ʿIṣmat ad-Dīn Khātūn ( ar, عصمت الدين خاتون; died 1186), also known as Asimat, was the daughter of
Mu'in ad-Din Unur
Mu'in ad-Din Unur al-Atabeki ( tr, Muiniddin Üner; died August 28, 1149) was a Seljuk Turkish ruler of Damascus in the mid-12th century.
Origins
Mu'in ad-Din was originally a Mamluk in the army of Toghtekin, the founder of the Burid Dynasty o ...
,
regent of Damascus, and wife of two of the greatest Muslim generals of the 12th century,
Nur ad-Din and
Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
.
Biography
''Ismat ad-Din'' is a ''
laqab
Arabic language
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet ...
'' (the descriptive part of an Arabic name) meaning "purity of the faith"; ''
Khatun
Khatun ( Mongolian: хатан; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣, katun; ota, خاتون, hatun or قادین ''kadın''; fa, خاتون ''khātūn''; ; hi, ख़ातून ') is a female title of nobility and counterpart to " khan" or " Khagan" promine ...
'' is an
honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...
meaning "lady" or "noblewoman". Her given name (''
ism'' in Arabic) is unknown. Her father became regent of
Damascus in 1138, and ruled the city on behalf of a series of young
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
s of the
Burid dynasty
The Burid dynasty was a dynasty of Turkish origin ''Burids'', R. LeTourneau, The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. I, ed. H.A.R. Gibb, J.H. Kramers, É. Lévi-Provençal and J. Schacht, (Brill, 1986), 1332. which ruled over the Emirate of Damascus i ...
. During this time, Damascus' chief rivals to the north,
Aleppo and
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
, were united under the rule of the
Zengid dynasty
The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripol ...
. Damascus had maintained an unsteady alliance with the Crusader
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...
, but in 1147, Mu'in ad-Din negotiated an alliance with the Zengid emir of Aleppo,
Nur ad-Din, who had an engagement with Ismat ad-Din as part of the agreement. The next year, forces of
Second Crusade conducted the unsuccessful
Siege of Damascus, and Mu'in ad-Din was forced to recognize Nur ad-Din, who had come to his rescue against the crusaders, as overlord of the city. Ismat ad-Din Khatun's father died in 1149 and her marriage with Nur ad-Din also happened that year when Nur ad-Din gained complete control over Damascus by 1154. However, the majority of sources claimed that Nur ad-Din and Ismat ad Din's marriage was never consummated as both of them never actually met with each other and the marriage was only a part of the agreement with Mu'in ad-Din. It is also noted by
Ibn Athir Ibn Athīr is the family name of three brothers, all famous in Arabic literature, born at Jazīrat ibn Umar (today's ''Cizre'' nowadays in south-eastern Turkey) in upper Mesopotamia. The ibn al-Athir brothers belonged to the Shayban lineage of the ...
and Asad al Asadi that Ismat ad-Din's marriage with Saladin was proclaimed as her first marriage publicly and her marriage with Nur ad-Din wasn't even public until he died and Saladin married Ismat ad-Din to gain control over that territory. Nur ad-Din's wife Razi Khatun who was the mother his daugthers Shams un Nisa, Aqsa un Nisa (Saladin's wife) and a son named
As-Salih, also denies anything that solidifies Ismat ad-Din's complete marriage with Nur ad-Din.
When Nur ad-Din died in 1174, King
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric or Amaury I ( la, Amalricus; french: Amaury; 113611 July 1174) was King of Jerusalem from 1163, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. He was the second son of Melisende and Fulk of Jerusalem, and succeeded his older brot ...
took advantage of the situation and besieged the city of
Banias
Banias or Banyas ( ar, بانياس الحولة; he, בניאס, label=Modern Hebrew; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: פמייס, etc.; grc, Πανεάς) is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek g ...
. Ismat offered him a bribe to lift the siege, but, hoping for a larger offer, Amalric continued the siege for two weeks, until finally accepting the money along with the release of twenty Christian prisoners.
William of Tyre
William of Tyre ( la, Willelmus Tyrensis; 113029 September 1186) was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from his predecessor, William I, the Englishman, a former ...
describes Ismat as having "courage beyond that of most women" in this matter. Nur ad-Din's former general
Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
had meanwhile gained control over
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, and claimed Damascus as his successor. He legitimized this claim by marrying Ismat at-Din in 1176. She was apparently not his only wife. In 1186, she died of the plague epidemic that broke out in Damascus. Other sources states that she was suffering from Tuberculosis at the time which was proven fatal for her. However, by the time she died, Saladin was writing letters to her every day; as he was himself recovering from a lengthy illness at the time, news of her death was kept from him for three months.
In Damascus, she was the benefactor of numerous religious buildings, including a ''
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
'' and a mausoleum for her father.
[Humphreys, pg. 43.] She was buried in the
Jamaa' al-Jadid in Damascus. She had no children with Nur ad-Din as their marriage was never consummated, but she also didn't had any children with Saladin or hasn't anything recorded about it in history. Most people claim Saladin's daughter Munisa'h Khatun to be Ismat's daughter. However, sources backing this fact are very weak.
See also
*
Women in Islam
The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree ...
*
Women in Arab societies
The roles of women in the Arab world have changed throughout history, as the culture and society in which they live has undergone significant transformations. Historically, as well as presently, the situation of women differs greatly between A ...
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ismat Ad-Din Khatun
1186 deaths
People from Damascus
Muslims of the Second Crusade
Year of birth unknown
Turkic female royalty
12th-century Turkic women
Saladin