Rasad

Rasad (; ) was a slave concubine who, as the queen-mother of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah, became the virtual regent of Egypt between 1044 and 1071. The name Rasad literally means "observed".

Life Rasad was of Sub-Saharan African origin. Described as being Sudanese, she first entered the fatimid harem of Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt as a concubine. The ruler had purchased her from Abu Sa'd al-Tustari, a Jewish merchant.

Rasad soon became her husband's favourite, and was later given the title malika, often translated as queen, signifying that she was formally a part of the royal family rather than a slave concubine. When she later gave birth to a son that they named al-Mustansir Billah, a delighted az-Zahir declared that the young prince would succeed to the Fatimid throne upon his own demise. When she gave birth to a child acknowledged by her enslaver as his, she became an um-walad, which meant that she automatically became manumitted upon the death of her enslaver.

De facto ruler In 1036, her son al-Mustansir ascended the throne of Egypt in his seventh year. Formally, Egypt was ruled by the vizier Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara'i during the minority of al-Mustansir; Rasad was never formally regent, but as the mother of the Caliph (equivalent to a queen mother), she had an enormous deal of informal influence.

When al-Jarjara'i died in 1044, Rasad established her own diwan and appointed her previous owner Abu Sa'd al-Tustari as its head. She is mentioned in 1078, when performing a diplomatic correspondence with queen Arwa al-Sulayhi of Yemen. Arwa's initial letter to the Fatimids has not survived, but Rasad's response has.