Arghwan, called al-Hafiziyya

أرغوان المعروفة بالحافظية

c. October 1250 CE · c. 20 Sha'ban 648 AH

Cairo

Freedwoman of al-Adil and great-aunt of Turanshah (d. 20 Sha'ban 648) — she endowed and built Cairo's Hafiziyya madrasa by the Bustan al-Kubar and was buried in it 1.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
Patron
Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Egypt & Nile
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Life in time

1150117512001225125012751300 c. c. c. c. c. c.
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era · The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era Contemporaries: Abagha Khan · Abu al-Abbas al-Qurti · Abu al-Hajjaj al-Biyasi · Abu Bakr ibn Qawam al-Balisi · Abu Shama al-Dimashqi

In space

Cairo

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Place in the story

    Sunni (transmitted)

    Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

    Overview

    Arghwan, founder of the Hafiziyya madrasa, aunt of al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Turanshah b. al-Malik al-Salih Najm al-Din; a slave-girl of the bustard whom al-Malik al-'Adil freed — she acquired great wealth, endowed it, and built the Hafiziyya madrasa with its great garden; a lady, trustworthy and honoured. 1

    Her death

    She died at Cairo on 20 Sha'ban 648 and was buried in her madrasa. 1

    Connections

    Explore the connections

    Died in
    Cairo
    Buried in
    Cairo

    People and things also explored

    Al-Azhar Mosque· The Dar al-Hikma of Cairo· Baybars takes the sultanate, 658 AH· Capture of Cairo· death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place· The great earthquake of Egypt, 608 AH· Egypt's famine and epidemic, 695· Four madhhab qadis appointed in Egypt, 663

    Sources

    1. Shadharat al-Dhahab — Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali , p. 248-249
    Cite this page

    islam.museum contributors. “Arghwan, called al-Hafiziyya”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-hafiziyya-arghwan/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.

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    Wing

    People

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    Related

    Al-Azhar Mosque

    Al-Azhar at Cairo: founded by the Fatimids as the mosque of their da'wa, then turned by the vizier Ya'qub ibn Killis in 378 into a university teaching the sciences and letters — from a pulpit reserved for the Fatimid call into one of Egypt's foremost centres of learning beside the mosques of Amr, Ibn Tulun and al-Hakim.