Durzan was born in the city of
Mahdia, on the coast of modern-day
Tunisia, in about 955, and was brought as a slave, or , to the
Fatimid harem. It is said that, because of her beautiful singing, she was also called
Taghrid (). Although many Fatimid sources were destroyed, material evidence and literary sources exist that confirm the vastness of her patronage. In 976, Durzan inaugurated the first phase through the building of the
Jami al-Qarafa Mosque with her daughter, Sitt al-Mulk. As Cortese and Calinedri argue, this inauguration of the Jami al-Qarafa Mosque marked the first of the two main phases of Fatimid female architectural patronage. Durzan also sponsored a (palace), a bath, a watering pool and a mausoleum. Delia Cortese and Simonetta Calderini have noted Fatimid women’s patronage of public monuments and the link between piety – or religious propaganda – and charity during the delicate early stage of Fatimid rule. In 973 she moved to the newly established
Cairo to the court of the Caliph, where later she died in 995. It is said that when she died in Cairo, her daughter Sitt al-Malik mourned for a month. ==References==