Zubayda bint Ja`far

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Zubayda bint Ja`far ibn Mansur (Arabic: زبيدة بنت جعفر بن المنصور) (d. 832) was daughter of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, and cousin of Harun al-Rashid (r.766-809), whom she later married (781).

In 787 and went on to become the best known of the Abbasid princesses. She and her husband's exploits are the subjects of The Thousand and One Nights. It is said that her palace 'sounded like a beehive' because she employed one hundred women maids who had memorized the Qur'an. She is particularly remembered for the contributions she made to the ulema and the poor, and for the series of wells, reservoirs and artificial pools that provided water for Muslim pilgrims along the route from Baghdad to Mecca and Medina. The route was re-named Darb Zubayda (“Zubayda’s Way”) in her honor.^[1]