The Fatimids

A concise history of the enormously powerful and influential Shi’i caliphate. The Fatimids (909–1171) built an empire that included North Africa, Egypt, and parts of Sicily, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia. Theirs is the only Muslim dynasty known by a woman’s name, Fatima, the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter. The Fatimids promoted women to unprecedented positions of authority and visibility in Islamic history. From Cairo, which they founded in 969, this Shi‘i dynasty fostered cultural and artistic exce