Posted: March 20th, 2023

Questions on the medieval Islam in Egypt

Questions on the medieval Islam in Egypt
#6
The conquest of Egypt (969) by the Fatimid defined the moment of Islamic History. It led to the destruction of any likeness of central power in the Muslim world and provoked the defenders of Sunni Islam. The Omayyds in Spain were also impelled to declare their caliphate. The Fatimids also initiated the great Murubitun revolution in western Africa and obstructed Muslims from their last chance to take over Europe. The Fatimid schism opened a cleavage offered the Crusaders an opportunity to capture Jerusalem. When they finally left the power, they did it with a vengeance resulting in the rise of assassins.
Alongside al-Fustat the Fatimid founded Cairo in 969 C.E. as a royal city, which, at the time, was a commercial and residential center in the country. During their rule, the Egyptian center of authority shifted gradually to Cairo from al-Fustat, which in 1168 C.E. was burned to repel an attack by the Crusaders.
The fundamental theological difference between Sunnis and Shi’ites is their beliefs over the successor of Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis religious hierarchy is less elaborate compared to that of the Shi’ite. Shi’ites also exalts man to the same status of prophets it the Quran, and often treat clerics as saints while Sunnis do not.
#7
General Saladin took over to rule Egypt and Syria which was previously controlled by Fatimid Caliph. People felt that Caliph was too weak to rule over them anymore when the first crusaders captured Jerusalem from him in 1099 AD. Immediately after taking over, Saladin founded the Ayyubid dynasty. In his reign, Saladin, a Sunni Moslem, restored the Sunni worship to the people of Egypt and Syria. He did not bother about Caliph’s Shiite’s alignment of faith and begun madrasas that boosted the Sunni faith. Moreover, during the Ayyubids dynasty, Saladin ensured that the universities in Baghdad, Egypt and Syria spread sciences and math for academic enrichment. After the death of General Saladin in 1193 AD, the Ayyubids’ Sultans were still strong and went on controlling all the small kingdoms in Cairo. In the fifth crusade, they fought off Pope Honorius crew which tried to attack them. Other than the Ayyubids being wealthy, they were also preachers and scholars. However, the Ayyubids’ later made a mistake of buying enslaved Mongol and Turkish Mamluks to fight for them, and this step made them weaker than the Mamluks soldiers, who later overthrew them in the sixth crusade to rule over Egypt.

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