History knows very few cases when Islamic women ruled entire empires, especially if before that they were concubines in a harem. They became rulers for various reasons, and most often their life was devoid of romance and love.
The rule of the fair sex in eastern countries is called the female sultanate, and the sultanas usually bear the title of valid (parent) - the mother of the reigning, but still young heir. Most often, such women ruled alone. There is an example of an amazing female sultanate in history, when all the rulers were of European descent. They ruled over the Ottoman Empire. The most famous of them is Anastasia Lisovskaya. She is known not only in Eastern Europe, but also in Western Europe, where she used the name Roksolana. Anastasia-Roksolana was sung in ballets, operas, portraits, books and even in television series, which is why her biography is known to a fairly wide circle of people. Roksolana's life was not carefree. At first she was the concubine of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Suleiman the Magnificent, then she became his wife. The path to power lay through many hardships and was full of a fierce struggle for life. It was very difficult for the concubines in the harem: they did not have enough food, they were belittled in every possible way, and they were cruelly treated. But Roksolana managed to avoid the sad fate of other slaves and won the trust of the Sultan, and later became the ruler of the entire empire. In different time periods, some other concubines were also honored, including Kezem Sultan, Handan Sultan, Nurbanu Sultan and others. Thus, all these women achieved the almost impossible and began to rule even though they did not belong to the royal blood. And they managed to do this not by romantic methods. If it was necessary to kill, they killed, and also fought for the country and the ruler, who made them his slaves. The future sultans were able to discern in their fate a scanty chance to break through to the top of power and did not stop at anything to take advantage of it.
