Jijak

Jijak (جيجاك) also known as Umm Ali (أم علي) was the Turkic Umm Walad of al-Mu'tadid and the mother of the future caliph al-Muktafi.

Life
Jijak Čiček ("flower" in Turkish) was a Turkic slave-girl, who was a concubine of Ahmad ibn Talha, the future caliph al-Mu'tadid. She gave birth to a son, Ali, in 877/8. After her son's birth she received the named Umm Ali, meaning mother of Ali and the name became like a common name for her.

Her son was the first caliph named after caliph Ali. Jijak's allowance were increased when al-Mu'tadid became caliph in 892. Al-Mu'tadid also took care to prepare her son Ali, because he was his oldest son and heir-apparent, for the succession by appointing him as a provincial governor: first in Rayy, Qazvin, Qum and Hamadan, when these provinces in c. 894/5, and in 899 over the Jazira and the frontier areas, her son Ali al-Muktafi took up residence at Raqqa. The favourite city of his Abbasid ancestors.

Jijak became an important and influential Umm walad because of her merit as the mother of elder and nominated heir of al-Mu'tadid.

She died around 900s, before or shortly after her son's ascension to the Caliphate. After her death her rival Shaghab took attention in the Harem. Even though Jijak was influential she never aspire for any kind of political power.