The most famous (though not the first) female king in Islam
is Syajar (or Syajarat) ad-Durr who ruled Egypt for several months in the
seventh / thirteenth century and founded the Mamlik Bahri dynasty. He was the
favorite sultan of the Ayyubid sultan named sultan Malik al-shalih Najamuddin,
and when this sultan was killed, he concealed the death of the sultan, and
carried out the state affairs by the name of the sultan. Thanks to his
intelligence and ingenuity and prosperity he created in Egypt, the Mamluks
became respectful of him and ultimately raised him to the sultan. During his
reign, his name was cited as a ruler in Friday sermons in mosques, and issued a
coin bearing his name - two classical symbols of Islam for political validity.
But Ayyubid Ayyubiyah did not want to recognize it as the ruler of Egypt for
several reasons, and received Khalifah support in Baghdad. The Caliph told the
Egyptians that if they did not get a man among them the Caliph would send
someone to them and quote the words of the Prophet. To overcome the objections
of his people, the Mamluks married him to the army commander and appointed a
six-year-old boy as the second king (Roded, 1995: 204).
