Yaqub ibn Killis

Who was Yaqub ibn Killis?

Yaqub ibn Killis, was an Egyptian Vizier under the Fatimids.

Yaqub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis was born in Baghdad in 930 in a Jewish family. After his family moved to Syria he came to Egypt in 943 and entered the service of the Regent Kafur. Soon he controlled the Egyptian state finances in his capacity as household and property administrator. Although he converted to Islam in 967, he fell out of favour with the successors of Kafur and was imprisoned. He was able however to purchase his freedom and went to Ifriqiya, where he put himself at the service of the Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz.

After the Fatimid conquest of 973, led by al-Mu'izz's son, the fifth Fatimid Caliph, ibn Kallis returned to Egypt and was put in charge of the economy, where he was able to regularise the state finances. After the dismissal of Jawhar as-Siqilli in 976 Yaqub ibn Killis was appointed Vizier by al-Aziz, a position he held until his death in 991. He was a patron of culture and science. One of his most prominent achievements was the establishment of al-Azhar University in Cairo in 988. An institution that soon became the most important centre of scholarship in the entire Islamic world.