Persian ʻIrāq from 724 to 738, built a church for his mother, who was a Christian, to worship in. [131] In 759 the building of a church at Nisibis was completed, on which the Nestorian bishop, Cyprian, had expended a sum of 56,000 dīnārs. [132] From the same century dates the church of Abū Sirjah in the ancient Roman fortress in old Cairo. [133] In the reign of al-Mahdī (775–785) a church was erected in Baghdād for the use of the Christian prisoners that had been taken captive during the numerous campaigns against the Byzantine empire. [134] Another church was built in the same city, in the reign of Hārūn al-Rashīd (786–809), by the people of Samālū, who had submitted to the caliph and received protection from him; [135] during the same reign Sergius, the Nestorian Metropolitan of Baṣrah, received permission to build a church in that city, [136] though it was a Muslim foundation, having been created by the caliph ʻUmar in the year 638, and a magnificent church was erected in Babylon in which were enshrined the bodies of the prophets Daniel and Ezechiel. [137] When al-Maʼmūn (813–833) was in Egypt he gave permission to two of his chamberlains to erect a church on al-Muqaṭṭam, a hill near Cairo; and by the same caliph’s leave, a wealthy Christian, named Bukām, built several fine churches at Būrah in Egypt. [138] The Nestorian Patriarch, Timotheus, who died A.D. 820, erected a church at Takrīt and a monastery at Baghdād. [139] In the tenth century, the beautiful Coptic church of Abū Sayfayn was built in Fusṭāṭ. [140] A new church was built at Jiddah in the reign of al-Ẓāhir, the seventh Fāṭimid caliph of Egypt (1020–1035). [141] New churches and monasteries were also built in the reign of the ʻAbbāsid, al-Mustaḍī (1170–1180). [142] In 1187 a church was built at Fusṭāṭ and dedicated to Our Lady the Pure Virgin. [143] Indeed, so far from the development of the Christian Church being hampered by the establishment of Muhammadan rule, the history of the Nestorians exhibits a remarkable outburst of religious life and energy from the time of their becoming subject to the Muslims. [144] Alternately petted and persecuted by the Persian kings, in whose dominions by far the majority of the members of this sect were found, it had passed a rather precarious existence and had been subjected to harsh treatment, when war between Persia and Byzantium exposed it to the suspicion of sympathising with the Christian enemy. But, under the rule of the caliphs, the security they enjoyed at home enabled them to vigorously push forward their missionary enterprises abroad. Missionaries were sent into China and India, both of which were raised to the dignity of metropolitan sees in the eighth century; about the same period they gained a footing in Egypt, and later spread the Christian faith right across Asia, and by the eleventh century had gained many converts from among the Tatars. [145]