The Fatimid Empire: a Case for Religious Toleration?

Tolino, Serena (2024). The Fatimid Empire: a Case for Religious Toleration? In: Matviyets, Anne-Sarah; Veltri, Giuseppe; Rüpke, Jörg (eds.) Tolerance and Intolerance in Religion and Beyond: Challenges from the Past and in the Present. Routledge Studies in Religion (pp. 97-112). Abingdon: Routledge

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In this chapter, I will reflect on the suitability of tolerance as an analytical category when looking at a specific case study from Islamic history. In particular, I will focus on the Fatimid dynasty (297–567/909–1171). The appearance of the Fatimids on the political scene represents one of the most important ruptures in the history of the region: for the first time, a Shīʿī dynasty, born as a clandestine movement, was able to openly challenge the ruling caliphate of the time, the Sunnī Abbasid one. The presence of the Fatimid counter-caliphate was a fundamental element in the conceptualisation of the Sunnī/Shī‘ī rupture. Starting from the small town of Sijilmasa, in today’s Tunisia, the Fatimids later conquered Sicily, Yemen, and all of North Africa. Most importantly, they conquered Egypt in 358/969, where they founded their new capital, al-Qāhira al-Muʿizziyya (present-day Cairo). During the Fatimid period, Cairo was one of the most multi-religious and multi-cultural cities in the world, where a majority Sunnī population was ruled by a Shīʿī minority. In this paper, I will reflect on the kinds of perspectives that using toleration as an analytical tool can open, when we look at the history of this dynasty, and what challenges we may encounter.

Item Type:	Book Section (Book Chapter)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institut für Studien zum Nahen Osten und zu muslimischen Gesellschaften
UniBE Contributor:	Tolino, Serena
Subjects:	200 Religion > 290 Other religions 900 History > 950 History of Asia 900 History > 960 History of Africa
ISBN:	9780367519353
Series:	Routledge Studies in Religion
Publisher:	Routledge
Language:	English
Submitter:	Serena Tolino
Date Deposited:	07 Feb 2023 15:08
Last Modified:	21 Jun 2024 12:36
Uncontrolled Keywords:	tolerance, fatimid empire, Egypt, shiism, ismailism
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/178076