Sufriyya Ḥātun

She was the favorite of Sultan Malikshāh. She is the mother of Sultan Muḥammad and Sultan Sanjar. She gave much charity and did benevolence to people. Every year, together with the pilgrims, she sent provisions to Mecca to be distributed to the poor. She was a pious, charitable, and virtuous woman. As a result of her investigations, she identified the whereabouts of her lost mother and family members. She sent a large amount of money and brought them to her. When her mother came to her—having not seen each other for forty years—she wanted to test her mother's intellect. For this reason, she sat among her slave girls without revealing herself. When her mother heard her speech, she recognized her. She then stood up and embraced her mother. They wept together. Afterwards, through her, her mother embraced Islām. May Allah reward her with good recompense. Sufriyya Ḥātun is the only woman who mothered two Muslim rulers in the states of the Turks and the Persians. There are very few women like her. However, Vellāde bint ʿAbbās can be considered her equal. Vellāde was the wife of ʿAbd al-Malik and bore Walīd and Sulaymān. Shāhvand Ḥātun was the wife of Walīd and bore Yazīd and Ibrāhīm. Yazīd and Ibrāhīm also became caliphs. Ḥayzurān Ḥātun was the wife of al-Mahdī and bore him two sons named Hādī and Rashīd. Naturally, these also ascended to the caliphate.