Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya

Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya, mainly known as Durzan,^[1] was the main consort of Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz^[2] and the mother of the Fatimid imam-caliph al-Aziz.^[3][4] She was known as the first patroness of Fatimid architecture. Durzān also founded the second great Fățimid mosque of Cairo, a congregational mosque (no longer extant) located in the Qarafa.^[5][6]

Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya
Mother of the Imam-caliph
Tenure	975–995
Born	Mahdia, Tunisia
Died	c. 995 Cairo, Egypt
Spouse	al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah
Children	al-Aziz
Names Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya Durzan

Biography

Durzan was born in the city of Mahdia, on the coast of modern-day Tunisia, in about 955,^[7] and was brought as a slave, or jariya, to the Fatimid harem. It is said that, because of her beautiful singing, she was also called Taghrid (lit. 'Singing As A Bird').^[7] Although many Fatimid sources were destroyed, material evidence and literary sources exist that confirm the vastness of her patronage.

In 976,^[8] Durzan inaugurated the first phase through the building of the Jami al-Qarafa Mosque with her daughter, Sitt al-Malik. As Cortese and Calinedri argue, this inauguration of the Jami al-Qarafa Mosque marked the first of the two main phases of Fatimid female architectural patronage. Durzan also sponsored a qasr (palace), a bath, a watering pool and a mausoleum.^[9][10]

Delia Cortese and Simonetta Calderini have noted Fatimid women’s patronage of public monuments and the link between piety – or religious propaganda – and charity during the delicate early stage of Fatimid rule.

In 973 she moved to the newly established Cairo to the court of the Caliph,^[7] where later she died in 995.^[11] It is said that when she died in Cairo, her daughter Sitt al-Malik mourned for a month.^[11]