Baghdad Manifesto

The manifesto of Baghdad was a testimony ordered by The Abbasid Caliph Al-Qadir in response to the growth of the Fatimid-supporting Ismaili sect of Islam within his borders.

Most Ismailis viewed the Fatimids as their rightful spiritual and political leaders and their claim was made over the Muslim world. The majority of Arabs and Muslims rejected that claim.

This competition lead to the Baghdad Manifesto of 1011, in which the Abbāsids claimed that the line Ḥakīm represented did not legitimately descend from ˤAlī.

The manifesto of Baghdad is the testimony given by number of Muslim Sunni and "Twelvers" Shiite Genealogists and law scholars known all across the Islamic world in 402/1011, doubting the Sacred Mohammedan-‘Alid lineage of the Fatimids, they were declared to be descended from a Jew by the Name of Ibn al-qaddah, A Munafiq,which meant that the Fàtimid Dynasty were traced back to an infidel, an enemy of the faith , instead of the noble and venerable "Âalulbayt"(Family of the prophet) which was the basic Justification of the Sanctity of The Fàtimid rulers in the Ismaali doctrine

The statement that was ordered by The Abbasid Caliph Al-Qàdir to stop the spread of Ismailism within the very seat of his realm was long debated; among those who signed it were Ibn Razzam and Ibn Nadim.

Threatened by a possible rebellion within his empire, the Abbasid Caliph asked esteemed scholars and jurists to issue an edict claiming that the Fatimids were not descended from Ali. With this, he intended to delegitimize the Ismaili allegiance to the rival Fatimid domain on the basis of their claimed descent.

See also

• History of Baghdad