gathered together. In 910 'Ubaidullah was proclaimed in Kaira- wān; he and his descendants soon held all Africa, except Egypt. The fourth Khalif of the Fatimid line, Al-Mu'izz (953-975), invaded Egypt in 969. He easily conquered the country. Then he built Cairo[1] north of the old city Fusṭāṭ (p. 224) to be his capital. Cairo has been the political centre of Egypt ever since. The Shi'ah form of Islam was imposed on all Egyptian Moslems; the name of the Abbasid Khalif at Bagdad was banished, in all mosques prayers were said for Al-Mu'izz as lawful Khalif. The black standards and hangings of the Abbasids were replaced by white, the Fatimid colour. Al-Mu'izz was recognized in the holy cities (Mecca and Medina) and in Syria. So the empire of the Abbasids was reduced for a time to Mesopotamia; this Fatimid invasion struck a blow at their declining power from which it never altogether recovered.
The Fatimids reigned in Egypt about two centuries (till 1171).[2] Their power abroad declined rapidly. Soon they lost all West Africa, which returned to the nominal allegiance of the Abbasids. The Abbasids were also able to send armies to Syria,[3] so that there was continual fighting there. But Mecca and Medina (the Ḥiǵāz) for a long time acknowledged the Fatimid Khalifs at Cairo. In Egypt they reigned as foreign conquerors supported by foreign mercenaries. The old vigour of the Arabs had now declined. Both rival Khalifs held their thrones supported by foreigners converted to Islam, who were bought as slaves or enlisted as a bodyguard. From the 11th century the Selǵūk Turks appear on the scene. Enlisted at first at Bagdad as a guard, they soon become the real masters of the feeble Khalif. In 1055 their chief Tugril Beg is acknowledged and prayed for as Amīr and lieutenant of the Khalif. This means his master. Till the final destruction of the Khalifate of Bagdad (by Hulagu Khan the Mongol in 1258;
1 Al-Ḳāhirah, "the victorious." The city was first called: alMu'izzīyāt alḳāhirah, the victorious (city) of Mu'izz.
2 For their names and dates, see S. Lane-Poole: Hist. of Egypt in the Middle Ages, p. 116.
3 Armies of new tribes, Turks and Kurds, who were converted to Sunni Islam. The war between the Abbasids and Fatimids was (like nearly all Moslem warfare) a religious one. All Sunnis acknowledged the Abbasids, and fought for them; the Shi'ah were for the Fatimids.
