Kutama - History of The Kutama

History of The Kutama

In the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Muslim era, that his fame was the largest.

The area is the historic home of the great Berber tribe Kutama, who played a considerable role in the Middle Ages and the Islamic Maghreb, mainly because it was behind the creation of the Fatimid empire in the tenth century the One of the greatest empires of Islamic history, which extended from Morocco to Saudi today.

Unlike other Muslim authorities, the Fatimids accepted in their administration, not on criteria of tribal, ethnic or even religious, but primarily on merit and competence. The Berbers were attracted by this dogma, they held up the Nile.

In the early tenth century Kutama formed a coalition with the Fatimids against the Abbasids. Because they were In rivalry with the Aghlabids who ruled Ifriqiya. Its members became the fiercest protectors of the young state and also constituted the main strength of his faithful army.

Abu Abd Allah ash-Chi'i, Shiite missionary meets the Kutama and paves the way for his master Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi, a Shiite Ismaili from Syria presented as the Mahdi Abu Abdullah ash-Chî'î and whose dream is to topple the Sunni power in place in Baghdad in favor of the dynasty chiite4.

In the 903 Kutama, now converted to Shiism, but also to the ideology of al-Mahdi, the uprising began. March 19, 909, they destroy permanently Aghlabids dynasty installed by the Abbasids in Ifriqya near Laribus. Six days later, they enter their capital Raqqada then founded the capital of the new Fatimid caliphate in Mahdiyah5.

The Fatimids, with their Kutama army conquered Egypt in 969 under the command of General Jawhar al-Siqilli (the Sicilian) who came to Al-Fustat in 972 countries in a disorganized and starving. They base, near the Sunni town, a new capital he named al-Qahira (Cairo), meaning "the Victorious" 4.

The Kutamas installed a military camp near Cairo, forming a formidable military power in the service of the Fatimid Caliph. They lead later expeditions to Damascus against the Abbasids. The district Kotama "El-Hai Kotamiyine" in Cairo and the Maghreb area of "Al-Harat Maghariba" in Damascus, still testify to the influence of this tribe whose members were, during different periods, being repressed by the Abbasids and their allies, including Egypt Saladin, who will make the Abbasids in 1171. The Siwis, Berbers of Egypt, are Kutama4.

Subsequently, the Fatimids forsook the Maghreb and settled the general Kutama Bologhin ibn Ziri Ifriqiya governor and founder of the dynasty Zirids.