ch it furnished the metropolis.

(4) _The Fatimite period_ begins with the taking of Fostat by Jauhar,
who immediately began the building of a new city, al-Kahira or Cairo, to
furnish quarters for the army which he had brought. A palace for the
caliph and a mosque for the army were immediately constructed, the
latter still famous as al-Azhar, and for many centuries the centre of
Moslem learning. Almost immediately after the conquest of Egypt, Jauhar
found himself engaged in a struggle with the Carmathians (q.v.), whom
the Ikshidi prefect of Damascus had pacified by a promise of tribute;
this promise was of course not held binding by the Fatimite general
(Ja'far b. Falah) by whom Damascus was taken, and the Carmathian leader
al-Hasan b. Ahmad al-A'sam received aid from Bagdad for the purpose of
recovering Syria to the Abbasids. The general Ja'far, hoping to deal
with this enemy independently of Jauhar, met the Carmathians without
waiting for reinforcements from Egypt, and fell in battle, his army
being defeated. Damascus was taken by the Carmathians, and the name of
the Abbasid caliph substituted for that of Mo'izz in public worship.
Hasan al-A'sam advanced from Damascus through Palestine to Egypt,
encountering little resistance on the way; and in the autumn of 971
Jauhar found himself besieged in his new city. By a timely sortie,
preceded by the administration of bribes to various officers in the
Carmathian host, Jauhar succeeded in inflicting a severe defeat on the
besiegers, who were compelled to evacuate Egypt and part of Syria.

Meanwhile Mo'izz had been summoned to enter the palace that had been
prepared for him, and after leaving a viceroy to take charge of his
western possessions he arrived in Alexandria on the 31st of May 973, and
proceeded to instruct his new subjects in the particular form of
religion (Shi'ism) which his family represented. As this was in origin
identical with that professed by the Carmathians, he hoped to gain the
submission of their leader by argument; but this plan was unsuccessful,
and there was a fresh invasion from that quarter in the year after his
arrival, and the caliph found himself besieged in his capital. The
Carmathians were gradually forced to retreat from Egypt and then from
Syria by some successful engagements, and by the judicious use of
bribes, whereby dissension was sown among their leaders. Mo'izz also
found time to take some active measures against the Byzantines, with
wh