Rabia Sultan (consort of Mehmed IV)

**Rabia Şermi Sultan** ( Modern Yoman: رابعه شرمی سلطان; c.1650/1651 - 1683) was the Second Haseki of Sultan Mehmed IV and mother of Sultan Mahmud I.

## Early life

Some believe that she was the daughter of a concubine, who however had arrived already pregnant in the harem and that she had been educated from an early age to serve the sultan. This it's believes because a little girl named Şermi Hatun appears in the records of the harem. This idea is strengthened by the fact that Şermi Hatun disappears from the records once Rabia Şermi Hatun appears around 1665, the year in which Rabia is thought to have visited the sultan for the first time. However others think that Şermi Hatun was the daughter of one of the women who lived outside the harem.

## As Ottoman concubine

Rabia was very jealous, it is known that she often quarreled with Başhaeki Ayşe Mihri Behri Sultan and with Mihrişah Sultan and that she did not have a good relationship with Valide Sultan Eumenia Sultan, who preferred Ayşe. However, the sultan liked Rabia and often called her to his rooms. In 1665 her first son Şehzade Abdüllah departed and was named Haseki Sultan.

Being now Haseki Sultan she had much more power and importance in the harem however being the second haseki she never came to be more important than Ayşe Sultan who was respected in the harem and still much loved by the sultan who still called her to her chambers every Thursday .

When Eumenia Sultan died in 1666 Rabia wanted to seize the moment and be made head of the harem, however this caused further rivalry between her and the Başhaseki, rivalry which is believed to have led Ayşe Sultan to assassinate Rabia's son Şehzade Abdüllah in December of 1666. In the end, however, Mehmed appointed his guardian Dilhayat Kalfa.

Rabia later gave birth to her second and last son, Şehzade Mahmud who would later become Sultan. Rabia thought it would matter more since she was the mother of two princes but she never got to flesh it all out because Mehmed died a week later.

## Exile

Rabia as per Mehmed's will was sent to Nurmiliş Palace together with Hatem Hatun, another concubine of Mehmed IV. After Hatem's death in 1671 he took care of Saliha Sultan, her 10-year-old daughter. She was allowed to visit her son often but after Mustafa II died in 1682 Mihrişah prevented her from seeing her son as soon as his son ascended the throne. Rabia wrote two letters, one to the Sultan and one to the Valide Sultan:

> "My Sultan, please think again, my life is meaningless without the presence of my son. I only ask you to sell him a couple of times"
>
>

> "May Allah forbid but if they separated her from her son the sultan would know how I feel."
>
>

However Mihrişah never accepted and Rabia never saw her son again.

## Death

She died in Nurmiliş Palace in 1683, believed to be of depression caused by not being able to see his son.

She left in his will a crown and a letter both intended for his son. The content of the letter is unknown but the crown is known to have been given to her by Mehmed at the birth of Şehzade Abdüllah when she was named Haseki. The crown was later used by Şahihuban Sultan, the second Haseki of Mahmud and mother of Selim III and is still kept today in the Maşami Saray museum and is nicknamed the crown of the Second Haseki Sultan.