(13) Al-Fāʾiz (A.D. 1154).
During these reigns the power of the Fatimides rapidly decayed.
(14) Al-ʿĀẓid (A.D. 1160) was the last K͟halīfah of the Fatimide dynasty. At the commencement of his reign Egypt was divided into two factions, the respective chiefs of which, Dargham and Shāwir, disputed for the dignity of Vizir. Shāwir implored the assistance of Nūru ʾd-dīn, who sent an army into Egypt under the command of Shīrkūh, by means of which his rival was crushed. But becoming jealous of Nūru ʾd-dīn’s power in Egypt, he solicited the aid of Amauri, King of Jerusalem, who marched into Egypt and expelled Shīrkūh from the country. Nūru ʾd-dīn soon sent another army into Egypt under the same commander, who was accompanied by his nephew, the celebrated Ṣalāḥu ʾd-dīn (Saladin). Shīrkūh was again unsuccessful, and was obliged to retreat. The ambition of Amauri afforded shortly afterwards a more favourable opportunity for the reduction of Egypt. Amauri, after driving Shīrkūh out of the country, meditated the design of reducing it to his own authority. Shāwir, alarmed at the success of Amauri, entreated the assistance of Nūru ʾd-dīn, who sent Shīrkūh for the third time at the head of a numerous army. He repulsed the Christians, and afterwards put the treacherous Vizir to death. Shīrkūh succeeded to his dignity, but dying shortly after, Saladin obtained the post of Vizir. As Nūru ʾd-dīn was attached to the interests of the Abassides, he gave orders for the proclamation of al-Mustahdī, the Abasside K͟halīfah, and for depriving the Fatimides of the K͟halīfate. ʿĀẓid, who was then on a sick-bed, died a few days afterwards. [[KHALIFAH].]
FATQ (فتق). Lit. “Opening.” A term used by Ṣūfī mystics to explain the eternity of matter, together with its development in creation. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)
FATRAH (فترة). Lit. “Languor,” or “Intermission.” (1) The interval between the supposed revelation of the XCVIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān and the LXXIVth and XCIIIrd Sūrahs. It is during this period that the powers of inspiration of the Prophet are said to have been suspended, and it was then that he contemplated suicide by intending to cast himself from Mount Ḥirāʾ. The accounts of this interval are confused and contradictory, and various are the periods assigned to it, viz. from seven months to seven years.
(2) The term is also used for the time which elapses between the disappearance of a prophet and the appearance of another. (G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah in loco.)
(3) A term used by Ṣūfī mystics for a declension in spiritual life. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)
AL-FATTĀḤ (الفتاح), “The Opener” of that which is difficult.
One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxiv]., “For He is the opener who knows.”
FATWĀ (فتوى). A religious or judicial sentence pronounced by the K͟halīfah or by a Muftī, or Qāẓī. It is generally written. The following is a fatwā delivered by the present Muftī of the Ḥanafī sect at Makkah in reply to the question as to whether India is a Dāru ʾl-Islām. Fatwās are generally written in a similar form to this, but in Arabic:—