Fatima.Mernessi_The-Forgotten-Queens-of-Islam-EN

90 Sovereignty in Islam
Malika Iltutmish, Daughter of Sultan Iltutmish
She who Brings Glory to the Commander of the Faithful 3
Imam al-Mustansir, the 36th Abbasid caliph (623/1226-640/1242),
held the almost magical power of dispensing spiritual legitimacy to
sultans who could gain earthly power only through military force.
And this was the case with the father of Radiyya, Iltutmish, one of
the Turkish slaves who as general of the army founded the Muslim
state of India in 626/1229.
Shajarat al-Durr had no reason to limit her titles. The formulaic
prayer that the believers in Egypt psalmodized during her reign,
which lasted only a few months, was:
May Allah Protect the Beneficent One
Queen of the Muslims
The Blessed of the Earthly World and of the Faith
The Mother of Khalil al-Musta'simiyya
The Companion of Sultan al-Malik al-Salih 4
For Shajarat al-Durr to introduce the name al-Musta'simiyya into
her titles was more than a gesture of allegiance to Caliph al-
Musta'sim, the 37th Abbasid caliph, who refused to acknowledge
her. It was a pathetic admission of her weakness, a desperate
attempt to gain his goodwill. Many historians see the emergence of
women on the political scene as a sign of coming apocalyptic
upheavals in the Muslim world. And the reign of Shajarat al-Durr
heralded the end of the Abbasids and the destruction of Baghdad
by the Mongols (1258), which brought about a fundamental redistribution
of power in the empire, swept the aristocrats out of office
(notably Caliph al-Musta'sim), who was to be the last of his
dynasty), and gave the slave armies, the Mamluks, their chance.
They gained power in several countries and would keep it for more
than two centuries in Egypt and Syria. They deserved the thrones
they conquered, as they were elite armies and the only ones who
resisted Genghis Khan and succeeded in repelling his attacks. It
was the Mamluk armies that conducted the battles against the
Crusaders and later against the Mongols. They were the only ones
who succeeded in defying the sons and grandsons of Genghis Khan,
while everywhere - north, south, east, and west - palaces and
sovereigns, troops and fortresses fell before their advance.
Sold as slaves while children, the Mamluks were raised in military