Umm Musa al-Hashimiyya
Umm Musa al-Hashimiyya (9th-century - fl. 923) was a courtier of the Abbasid harem during the reign of Caliph Al-Muqtadir (r. 908–929).
Umm Musa is known as one of the most powerful of the women in the office of qahramana (stewardess), which was the most powerful office of the women in the Abbasid harem. In 910, she was made the personal agent of the mother of Shaghab, mother of Al-Muqtadir.
She became an influential favorite of the Caliph mother. She replaced her predecessor, one Fatima, who drowned in the Tigris when her boat was caught in a storm. She became the center of a major patronage network. [1] Her plotting for her favourites, the corruption of her family, and her hostility towards the "good vizier" Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, who was dismissed due to her machinations in 917, are underlined in the chronicles of the period.
When she married her niece to Abu'l-Abbas, a grandson of al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861), her rivals were quick to accuse her of aspiring to overthrow the Caliph and place her nephew on the throne. In 922/3, she was arrested and replaced by Thumal, who tortured Umm Musa, her brother, and her sister, until they had revealed where her treasure—reportedly valued at one million gold dinars—was hidden.[2][3]
References[]
- ^ Marilyn Booth:Harem Histories: Envisioning Places and Living Spaces
- ^ Kennedy 2006, pp. 192–193.
- ^ El Cheikh 2013, pp. 174–178.
- 10th-century women of the Abbasid Caliphate
- 9th-century births
- 10th-century deaths
- Medieval slaves
- Arabian slaves and freedmen
- Slaves of the Abbasid Caliphate
- Courtiers of the Abbasid Caliphate
- Abbasid harem
- House slaves