[4] In political affairs, Shajar al-Durr played a crucial role after the death of her first husband during the Seventh Crusade against Egypt (1249–1250 AD).

As-Salih Ayyub was carried on a stretcher to his palace in the better-protected town of Al Mansurah where he died on 22 November 1249 after ruling Egypt for nearly 10 years.

[33] The news of the death of as-Salih Ayyub reached the crusaders in Damietta[44][45] and with the arrival of reinforcements led by Alphonse, Count of Poitou, the brother of King Louis IX, they decided to march on Cairo.

A crusader force led by Louis IX's other brother Robert I of Artois crossed the canal of Ashmum (known today as Albahr Alsaghir) and attacked the Egyptian camp in Gideila, two miles (3 km) from Al Mansurah.

[49] In February 1250 the dead Sultan's son Al-Muazzam Turanshah arrived in Egypt and was enthroned at Al Salhiyah[50][51] as he had no time to go to Cairo.

Once the Seventh Crusade was defeated and Louis IX was captured, troubles began between Turanshah on one side and Shajar al-Durr and the Mamluks on the other.

[58][59] After the assassination of Turanshah, the Mamluks and Emirs met at the Sultanic Dihliz[60] and decided to install Shajar al-Durr as the new monarch with Izz al-Din Aybak as Atabeg (commander in chief).

The Syrian Emirs were asked to pay homage to Shajar al-Durr but they refused and the Sultan's deputy in Al Karak rebelled against Cairo.

[67] In addition to the Ayyubids in Syria, the Abbasid Caliph al-Musta' sim in Baghdad also rejected the Mamluk move in Egypt and refused to recognize Shajar al-Dur as a monarch.

[73] Though the period of Shajar al-Durr's rule as a monarch was of short duration, it witnessed two important events in history: one, the expelling of Louis IX from Egypt, which marked the end of the Crusaders' ambition to conquer the southern Mediterranean basin; and two, the death of the Ayyubid dynasty and the birth of the Mamluk state which dominated the southern Mediterranean for decades.

[76] The Caliph in Baghdad, preoccupied with the Mongols who were raiding territories not far from his capital, preferred to see the matter settled peacefully between the Mamluks in Egypt and the Ayyubids in Syria.

Through negotiation and mediation of the Caliph that followed the bloody conflict, the Mamluks who manifested military superiority[77] reached an agreement with the Ayyubids that gave them control over southern Palestine including Gaza and Jerusalem and the Syrian coast.

[79] Then, Aybak, fearing the growing power of the Salihiyya Mamluks who, with Shajar al-Durr, had installed him as a Sultan, had their leader Faris ad-Din Aktai murdered.

By 1257 disputes and suspicion had become part of the relations between Aybak,[84] a Sultan who was searching for security and supremacy, and his wife Shajar al-Durr, a former Sultana who had a strong will and managed a country on edge of collapse during an external invasion.

[88][89] Shajar al-Durr, feeling at risk[19][90] and betrayed by Aybak, the man whom she had made a Sultan, had him murdered by servants while he was taking a bath.

Shajar al-Durr claimed that Aybak died suddenly during the night but his Mamluks (Mu'iziyya), led by Qutuz, did not believe her[93][94][95][96] and the servants involved confessed under torture.

Inside is a mihrab (prayer niche) decorated with a mosaic of the "tree of life," executed by artists brought from Constantinople specifically for this commission.

In Tree of Pearls (2020), D. Fairchild Ruggles writes: “The initial madrasa foundation had enabled the patron to embellish the streetscape, stake a claim to the city, and display his generosity and piety in his lifetime.

With the unification of the tomb and madrasa, a new ensemble was created in which both functions were enhanced: the tomb absorbing the charitable purpose of the adjacent school and capturing its thrum of activity, the madrasa gaining new political purpose as an embodied site of memory—a critically important Ayyubid memory, which we recall was what Shajar al-Durr could offer as the last remaining link to the deceased sultan.

Ruggles writes: It is commonly known that inscriptions provide an important means of communication in Islamic art and that images of people and animals are avoided altogether in Muslim religious settings such as mosques and tombs.

[109] Aybak and Shajar al-Durr firmly established the Mamluk dynasty that would ultimately repulse the Mongols, expel the European Crusaders from the Holy Land, and remain the most powerful political force in the Middle East until the coming of the Ottomans.

[104] Tayeb Salih in his story "The Wedding of Zein" mentioned "Shajar ad-Durr" as "the former slave girl who ruled Egypt in the thirteenth century."

[115][116] The following names and titles were inscribed on the coins of Shajar al-Durr: al-Musta'simiyah al-Salihiyah Malikat al-Muslimin walidat al-Malik al-Mansur Khalil Amir al-Mu'minin.