Bab Bachir

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Bab Bachir
باب بشير
Umm walad of the Abbasid caliph
Period1140s – 1254
Died1254
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Burial
Baghdad
SpouseAl-Musta'sim
ChildrenAbu Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Musta'sim
Names
Bab Bachir Umm Muhammad
OccupationHead and Founder of the Al Bashiriya School, East of the Sheikh Maarouf Cemetery in Baghdad.

Bab Bachir[1] (Arabic: باب بشير) (died 1254) was a slave consort of the last Abbasid caliph, al-Musta'sim (r. 1242–1258) and mother of Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Musta'sim.

She was a slave bought to the Harem by the Caliph and became his concubine.

When she gave birth to a son, prince Abu Nasr Muhammad, she became an umm walad and was manumitted by the Caliph, who married her.

After her marriage, she made herself known for her public charitable initiatives, which was a common method for the consorts of the Caliph (who could not leave the harem), to make themselves known.[2]

She is known as the founder of the Al Bashiriya School, East of the Sheikh Maarouf Cemetery in Baghdad. The work on the school begun in 1251/1252, and a great public inauguration ceremony was held 1255/1256.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Al-Hawadith al-Jami'a . Ibn al-Fuwaṭi
  2. ^ Ibn al-Sāʽī, Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad, ed. by Shawkat M. Toorawa, trans. by the Editors of the Library of Arabic Literature (New York: New York University Press, 2015)


Bab Bachir
Born: 1220s Died: 27 December 1254
Preceded by
Qurrat
Deputy head of Harem
1140s – 1254
Succeeded by
None (End of Abbasids)