Shajar al-Durr (Arabic: شجر الدر, "Tree of Pearls") (Royal name: al-Malika `Aṣmat ad-Dīn Umm-Khalīl Shajar ad-Durr (Arabic: الملكة عصمة الدين أم خليل شجر الدر) (nicknamed: أم خليل, Umm Khalil; mother of Khalil)) (? – 28 April 1257, Cairo) was the second Muslim woman (after Razia Sultana of Delhi) to become a monarch in Islamic history. She was the wife of As-Salih Ayyub, Egypt Sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty and later Izz al-Din Aybak, Egypt Sultan of the Bahri dynasty.

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). She became the Sultana of Egypt on May 2, 1250, marking the end of the Ayyubid reign and the start of the Mamluk era. There are several theories about the ethnic roots of Shajar al-Durr. Many Muslim historians believed that she was of Turkic origin and some believed that she was of Armenian origin.

Several sources assert that Shajar al-Durr took the title of sultana (Arabic: سلطانه‎‎ sulṭānah), the feminine form of sultan. But The Cambridge History of Islam disputes the claim, stating that "a feminine form, sultana, does not exist in Arabic: the title sulṭān appears on Shajar al-Durr's only extant coin." Nevertheless, westerners often referred her as sultana, because in their perspective, sultana was used for women and sultan for men.

Shajar al-Durr was of Turkic origin, and described by historians as a beautiful, pious and intelligent woman. She was purchased as a slave by As-Salih Ayyub in the Levant before he became a Sultan and accompanied him and Mamluk Baibars (not the Baibars who became a Sultan) to Al Karak during his detention there in 1239. Later when As-Salih Ayyub became a Sultan in 1240 she went with him to Egypt and gave birth to their son Khalil who was called al-Malik al-Mansour. Some time after the birth, As-Salih Ayyub married her.

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