Shajar al-Durr

Shajar al-Durr (Arabic: شجر الدر, "Tree of Pearls") (Royal name: al-Malika `Aṣmat ad-Dīn Umm-Khalīl Shajar ad-Durr (Arabic: الملكة عصمة الدين أم خليل شجر الدر) (nicknamed: أم خليل, Umm Khalil; mother of Khalil) (? – 28 April 1257, Cairo) was the widow of the Ayyubid Sultan As-Salih Ayyub who played a crucial role after his death during the Seventh Crusade against Egypt (1249–1250). She was regarded by Muslim historians and chroniclers of the Mamluk time as being of Turkic origin. She became the Sultana of Egypt on May 2, 1250, marking the end of the Ayyubid reign and the start of the Mamluk era.

Background

Shajar al-Durr was of Turkic origin, and described by historians as a beautiful, pious and intelligent woman. She was purchased as a slave by As-Salih Ayyub in the Levant before he became a Sultan and accompanied him with his Mamluk Baibars (not the Baibars who became a Sultan) at Al Karak during his detention there in 1239. Later when he became a Sultan in 1240 she went with him to Egypt and gave birth to their son Khalil who was called al-Malik al-Mansour. Some time after the birth, As-Salih Ayyub married her.