Alima Khanum

Hatice Âlime (Halime) Hüma Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: هما خاتون, c. 1410 - September 1449) was the fourth wife of Ottoman Sultan Murad II and was valide sultan during the first reign of her son Sultan Mehmed II for two years from 1444–1446. She was a slave girl.[1] Nothing is known of her family background, apart from the fact that an Ottoman inscription (vakfiye) describes her as Hātun binti Abdullah (Daughter of Abdullah); at that time, people who converted to Islam were given the name Abdullah meaning Servant of God,[2] this is evidence of her non-Muslim origin.[3] Her name, hüma, means "bird of paradise", after the Persian legend.[3] There are several theories on her origin.

She was an Italian named Stella.[3] Stella was a popular Jewish name, thus she could have been a Jewess. She was Serbian.[4] Some sources say that she was a princess from the Principality of Zeta and a relative of Đurađ II Balšić,[5] or that she hailed from Zahumlje, which known as Hum (hence her name).[citation needed] S. Runciman supports that she was Slavic.[6] Life[edit] She was married to Murad II in 1426.

She died in September 1449 in Bursa. Her tomb is located at the site known as "Hatuniye Kümbedi" (Hatuniye Tomb) to the east of Muradiye Mosque. The quarter where her tomb lies has been known thus far as Hüma Hatun Quarter.[7] Her name is not inscribed on the 1449 dated epitaph of the türbe, but she is praised as an excellent Muslim mother. In addition, her name is given as "Hüma Hatun", the mother of Mehmed II in Bursa Şer’iyye sicils (The notebooks number 31, 201 and 370).

Hüma Hatun should not be confused with Tacünnisa Hatun, daughter of Isfendiyar Bey, the seventh ruler of Isfendiyarids.