Jijak ( Arabic : ????? ) also known as Umm Ali ( Arabic : ?? ??? ) was the Turkic Umm Walad of al-Mu'tadid and the mother of the future caliph al-Muktafi . ^[1]

Life [ edit ]

Jijak ?i?ek ("flower" in Turkish) was a Turkic slave-girl, who was a concubine of Ahmad ibn Talha, the future caliph al-Mu'tadid . ^{[2] [3]} She gave birth to a son, Ali, in 877/8. ^{[2] [3]} After her son's birth she received the named Umm Ali, meaning mother of Ali and the name became like a common name for her.

Her son was the first caliph named after caliph Ali . ^[4] Jijak's allowance were increased when al-Mu'tadid became caliph in 892. Al-Mu'tadid also took care to prepare her son Ali, because he was his oldest son and heir-apparent, for the succession by appointing him as a provincial governor: first in Rayy, Qazvin, Qum and Hamadan, when these provinces in c.?894/5, and in 899 over the Jazira and the frontier areas, her son Ali al-Muktafi took up residence at Raqqa . The favourite city of his Abbasid ancestors. ^{[ citation needed ]}

Jijak became an important and influential Umm walad because of her merit as the mother of elder and nominated heir of al-Mu'tadid. ^{[ citation needed ]}

She died around 900s, before or shortly after her son's ascension to the Caliphate. After her death her rival Shaghab took attention in the Harem . Even though Jijak was influential she never aspire for any kind of political power. ^{[ citation needed ]}

See also [ edit ]

• Shaghab

References [ edit ]

Sources [ edit ]

• Zettersteen, K. V. & Bosworth, C. E. (1993). "al-Muktaf?" . In Bosworth, C. E. ; van Donzel, E. ; Heinrichs, W. P. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition . Volume VII: Mif?Naz . Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 542?543. ISBN   978-90-04-09419-2 .
• Hasan, M. (1998). History of Islam: Classical period, 571-1258 C.E. History of Islam. Islamic Publications. p. 249.
• Rosenthal, Franz , ed. (1985). The History of al-?abar?, Volume XXXVIII: The Return of the Caliphate to Baghdad: The Caliphates of al-Mu?ta?id, al-Muktaf? and al-Muqtadir, A.D. 892?915/A.H. 279?302 . SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN   978-0-87395-876-9 .
• Ozaydın, Abdulkerim (2006). "Muktefi-Billah" . TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 31 (Muhammedi?yye ? Munazara) (in Turkish). Istanbul: Turkiye Diyanet Foundation , Centre for Islamic Studies. pp. 534?536. ISBN   978-975-389-458-6 .