Shajar al-Durr
Died on 1257
Shajar al-Durr;
(Arabic: شجر الدر, lit. ‘Tree of Pearls’), also Shajarat al-Durr (شجرة الدر), whose royal name was al-Malika ʿAṣmat ad-Dīn ʾUmm-Khalīl Shajar ad-Durr (الملكة عصمة الدين أم خليل شجر الدر; from her nickname أم خليل ʾUmm Khalīl, ‘mother of Khalil’; ? – 28 April 1257), was a ruler of Egypt. She was the wife of As-Salih Ayyub, the last Egyptian sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty, and later of Izz al-Din Aybak, the first sultan of the Bahri dynasty.
In political affairs, Shajar al-Durr played a crucial role after the death of her first husband during the Seventh Crusade against Egypt (1249–1250). She became the sultana of Egypt on May 2, 1250, marking the end of the Ayyubid reign and the start of the Mamluk era. There are several theories about the ethnic roots of Shajar al-Durr. Many Muslim historians believed that she was of either Bedouin, Circassian, Greek or Turkic origin and some believed that she was of Armenian origin.
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