The political situation in Aleppo during the reign of Dhifa Khatun (634 AH - 642 AH)

Abstract

   Dhaifa Khatun is the daughter of the just King Muhammad Najm al-Din Ayyub, who is the brother of Sultan Saladin al-Ayyubi. The research touched on the emergence of the Ayyubid state, whose lineage goes back to Ayyub Ibn Shadi from the Rawadiyya tribe. The Ayyubids ruled Egypt in the era of Ayyub, the military commander who worked for the servants of the Zengid state and then became governor of  Tikrit and then governor of Damascus. Asad al-Din Shirkun and his son Saladin entered the service of the Fatimid Caliph in Egypt, then he was able to eliminate Fatimid rule after the death of the last Fatimid caliph, al-Adid li-Din Allah, in the year 567 AH. Saladin unified Egypt, the Levant, and northern Mesopotamia in  Iraq to be the state of the Ayyubids. Saladin attended Jerusalem from the Crusaders, the Battle of Hattin in the year 583 AH. In the year 579 AH, Saladin arrived in the city of Aleppo and annexed it to the Ayyubid state. He installed his brother, King Al-Adil, over it, then deposed him and appointed his son al-Zahir Ghiyath al-Din Ghazi over it in the year 589 AH, who married his cousin.  After the death of Al-Dahir, the rule passed to his young son, Muhammad ibn Daifa Khatun, who became his regent. After the death of Prince Muhammad, the son of King Al-Zahir, Daifa Khatun became Queen of Aleppo in the year 634 AH and organized the affairs of Aleppo on the various political, economic, and practical levels, as shown during the research.  Dhifa Khatun died in the year 640 AH.