Bab Bachir ( ar, باب بشير) (

died Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

1254) was a slave consort of the last

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

caliph,

al-Musta'sim Abu Ahmad Abdallah ibn al-Mustansir Billah (; 1213 – 20 February 1258), better known by his regnal name al-Musta'sim Billah ( ar, المستعصم بالله, al-Mustaʿṣim billāh, label=none) was the 37th and last caliph of the Abbasid dynas ...

(r. 1242–1258) and mother of Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Musta'sim. She was a slave bought to the

Harem Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...

by the Caliph. When she gave birth to a son, prince Abu Nasr Muhammad, she became an

umm walad An ''umm walad'' ( ar, أم ولد, , lit=mother of the child) was the title given to a slave-concubine in the Muslim world after she had born her master a child. She could not be sold, and became automatically free on her master's death. The off ...

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.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) 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

{{s-end 1254 deaths Wives of Abbasid caliphs Slaves from the Abbasid Caliphate 13th-century women from the Abbasid Caliphate Slave concubines Concubines of the Abbasid caliphs