Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya
{{Short description|Wife of Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya
| succession = Mother of the Imam-caliph
| image =
| caption =
| reign = 975–995
| reign-type = Tenure
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Mahdia, Tunisia
| death_date = c. 995
| death_place = Cairo, Egypt
| issue = al-Aziz
| issue-type = Children
| spouse = al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah
| full name = Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya Durzan
| occupation =
}}
Al-Sayyida al-Mu'iziyya, mainly known as Durzan,{{Cite web|date=2017-02-13|title=Splendour of Fatimid architectural legacy in Egypt remains vibrant|url=https://the.ismaili/splendour-fatimid-architectural-legacy-egypt-remains-vibrant-0|access-date=2021-11-17|website=the.Ismaili|language=en}} was the main consort of Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz{{Cite book|last1=Hasan|first1=Masudul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Z46AAAAIAAJ|title=An Introduction to the Study of Islam: 1001 Questions & Answers|last2=Waheed|first2=Abdul|date=1974|publisher=Ferozsons|page=121|language=en}} and the mother of the Fatimid imam-caliph al-Aziz.{{Cite book|last=Grabar|first=Oleg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klx0xib6jFUC|title=Muqarnas: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture|date=1987|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-08155-0|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=klx0xib6jFUC&pg=PA16 16]|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Bloom|first=Jonathan M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePfqAAAAMAAJ|title=Arts of the City Victorious: Islamic Art and Architecture in Fatimid North Africa and Egypt|date=2007|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-13542-8|page=70|language=en}} 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.{{sfn|Cortese|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=p8uqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA167 167]}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LVQzAQAAQBAJ|title=Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Architecture|date=2012-05-07|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-22832-0|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LVQzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA662 662]|language=en}}
Biography
Durzan was born in the city of Mahdia, on the coast of modern-day Tunisia, in about 955,{{sfn|Pomerantz|Shahin|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sa-8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 99]}} and was brought as a slave, or {{transliteration|ar|jariya}}, to the Fatimid harem. It is said that, because of her beautiful singing, she was also called Taghrid ({{lit.|Singing As A Bird}}).{{sfn|Pomerantz|Shahin|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sa-8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 99]}} Although many Fatimid sources were destroyed, material evidence and literary sources exist that confirm the vastness of her patronage.
In 976,{{Cite journal|last=Bloom|first=Jonathan M.|title=The Mosque of the Qaraf a in Cairo|date=1986-01-01|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/muqj/4/1/article-p7_3.xml|journal=Muqarnas Online|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=7–20|doi=10.1163/22118993-90000205|issn=0732-2992|url-access=subscription}} 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 {{transliteration|ar|qasr}} (palace), a bath, a watering pool and a mausoleum.{{sfn|Cortese|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=p8uqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 168]}}{{Cite journal|last=Bloom|first=Jonathan M.|date=1983|title=The Mosque of al-Ḥākim in Cairo|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1523069.pdf|journal=Muqarnas|volume=1|pages=15–36|doi=10.2307/1523069|issn=0732-2992|jstor=1523069}}
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,{{sfn|Pomerantz|Shahin|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sa-8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 99]}} where later she died in 995.{{sfn|Pomerantz|Shahin|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sa-8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 100]}} It is said that when she died in Cairo, her daughter Sitt al-Malik mourned for a month.{{sfn|Pomerantz|Shahin|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sa-8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 100]}}
References
;Sources
{{reflist}}
;Bibliography
- {{Cite book|last=Cortese|first=Delia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8uqBgAAQBAJ|title=Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam|date=2006-01-06|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-2629-8|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|last1=Pomerantz|first1=Maurice A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sa-8CgAAQBAJ|title=The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning: Studies Presented to Wadad Kadi|last2=Shahin|first2=Aram|date=2015-10-14|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-30746-9|language=en}}
Further read
- {{Cite journal|last1=Calderini|first1=Simonetta|last2=Cortese|first2=Delia|date=2014-01-01|title=5 The Architectural Patronage of the Fāṭimid Queen-Mother Durzān (d. 385/995): An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Literary Sources, Material Evidence and Historical Context|url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004279667/B9789004279667_007.xml|journal=Material Evidence and Narrative Sources|language=en|pages=87–112|doi=10.1163/9789004279667_007|isbn=9789004279667 |url-access=subscription}}
Category:Women from the Fatimid Caliphate
Category:10th-century people from the Fatimid Caliphate