Sayyida Zumurrud Khatun

Not to be confused with Zumurrud Khatun.

Sayyida Zumurrud Khatun (Arabic: السيدة زمرد خاتون ,died 1203) also known as Umm al-Nasir (Arabic: أم الناصر) was the mother of Abbasid caliph al-Nasir. She was an influential woman of the late 12th century.

Sayyida Zumurrud Khatun السيدة زمرد خاتون
Died	December 1202/January or February 1203 Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Burial	Sheikh Maarouf Cemetery, Baghdad in Zumurrud Mosque
Spouse	Al-Mustadi
Children	Ahmad al-Nasir
Names Sayyida Zumurrud Khatun Umm al-Nasir
Religion	Sunni Islam

Biography

Zumurrud Khatun^[1] was one of Caliph al-Mustadi's concubines in the Abbasid harem. She was a Turkish, and was the mother of the future caliph al-Nasir.^[2]

By most accounts, Zumurrud Khatun is identified as a formerly-enslaved Turkish woman who became a prominent noblewoman during the later Abbasid Caliphate.^[3] She rose to this position through marriage to Caliph al-Mustadi.^[3] Zumurrud Khatun is also remembered as the mother of Caliph al-Nasir.^[3] She is described as being a pious woman and an active patroness of architecture and public works.^[4]

Her legacy as patroness was due to her restoration of public infrastructure and for building educational and funerary buildings.^[3] The Mosque and Mausoleum of Zumurrud Khatun were created at the commission of al-Nasir and his mother before her death in 1202.^[1] After her death, she was laid to rest in the mausoleum following a funeral procession.^[3]

Zumurrud's Mausoleum in Sheikh Maarouf Cemetery at Baghdad

Zamurrud Khatun was also actively involved in the construction of a madrasa. Furthermore, she was also remembered by many as an active member in politics and Islamic religious policies, a generous person devoted to Islamic teachings and law, and various other aspects.^[5] For instance, she is in history for spending 300,000 dirhams to repair water supplies and cisterns during the pilgrimage.^[6]

Death

Various chronicles describe Sayyida Zumurrud Khatun as "a very devout woman" who pleaded with her son to free the famous scholar Ibn al-Jawzi. Zumurrud was herself a follower of Hanbali school.

She died in December 1202–January 1203,^[7] or January–February 1203,^[8] and was buried in her own mausoleum in Sheikh Maarouf Cemetery.^[9]

References

1. Tabbaa, Yasser (2001). The Transformation of Islamic Art during the Sunni Revival. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98125-3.
2. Singer, A. (2002). Constructing Ottoman Beneficence: An Imperial Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem. SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies. State University of New York Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7914-5351-3.
3. Jacobi, Renate (2002). "Zumurrud K̲h̲ātūn". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume XI: W–Z. Leiden: E. J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12756-2.
4. El-Hibri, Tayeb (2021-04-22). The Abbasid Caliphate: A History (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316869567.005. ISBN 978-1-316-86956-7.
5. Le Strange, Guy (1900). Baghdad During the Abbasid Caliphate. From Contemporary Arabic and Persian Sources. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 257810905.
6. Leiden (2002). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing.
7. al-Athīr, ʻIzz al-Dīn; Richards, Donald Sydney (2006). Years 589-629/1193-1231. Crusade texts in translation. Ashgate. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-7546-4079-0.
8. Ohlander, Erik (2008). Sufism in an Age of Transition: ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī and the Rise of the Islamic Mystical Brotherhoods. Islamic History and Civilization. Brill. p. 92. ISBN 978-90-474-3214-2.
9. Hann, G.; Dabrowska, K.; Townsend-Greaves, T. (2015). Iraq: The ancient sites and Iraqi Kurdistan. Bradt Travel Guides. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-84162-488-4.