Shajar al-Durr ( The Tree Of Pearls )
"Shajarat al-Durr" arranged the affairs of the state, managed the affairs of the army on the battlefield, and entrusted Prince "Saif Aldin Aktay Aljamdar" with the command of the army, and at the same time sent to Turan Shah son of Salih Ayyub urging him to come and leave the fortress of Kiva to Egypt, to take over the sultanate after his father. In the period between the death of Sultan Al-Salih Ayyub and the advent of his son Turan Shah in (23 Dhu al-Qa'dah 648 AH = 27 February 1250 AD), a period of more than three months, Shajarat Al-Durr succeeded in great skill to hold the reins, and lead the country amid the crashing waves that almost swept it,
and its rule lasted four years (634-638 AH / 1236-1240 AD).
"And Shajarat al-Durr" of Turkish origin and was said Armenian, and was a slave girl bought by Sultan Al-Salih Ayyub, and enjoyed a high position with him until he freed her and married her and gave birth to a son named Khalil,
who died in (2 of Safar 648 AH = May 1250 AD).
Shajarat al-Durr Assume the reins of power
The pledge of allegiance was taken to the new sultan, and her name was inscribed on the sukkah (money) with the following phrase: "Al-Musta'idiyya Al-Salihiya, Queen of the Muslims, Mother of Khalil, Commander of the Faithful.
King Louis IX
As soon as "Shajarat al-Durr" sat on the throne of power until it seized the reins, and tightened the management of the country's affairs, and the first work it cared about was the liquidation of the Crusader presence in the country, and the management of negotiations with him, ended with the agreement with King Louis IX, who was a prisoner in Mansoura to hand over Damietta, and release him and the release of his senior prisoners in exchange for a large ransom of eight hundred thousand dinars, half of which is paid before his departure, and the rest after his arrival in Akka, with a pledge from him not to return to the coasts Islam again.
Al-Izz bin Abd al-Salam
However, the circumstances were not favorable to continue "Shajarat al-Durr" in governance for a long time, despite the skill and firmness shown in the management of state affairs, and its proximity to the public, and bestowal of money and fiefdoms on senior princes, met with strong opposition inside and outside the country, and Egyptians came out in angry demonstrations denouncing the sitting of a woman on the throne of the country, and scientists opposed the mandate of women rule,
The opposition was led by "Al-Izz bin Abd al-Salam" for violating its accession to the throne because it violated Islamic law, which was the law of the state at that time. At the same time, the Ayyubids revolted in the Levant for the killing of Turan Shah, and the usurpation of the Mamluks to rule by sitting "Shajarat al-Durr" at the helm, and the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad refused to approve the work of the Mamluks, so the Caliph wrote to them: "If men have been executed with you, let us know so that we can walk to you as a man.
Saif Aldin Aktay Aljamdar
At the same time, there was a struggle between "Izz al-Din Aybak" and "Saif Aldin Aktay Aljamdar" to win the marriage of "Shajarat al-Durr" and then seize power.
But "Saif Aldin Aktay Aljamdar" was a very strict man with a strong personality, so it was difficult for "Shajarat al-Durr" to control him, unlike "Izz al-Din Aybak", who showed kind, docile and peaceful features.
Izz al-Din Aybak
In the face of this strong opposition, "Shajarat al-Durr" found no way to abdicate the throne to Prince Izz al-Din Aybak, whom she married, and was nicknamed King Al-Mu'izz, and the period she spent on the throne of the country was eighty days.
Bwfore that, "Izz al-Din Aybak" arranged a trick With the help of his assistant "Seif El-Din Qutuz" and killed "Saif Aldin Aktay Aljamdar", the army commander, to be alone in protecting the country
If the "Shajarat al-Durr" has ceded the rule and the Sultan officially, she shared her husband responsibility for governance, and was subject to her control, forced him to abandon his first wife or his son Ali, and forbade him to visit her and her son, and reached the control of the affairs of the Sultan that said the great historian "Ibn Taghri Bardi": "It was seized on Aybak in all circumstances, he has no talk with her only she orders and he executes
However, he turned against her after he tightened his grip on power in the country, got rid of his competitors at home and abroad, practiced managing the affairs of the country, "Aybak" was facing many dangers from the Ayyubids and the fugitive Bahri Mamluks led by "Baibars Al-Bandaqdari" after the killing of "Saif Aldin Aktay Aljamdar" and Because he was looking for any alliance at that time he began to take steps to marry the daughter of "Badr al-Din Lulu", the owner of Mosul, Who warned Aybak that "Shajarat al-Durr" intends to betray him for the benefit of his enemy King "Al-Nasser Yusuf"
When she knew that he intended to marry another woman, and she saw that he was ungrateful to her because she was the one who made him a sultan by accepting to marry him, and considered him a traitor to her as a husband and as a sultan, she was exacerbated by her feeling of risks to her life, which aroused her desire to get rid of "Aybak"
She hurried to arrange her plot to get rid of Aybak, so she sent him to appease him and be kind to him, and ask for his pardon, so Aybak was deceived by her trick, and responded to her call, and went to the castle, where he found only the soldiers of "Shajarat al-Durr" in the palace, so they killed him and he died there in (23 of Rabi' al-Awwal 655 AH = 1257 AD).
The killing of Shagaret Al-Durr
Shagaret Al-Durr rumored that Al-Muizz Aybak had died suddenly at night, but the Mamluks of Aybak did not believe her, so they arrested her, and carried her to the woman of Izz al-Din Aybak, who ordered her maidservants to kill her by beating her with shoes a few days later, and threw her from the wall of the castle, and she was buried several days later. Thus, her life ended in this way after she was full of ears and eyes, and she was praised by contemporary historians of the Mamluk state,
شجر الدر شجره الدر عز الدين أيبك