Dictionary of islamic architecture

Further reading:
H.Fathy, 
The Arab House in the Urban Setting: Past, Present
and future,
Fourth Arab Carreras Lecture,
University of Essex, November 1970. London 1972.
—— 
Architecture for the Poor,
Chicago and London 1973.
—— 
Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture,
Chicago
1985.
G.Leick, ‘Hassan Fathy, architect for the poor’, 
Egyptian
Bulletin
May 1988:4–8. 
Fathy,
London 1985.
J.M Richards, I.Serageldin and D.Rastorfer, 
Hassan
A.Schkifer, ‘Hassan Fathy: a voyage to New Mexico’, 
Arts
and the Islamic World
1(1): 1982/3.
Fatimids
Caliphs who ruled North Africa, Egypt and Palestine from
the tenth to the twelfth century.
The Fatimids were a religious dynasty who claimed
descent from the prophet’s daughter Fatima. In
historical terms the Fatimids belonged to an extreme
sect of Shi
a known as Ismailis who emerged as rivals
to both the Umayyads of Spain and the Abbasid
caliphate in Baghdad. The Fatimids’ first successes
were amongst the Berber tribes of North Africa who
adopted the Fatimids as leaders. Their first conquest
destroyed the Aghlabid rulers of Ifriqiyya (Tunisia)
in 909 and replaced them with the Fatimid caliph
the Mahdi Ubaid Allah. In the following years the
Fatimids pursued an aggressive expansionist policy,
conquering Tripoli and making raids on the French
and Italian coasts. During the reign of the Caliph al-
Mu
iz the empire was expanded westwards to
include the whole of North Africa to the Atlantic
Ocean and eastwards to Egypt and Palestine in 969.
The conquest of Egypt began a new phase in Fatimid
history with the foundation of Cairo as the imperial
capital.
The architecture of the Fatimids can be divided
into two periods, the North African period from 909
to 969 and the Egyptian period from 969 to 1171. The
North African period was a time of expansion and
religious extremism which can be seen in the
architecture of the mosques. Examples of early
Fatimid mosques are at Ajdabiya in Libiya and
Mahdiya in Tunisia. The first of these was the
mosque of Mahdiya, which was built like a fortress
with two square corner towers flanking a single
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projecting monumental entrance. The mosque at
Ajdabiya had a similar plan but lacks the
monumental entrance façade. For ideological reasons
neither of these mosques had a minaret, a feature
which remained absent until the last years of Fatimid
rule in Egypt.