Sunni position on political authority in the Fatimid era

The Fatimids (297-567AH) appeared in the Maghreb with social and not religious slogans and established their government. Abu Abdullah Shi’i captured the hearts of the tribes of the Maghreb with the slogan of seeking justice and fighting against oppression and discrimination, and with his ascetic life and ethics of love for his friends and tolerance towards the opponents, he made the tribes of the Maghreb, especially the Katameh, to serve the Fatimids with utmost loyalty and sacrifice. After the formation of the government and the caliphate, most of the years of their establishment in the Maghreb were spent stabilizing the government and fighting against rebellions and opposition protests. In the meantime, the Sunnis, as the majority of people in the society, were the biggest social and political rivals of the Fatimids, and they constantly questioned their legitimacy with propaganda and cultural activities, and sometimes these quarrels were stained with blood, and violent encounters from the caliphs Fatemi Maghreb has been observed against Sunni jurists, especially Maliki jurists. In the military aspect, Abu Yazid al-Khari, with the help of some Sunni tribes, occupied the Fatimids with all their resources and people for years and dragged the government to the brink of collapse. The Maghreb Fatimids, especially the first three caliphs, had a murky and sometimes violent relationship with the Sunnis. These challenging relations did not exist during the Dawah era due to the behavior of Abu Abdullah Shiite, but after the formation of the government, the open hostility between the government and the majority of people living in Maghreb led to the formation of a challenging period between them. The stubbornness of Maghreb Sunnis and the extreme prejudice of Maghreb jurists, especially the Malikis, were not without influence in these relations. With the transfer of the Fatimids to Egypt, Al-Mu’ez tried to establish good relations with the Sunnis, using the bitter experience of the past, but he also observed the side of caution. This tradition continued until the last decade of the Fatimids. Because in all of these almost two centuries, except for the last decade, no one from among the Sunnis reached the position of a ministry or an emirate or a high-ranking military commander. This was despite the fact that there was no official document prohibiting the employment of Sunnis or their employment in high positions. This caution was only in important positions, and in the diwans and lower positions, Sunnis lived a good and peaceful life like others. They participated in ceremonies and rituals and were free to hold their own festivals and ceremonies and often acted according to themselves. The policy of Fatimids of Egypt towards Sunnis can be divided into four periods: There was cautious tolerance during the period of the first two caliphs of the Fatimids of Egypt (362-386AH). The period of confusion and chaos during the rule of al-Hakim. Due to the weakness of the caliph and the internal rivalries between the Maghrebi and the Turks, the actions of the Fatimids towards the Sunnis did not follow a single policy and differed according to the circumstances and superiority of different people.