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

The Little Queens of Sheba 147
al-Mukarram, known until then for his boldness on the battlefield.
Al-Mukarram had a cousin, Saba Ibn Ahmad al-Sulayhi, who had
all the qualities needed for taking power and who was in the prime
of life, but no one thought of him when the cortege entered San'a.
Queen Asma took over the management of the country until her
death in 480/1087, and al-Mukarram officially delegated all his
powers to his wife 'Arwa after his mother's death. 'Arwa had been
recognized since childhood by 'Ali, al-Mukarram's father, 'as the
only person capable of assuring the continuity of the dynasty in case
something should happen to us.' 25
'Arwa, who had lost her parents very young, had been brought
to the palace in San'a to live with her uncle 'Ali. And it was Asma
herself who had supervised her education. 26 'Arwa had grown up
side by side with her cousin al-Mukarram in a palace where power
was the business of a couple and not the privilege of a man. In 461,
at the age of 17, 'Arwa had married al-Mukarram; it was a princely
union celebrated with magnificence and rejoicing. The bride
received the principality of Aden as her dowry. 27 From then on she
took charge of its management, named its governors, and collected
its taxes. As in a fairy-tale, 'Arwa's happiness was made complete
by the joys of motherhood. She gave two sons to al-Mukarram, but
it was she, and no one else, whom San'a considered as the natural
inheritor of power. The passing of power to 'Arwa was no surprise,
but rather the continuation of a tradition. 28 The mosques of Yemen
would ring once more with the khutba proclaimed in the name of
a couple and not of an individual. However, there was one difference
between the new queen and the former one: unlike Asma, who
ruled with her face uncovered, 'Arwa veiled her face during working
sessions. Why? She was young and beautiful - only 34 years old -
and her husband was handicapped. This was the only concession
she made to tradition. But even this was not really a concession,
since she herself imposed it. It was a sensible decision for a woman
who had decided to devote herself to a military objective: to gain
the unique decisive victory that would show Yemen and the rest of
the Muslim world that the Sulayhi dynasty, despite the misfortunes
that had struck its men, was still powerful. And that victory, 'Arwa
had decided, could only be the head of Sa'id Ibn Najah, the still
living assassin of her father-in-law. After the taking of Zubayd by
al-Mukarram, Sa'id had decided to flee by sea. Once the city was
judged to be irremediably lost, he retreated to the escape boats that
he had duly equipped and stationed in the harbour in order to get
away by sea in case of a rout. 29