The Empire of the Mahdi the Rise of the Fatimids

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THE EMPIRE OF THE MAHDI THE RISE OF THE FATIMIDS BY HEINZ HALM TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY MICHAEL BONNER EJ. BRILL LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KOLN 1996 CONTENTS List of Maps ix list cif Illustrations Introduction Fatimids and Isma'ilis :. 1 Chapter One The Secret Order 5 'Abdallah the Elder 5 Salamya 11 The True Religion 16 The Net 22 The Closed Mouth 43 The Island 47 The Place of Exile 51 Chapter Two The Appearance of the Mahdi 58 The Mahdi Makes Himself Known 58 The Schism 62 The Man with the She-Camel 66 The Mahdi's Flight from Salamya 72 The Man with the Birthmark 79 Flight to Egypt 88 The Far West: Sijilmasa 91 Ifriqiya 95 The Theocratic State of Tazrut 101 The Conquest of Ifriqiya 107 The Founding of the Empire of the Mahdi 121 The Mahdi's Triumph 128 Chapter Three The Caliph Al-Mahdi Billah (909-934) 141 Ine Mahdi's Arrival in Raqqada 141 The New Holders of Power 147 Family Trees 154 The Conspiracy of the Da'is 159 The Counter-Mahdi and the Qa'im 168 Sicily .' 176 VI CONTENTS The Eastern Communities: Iran, Iraq and Bahrayn 180 The Victor of the Yemen 192 Al-Qa'im's Egyptian Campaigns 196 Al-Mahdiyya 214 Ribat and Jihad 221 Resistance and Persecution 239 The Great Temptation: the Abolition of the Law 247 The Theft of the Black Stone and the Return of Paradise 250 The Subjugation of the Maghrib 264 Chapter Four The Collapse of the Empire. Al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah (934-946) 275 The Successor 275 Cordova and Fez 280 The Sicilian Uprising 284 The End of die Yemenite Dar al-Hijra 286 The Neoplatonists 288 The Man on the Donkey 298 Chapter Five New Beginning. Al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah (946-953) 310 The Victorious One 310 The Pursuit of the Dqjjdl 315 Roman Ruins 325 Byzantine Diplomacy 328 The Man of Sorrows 335 Chapter Six The Imam. Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (953-975) .... 338 Helpers and Witnesses 338 Al-Mansuriyya 342 The Imam 346 The Imam's Revenues 355 Books 366 The Seven Pillars of Islam 370 Missionaries and Heretics 374 The Return of the Black Stone 380 The Idol of Multan 385 Naval Warfare (955-962) „ 392 Jawhar's Expedition to the AdanticO-(958-960) 396 CONTENTS VU The Great Circumcision Feast 401 Great Power Politics and Diplomacy (960-969) 403 The Subjugation of Egypt 408 Cairo 414 Epilogue 421 Sources 423 Bibliography 429 Index 435.

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