The Fatimid Ancestry through the Book "The Empire of Al-Mahdi" by the German Orientalist Heinz Hallm

Abstract

This research sheds light on the origin of Fatimid ancestry, which is a historical controversy that Muslim historians have debated. The German Orientalist Heinz Hallm discussed it in his book "The Empire of Al-Mahdi," examining some narratives but not encompassing all the opinions of Arab historians due to their varying stances. Some supported the Fatimid ancestry and confirmed their Alawite roots, while others criticized and denied their ancestry, associating them with Jewish and Magian origins. Therefore, we addressed these narratives in the research and discussed them to arrive at the truth that the Fatimids are indeed Alawites by descent. However, Hallm, the Orientalist, did not favor any of these opinions and left the matter without reaching a conclusive result. This is an important observation attributed to Hallm as a researcher specializing in Ismaili studies