Fatima.Mernessi_The-Forgotten-Queens-of-Islam-EN

144 The Arab Queens
reign in the literary and poetic imagination. The danger now comes
from scholars who are in the process of piling up proof that historically
she never existed: To appreciate properly the much discussed
story of the Queen of Sheba . . . who is said to have visited Solomon,
it is decisive that all that we know of Saba' and Ma'in contradicts
the supposition that there were queens there.' This is the
verdict of scholars in the Encyclopedia of Islam. 'In any case,' they
say, 'we are not to see in this story evidence of the existence of the
rule of queens in Saba'.' 13 That being said, can scholarly explorations
succeed in destroying the legendary power of Balqis? It is very
unlikely, for the name of Balqis is not mentioned in the Koran - a
fact that should not be ignored. The Koran speaks of 'a woman
ruling over' the people of Sheba. 14 But she has no name in our holy
book. It is historians like Mas'udi and the authors of commentaries
like Tabari who have given the name of Balqis to the sovereign
unnamed in the Koran. The essential point is that Balqis comes to
us directly out of the jahiliyya, and despite scholarship and its
dictates her life is as enduring as her legend. Scholarship or no,
Balqis reigns supreme today in Arab poetry, and many contemporary
poets use her to suggest a female presence that fascinates and
enchants. 15
Happily, the Yemenis of the eleventh century did not have to suffer
the great displeasure of reading the insolent claims about our Balqis
in the Encyclopedia of Islam. It was to her they compared the
women who ruled them - Asma and 'Arwa - and whom they called
malika hazima. Right up to the present the epithet hazim is the
description that all politicians wish to have applied to themselves.
It implies 'the ability in a person to control the course of his life
and affairs, and of making decisions with firmness .... When one
says of a man that he is hazim that means that of his people he is
the most experienced, the one who makes knowledgeable decisions
and relies on reason in doing so.' 16 A hazim person does not make
decisions all alone. He listens to others, asks the opinion of experts,
and takes it all into account before settling matters. Moreover, this
explains the 'firmness' of a man who is hazim, for he never alters
a decision once it has been made. Ibn Manzur didactically recalls
that it is from this word that the word hizam (belt) comes, and that
the act of buckling up expresses the idea of the word very well. The
hazim is never caught unawares and so never has to make rash,
hasty decisions, for he constantly thinks about everything, foresees
events, and weighs the pros and cons of every possibility. Al-hazm