ABBASID, AL-KHAYZURAN (wife of al-Mahdi, mother of al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid, d. 173h).Lead seal. Obverse: in two lines: barakat min Allah | al-Khayzuran. Reverse: showing evidence of the lead being folded over, as well as the pattern of the cloth it originally sealed, Dimensions: 26 x 15mm; Weight: 8.60g. Good very fine, excessively rare and historically important. Al-Khayzuran bint ‘Atta was born in present-day Saudi Arabia, near Bisha. Captured and enslaved as a girl, she was bought in a slave market near Makka by the future caliph al-Mahdi. Celebrated for her beauty and intellect, she became his favourite concubine. On al-Mahdi’s succession to the caliphate al-Khayzuran not only persuaded him to free her but also to marry her, thereby supplanting his former wife Rayta, a daughter of the caliph al-Saffah. Al-Khayzuran was even able to have al-Hadi and al-Rashid made caliphal heirs in preference to the son whom Rayta had borne to al-Mahdi. Al-Khayzuran was a prominent figure at al-Mahdi’s court, playing a major role not only in court life but also in the politics of the day. Her high profile and the freedom and equality with which she mixed with men were exceptional for the time, and while al-Mahdi’s respect and admiration for her meant that he was happy for her to play such a public role at court, her son al-Hadi felt very differently. On becoming caliph in 169h he attempted to reduce his mother’s influence and to have her retire to the harem. For her part, al-Khayzuran was determined to retain her status, and it is reported that al-Mahdi eventually lost his temper very publicly, yelling at his mother and demanding that she retire indoors immediately and confine her interests to spinning wool and reading the Qur’an. To say that al-Khayzuran was unimpressed would be an understatement, and some accounts claim that she was responsible for al-Hadi’s death in 170h. Perhaps wisely, al-Rashid took a different view after succeeding al-Hadi as caliph, and he allowed her to continue to play an important and highly visible role in government until her death. Numismatically, her exceptional status is reflected in the fact that coins were struck in her name. It has been suggested that this seal would have been affixed to a small bag containing alms, which would have been distributed when al-Khayzuran herself performed the Hajj for the second time in 171h. By now a person of the highest status, she is recorded as having restored several holy sites during her stay in Makka, including the house in which the Prophet was reportedly born, and the building in which he and his first followers had met in secret.
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