Shi'a Century
Period of Islamic history
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The Shi'a Century is a historiographical term used to describe the period when several Shia Muslim dynasties exercised significant political influence over the Islamic world.[1][2] The term particularly refers to the rise of the Buyid dynasty in Iran and Iraq, and the Fatimid Caliphate in North Africa, Egypt, and parts of the Levant. The Hamdanid dynasty in northern Syria and the Zaydi states in Yemen also contributed to the wider political prominence of Shia Islam. The period emerged from the political fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate during the late 9th and early 10th centuries. Internal conflicts, revolts, financial difficulties, and the growing independence of provincial military leaders weakened the authority of the Abbasids and allowed regional dynasties to establish themselves across the caliphate. Shia movements, which had previously operated largely in opposition to Abbasid rule, benefited from this political fragmentation and established a number of states in different parts of the Islamic world. The most important development occurred in 945, when the Buyids, a Daylamite dynasty from northern Iran, captured Baghdad. The Buyids retained the Abbasid caliphate but placed the Abbasid caliphs under their political authority. For much of the following century, the Abbasids retained their symbolic position while effective political power in Iraq was exercised by the Buyids. The Buyids patronized Shia scholarship and religious institutions, contributing to the development of Twelver Shi'ism. Under their rule, Shia religious practices and commemorations became increasingly visible in Baghdad and other major cities.
At the same time, the Fatimid Caliphate emerged as the most powerful Isma'ili Shia state of the period. Founded in Ifriqiya in 909, the Fatimids expanded across North Africa and conquered Egypt in 969, establishing Cairo as their capital. They subsequently extended their influence into the Levant and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The Fatimids claimed both political and religious authority as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Fatima and Ali. The Fatimid period became a major period of development for Isma'ili religious thought and literature. Shia political influence was not limited to the Buyids and Fatimids. The Hamdanids established themselves in northern Syria and made Aleppo an important centre of Shia influence during the later 10th century. Zaydi states had also emerged in Yemen before the beginning of the Shia Century, while the Qarmatians, another Isma'ili-related movement, established a state in Bahrain and exercised influence over parts of eastern Arabia. The period was significant for the intellectual and institutional development of Shia Islam. Under Buyid patronage, Twelver scholars developed theological and legal doctrines that helped define the religious identity. Shia scholarship expanded in major centres such as Baghdad, while religious festivals and ritual practices became more publicly established.
Background
In the late 9th century, the Abbasid Caliphate began to fragment. A succession of internal crises—the "Anarchy at Samarra" and the Zanj Rebellion—weakened the central government and gave rise to a series of regional dynasties in the provinces of the Abbasid empire.[3] During this time, opposition to the faltering Abbasid regime was increasingly expressed by radical Shi'a sects, many of which were born and grew during the 9th century in the Abbasid metropolitan region of Iraq, before spreading to the periphery of the Islamic world.[4]
Rise of Shia influence
The weakness of the Abbasid regime allowed the creation of a number of Shi'a regimes in the remoter corners of the Islamic world, such as the Zaydi states in Tabaristan (in 864) and Yemen (in 897),[5] but most notably, it provided the opportunity for the massive spread of the clandestine millennialist Isma'ili missionary movement, which gave birth to the Qarmatians and the Fatimid Caliphate.[6][7] The Fatimid Caliphate, established in 909 in Ifriqiya, quickly came to control North Africa, conquered Egypt in 969, and expanded into the Levant,[8] while the Qarmatians established a state of their own in Bahrayn in 899, raided Iraq and the Levant, and even sacked Mecca in 930.[9]
In the meantime, following a temporary revival under the caliphs al-Mu'tadid and al-Muktafi, the Abbasid Caliphate declined quickly during the early 10th century as a result of ineffective leadership under Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932), infighting between the army and the bureaucrats, and financial mismanagement. This culminated in 945 in the capture of Baghdad by the pro-Shi'a Buyids, who had emerged from humble origins to rule over much of Iran during the previous decade.[10][11] Although the Buyids retained the Abbasid caliphate, for the next century the Abbasid caliphs were more or less powerless puppets under Buyid control.[10] The Buyids sponsored Shi'a scholarship, and it was under their patronage that Twelver Shi'ism acquired a definite form both as a sect and as a distinct community, with the elaboration of a specifically Twelver doctrine, and the creation of specifically Shi'a festivals and ritual practices.[12] During the later 10th century, under the Hamdanid rulers of Aleppo, northern Syria became a major centre of Shi'ism,[13] while the same period saw the emergence of the Alawite and Druze sects.