This twenty-three min interview with Dr Shainool Jiwa provides an overview of the聽FatimidsMajor Muslim dynasty of Ismaili caliphs in North Africa (from 909) and later in Egypt (973鈥1171) More, a Shi鈥榠 Ismaili dynasty whose two and a half-century rule extended from the shores of the Atlantic across the southern Mediterranean into Palestine, Syria and along the Red Sea coast, providing the first sustained experience of Shi鈥榠 rule in the region.
Focusing on the reign of the fourth Fatimid聽Imam–Caliph聽al-Mu鈥榠zz li-Din聽Allah (953 – 975 CE), Dr Jiwa reflects on the principles of Fatimid governance and the creation of institutions that enabled the transformation of the Fatimid dynasty from a North African state into an expansive Mediterranean empire.
Dr Jiwa鈥檚 study on the reign of Imam-Caliph al-Mui鈥榸z is based on the magisterial work of the 15th聽century Ismaili聽诲补鈥榠聽Idris 鈥業mad聽al-Din鈥檚 (d.1468 CE)聽鈥Uyun聽al-akhbar wa funun al-athar, the fountainheads of history. As the chief聽诲补鈥榠聽of the Yemeni Tayyibi IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja士far al-峁⒛乨iq (d. 765), as his successor., Idris composed the 鈥Uyun聽as a record of the Ismaili聽Imamat聽from its inception up to his own time, drawing upon a rich repertoire of Ismaili and non-Ismaili sources that had been part of the Fatimid literary tradition.
The鈥楿测耻苍聽is the only surviving medieval Ismaili work available to us that documents the history of the Fatimid dynasty. Dr Jiwa鈥檚聽The Founder of Cairo聽is the first annotated English translation of the chapter on al- Mu鈥榠zz from the聽鈥楿测耻苍.
