Sayyeda Malika Khātoon: the First Shiite Female Ruler in Iran

In the pre– and post-Islamic Iran, women played implicit as well as explicit roles in the social and political life of the society. Leading women particularly played a role in the process of selecting political leaders. This paper is a biography of Sayyeda Malika Khātoon, the wife of Fakhr al-Dowla Deylami, who was regent to his son, Majd al- Dowla, after his husband's death. She ruled the Rey region with the help of two ministers (wazir), receiving advice from the 'ulama and scholars. Under her rule, the court was open to poets, philosophers and the learned.