Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Cultural Achievements Under Muizz
The first three Fatimid Caliphs had built cities like Mahdiya, Muhammadiya and Mansuria. Muizz embellished these cities of the Maghrib, particularly the last one in which he built a large palace called ”The Palace of the Sea”. Within its precincts there was a large lake and in the middle of the lake there was another palace. A long canal of 73,000 leagues was built to bring water to the palace and also to irrigate the countryside near it. In Egypt, Muizz was responsible for to build of the beautiful town of Cairo. The plan of Cairo was already given in advance by Muizz to Jawhar. In Cairo, the famous Mosque of Azhar was built. According to a plan of Muizz, a Great Eastern Palace was built by Jawhar in 368 A.H. with fortifications around it. It housed a secretariat and a big store of arms and ammunitions. It abounded in secret passages and had 4,000 living rooms. It was known for its famous gates which opened to a!! parts of Cairo. Later in the’time of Caliph Aziz a small Western Palace was built and the large space between the two palaces was used for ceremonial parades of 10,000 horsemen at a time.
Muizz knew many languages and was a learned man. He had endowed large libraries at Mansuria and Cairo, and used to hold learned controversies at his court between the great authors of the time. Two of them were his DaisTQazi Nuaman and Jafar bin Mans>ur al-Yaman. In the court of Muizz also flourished the well-known Spanish poet Ibn Hani, who had migrated from Spain in 347 A.H.. at
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the age of 27. His Diwan which is preserved to the present day contains most elegant devotional poems for Muizz. The younger son of Muizz, Prince Tamim was also an accomplished poet.
The Fatimids on coming to Egypt did not make any changes in the administration and law of that ancient country. They added the new colour of their own religion to the already existing institutions of the place. Cairo was known for its festivals. Al! Fridays were festive days. The two Eids and the Shia festival of Id Ghadir alKhumm and the 10th of Muharram as well as the 1st of Rajab were celebrated with much ceremony. The ”Festival of the Flooding of the Nile: which had come down from the Pharaonic times and the Spring Day. ”Nauroz” were also celebrated.
Muizz was very tolerant to the local minority. The Christians and Jews held high offices. The Chief Physician, Musa bin al Ghazal was a Jew and became a famous pharmacologist of the time. The Coptic priest of Alexandria, Said bin Batriq wrote many works of science which were translated in Latin and read throughout Europe. He too worked under the patronage of Muizz. Muizz died in 365 A.H. at the age of 45, having ruled in Maghrib fur 10 years and in Egypt for 4 years. He was succeeded by his second son Aziz.
AZIZ The Fifth Fatimid Caliph (364-386 A.H.)
Aziz was born in Mahdiya in 344 A.H. After the death of his elder brother, he was designated as successor by Muizz. On the latter’s death in 365 A.H. Aziz became the CaKph. Fiist he had to deal with the Maghrib. The luler of this province on behalf of the Fatimids was Bulkin. He tried his best to prevent other Berber tribes from joining an alliance with the Umayjads of Spain. Bulkin died in

373 A.H. and was followed by his son Mansur in the Governorship of the Maghrib. Upto now the finances of the province were directly administered by the Caliph at Cairo, but now Mansur became independent and refused to show any account to the Caliph. However, the Governor and the Caliph died about the same time in

386 A.H. The next Fatimid Caliph Hakim confirmed th£ 12 year old son of Mansur named Badis as the next Governor of Maghrib. The Qarmatians and Aftagia in Syria
Aftagin was a Turkish Commander under the Buwayhids. He became independent of the Abbas id court, came to Syria, defeated the Fatimid Governor of Damascus, and began to rule independently in Syria. These were in the last days of Caliph Muizz’s reign. But now the Qarmatians led by Hassan a!-Aasam came to the help of

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Aftagin. Jawhar was on the point of being defeated, when Aziz himself brought help. Aftagin was arrested and brought to Cairo. Aziz treated his enemy with great honour. He put all the Turkish prisoners under the command of Aftagin and created a new Turkish force in Egypt to balance the growing power of the Maghribi Berbers. The wazir of Egypt Yaqub bin Killis is supposed to have contrived the murder of Aftagin in 372 A.H. In Syria, other Turkish Amirs like Qassam and Bekjur kept on vacillating between the Fatimids and the Abbasids, thus making Syria a very insecure province of the Fatimid Empire. The Wazirate Yaqub bin Killis
Yaqub was originally a Jew from Baghdad. He had entered the service of the Ikshidid ruler of Egypt, Kafur, and had become an expert in the agriculture and revenue administration. On accepting Islam, he was entrusted to many high offices, bringing on him the jealousy of the wazir Ibn Furat. To escape from the wazir’s enmity he left Egypt in 357 A.H. and went to the Fatimid Court in Maghrib. With Jawhar’s army he came back to Egypt in 358 A.H. Although Ibn Furat was nominally incharge of the office of wazir, the real power rested with Yaqufa and Jawhar. Yaqub exercised complete control of the administration in the last years of Muizz and during the reign of Aziz. Due to the murder of Aftagin, Aziz imprisoned him but soon had to release him as he was indispensable. He remained in the office, till his death in 380 A.H. The Fatimids did not have a regular wazirate till Yaqub bin Killis made the office permanent. After Yaqub’s death many wazirs were appointed mainly Christians and Jews and twice Ibn Furat was restored to the office. Religious Minorities Under Aziz
Aziz was a very tolerant ruler. During his time members of religious minorities had a fair deal. Many of them enjoyed high position. The wife of Aziz was a Christian and she had considerable influence over the administration. Almost the entire revenue administration of the Fatimids was controlled by the members of Christian and Jewish communities. For most of the time during Aziz’s reign the wazir was the converted Jew, Yaqub bin Killis. After Yaqub’s death a Christian wazir Isa bin Nestorius and a Jewish wazir Isa bin Manissa were appointed. The Greek Orthodox Church was held in high favour. The two Patriarchs of the Church were the brothers of the Christian wife of Aziz. The head of the Coptic Church, Efraim, was asked to build a big Church at Fustat.5
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