Sultana or sultanah (/sʌlˈtɑːnə/; Arabic: سلطانة sulṭāna) is a female royal title and the feminine form of the word sultan. The term derives from the Arabic abstract noun sultan (سلطان), meaning "strength," "authority," or "rulership," which itself comes from the verbal noun sulṭah (سلطة), meaning "authority" or "power."
Usage as a Ruling Title
Some Muslim female monarchs adopted the title of Sultana or Sultanah upon ascending the throne. Notable ruling sultanas include:
- Shajar al-Durr (r. 1250), who became the ruling sultana of Egypt and founded the Mamluk Sultanate.
- Razia Sultana (r. 1236–1240), ruler of the Delhi Sultanate and the first female Muslim ruler of the Indian subcontinent. She refused to be addressed as "Sultana" because it meant "wife or consort of a sultan" and insisted on the title "Sultan."
- Six ruling sultanas in the Maldives, including Khadijah (r. 1347–1363, 1364–1374, 1376–1380), Raadhafathi (r. 1380), Dhaain (r. 1383–1388), and others.
- Four ruling sultanas of Aceh Darussalam (in present-day Indonesia) between 1641 and 1699, including Sultana Seri Ratu Ta'jul Alam Syafiatuddin Syah.
- Sultanah Nahrasiyah (r. 1406–1428) of the Samudera Pasai Sultanate.
- Sati Beg, a 14th-century Ilkhanid princess who issued coins using the title sultan or sultana.
Usage as a Consort Title
Sultana has also been used for the wives of sultans. During the short-lived Sultanate of Egypt (1914–1922), the wives of sultans were legally styled as sultanas, including Melek Tourhan (wife of Sultan Hussein Kamel) and Nazli Sabri (wife of Sultan Fuad I). In several Malaysian states, the title Sultanah is currently used for the consort of the ruling sultan, including Sultanah Nur Zahirah of Terengganu, Sultanah Maliha of Kedah, and Sultanah Nur Diana Petra of Kelantan.
Nomenclature and Scholarly Disputes
Some scholars note that a feminine form "sultana" does not exist in classical Arabic; the title sulṭān appears on coins of female rulers such as Shajar al-Durr. Western usage of "sultana" often extended the term to female Muslim monarchs and relatives of sultans who did not officially hold the title. In the Ottoman Empire, imperial princesses bore the title sultan after their given names (e.g., Mihrimah Sultan), and the monarch's mother held the title Valide sultan; Western sources frequently translated these as "sultana" to distinguish them from the male ruler.
