And as for disseminating the Fatimid da`wah...

And as for disseminating the Fatimid da`wah, that was done outside the borders of the state, chiefly via "subversive activities against foreign states" -- but not inside; this meant that the masses in Egypt remained practicing Sunnis, while Isma`ili doctrines and beliefs remained the province of only the ruling elites.

As for whether the masses actually believed the ruler in Cairo was the Mahdi-well, even if they didn't, they no doubt kept that to themselves, rather like the Roman citizens who had doubts about the divinity of the pre-Christian emperors. The Fatimids are the only major Shi`i movement in history that both ruled a powerful state and openly avowed a living, breathing Mahdi-Caliph in their palace.

Subjecting them to the same analytical scorecard as the aformentioned Sunni Mahdist movements-al-Muwahhids, Sudanese Mahdists and Saudi Mahdists-we find them also batting, to use an American baseball metaphor, .

667 in terms of fulfilling the Mahdi's major functions: they were more assuredly universalistic in aspirations, if not reality, and they did try to construct a new, Mahdist interpretation of Islamic law; however, they were not so enamored of wealth redistribution as the real Mahdi will be.

And eventually, despite the Fatimids' undenied military, diplomatic and cultural power in the medieval Middle East, "they were confronted with the fact that the hopes which the Isma`ili community had placed in the appearance of the Mahdi had not been realized, the law of Muhammad had not been abrogated, the hidden meaning…of the Qur'an had not been revaled, a more perfect law…had not been promulgated, Fatimid rule had not spread throughout the world….[and] the complete reversal of positions and the victory over the Infidels which the Mahdi was expected to bring about had been postponed to the end of time…" And in fact in 1171 the Fatimid Imamate was extinguished by a Sunni leader, Salah al-Din.