Ismah Khatun (Persian: اسماعه خاتون) (Arabic: عصمة خاتون) was a Seljuk princess, daughter of sultan Malik Shah (r. 1072–1092) and principal wife of Abbasid caliph al-Mustazhir (r. 1094–1118).
Background
Ismah Khatun was one of the youngest daughter of Seljuk sultan Malik Shah. She was very young when her father died in 1092, he was succeeded by his underage son Mahmud I under the regency of Terken Khatun. She was the regent during his minority in 1092–1094.[1]
She was one of Al-Mustazhir's wives. She was the daughter of Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I. Al-Mustazhir married her in Isfahan in 1109.[2] She later came to Baghdad and took up residence in the Caliphal palace. On 3 February 1112, she gave birth to prince Abu Ishaq Ibrahim, who died of smallpox in October 1114, and was buried in the mausoleum of al-Muqtadir in Rusafah Cemetery, beside his uncle-cousin Ja'far, son of the caliph al-Muqtadi (father of Mustazhir) and Mah-i Mulk Khatun (half-sister of Ismah). Upon the death of Al-Mustazhir, Ismah returned to Isfahan, where she died, and was buried within the law college that she had founded there on Barracks Market Street.[3]
Her husband died in 1118. In the same year her half-brother sultan Muhammad Tapar also died.
After the death of her husband, he was succeeded by al-Mustarshid. He was Al-Mustazhir's son from a concubine Lubanah. She was from Baghdad.[4]
^al-Sāʿī, Ibn; Toorawa, Shawkat M.; Bray, Julia (2017). كتاب جهات الأئمة الخلفاء من الحرائر والإماء المسمى نساء الخلفاء: Women and the Court of Baghdad. Library of Arabic Literature. NYU Press. pp. 62, 65. ISBN978-1-4798-6679-3.
^الدكتور, عبد القادر بوباية ،الأستاذ (2009). الاكتفاء في اخبار الخلفاء 1-2 ج2. الاكتفاء في اخبار الخلفاء 1-2. Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية. pp. 487, 492.
Sources
Lambton, A.K.S. (1988). Continuity and Change in Medieval Persia. Bibliotheca Persica. Bibliotheca Persica. ISBN978-0-88706-133-2.
al-Sāʿī, Ibn; Toorawa, Shawkat M.; Bray, Julia (2017). Women and the Court of Baghdad. Library of Arabic Literature. NYU Press. pp. 62, 65