The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of the intellectual encounters that Twelver Shi‘i scholars from across the Muslim world enjoyed when meeting their Shi‘i and Ismaili counterparts while in Fatimid Egypt (969-1171). I will, in particular, consider the experience of the Twelver Shi‘i scholar Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Karajaki (d. 1057) who, originally from Tarabulus, visited Egypt on a number of occasions, mostly during the reign of the Fatimid imam-caliph al-Zahir (d.1036). In his numerous works al-Karajaki entered autobiographical comments that shed light on his personal experiences of interacting with other Shi‘i and Ismaili scholars in Cairo and other places as well as providing us with a very rare eye witness account of the Fatimid institutions of learning he visited and used while there. From his works we also learn about al-Karajaki’s own understanding of Fatimid political and administrative life based on what he experienced. Al-Karajaki comes across as genuinely interested in learning about Ismaili doctrines and law for the sake of adding to his personal knowledge and scholarship. The picture that we can draw from information gathered from his work is that al-Zahir’s Egypt was the centre of a much more lively, diverse and cosmopolitan intellectual life than otherwise thought. Building on recent studies that have debunked the notion of fixed sectarian boundaries - in pre-modern Islam - dividing scholars belonging different strands of Islam, in this paper I seek to demonstrate the fluidity of interchange that existed among people who appear to have privileged knowledge and reputation over denominational concerns. My arguments is that this flourishing of activities at this particular time in Egypt was the result of a deliberate policy aimed at intellectual revival pursued by al-Zahir. To date the contribution of al-Karajaki’s work to the study of the Ismaili and Shi‘i intellectual traditions in Egypt has been largely ignored. With this paper I attempt to fill this lacuna while contributing –through al-Karajaki’s voice – new material to the study of Ismaili learning.