Maridah bint Shabib

Maridah bint Shabib (Arabic: ماردة بنت شبيب, d. 820s) was the favourite Umm walad of Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid and mother of eighth Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim.^[2]

Maridah bint Shabib ماردة بنت شبيب
Umm walad of the Abbasid caliph
Period	796 – 809
Born	Kufa, Abbasid Caliphate
Died	820s Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Burial	Baghdad
Spouse	Harun al-Rashid
Children	Abu Ishaq Muhammad ibn Harun al-Rashid[1] Abu Isma'il ibn Harun al-Rashid Umm Habib bint Harun al-Rashid
Names Umm Muhammad Maridah bint Shabib
Religion	Islam

Biography

Maridah entered the Harem probably in 793/795. She was raised in the Abbasid household before kept her as concubine. Maridah was a slave and she belonged to a Muslim family, other members of her family were also slaves.^{[citation needed]}

Marida was born in Kufah, but her family hailed from Soghdia, and she is usually considered to have been of Turkic origin.^[3]

Maridah's father was Shabib.^[4] She was a Sogdian, and was born in Kufah. She was one of the ten maids presented to Harun by Zubaidah. She had five children. These were Abu Ishaq (future Caliph Al-Mu'tasim), Abu Isma'il, Umm Habib, and two others whose names are unknown. She was Harun's favourite concubine.^[5]

Her son, Muhammad, the future al-Mu'tasim, was born in the Khuld ("Eternity") Palace in Baghdad, but the exact date is unclear: according to the historian al-Tabari (839–923), his birth was placed either in Sha'ban AH 180 (October 796 CE), or in AH 179 (Spring 796 CE or earlier).^[6][7]

Maridah was the only Umm walad of Harun al-Rashid, who gave birth to his five children no other Umm walad had this prestige.^{[citation needed]}

Maridah lived most of her life in the Caliph's Harem. Her sons were not in the line of succession as Harun al-Rashid kept his eldest sons as heirs. However, Maridah's elder son Abu Ishaq became caliph after his half-brother al-Mamun's death. Al-Mamun nominated Abu Ishaq as his successor on his death bed.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. Masudi 2010, p. 222.
2. Bosworth 1993, p. 776.
3. Kennedy 2006, pp. 173, 213.
4. Meadows Of Gold. Taylor & Francis. 2013. p. 462. ISBN 978-1-136-14522-3.
5. Abbott 1946, pp. 141–42.
6. Bosworth 1991, pp. 208–209.
7. Masudi 2010, pp. 222, 231.

Sources

• Masudi (2010) [1989]. The Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids. Translated by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7103-0246-5.
• Bosworth, C. E. (1993). "al-Muʿtaṣim Bi'llāh". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume VII: Mif–Naz. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 776. ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
• Kennedy, Hugh (2006). When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306814808.
• Abbott, Nabia (1946). Two Queens of Baghdad: Mother and Wife of Hārūn Al Rashīd. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-86356-031-6.
• Bosworth, C. E., ed. (1991). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXIII: Storm and Stress Along the Northern Frontiers of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate: The Caliphate of al-Muʿtasim, A.D. 833–842/A.H. 218–227. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0493-5.