An examination of the military organization and position of the army in the Egyptian Fatimid caliphate An examination of the military organization and the position of army in the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt

The Fatimid Caliphate (297-567 AH) had special military and political characteristics in the Islamic world. The reliance of the Fatimid caliphs on the organization of a powerful land and navy army led to the expansion of this caliphate and the achievement of political and military power in their struggle against the Abbasid caliphate. The present study seeks to evaluate the military organization and establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt (567-358 AH). For this objective, the paper aims to analyze and answer the following questions: First, how did the Fatimid Caliphate’s army institution in Egypt contribute to the rise and fall of this government in the Muslim world during the fourth to sixth centuries? Second, how did the structure of the Fatimid army form based on the need and pattern of Islamic regimes? And third, which institutions were responsible for the administration of the enormous Fatimid army? The findings of this study indicate that the Fatimid army, with the backing of a coherent administrative structure and ethnic and racial diversity, was one of the most extensive military institutions among the governments of the Middle Ages. However, a relative weakness in maintaining a stable balance among different groups of soldiers always made the state vulnerable to turbulences.