neglected_genealogy_of_the_martyred_heroins.pdf

“The term most widely used in Arabic-speaking countries to define them is mujahidaat (lit. female fighters). Despite the strongly pejorative connotations ascribed to it by today’s Western political vocabulary, mujahidaat originally applies to those Muslim women who served as auxiliary personnel in non-physical military operations, dispensing medications to the injured, managing fund-raising for the war effort, and encouraging their husbands, brothers and sons to wholeheartedly immerse themselves in the implementation of jihad. 16 Since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, these women have joined their male counterparts on the battlefield and fearlessly secured the Dar al-Islam (adobe of Islam) from the danger of tyrannical rulers and infidel enemies.” (304)

“David Cook points out that one of the first published works to consistently address the issue is ‘Abd al-Ghani ibn ‘Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisi’s (d. 1203) Manaqib al-Sahabiyyat (The Merits of the Women Companions [of the Holy Prophet]). In this treatise two women are particularly acknowledged for having fought shoulder to shoulder with Muhammad in his early campaigns: one of them was Nusaybah bint Ka‘ab (dates unknown), who is said to have suffered serious injuries while attempting to rescue a group of wounded in the Battle of Uhud (626); the other one was Muhammad’s aunt Safiyyah bint ‘Abd al-Muttalib (569–640), who is reported to have been instrumental in driving the Jew forces out of Yathrib (now Medina) during the epic Battle of Khandaq.” (304)

“Other noteworthy female fighters related to the Prophet were his favored wife Aisha bint Abu Bakr (614–678) the “Mother of Believers”, who led an army against Ali on the back of a camel at Basra (656)—hence the name of “Battle of the Camel” originated—and his granddaughter Zaynab bint ‘Ali (d. 682), a die-hard fighter whose embroilment in the Battle of Karbala (680) at the side of her martyred brother Imam al-Husayn would later become the symbol of female militancy against injustice among Shi’a Muslims.19 Historical memories around the leadership and fighting skills of these two exceptional women, especially in the latter case, have been essential to (re)-crafting modern gender roles in times of social and political upheaval. The burden of responsibility assumed by sister Zaynab after the death of al-Husayn is, for instance, one of the leitmotif of Shi’a devotional literature produced in nineteenth-century colonial India by Urdu poets like Mir Babar Ali Anis (1802–1874). “Zaynab Made Islam Safe from the Flames”, one of Anis’s most famed nawhas (lit. lamentation-dirge), offers a portray of the woman as an everlasting symbol of assertiveness and endurance in defeat.” (304)

“‘Afirah bint ‘Affar al-Himyariyah (dates unknown) who also fought in the Battle of Ajnadayn, was not less pugnacious. An account of her warlike temperament is offered by the great early Muslim historian and muhaddith al-Waqidi (747– 823) in his controversial Futu¯ h. al-Sha¯m (The Islamic Conquest of Syria). [Referring to Khalid ibn Sa’id]: Oh commander, by Allah! We will be more pleased if you put us in front to fight the Romans and break their faces [instead of encouraging our men to do so]. We will kill them until we are all martyred and none of us remain.29 Waqidi’s account does not fail to reveal also invaluable details about the close friendship between the two women and the extraordinary endurance displayed when they threw themselves valiantly into the Battle of Yarmouk (636) across the disputed territories of the then Christian Levant.” (306)

“Nearly contemporary with Khawlah and ‘Afirah was Umm Salamah Asma bint Yazid (dates unknown)—not to be confused with Muhammad’s sixth wife Umm Salamah bint Abi Umayya (ca. 580–680). She was reported to have joined the Muslim army in the Battle of Khaybar (628), and to have killed nine Byzantine soldiers with just the pole of her tent not long afterwards at Yarmouk.31 On another occasion, serving as a sort of attorney before the Prophet, she delivered a colorful speech which brings out sahabiyyat’s concern over the issue of whether women should be allowed to become more actively involved in jihad operations.” (306)