The Fatimid Caliphs (909 to 973)
The main preoccupation of these Shiites was to re-capture the Caliphate
that had previously been robbed by the Abbasids of Baghdad and the
Omeyyads of Damas. At first they conquered Tunisia, but this was only
the starting point of a long series of conquests that even led them to
Egypt and Syria (969 - 1171).
Mohamed El Habib claimed to be the descendant of Fatimah, the daughter
of the Prophet Muhammad, and her husband, Ali, a cousin of the Prophet.
In 890 he sent missionaries throughout the Muslim world, in order to
find followers for the cause of his son, "Mahdi" Obeid Allah
(the saviour in Shiite doctrine).
In 893, in Little Kabyli, Abu Abdallah (one of the missionaries) got in
touch with the Kotama Berbers, whom he had encountered before in Mecca.
These Kotama Berbers strongly opposed the Aghlabid dynasty. They adopted
the Shiite faith and set the first stones towards the creation of a new
Alid State. In 909, the Kotama Berbers conquered the whole of Afriqia,
in the name of Obeid Allah. They succeeded in ejecting the Aghlabid
forces that had been trying to reconquer the region. After their
victory, the Kotamas went on to liberate "Mahdi" Obeid Allah
who had been kept prisoner in a distant Moroccan oasis.
In Reqqada, in an atmosphere of uprisings and conspiracies, Obeid Allah
proclaimed himself caliph, commander of the faithful (910). After a
period of stability in Ifriqiya, the Fatimid power sent out 2
expeditions to Egypt, in 914 and 920. The Fatimids created the city of Mahdia
and made it their new capital in 921. They regained control of the
Central Maghreb region in 935.
However, under the regime of Al Qaim (934 - 946), tax burdens and forced
conversions to the Shiite faith provoked a Kharijite uprising. The
rebels were led by Abu Yazid.
Abu Yazid left the Djerid region and rallied the Aures in order to take
possession of Kairouan.
He tried to take siege of Mahdia in 944. Ziri Ibn Manad, the leader of
the Sanhaja Berbers was, however, able to keep the Kharijites at bay and
thus prevented the invasion of Mahdia.
The third caliph of the Fatimids, Ismail Al Mansour (946 - 953),
succeeded in regaining possession of Kairouan.
Nearby the city he built a new capital, Sabra Mansouriya. He forced Abu
Yazid to retreat to the Central Maghreb region (947).
The last of the Fatimids, al-Muizz, (953 - 975), put Jawhar, his most
prestigious general, in charge of the Sanhaja Berber contingents. These
troops went on to complete the conquest of the Maghreb in 958 and
overthrew Egypt in 969 (foundation of Cairo). Al-Muizz moved to Cairo
and took along with him his family, his court and all of his riches.
Buluggin Ibn Ziri, one of al-Muizz's faithful followers of Berber
origin, was left behind to take care of the province