feasts and festivals 255See also AMBROSE,SAINT;AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO,
SAINT;ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA,SAINT;BASIL THE
GREAT,SAINT;CYRIL OFALEXANDRIA,SAINT;GREGORYI
THEGREAT, ANDSAINT;GREGORY OFNAZIANZUS,SAINT;
GREGORY OF NYSSA,SAINT;ISIDORE OFSEVILLE,SAINT;
JEROME,SAINT;CHRYSOSTOM,JOHN,SAINT;LEO, THE
GREAT, POPE;ORIGEN; PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY;
SCHOLASTICISM AND THESCHOLASTIC METHOD; THEOLOGY,
SCHOOLS OF.
Further reading:Robert H. Ayers, Language, Logic,
and Reason in the Church Fathers: A Study of Tertullian,
Augustine, and Aquinas(Hildesheim: Olms, 1979); Hans,
Freiherr [Baron] von Campenhausen, The Fathers of the
Greek Church(New York: Pantheon, 1959); Joyce E. Salis-
bury, Church Fathers, Independent Virgins(London: Verso,
1991); Charles L. Stinger, Humanism and the Church
Fathers: Ambrogio Traversari (1386–1439) and Christian
Antiquity in the Italian Renaissance(Albany: State Univer-
sity of New York Press, 1977).
Fatimids, caliphate of They were Muslim Ismaili
SHIITE CALIPHSwho eventually ruled from EGYPTand
claimed descent from Fatima (d. 633), the daughter of
the prophet MUHAMMAD. Tolerant of Sunni, Jews, and
Christians they acknowledged no Muslim authority,
especially the ABBASIDS, in ISLAMother than their own.
Originally from northern SYRIA, they founded a state in
TUNISin 909, ruling northwestern AFRICA, as well as
SICILY. Their fleet dominated the western Mediter-
ranean. By the mid-10th century, MALTA,SARDINIA,COR-
SICA, and the BALEARIC ISLANDS were under their
control. Fatimid power reached its apogee during the
reign of the fourth caliph, al-Muizz (r. 953–975). He
began the conquest of Egypt in 969. By 974 the
Fatimids had moved their capital to CAIRO, continuing
their expansion with the conquest of PALESTINE, Syria,
and western ARABIA. They had left north Africa to the
ZIRIDS. Under Caliph Al-HAKIM (r. 996–1021) the
Fatimids defeated a BYZANTINE fleet in 998. They
destroyed the Church of the HOLY SEPULCHER in
JERUSALEM in 1009. Hostilities with Byzantium lasted
until 1038, when a treaty allowing Byzantium to rebuild
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was signed. After the
fanatically intolerant al-Hakim’s death in 1021, Fatimid
power declined slowly but steadily throughout the
remainder of the 11th century despite a general prosper-
ity. The First Crusade conquered Palestine, including
Jerusalem, in 1099. Though from then often at peace
with the crusaders, the Fatimids were left with little
more than Egypt, which NUR AL-DINof Syria, under
SALADIN’S command, conquered in 1169, effectively
ending Fatimid rule. The last Fatimid caliph died in
1171.
See also ASSASSINS;AYYUBIDS OF EGYPT;DRUZES;
ISMAILIS.
Further reading:Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The
Islamic Dynasties (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 1967), 46–48; P. M. Holt, The Age of the Crusades:
The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517(New
York: Longman, 1986); R. Stephen Humphreys, Islamic
History: A Framework for Inquiry, rev. ed. (Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1991); Ira M. Lapidus,
A History of Islamic Societies(Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1988).fatwa In medieval and modern Islam a fatwa was a
consultation on a question on a point of law in Islam
made to a mufti or an officially recognized or private
legal scholar. With the complexity of Islamic law or
Sharia and the encounter of Islam with new circum-
stances, a need was soon felt in Islam to have recourse to
experts in the law. The authority of the mufti was based
on his reputation as a scholar and on his ability to apply
reason to a problem. His decisions were not binding or
enforceable in themselves, but magistrates and common
Muslims were quickly encouraged to consult their opin-
ions by popular and learned Islamic culture. Their opin-
ions might not just be rendered in strictly legal questions
or on such procedures but also sought on more mundane
or domestic matters of religious practice. Many Muslims
consulted them, even the caliphs themselves. Their opin-
ions were soon collected and used in the judgments of
later experts.
See alsoHADITH;QADI;QURAN.
Further reading: Joseph Schacht, Introduction to
Islamic Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964); J. R.
Walsh, “Fatwa,” Encyclopedia of Islam,2.866–867.feasts and festivals During the Middle Ages, Islam,
Judaism, and Christianity celebrated religious festivals
commemorating religious events or people. These
involved various special and particular ceremonies, activ-
ities, rest from work, and practices, including feasts or
special meals.CHRISTIANITY
Early Christianity was strongly critical of the festivals,
spectacles, and games of ancient society. There was a cer-
tain feeling that every day was a feast since every day
belonged to GODand offered opportunities for worship
and for an increase of one’s knowledge and experience of
God. These did not include games or other such pagan
practices. Sunday was celebrated weekly. Other regular
and movable feasts were soon added to the CALENDAR.
These included EASTER,PENTECOST, Christmas, saints’
days, and the feasts of the CIRCUMCISIONand EPIPHANY.
Some paralleled the old pagan festivals or were obvious
replacements. Others were tried to the agrarian cycle of
ploughing, planting, opening of fields to flocks and
herds, and days long established for the payment of rents