Maridah bint Shabib (Arabic: ماردة بنت شبيب, d. 820s) was the favourite Umm walad of Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid and mother of eighth Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim.
[citation needed] Marida was born in Kufah, but her family hailed from Soghdia, and she is usually considered to have been of Turkic origin.
[5] Her son, Muhammad, the future al-Mu'tasim, was born in the Khuld ("Eternity") Palace in Baghdad, but the exact date is unclear: according to the historian al-Tabari (839–923), his birth was placed either in Sha'ban AH 180 (October 796 CE), or in AH 179 (Spring 796 CE or earlier).
However, Maridah's elder son Abu Ishaq became caliph after his half-brother al-Mamun's death.
Al-Mamun nominated Abu Ishaq as his successor on his death bed.