Fatimid conquest of Egypt
The Fatimid conquest of Egypt took place in 969. Egypt was then ruled by the autonomous Ikhshidid dynasty in the name of the Abbasid Caliphate. In 973, al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah arrived in Egypt, and took up residence in Cairo. Cairo became the seat of the FatimID Caliphate until its abolition by Saladin in 1171.
About Fatimid conquest of Egypt in brief
The Fatimid conquest of Egypt took place in 969. Egypt was then ruled by the autonomous Ikhshidid dynasty in the name of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Fatimids launched repeated invasions of Egypt soon after coming to power in Ifriqiya in 909. In 973, al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah arrived in Egypt, and took up residence in Cairo, which became the seat of the FatimID Caliphate until its abolition by Saladin in 1171. In line with the establishment of their imperial rule, the objective was Egypt, the gateway to the Levant and Iraq, the seats of their rivals Abbasid and Aghlabid dynasties. A second invasion was undertaken in 919–921, but was repelled in front of Fustat and Fayyum. A third invasion was launched in 915, following the arrival of Abbasid reinforcements from Syria, but failed to take the Egyptian capital, Oustat, and was driven back in 917–919. In the 920s, the Abbasids were driven back by the FatIMids in the Battle of the Nile, but they were later driven back again in the battle of the El-Amr. A fourth invasion in the 930s was launched, but again failed, this time to take Alexandria and Cyrenaica, but not the capital, Alexandria. A fifth and final attempt was made in 941, but this time it was also repelled, and it was driven out in 942. The final invasion was in 943, and the Fatims captured Alexandria and the city of Fayyyum, but were driven out by the Byzantine Empire in 944.
The Abbasid dynasty was overthrown in 945, and replaced by the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate, which lasted until 956. The last Fatimic Caliphate was abolished in 971. The reign of al- Mu’izz was followed by the reign of Saladin, who ruled from 1171-1171, and then by the Caliphate’s successor, the Al-Mansurids, until the end of the 12th century. The Caliphate had been founded in 908, but had been weakened by the rise of the Islamic State, which had claimed to be the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad. The Al-Qaeda-style Islamic state was established in 907, and later the Islamic Republic was established. The IkhShidid regime was overthrew in 968, and a power vacuum led to open infighting among the various factions in Egypt. The situation was compounded by the simultaneous advances of the Byzantine empire against the Muslim states of the Eastern Mediterranean. The local elites increasingly came to accept and even welcome the prospect of aFatimid takeover in hopes of ending the instability and insecurity. Faced with this favourable situation, the caliph organized a large expedition to conquer Egypt. In July 969, pro-fatimid agents took control of the city and declared its submission to al-mu’izz.
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This page is based on the article Fatimid conquest of Egypt published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
