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

42 Queens and Courtesans
the affairs of the umma and the empire. 13 Another jarya, who
appeared on the political scene during the Abbasid caliphate,
Shaghab, the mother of the eighteenth caliph, al-Muqtadir (died
in 321/933), succeeded in manoeuvring the religious and military
bureaucratic elite into recognizing her son as caliph, despite the fact
that he was only 13 years old. The qadi Ahmad Ibn Yaqub persisted
in not recognizing al-Muqtadir, maintaining in his capacity as a
religious authority that al-Muqtadir was still a child and therefore
not qualified to become caliph. He was put to death with the whole
group that shared his opinion. 14
Once they gained power, women indulged in atrocities that men
might envy, making use of the sole political argument that was
effective before the discovery of the vote - brute force. Like men,
women used political murder as much as necessary, with perhaps
'softer' methods such as suffocation and poisoning rather than the
sword. The difference should be studied at this level of technical
detail rather than otherwise. In any case, the execution of the qadi
gave great political credibility to this queen, whom the historians
do not cite by name, but rather designate by her biological function,
Umm al-Muqtadir (mother of al-Muqtadir) or by her political function,
al-sayyida, the title, as we have seen, given to high-ranking
free women, which very quickly came to be given to all those who
exercised political power in a more or less official fashion.
This queen had a conception of politics that today one could call
very 'feminist'. According to her, the affairs of the umma, especially
justice, were better managed if a woman was in charge. To cries of
scandal by the viziers and the qadis, she put Thumal, one of her
assistants, in charge of mazalim (injustices), a post equivalent to
what today we would call minister of justice. The religious authorities,
especially the qadis, who had to work under the orders of
Thumal, began to balk at this, condemning the appointment and
finally repudiating it as repellent. 15 They trotted out their misogynistic
litanies and refused to collaborate with the new official. But
when they realized al-sayyida had no intention of yielding on the
subject of Thumal, they bowed their heads and agreed to collaborate
with their new supervisor. They still remembered the fate of qadi
Yaqub.
We must acknowledge the objectivity of the great historians of
the past, like Tabari, on the subject of women, an objectivity that
is rarely found in contemporary historians. Tabari tells us that
Thumal carried out her duties very well, and consequently, despite
the initial aversion, al-nas (the people) loved her and appreciated