page_title: Isma'ilism
section_title: The Middle East under Fatimid rule
hierarchical_section_title: Isma'ilism / History / The Fatimid Caliphate / The Middle East under Fatimid rule
caption_attribution_description: English: Map the Fatimid Empire (chronological)Map drawn acc. to: Euratlas' map of the Fatimid Empire c.1000 [1] Qantara-Med's map of the Mediterranean c.1000 [2] Territories in green represent Hammadid and Zirid realms, resp. indep. in 1018 and 1048 Ian Mladjov's map of the Eastern Mediterranean in 1096 [3] Qantara-Med's map of the Mediterranean c.1100 [4]
context_page_description: Ismāʿīlism is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Ismāʿīlī get their name from their acceptance of Imam Ismaʻil ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelvers who accept Musa al-Kadhim, younger brother of Ismaʻil, as the true Imām.
  Ismailism rose at one point to become the largest branch of Shīʻism, climaxing as a political power with the Fatimid Caliphate in the tenth through twelfth centuries. Ismailis believe in the oneness of God, as well as the closing of divine revelation with Muhammad, whom they see as "the final Prophet and Messenger of God to all humanity". The Ismāʿīlī and the Twelvers both accept the same initial Imams.
  After the death of Muhammad ibn Ismaʻil in the 8th century CE, the teachings of Ismailism further transformed into the belief system as it is known today, with an explicit concentration on the deeper, esoteric meaning of the Islamic religion.
context_section_description: The Fatimid Caliphate expanded quickly under the subsequent Imāms. Under the Fatimids, Egypt became the center of an empire that included at its peak North Africa, Sicily, Palestine, Syria, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Yemen, Hejaz and the Tihamah. Under the Fatimids, Egypt flourished and developed an extensive trade network in both the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, which eventually determined the economic course of Egypt during the High Middle Ages.
  The Fatimids promoted ideas that were radical for that time. One was promotion by merit rather than genealogy.
  Also during this period the three contemporary branches of Ismailism formed. The first branch (Druze) occurred with the al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Born in 985, he ascended as ruler at the age of eleven. A religious group that began forming in his lifetime broke off from mainstream Ismailism and refused to acknowledge his successor. Later to be known as the Druze, they believe Al-Hakim to be the manifestation of God and the prophesied Mahdi, who would one day return and bring justice to the world. The faith further split from Ismailism as it developed unique doctrines which often class it separately from both Ismailism and Islam.
  Arwa al-Sulayhi was the Hujjah in Yemen from the time of Imam al Mustansir. She appointed the Dai in Yemen to run religious affairs. Ismaili missionaries Ahmed and Abadullah (in about 1067 CE (460 AH)) were also sent to India in that time. They sent Syedi Nuruddin to Dongaon to look after southern part and Syedi Fakhruddin to East Rajasthan, India.
  The second split occurred following the death of al-Mustansir Billah in 1094 CE. His rule was the longest of any caliph in both the Fatimid and other Islamic empires. After he died, his sons Nizar, the older, and al-Musta'li, the younger, fought for political and spiritual control of the dynasty. Nizar was defeated and jailed, but according to Nizari sources his son escaped to Alamut, where the Iranian Ismāʿīlī had accepted his claim.
  The Mustaali line split again between the Taiyabi and the Hafizi, the former claiming that the 21st Imām and son of al-Amir bi-Ahkami'l-Lah went into occultation and appointed a Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq to guide the community, in a similar manner as the Ismāʿīlī had lived after the death of Muhammad ibn Ismail. The latter claimed that the ruling Fatimid caliph was the Imām.
  However, in the Mustaali branch, the Dai came to have a similar but more important task. The term Dāʻī al-Mutlaq (Arabic: الداعي المطلق‎) literally means "the absolute or unrestricted missionary". This dai was the only source of the Imām's knowledge after the occultation of al-Qasim in Mustaali thought.
  According to Taiyabi Ismaili tradition, after the death of Imām al-Amīr, his infant son, at-Tayyib Abu'l-Qasim, about 2 years old, was protected by the most important woman in Musta'li history after Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah. She was Arwa al-Sulayhi, a queen in Yemen. She was promoted to the post of hujjah long before by Imām Mustansir at the death of her husband. She ran the dawat from Yemen in the name of Imaam Tayyib. She was instructed and prepared by Imām Mustansir and ran the dawat from Yemen in the name of Imaam Tayyib, following Imāms for the second period of Satr. It was going to be on her hands, that Imām Tayyib would go into seclusion, and she would institute the office of the Dāʻī al-Mutlaq. Zoeb bin Moosa was first to be instituted to this office. Dai continued in Yemen up to 24th Dai Yusuf who shifted Dawat to India. . Before the shift of Dawat in India Dai's representative were known as Wali-ul-Hind. Syedi Hasan Feer was one of the prominent Ismaili wali of 14th century. The line of Tayyib Dais that began in 1132 is still continuing under the main sect known as Dawoodi Bohra (see list of Dai of Dawoodi Bohra).
  The Mustaali split several times over disputes regarding who was the rightful Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq, the leader of the community within The Occultation.
  After the 27th Dai, Syedna Dawood bin Qutub Shah, there was another split; the ones following Syedna Dawood came to be called Dawoodi
caption: The Fatimid Caliphate at its peak.
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