Khayr al-Nisa Begum (known under the royal title Mahd-i Ulya, "the highest-ranked cradle") (died 26 July 1579) was the wife of the Safavid Shah of Iran Mohammed Khodabanda and mother of Shah Abbas I. During the early part of her husband's reign she was a powerful political figure in her own right and governed Iran de facto between February 1578 and July 1579.