Bab Zuwayla or Bab Zuweila (Arabic: باب زويلة) is one of three remaining gates in the city walls of historic Cairo in Egypt. It was also known as Bawabat al-Mitwali or Bab al-Mitwali. The gate was built in 1092 by the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali. The two minaret towers on top of it were added between 1415 and 1422 as part of the construction of the adjacent Mosque of Sultan al-Muayyad. Today it remains one of the major landmarks of Cairo.
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Badr al-Jamali in the context of Fortifications of Cairo
The fortifications of the historic city of Cairo, Egypt, include defensive walls and gates that were built, rebuilt, and expanded in different periods.
The first set of walls was built during the foundation of Fatimid Cairo in the 10th century. These were rebuilt in the late 11th century on the orders of the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali. In the 12th century, the Ayyubid sultan Salah ad-Din (Saladin) restored the walls and began a major extension to the south. He also began construction on the Citadel of Cairo, a military complex that would serve as the center of power in Egypt for centuries afterwards.
Badr al-Jamali in the context of Al-Mustansir Billah
Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Mustanṣir biʾllāh (Arabic: أبو تميم معد المستنصر بالله; 2 July 1029 – 29 December 1094) was the eighth Fatimid Caliph from 1036 until 1094. He was one of the longest reigning Muslim rulers. His reign was the twilight of the Fatimid state. The start of his reign saw the continuation of competent administrators running the Fatimid state (Anushtakin, al-Jarjara'i, and later al-Yazuri), overseeing the state's prosperity in the first two decades of al-Mustansir's reign. However, the break out of court infighting between the Turkish and Berber/Sudanese court factions following al-Yazuri's assassination, coinciding with natural disasters in Egypt and the gradual loss of administrative control over Fatimid possessions outside of Egypt, almost resulted in the total collapse of the Fatimid state in the 1060s, before the appointment of the Armenian general Badr al-Jamali, who assumed power as vizier in 1073, and became the de facto dictator of the country under the nominal rule of al-Mustansir.
The caliph al-Mustanṣir bi-llāh was the last Imam before a disastrous split divided the Isma'ili movement in two, due to the struggle in the succession between al-Mustansir's older son, Nizar, and the younger al-Mustaʽli, who was raised to the throne by Badr's son and successor, al-Afdal Shahanshah. The followers of Nizar, who predominated in Iran and Syria, became the Nizari branch of Isma'ilism, while those of al-Musta'li became the Musta'li branch.