Aqeeq Pool on Zubaydah's Trail / 8th-9th century. Saudi Arabia
Zubaydah bint Ja'far (daughter of Ja'far) was one of the most famous of the Abbasid princesses. Her charitable and pious foundations made her a well-loved figure in her time, a figure whose memory lives on as a recurring character in One Thousand and One Nights.
Zubaydah grew up in the Abbasid court of her grandfather Caliph al-Mansur (r. 754-775). Legend tells that he chose her name, "Little Butter Ball", to describe how she was the best part of the family, just like butter is the best product of milk. After marrying her cousin, Caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809), she became a powerful political operator and generous patron in her own right. Her most famous endeavor was the improvement of a pilgrimage route leading from Iraq to Mecca, later called the Darb al-Zubaydah, or Zubaydah's Trail. This was an important charitable project towards which she directed extensive resources. She built herself a large and lavishly furnished palace in Baghdad, in which she hosted her own intellectual debates, poetry recitations and theological discussions.
At the death of her husband, her son al-Amin (r. 809-813) succeeded him as caliph. A civil war soon erupted between al-Amin and his half-brother al-Mamun (r. 813-833), with the latter gaining the upper hand and besieging Baghdad from August 812 to September 813. Zubaydah supported her son throughout the siege, moving away from her palace to remain with him in the Round City during the final stage of the fighting. In the end, al-Amin was captured and executed. She was quickly exiled from Baghdad, but came back to the city after a few years. Upon her death in 831, she was buried in what is described as an unremarkable funerary monument. It became a frequently visited spot for pilgrims about to start the hajj and wishing to thank this most famous of Abbasid queens for her charitable works.