224 chapter six
flalah-al-Dìn, at the outbreak of the Crusades, with a view to unit-
ing the country, under his leadership, and to providing political power
in the face of the Crusade armies.
The Fatimids paid considerable attention to learning and education.
The caliphs in Egypt developed great scientific and learning centres
where scientists found the right environment to flourish and develop
their work. In 972 A.C. al-Azhar mosque was built, and used as a
centre of learning as well as a place of worship. Al-Azhar became
one of the oldest surviving universities in the world and continued
to be so in Egypt until the present day. Dar-al-Hikmah or Dar al-
Ilm (hall of wisdom or of science) was established in 1005 with a
specified fund to be used for books and research. Special attention
was given to the writing, maintaining and repairing books, and from
the Fatimid Egypt came the earliest-known Islamic bookbinding which
many assigned to the eighth or ninth century. A Royal Library was
established, during al-Mustansir caliphate (1035–1094), which contained
as many as 200,000 books (Hitti, 1963). Therefore, although the Fatimid
move was a breakaway from the central state it did not lead to the
weakening of the scientific and cultural activities during the period.
Under their reign, scientists, with the support of the newly formed
caliphate, had introduced to the world some of the finest reference
work that served for many years after them.
But despite the notable development of science, art and industrial
art, and the encouragement of learning by the Fatimids, there does
not seem to be any specific writing on Islamic economics during the
Fatimid period. It was only towards the middle of the eleventh cen-
tury that al-Màwardìwrote his Al-Aœkàm, with no evidence to sug-
gest that he was under the patronage of the Fatimids. Even further,
al-Màwardì was not a Shì"ì scholar but a Sunni Shafì"i. It was as
if the Jurists of the day were more concerned with the promotion
of the Shì"ah theology than the advance of economic literature.
The Arab Separatist Movement
To the north and northeast of the Islamic Abbasìd empire lay another
independent state. It was a religio-politically driven state with another
dynasty that lasted for about half a century. The Shi"ìŒamdànìd
state was first founded in northern Mesopotamia with al-Mawsil being
its capital (929–991). In 944 the Œamdànìds stretched their boundaries
to North Syria and by taking this part from the Ikhshìdids, who