Can anyone recommend academic papers/books that discuss the Yamani-Qasi rivalry? I am aware of the paper by Patricia Crones but otherwise I haven't found any other academic material in English.
Can anyone recommend academic papers/books that discuss the Yamani-Qasi rivalry? I am aware of the paper by Patricia Crones but otherwise I haven't found any other academic material in English.
Jawhar al-Ṣiqillī, a Christian of Slavic origin, was born in 312 AH / 924–925 CE in Sicily, which was then under Byzantine rule. For this reason, in Qayrawān, where he was brought as a slave, he was known as al-Rūmī. Raised in Morocco and entering the service of the Fatimids, Jawhar was also the mawlā of the Fatimid caliph al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh (953–975). The caliph, who showed special interest in Jawhar, gave him the honorific title Abū al-Ḥasan because of his learning and sincerity.
Jawhar rose rapidly through the ranks of the state. After al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh appointed him as secretary in 341 AH / 952–953 CE, he came to be known as Jawhar al-Kātib. In 347 AH / 958–959 CE, he was appointed to the office of vizier.
After appointing Jawhar al-Ṣiqillī as vizier, al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh sent him that same year to Morocco, together with the Berber Zīrī b. Manād al-Ṣanhājī, in order to bring the remaining parts of the Maghrib under Fatimid rule. The Fatimid army under Jawhar’s command defeated Yaʿlā b. Muḥammad al-Ifrānī after fierce fighting and captured the city of Īfkān under his control. Yaʿlā b. Muḥammad was forced to break his agreement with the Umayyads of al-Andalus and pledge allegiance to the Fatimids. Nevertheless, Jawhar later killed Yaʿlā b. Muḥammad, after which he adopted the title al-Shākir li-llāh, “the grateful one,” and began using this name on his seal.
Jawhar then besieged and captured Fez, taking the city’s Umayyad governor, Aḥmad b. Abū Bakr al-Judhāmī, prisoner. As a result of Jawhar’s military campaigns in the Maghrib, the last Idrisid ruler, al-Ḥasan al-Idrīsī, was forced to declare his loyalty to the Fatimids. Having conquered the territories from al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā to the sea, Jawhar succeeded in uniting almost the entire Maghrib under Fatimid administration, with the exception of Tangier and Ceuta.
When the Fatimid army advanced to the westernmost edge of North Africa and reached the Atlantic Ocean, Jawhar sent live fish in jars to al-Muʿizz in the capital. Through this gesture, Jawhar was showing the caliph that his empire had reached the ocean, the limitless boundary of the world. Jawhar returned to Qayrawān with captives and spoils, and his successes in the Maghrib gave rise to the belief that the Fatimids’ goal of conquering Egypt would be achieved through him.
The Fatimids, who had been established in Ifrīqiya, claimed descent from the Prophet Muḥammad and, within the framework of a messianic doctrine, asserted that they were the legitimate rulers of the Islamic community and that they would bring an age of prosperity, peace, and righteousness. On this basis, they aimed to rule the entire Islamic world.
In this direction, beginning with the first Fatimid caliph, ʿUbayd Allāh al-Mahdī, they adopted an expansionist policy and sought to extend their authority westward toward the Atlantic Ocean and the Iberian Peninsula, and eastward toward Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and Baghdad. The conquest of Egypt in 969 by the Fatimid commander Jawhar al-Ṣiqillī was regarded as the first step toward their greater goal of dominating the Muslim world. However, in a region where Sunnis formed the majority, their struggles with the Abbasids and with the Qarmaṭians, who like them were Shiʿites, caused their sphere of rule to remain limited to Egypt and Syria.
After their arrival in Egypt, the Fatimids revived the Egyptian economy through the economic policies they implemented. By reorganizing the tax system and applying it carefully, they gained the trust of the Egyptian population and increased tax revenues. Taking advantage of the political crisis in which the Abbasids found themselves, they also connected the Indian Ocean trade route with the Maghrib through Egypt and came to dominate regional trade. Thanks to the material wealth offered by Egypt and the accumulated experience of centuries, Fatimid culture developed rapidly, and Cairo soon became a brilliant center of education and art.
After conquering Egypt, Jawhar made efforts to spread Shiʿism. Upon entering Egypt, he first sent a group of leading Sunni scholars as prisoners to al-Muʿizz in North Africa, attempting thereby to incline the Sunni Egyptian population toward Shiʿism. He then built al-Azhar, the first Shiʿite mosque constructed in Egypt, began to conduct Shiʿite propaganda, and started appointing members of the Shiʿite sect to positions in the state administration.
Despite all these efforts, however, the spread of Shiʿism did not reach the desired level, because Egypt’s leading figures and the majority of the population were Sunni, and because of the reaction caused by Shiʿite propaganda carried out in Sunni mosques. The spread of Shiʿism remained largely limited to those who wished to obtain office or preserve their positions, while the administration itself became Shiʿitized through the appointment of Shiʿites to government posts.
For more informations, see:
Jawhar al-Ṣiqillī’s Role in the Fatimid Conquest of Egypt and the Foundation of Cairo (2026) by The Caliphate AMS
https://thecaliphateams.substack.com/p/jawhar-al-siqillis-role-in-the-fatimid?r=6tx3yg
I make edutainment posts on r/IslamicHistoryMeme and I have recently started an educational YouTube channel!
I'm Looking for someone willing to do an English narration for an Islamic history video I am making. Here is an example of the typical length/content of my videos.
Requirements: Can correctly pronounce medieval Arabic names and other Arabic terms while narrating in English.
To contact me, please DM me on Reddit or use my discord account: thecaliphate_as
Thank you!
>Shakespeare’s works in Yemen were transformed into a theatrical tool through which playwrights confronted colonial rule and, later, local authoritarianism.
>The performance of Shakespeare’s plays became linked to the political conditions in Yemen, and some of their scenes and texts were modified to suit the issues that playwrights wished to address.
>During the British colonial period, which began in the 1830s, Yemeni playwrights adopted Shakespeare’s works as a means of expressing their anti-colonial stance and confronting political repression and censorship. After the fall of the monarchy in North Yemen and the independence of the South in the 1960s, playwrights faced a different reality.
>At times, this reality enabled them to move beyond Shakespeare and present local theatrical works addressing Yemeni social and political issues. At other times, it led them to reinterpret Shakespeare’s plays in ways that aligned with ongoing political and social transformations. Thus, these works were no longer merely a means of resisting colonialism, but also became a tool for opposing local authoritarianism
For more information, see:
The Political Afterlives of Shakespeare in Yemen: How Did Shakespeare’s Plays Become Instruments of Political Resistance in Yemen? (2026) By The Caliphate A.M.S