{{Infobox royalty
, consort = yes
, name = Aṣalbāy
, image =
, caption =
, succession = Mother of Mamluk Sultan
, reign = 7 August 1496 – 31 October 1498
, predecessor =
, successor =
, succession2 =
, reign2 =
, predecessor2 =
, successor2 =
, spouse =
Qaitbay
Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay (; 1416/14187 August 1496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–1496 C.E.). He was Circassian by birth, and was purchased by the ninth sultan Barsbay ( ...
{{marriage, Al-Ashraf Janbalat, 1500, 1501, end=d
, spouse-type = Spouse
, issue = With Qaitbay An-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qaitbay
, full name =
, house =
, father =
, mother =
, birth_name =
, birth_date =
, birth_place =
Circassia
Circassia ( ), also known as Zichia, was a country and a historical region in . It spanned the western coastal portions of the North Caucasus, along the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. Circassia was conquered by the Russian Empire during ...
, death_date = {{circa, 1509}
, death_place =
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
,
Mamluk Sultanate
The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...
Black Sea slave trade
The Black Sea slave trade trafficked people across the Black Sea from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to slavery in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Black Sea slave trade was a center of the slave trade between Europe and the rest of t ...
, as did her brother. She was either directly purchased, or purchased and given as gift, to the sultan Sayf ad-Din Qa'itbay; it is believed that the sultan bought her directly.Pini, N., Vryzidis, N., Shopov, A., Shaaban, M., Kühn, M., Quickel, A., Ruhaak, R., Corbino, C., Bonnéric, J., Peychev, S., Nünlist, T., Rapoport, Y., Hoffman, R., Braun, C., Abou-Khatwa, N., Elsayed, H., Badat, B., De Block, F., Ranieri, R., Pruno, E., Marcotulli, C., Şen, G., Schultz, W. C., Abdulfattah, I. R., Kale, G., Frenkel, Y. (2020). Living with Nature and Things: Contributions to a New Social History of the Middle Islamic Periods. Tyskland: V&R Unipress. 359-360
She was placed in the Burji harem and used as a concubine. She apparently became the favorite concubine of the sultan, and the mother of An-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qaitbay in 1482.
When it was discovered that her brother was also in the possession of the sultan, he was promoted and able to make a successful career, and he was appointed
dawadar
() or (), also and , was a senior court office in medieval Islamic states. Meaning 'the keeper of the inkpot', it was created during the Seljuk Empire. It denoted the head of the chancery, and derived its name from the royal inkpot, symbol of of ...
, the protector of the Sultan's heir and the future Sultan,
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
.
Since the sultan acknowledged paternity of her son as his, she became manumitted as an
Umm walad
In the Muslim world, the title of ''umm al-walad'' () was given to a Concubinage in Islam, slave-concubine who had given birth to a child acknowledged by her master as his. These women were regarded as property and could be sold by their owners, ...
after the death of Qa'itbay.
The Mamluk Sultanate was not in fact an actual monarchy passed from father to son. However, after the death of Qaitbay in 1496, she supported her son's ambitions to conquer the throne. In cooperation with her brother, she successfully supported her son when he defeated the powerful Grand Dawādār Aqbardī and conquered power, and participated in supporting her son by using her contacts to create alliances.Trajectories of State Formation Across Fifteenth-Century Islamic West-Asia: Eurasian Parallels, Connections and Divergences. (2020). Nederländerna: Brill. 219
When a conflict occurred between her son and her brother in February 1498, she called both to the Cairo Citadel and asked them to given an oath not to fight against each other.
In September 1498 she herself came in to conflict with her son when she opposed his wish to marry Miṣirbāy (d. 1522), the Circassian former slave of Kurtbāy, Governor of Gaza. She was however not able to resolve the dispute.
Her son was deposed in 1498 and succeeded by her brother sultan Abu Sa'id Qansuh (r. 1498–1500).
In 1500, she married sultan Al-Ashraf Janbalat (r. 1500–1501), who succeeded her brother on the throne the same year.Albrecht Fuess, “How to marry right: Searching for a royal spouse at the Mamluk court of Cairo in the fifteenth century”, DYNTRAN Working Papers, n° 21, online edition, February 2017, available at: http://dyntran.hypotheses.org/1761
Her wealth was displayed when her dowry was transported in procession through Cairo from her residence to that of her new husband during the wedding.
Her spouse was deposed in 1501, and she left the harem of the
Cairo Citadel
The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin () is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residenc ...
for a private residence in the city of Cairo. She was temporarily arrested by the new sultan, who wished to acquire her property.
In 1508, she performed a pilgrimage to Mecca; this pilgrimage has been referred to as in reality an exile.
She remained in Mecca for the rest of her life, since sultan Qānsūh al-Ghawrī (r. 1501–1516) refused to give her permission to return to Egypt.
She is known as one of only three female patrons of mosques and minbars during the Mamluk era.Pini, N., Vryzidis, N., Shopov, A., Shaaban, M., Kühn, M., Quickel, A., Ruhaak, R., Corbino, C., Bonnéric, J., Peychev, S., Nünlist, T., Rapoport, Y., Hoffman, R., Braun, C., Abou-Khatwa, N., Elsayed, H., Badat, B., De Block, F., Ranieri, R., Pruno, E., Marcotulli, C., Şen, G., Schultz, W. C., Abdulfattah, I. R., Kale, G., Frenkel, Y. (2020). Living with Nature and Things: Contributions to a New Social History of the Middle Islamic Periods. Tyskland: V&R Unipress. 361