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

14 Queens and Courtesans
our basic knowledge, since Ibn Battuta's works have been 'bestsellers'
up to today - obviously not in the Western sense of the
word, but in the Arab sense, that is, a not very attractive book
with faded pages and an ordinary cover, moderately priced, which
continues to be sold century after century in the shadow of the
mosques. 10
Another queen bearing the title of sultana was Shajarat al-Durr,
a ruler of Egypt, who gained power in Cairo in 648/1250 like any
other military leader, through her command of strategy. She brought
the Muslims a victory which the French remember well, because
she routed their army during the Crusades and captured their king,
Louis IX. 11
However, the Arab queens rarely bore the title of sultana; the
historian more often gave them the title of malika. For the moment
let me point out that both Radiyya and Shajarat al-Durr were Turks;
they held power as members of the Mamluk dynasty which reigned
in India and Egypt. In Yemen several Arab queens bore the title
of malika; among them were Asma and 'Arwa, who exercised power
in San'a at the end of the eleventh century. Asma reigned only
briefly and jointly with her husband 'Ali, the founder of the Sulayhi
dynasty. Queen 'Arwa on the contrary, held power for almost half
a century; she directed the affairs of state and planned the war
strategies until her death in 484/1090.
We might say that malika is a convenient title easily given to any
woman who obtained a bit of power anywhere in the Muslim world
from Delhi to North Africa. Many Berber queens had the right to
this title. The most famous was Zainab al-Nafzawiyya, who shared
power with her husband, Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, ruler of a huge empire
extending from North Africa to Spain between 453/1061 and
500/1107. 12 Historians describe Zainab as al-qa'ima bi mulkihi, literally,
the one in charge of her husband's mulk, that is, the main
actor running the show. Arab historians seem to have no problem
bestowing the title of malika on a woman. A woman holding earthly
power did not appear as traumatic to them as it does to our presentday
rather mediocre politicians.
Another title often given to women who exercised power was alhurra.
Etymologically al-hurra means 'free woman', as opposed to
a slave. In a harem al-hurra described the legal wife, often of
aristocratic descent, as opposed to the jarya, who was bought by
the master on the slave market. In Arabic words such as hurr (free)
and hurriyya (freedom) have nothing to do with the modern human
rights connotation. Freedom in our tradition is not rooted in a