Egypt Tourism: The Caliphates

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The Caliphates

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(661 A.D.-1250 A.D.)

The Ummayyads formed the first dynasty of Muslim caliphs, controlling Egypt from their base in Damascus. The caliphs appointed governors who oversaw tax collection, and generally left the local population alone.

The following dynasty, the Abbassids based in Baghdad, increased taxes sharply on non-Muslims, causing a Coptic rebellion. Combined with growing unrest among Arab tribes who had settled in Egypt, the authority of the Muslim caliphate was being increasingly challenged.

Ibn Tulun, a governor appointed by the Abbassids, was the first to revolt against the Caliphate, taking control of Egypt in 868. Although he successfully raised Egyptian productivity and lined the government treasury, the Abbassids managed to regain control in 905.

The caliphate could only assert itself for another thirty years; in 935 a governor by the name of Muhammad Ibn Tughj repeated Ibn Tulun's feat and declared Egypt autonomous under his Ikhshidid dynasty.

It wasn't long before a larger force emerged: the Fatimids, Shia Muslims from Tunisia unseated the Ikhshidids in 969, and went about building an empire to rival the Sunni Abbassid caliphate in Baghdad. The Fatimids kept Al Fustat as the capital but shifted it north and called it Al-Qahira, which is still its name today. Their caliphate encompassed all of Northern Africa, Syria, Western Arabia and Sicily.

Notwithstanding their conflict with the Abbassids, the Fatimids oversaw a century of religious freedom, economic expansion and political tolerance. The world's first university was established at Al Azhar, in an era defined in part by its architecture. More and more Egyptians converted to Islam, and Cairo became a thriving economic and political center.

By the middle of the 12th century, however, the Fatimid Empire began to crumble. Syria was lost to the Turks, and Christian Crusaders were battling for control of Palestine. In 1171 the Kurdish military wizard, Salah El Din (Saladin), who had served as a commander under the Fatimids, overthrew them and reinstituted Sunni Islam.

Salah El Din is one of Egypt's most popular historic figures, remembered as a just and able leader. He fostered the Coptic Church at home, while winning back Jerusalem from Christian invaders during the Second Crusade. He cancelled all taxes that were not prescribed by Islamic law, and fostered trade between Egypt and Italy despite the objections of European popes.

Salah El Din's successors, the Ayyubids, ruled Egypt and parts of Syria and Yemen until their overthrow in 1250 by former slave warriors known as the Mamluks.

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Egypt Tourism: The Caliphates

The Caliphates

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