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Jawhar's conquest of Egypt and the laying out of Cairo

فتح جوهر مصر واختطاط القاهرة

c. 969 CE · 358 AH

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 ﷺ'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 1، 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 2

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Egypt & Nile
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

In time

960970980 c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era

Overview

The caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah sent his commander Jawhar to Egypt, who took it and laid out the city of Cairo, in Sha'ban 358 AH. 3

The cause

When Kafur al-Ikhshidi died, order collapsed and money for the troops grew scarce. A group wrote to al-Mu'izz asking him to send an army to take over Egypt. 3

The conquest and the building

Jawhar stopped at the site of Cairo and laid it out, and built the residence of the amir for al-Mu'izz, which is known as the Two Palaces. He cut off the Friday sermon for the Abbasids. 3

Al-Mu'izz entered Egypt in Ramadan 362 AH with the coffins of his forefathers. 3

Ibn al-Athir's account

According to Ibn al-Athir, al-Mu'izz sent Jawhar with a dense army to the lands of Egypt, and he took them. 4

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
جوهر القائد مولى المعز· al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah Ma'add ibn al-Mansur

People and things also explored

Death of al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah and accession of al-Aziz· The Khutba in the Two Harams for al-Mu'izz the Ubaydid· al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah Ma'add ibn al-Mansur· جوهر القائد مولى المعز

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p. 620-622
  2. Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 107-108
  3. Tarikh al-Khulafa — al-Suyuti (Dar al-Minhaj edition) , p.620-622
  4. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir , p.444
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Jawhar's conquest of Egypt and the laying out of Cairo”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/fatimid-conquest-of-egypt-358/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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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.