View source for Rayta bint al-Saffah

{{Short description|8th-century Arab princess and First wife of Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi}}
{{Infobox royalty
|name        = Rayta bint al-Saffah <br> ريطة بنت السفاح
|succession  = Consort of the [[Abbasid caliph]]
|title       = Zawjat al-khalifa
|reign       = 775 – 780s
|reign-type  = Tenure
|image       =
|caption     =
|spouse      = [[al-Mahdi]] (m. 761)
|issue       = {{plainlist|
* [[Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi|Ubaydallah ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi]]
* Ali ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi}}
|issue-type  = Children
|full name   = Rayta bint Abdallah al-Saffah ibn Muhammad
|birth_date  = c. 751/753
|birth_place = [[Kufa]] or [[Anbar (town)|Anbar]], Abbasid Caliphate
|death_date  = 780s
|death_place = [[Baghdad]], [[Abbasid Caliphate]]
|place of burial= Baghdad
|dynasty     = [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasid]]
|father      = [[Al-Saffah]]
|mother      = [[Umm Salama bint Ya'qub al-Makhzumi]]
|religion    = [[Islam]]
}}
'''Rayṭa bint al-Saffāḥ''' ({{langx|ar|ريطة بنت السفاح}}) was an [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasid]] princess, daughter of first Abbasid caliph [[al-Saffah]] ({{reign|750|754}}), niece of second Abbasid caliph [[al-Mansur]] ({{reign|754|775}}) and the first wife of third Abbasid caliph [[al-Mahdi]] ({{reign|775|785}}).
==Biography==
Rayta was the daughter of al-Saffah from his famous wife [[Umm Salama bint Ya'qub al-Makhzumi|Umm Salama]], who belonged to [[Banu Makhzum|Makhzum]] clan of the [[Quraysh]].{{sfn|Abbott|1946|p=11}} Her father was the first [[Abbasid]] caliph, ruling from 750 to 754.
Rayta had an older maternal half-brother, Sa'id ibn Maslama, from her mother's first marriage to the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyad]] prince [[Maslama ibn Hisham]]. Sa'id was the grandson of the [[Umayyad]] caliph [[Hisham]] ({{reign|724|743}}). Sa'id became an [[rāwī|oral transmitter]] of historical tradition in the early Abbasid period.{{sfn|Bosworth|1994|pp=279–280}}
Rayta was very young, when her father died. Al-Saffah's brother, [[al-Mansur]], took on the responsibility of establishing the Abbasid caliphate by holding on to power for nearly twenty-two years, from Dhu al-Hijjah 136 AH until Dhu al-Hijjah 158 AH (754–775 CE).<ref name= Al-Masudi>Sanders, P. (1990). The Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids by MAS‘UDI. Translated and edited by Lunde Paul and Stone Caroline, Kegan Paul International, London and New York, 1989 {{ISBN|0 7103 0246 0}}. Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 24(1), 50–51. doi:10.1017/S0026318400022549</ref><ref name=Axworthy>[[Michael Axworthy|Axworthy, Michael]] (2008); ''A History of Iran''; Basic, USA; {{ISBN|978-0-465-00888-9}}. p. 81.</ref>
In 761, the Abbasid caliph [[al-Mahdi]] married Rayta as his first wife after his return from Khurasan.{{sfn|Abbott|1946|p=25}} She gave birth to two sons, [[Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi|Ubaydallah]] and Ali.{{sfn|Abbott|1946|p=25}}<ref>{{harvnb|Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi|2011|p=310}}; {{harvnb|Ibn Hazm|1982|p=22}}.</ref>
Rayta remained the most influential wife of al-Mahdi until his marriage to [[Al-Khayzuran|al-Khayzuran bint Atta]], an [[Arab]] woman of [[Yemen|Yemenite]] origin born in the [[Hejaz]]. Al-Khayzuran convinced al-Mahdi to free and marry her, depriving Rayta of her privileges: she also convinced him to deprive his son by Rayta from the position of [[wali al-ahd|heir to the throne]], and instead name her sons as heirs, despite the fact that the custom at that time did not allow for the sons of a slave to be named heirs. From that point on, she was the caliph's most influential wife.
==Family==
Rayta was related to the [[Abbasid dynasty]], the ruling house of the Caliphate both maternally and paternally. She was contemporary to several Abbasid caliphs, Abbasid princes and princesses.
{| class="wikitable" border="2"
!No.
!Family member
!Relation
|-
|1
| [[Al-Saffah]]
| Father
|-
|2
| [[Al-Mansur]]
| Uncle and Father-in-law
|-
|3
| [[Al-Mahdi]]
| Husband
|-
|4
| [[Al-Hadi]]
| Step-son
|-
|5
| [[Harun al-Rashid]]
| Step-son
|-
|6
| [[Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi]]
| Elder son
|-
|7
| Ali ibn al-Mahdi
| Second son
|-
|8
| [[Abbasa bint al-Mahdi]]
| Step-daughter
|-
|9
| [[Ulayya bint al-Mahdi]]
| Step-daughter
|-
|10
| [[Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi]]
| Step-son
|-
|11
| Mansur ibn al-Mahdi
| Step-son
|-
|12
| Aliyah bint al-Mahdi
| Step-daughter
|-
|13
| Abdallah ibn al-Mahdi
| Step-son
|-
|14
| Isa ibn al-Mahdi
| Step-son
|-
|15
| Banuqa bint al-Mahdi
| Step-daughter
|-
|16
| [[Zubaidah bint Ja'far]]
| Niece
|-
|17
| Sa'id ibn Maslama
| Maternal half-brother
|-
|}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources==
* {{cite book | last=Abbott | first=Nabia |author-link=Nabia Abbott| title=Two Queens of Baghdad: Mother and Wife of Hārūn Al Rashīd | publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] | year=1946 | isbn=978-0-86356-031-6 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Bosworth |first1=C. Edmund |author-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |title=Abū Ḥafṣ 'Umar al-Kirmānī and the Rise of the Barmakids |journal=[[Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies]] |date=1994 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=268–282 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X0002485X |jstor=620573 |s2cid=162613546 }}
* Sanders, P. (1990). The Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids by MAS‘UDI. Translated and edited by Lunde Paul and Stone Caroline, Kegan Paul International, London and New York, 1989 ISBN 0 7103 0246 0. [[Middle East Studies Association Bulletin]], 24(1), 50–51. doi:10.1017/S0026318400022549
* {{cite book | title = Jamharat Ansab al-'Arab | last = Ibn Hazm | first = Abu Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Sa'id al-Andalusi | author-link = Ibn Hazm |editor1-first = 'Abd al-Salam Muhammad | editor1-last = Harun | language = ar | edition = 5th | year = 1982 | publisher = Dar al-Ma'arif | location = Cairo }}
* {{cite book | title = Tarikh Baghdad/Madinat al-Salam | volume = 10 | last = Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi | first = Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ali | author-link = Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi | editor1-last = Mustafa 'Abd al-Qadir 'Ata | language = ar | year = 2011 | publisher = Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya | location = Beirut | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1gJ7DwAAQBAJ }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raitah bint al-Saffah}}
[[Category:8th-century births]]
[[Category:8th-century deaths]]
[[Category:8th-century women from the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Daughters of Abbasid caliphs]]
[[Category:Wives of Abbasid caliphs]]
[[Category:8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Arab princesses]]
[[Category:8th-century Arab people]]