al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah Ma'add ibn al-Mansur
Ma'add ibn al-Mansur, fourth Ubaydid ruler, titled al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah; his mawla Jawhar took Egypt with a hundred thousand horse, laid out Cairo and built the Two Palaces; al-Mu'izz entered Egypt in Ramadan 362 carrying his fathers' coffins — the builder of Cairo.
Reign · Fatimid Caliphate · no. 12 in the chain · 953–975 CE
Ruled the caliphate
Events of the reign
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Construction of al-Azhar Mosque
In Rabi' II 359 'hayya ala khayr al-amal' was added to Egypt's call to prayer and al-Azhar mosque was begun — finished in Ramadan 361.
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Al-Daraqutni journeys to al-Sham and Egypt and composes the Musnad for Ibn Hinzaba, about 350/961
In middle age al-Daraqutni journeyed to al-Sham and Egypt, hearing the qadi Abu al-Tahir al-Dhuhli and that generation. The vizier Ja'far ibn al-Furat Ibn Hinzaba was dictating hadith in Egypt; al-Daraqutni went out to him, stayed with him a while and composed for him the Musnad, gained much wealth from his side, and transmitted reports from him in Kitab al-Madih.
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Death of al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah and accession of al-Aziz
In Rabi II 365 al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah died in Egypt aged about forty-five. Ibn al-Athir tells the famous cause: a Byzantine envoy recalled al-Mu'izz's prophecy that he would die ruling Egypt and be caliph in Baghdad, then said the majesty he had seen at Mahdiyya had now faded — grief took him, fever followed, and he died. His son Nizar concealed the death till the feast, led prayer as al-Aziz and mourned him publicly.
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Jawhar's conquest of Egypt and the laying out of Cairo
In 357 the Qarmatians took Damascus and meant for Egypt — the Ubaydids took it first. On Kafur's death order broke down and the pay ran short, so notables wrote to al-Mu'izz asking for an army to surrender the country; he sent his mawla Jawhar the commander with a hundred thousand horse. Jawhar took Egypt, laid out the city on Cairo's present site, built the dar al-imara known as the Two Palaces, cut the Abbasid khutba, clad himself in black and the preachers in white, and ordered the new formula — 'bless Muhammad the Chosen, Ali the Approved, Fatima the Virgin, al-Hasan and al-Husayn the Prophet's grandsons, and the imams, fathers of amir al-mu'minin al-Mu'izz bi'llah' — all in Sha'ban 358. In Ramadan 362 al-Mu'izz himself entered Egypt with his fathers' coffins ، ودخل جوهر البلد يوم الثلاثاء لسبع عشرة ليلة خلت من شعبان وأقام عسكره يدخل البلد مسبعاً أيام، وقطع خطبة بني العباس عن المنابر وأسماهم من على السكة وعوض عن ذلك باسم المعز وأزال الشعار الأسود وألبس الخطباء الثياب البيض، وأذن بحي على خير العمل في جامع مصر العتيق في جمادى الأولى سنة تسع وخمسين وسر جوهر بذلك وكتب إلى المعز يبشره، وفرغ من بناء الجامع الأزهر في سابع رمضان سنة إحدى وستين وجمع فيه الجمعة
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Killing of Ziri ibn Manad al-Sanhaji, 360
In Ramadan 360 Ziri b. Manad the Sanhaji — grandfather of the al-Mu'izz b. Badis line — was killed in his war with Ja'far al-Andalusi when his horse stumbled and he fell; founder and fortifier of Ashir under Abu Yazid's revolt, and lord of Tahert.
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Flight from Fustat on the day of sacrifice, 350/962
On the feast of sacrifice of 350 — 20 January 962 — after writing a satire on Kafur, al-Mutanabbi left Fustat secretly and, crossing Arabia after great trials, reached Iraq, where he spent some time in Kufa before settling in Baghdad.
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Under Kafur's patronage at Fustat, c. 347/958
From Damascus al-Mutanabbi went to Egypt and to Fustat, where he obtained the patronage of the Ikhshidid regent Kafur, and was forced to sing the praises of a patron for whom in his heart he felt only contempt — his panegyrics barely conceal regret at losing Sayf al-Dawla's favour. He agreed to celebrate Kafur, it is said, only because he had been promised the governorship of Sidon; when the promises went unfulfilled he courted the Ikhshidid general Abu Shuja' Fatik, until relations with Kafur broke down.
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Siege of Rometta
Draft card for the Siege of Rometta in 963, the Fatimid completion of Sicily's conquest with the last Byzantine fort's fall; its sources are not yet checked on the page.