Shajarat al-Durr: Biography of a Female Ruler and the Legitimacy Crisis in the Ayyubid-Mamluk Transition Period

Abstract

This study analyzes the biography, political strategies, and unique reign in Islamic history of Shajarat al-Durr, who rose from slavery to sultanate in 13th-century Egypt. Entering the palace of the Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Najm al-Dīn Ayyūb as a slave concubine, Shajarat al-Durr gained the sultan's trust through her intelligence and strategic abilities and rose to the position of political advisor. Her true political genius manifested during her husband's sudden death in 647/1249. By concealing the sultan's death during the critical phase of the Seventh Crusade, maintaining the state apparatus without interruption, arranging for her stepson Tūrānshāh to be brought from Ḥiṣn Kayfā, and delaying the Crusaders' awareness of this situation, she demonstrated her extraordinary crisis management skills. After the Ayyubid sultan Tūrānshāh was killed by the Baḥrī Mamluks, Shajarat al-Durr ascended to the throne in 648/1250, becoming the first female sultan in Islamic history to have the khuṭba read in her name. However, her reign conflicted with the religious-legal norms of the period and faced harsh criticism from the Abbasid caliph al-Mustaʿṣim, based on the hadith of the Prophet. Due to opposition from the Ayyubid maliks in Syria and internal pressures, Shajarat al-Durr was forced to marry ʿIzz al-Dīn Aybak and transfer her sultanate to him, though she continued to intervene in state affairs in subsequent years. Having Aybak killed following his attempt at a second marriage, Shajarat al-Durr ultimately lost her life tragically in 655/1257 as a result of Aybak's former wife's revenge. Based on comparative analysis of period sources, particularly al-Maqrīzī, Ibn Iyās, Ibn Wāṣil, and al-Nuwayrī, this study reveals the tension between Shajarat al-Durr's actual power and legal legitimacy, the structural obstacles to female rule, and her role in the Ayyubid-Mamluk transition process.

Keywords

• Shajarat al-Durr
• Ayyubids
• Mamluks
• al-Malik al-Ṣaliḥ
• Legitimacy
• Seventh Crusade
• Turanshah

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