political fragmentation and cultural diversity 223ingly, had very favourable effects. A brief discussion of these main
movements and their impact on the intellectual life of Muslims is
given below with a view to exploring the environment within which
Islamic economic writers initiated and completed their work.
The Alid Movement
The Alids, who sided with the Abbasids in overthrowing the Umayyads,
had hoped at best that the caliphate would be restored to them as
legitimate heirs, and at worst to be given a role in running the affair
of the state. The outcomes were quite the opposite; there was to be
neither. The Alids who felt betrayed regarded themselves as caliphs
in waiting and never missed an opportunity to establish their own
political entity in the face of their cousins the Abbasids.
Of the few Alid attempts to establish an independent state, within
the Abbasìd state, is the Fatimid. The Fatimid movement, named
after Lady Fatimah the Prophet’s daughter and Caliph Ali’s wife,
was the most influential and the longest lasting. The Fatimid move-
ment was based on the Ismàìlì, or Shì"i Seveners movement that
was named after the seventh Imam Ismàìl the descendant of Caliph
Ali. The Ismàìlìspread their missions throughout the country preach-
ing the return of al-Mahdi, Muœammad the son of Ismàìl, who, in
accordance with a Prophet’s prophesy, would return to restore justice,
remove the oppression (caused by the Abbasids in the interpretation
of the Ismàìlì), and apply equality. They found success in Yemen in
901, and in 908 they established their rule as the Fatimid caliphate
in Tunisia. From Tunisia they extended its domain, taking over Egypt
in 969 and then Syria in 1003 (Hitti, 1963). What is particularly
noted about the Fatimid movement is that it was the only movement
that represented a challenge to the Abbasìd on their own grounds:
the issue of the caliphate as being based on the kinship to the Prophet.
Therefore, it was not an independent state, within the Abbasìd
caliphate, which would still pay homage to Baghdad, but an inde-
pendent caliphate that did not acknowledge the religious legitimacy
of the caliphate in Baghdad. It was based, instead, on the Shi"ìcon-
viction that the caliphate had belonged to them since the death of
the Prophet.
The centre of power was, therefore, shifted from Baghdad to Cairo,
the capital of the Fatimid caliphate. The Fatimid caliphate lasted
until 1167 when the last Fatimid caliph was displaced by Saladin,