Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya

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-Mulk. 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]

Sources

Bibliography

• Cortese, Delia (2006-01-06). Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2629-8.
• Pomerantz, Maurice A.; Shahin, Aram (2015-10-14). The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning: Studies Presented to Wadad Kadi. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-30746-9.

• Calderini, Simonetta; Cortese, Delia (2014-01-01). "5 The Architectural Patronage of the Fāṭimid Queen-Mother Durzān (d. 385/995): An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Literary Sources, Material Evidence and Historical Context". Material Evidence and Narrative Sources: 87–112. doi:10.1163/9789004279667_007. ISBN 9789004279667.