire (909‒1171 CE) is often regarded as one the most remark- able epochs in the history of the Islamic Near East.1 Economically, Fatimid

1 The main purpose of this introduction is to make the essays in this collection more acces- sible to readers who are less familiar with the Fatimid period or indeed with Middle Eastern history and the problematics of its sources. After a very brief sketch of the histori- cal framework, a few central concepts, technical terms, and recurrent phenomena will be introduced. The introduction, written without further footnotes, is essentially based on the following general outlines of Fatimid history: Yaacov Lev, State and Society in Fatimid Egypt (Leiden: Brill, 1991); Heinz Halm, Das Reich des Mahdi: Der Aufstieg der Fatimiden (875‒973) (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1991), translated into English as The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids, trans. Michael Bonner (Leiden and New York, NY: E.J. Brill, 1996); Heinz Halm, Die Kalifen von Kairo. Die Fatimiden in Ägypten 973‒1074 (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2003); Heinz Halm, Kalifen und Assassinen. Ägypten und der Vordere Orient zur Zeit der ersten Kreuzzüge (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2014); Michael Brett, The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Tenth Century CE (Leiden: Brill, 2001); Paula A.

Cairo, founded in 971 CE, became the centre of an impressive trade network and a huge entrepôt connected to Southern Europe through Alexandria and Damietta, as well as to South Arabia and India via the Red Sea port of ʿAydhāb. In the domain of art and architecture, the Fatimid period saw the construction of such famous and impressive buildings as the mosques of al-Azhar, al-Ḥākim, and al-Aqmar, of the walls of Cairo with its gates that still stand today, and of shrines of saints. It is also known for its pottery, illustrated manuscripts, and other pieces of fine art that can be found in many museums all over the world.

Sanders, “The Fatimid State, 969‒1171,” in The Cambridge History of Egypt, vol. 1, ed. Carl F. Petry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 151‒175; Paul E. Walker, Exploring an Islamic Empire. Fatimid History and its Sources (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2002); Farhad Daftary, Ismailis in Medieval Muslim Societies (Ismaili Heritage Series, 12) (London: I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismāʿīlī Studies, 2005), with its recent update: Nawazali Jiwa, “Addenda to Secondary Sources in Ismaili Studies: The Case of the Omissions,” in MELA Notes: Journal of Middle Eastern Librarianship 86 (2013): 20‒101; Yaacov Lev, “The Fatimid Caliphate (358‒567/969‒1171) and the Ayyubids in Egypt (567‒648/1171‒1250),” in The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 2, ed. Maribel Fierro (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 201‒237. On specific aspects of the Faṭimid period, see also Shlomo Dov Goitein, A Mediterranean Society. The Jewish Communities of the World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 6 vols. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1967‒1993); Samir Khalil Samir, “The Role of Christians in the Fāṭimid Government Services of Egypt to the Reign of al-Ḥāfiẓ,” Medieval Encounters 2 (1996): 177‒192; Mark N. Swanson, The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641‒1517), The Popes of Egypt 2 (Cairo and New York, NY: The American University in Cairo Press, 2010); Paula Sanders, Ritual, Politics, and the City in Fatimid Cairo, SUNY Series in Medieval Middle East History (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994); L’Égypte fatimide, son art et son histoire. Actes du colloque organisé à Paris les 28, 29 et 30 mai 1998, ed. M. Barrucand (Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1999); Delia Cortese and Simonetta Calderini, Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006); Paul E. Walker, Caliph of Cairo. Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah, 996‒1021 (Cairo and New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2009); Arzina Lalani, Degrees of Excellence. A Fatimid Treatise on Leadership in Islam. A New Arabic Edition and English Translation of Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-Naysabūrī’s Kitāb ithbāt al-imāma (Ismāʿīlī Texts and Translation Series, 8) (London: I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2010). On the issue of diversity, see the succinct analysis by Johannes den Heijer, “Religion, Ethnicity and Gender under Fatimid Rule. Three Recent Publications and Their Wider Research Context,” Bibliotheca Orientalis 65 (2008): 38‒72. On the sources, see the references given in the individual papers, and, on al-Maqrīzī as historian of the Fatimids: Paul Walker, “Al-Maqrīzī and the Fatimids,” Mamluk Studies Review 7 (2003): 83‒97; Nasser Rabbat, “Was al-Maqrīzī’s Khiṭaṭ a Khaldūnian History?” Der Islam 89 (2012): 84‒106 (89‒93). For the Christian Arabic sources, see the articles in this issue by den Heijer, Pahlitzsch, and Swanson.

medieval encounters 21 (2015) 323–344