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

18 Queens and Courtesans
The fall of Granada propelled other women on to the political
scene, women of the elite who would otherwise have led a somnolent
life in the harem and whom the debacle pitched into the political
melee, obliging them to assume responsibility and participate in the
momentous events shaking the community and with it the western
Mediterranean. Freed from the iron grip of tradition that immobilized
them in domestic space and despite their inexperience, women
showed themselves to be clever strategists, at least as resourceful
as men.
Such a woman as Sayyida al-Hurra, a Moroccan of Andalusian
origin, found no better way to ease the humiliation of defeat than
to launch into piracy. She displayed such talent at it that she
soon became Hakima Tatwan (governor of Tetouan)- The Muslim
historians treat this second al-Hurra, like the first, with the same
disdainful silence: 'One finds practically no information in the Arab
sources about this queen, who exercised power for more than thirty
years [916/1510, the date of the accession to power of her husband
al-Mandri, to 949/1542, when she was deposed].' According to
Spanish and Portuguese sources, al-Hurra was their partner in the
diplomatic game. 23 She played a key role for many years as governor
of Tetouan and as the undisputed leader of the pirates in the western
Mediterranean. One of her allies was none other than the famous
Turkish corsair Barbarossa, who operated out of Algiers. 24 But
corsairs were not her only allies. After the death of her husband
she married the king of Morocco, Ahmad al-Wattasi, the third king
of that dynasty (932/1524 to 966/1549). In order to show him that
she had no intention of giving up her political role in the north, she
requested that the king leave his capital of Fez and come to Tetouan
for the marriage ceremony. This was the only time in the history
of Morocco that a king got married away from his capital. 25
Her family, the Banu Rashid, was a family of Andalusian
notables, who like many others decided to return to North Africa
after the fall of Granada. The life of Sayyida al-Hurra began amid
the anxieties of exile and the uncertainties experienced by all the
Andalusian refugees who fled the Inquisition. Her family settled in
Chaouen, and there she married al-Mandri, who belonged to
another great Andalusian family living in the neighbouring town of
Tetouan. Many emigre communities let themselves be deluded by
the idea of a return to Andalusia. Conducting expeditions against
the Spaniards became the obsession of the bravest among them,
and piracy was the ideal solution. It allowed the expelled to obtain
quick revenues (booty and ransom for captives), and at the same