FATIMAH (606-632), the daughter of Mahomet by his wife Khadijah, and one of the four women whom the prophet regarded as perfect, was born at Mecca in 606. At the age of fifteen she.was married to Ali, of whom she was the only wife. The Arabian dynasty named Fatimites, which from 909 to 1171 ruled over Egypt and the northern part of Africa, and latterly over Syria and Palestine, claimed to be descended from Fatimah. The religious tenets of their adherents differed considerably from those of the orthodox Mahometans, and latterly they sought to give to the Koran an allegorical interpretation so as to avoid obedience to its literal precepts. See Mahomet.