The Fall of the Dynasties: The Collapse of the Old Order: 1905-1922

by Edmond Taylor

If, therefore, it was the goal of every ambitious woman in the harem to bear the Sultan a son and bring him to the throne, so it was the object of every other woman in the harem to prevent either the birth or the accession of any son but her own. The perils of a potential Sultan thus began before birth, and the first care of an expectant mother was to keep her pregnancy secret as long as possible, no easy feat in the public life of the harem, shared with several hundred other jealous women. Once a child was brought into the world, the second problem was to preserve it from “accidents” — also difficult, as is evidenced, for instance, by the fact that of the thirty or so children sired by Abdul Medjid half died in babyhood.

Started back with their ancestor, Ishmaels mother