Fāṭimid Alexandria as an Entrepôt in the East–West Exchange of Islamic Scholarship

Abstract

The arrival in Alexandria of al-Ṭurṭūshī from Spain and al-Silafī from Iran and the settling there of both early in the sixth/twelfth century created a nucleus of Sunni learning that grew into a full-blown renaissance. Many additional scholars participated, either as students and colleagues of these two, or on their own. As one result, the city itself became, over the first half of that century, a noted entrepôt for the east–west exchange of scholarship in the Muslim world, and all this despite the core Shi‘ism of the Fāṭimid dynasty that controlled Egypt, including Alexandria. This renaissance in fact continued to flourish until the Fāṭimids were finally supplanted in 567/1171 by the Ayyūbids, a full two decades into the second half of the same century, at which time Cairo became once again a major centre of Sunnism.