Every once in a while, I come across something in my research that I must share, which is why today I need to talk about Queen Arwa of Yemen, the most honorable lady of revenge served cold. A thread!
So our story starts in 1066 with the current King Ali and Queen Asma of Yemen (Arwa’s just as amazing mother-in-law) on the road to Mecca when they’re beset by an old enemy: Sa’id ibn Najah, prince of Zubayd.
Things…do not go well. Sa’id assassinates Ali, routs the royal camp, and imprisons Asma in a cell WITH A VIEW OF HER HUSBAND’S SEVERED HEAD ON A POLE. YES.
This is awful and Now It Is On. Queen Asma is beloved and her son, al-Mukarram, in Sana’a mobilizes 3000 soldiers and charges out to save his mom (yay, good sons)! They defeat the 20,000 men defending Zubayd, Sa’id flees, and then al-Mukarram goes personally to break Asma out.
It’s not an entirely happy reunion. Al-Mukarram, a previously strapping warrior, is said to have been so shaken by his mother’s royal greeting and her traumatized state that he suffers what sounds like a stroke right there and is left partially paralyzed.
But they make do. Al-Mukarram continues as king though his mother essentially rules the country until her death when Arwa, his wife, takes the reins.
Like Ali and Asma before them, the khutbah is read in the names of both al-Mukarram and Arwa throughout Yemen, legitimizing their joint rule. She’s a popular, active leader, capable administrator and future spiritual leader.
However early in her reign, Arwa makes very clear she is not to be trifled with. In the first year of her rule (481/1088), she literally relocates her capital to Jabala to be closer to Sa’id, the prince who killed her father-in-law and started all this.
But she doesn’t attack him directly. Instead she has her allies pretend to abandon her, paying Sa’id visits where they promise to switch sides.
Sa’id falls for the ruse and believing Arwa weakened, he attacks Jabala. He promptly loses, is executed, and beheaded. Then *his* wife, Umm al-Mu’arik is brought before Arwa.
We all know where this is going, yes?
We all know where this is going, yes?
Now it should perhaps be made clearer that Arwa’s relationship to Ali and Asma went deeper than just being their son’s wife. She was orphaned young and raised in the palace, with Asma herself overseeing her education.
So she does to Sa’id and Umm al-Mu’arik exactly what Sa’id did to her family.
She imprisons his wife. And then she sticks his head on a pole within view of the cell. 💀
She imprisons his wife. And then she sticks his head on a pole within view of the cell. 💀
Which…ngl probably doesn’t work within the various Islamic laws defining conduct during war (which Arwa, classically educated in the Quran and its sciences would have known) but the 11th century was a rough time and you better believe very few people messed with her after that.
Arwa rules until al-Mukarram dies and then at the urging/forcing of the Fatimid caliph in Cairo (her nominal political/religious leader as Arwa was part of the Ismaili Sulayhid dynasty) very, VERY reluctantly marries a second husband: Saba.
The marriage likely wasn’t consummated (there’s a story about her pretending to be a servant on their wedding night) and she continues ruling Yemen just as before.
She outlives Saba, outwits Cairo’s next attempt to push her around, thinking she’s old (she is beloved by her people and the army rises to defend her when the caliph’s envoy shows up) and rules by herself until her death of natural cause in 1138 after nearly fifty years of power.
Both she and Asma were extraordinarily praised by their contemporaries. Arwa spent her life building mosques, schools, roads and supporting what would become the Ismaili community in India. She was known for her bravery, her beauty, her intelligence, and her devotion.
And while I’m aware her knowledge of hadith is more praise-worthy, I would be remiss not to mention that Aden, which was given to her as dowry and was the first place she administered, is literally LOCATED ON A SUBMERGED VOLCANO CRATER.
Yes, the Queen of Revenge had her first capital on top of an underwater volcano. I am trying not to curse for Arwa's sake, but that is BAMF territory.
Speaking of extraordinary women, this account of Arwa's life comes from Fatema Mernissi's THE FORGOTTEN QUEENS OF ISLAM (Go read Mernissi, she was brilliant) upress.umn.edu/book-division/…
This thread seems to be getting popular, so if you've enjoyed this account and have some dollars to spare, please consider a donation to Islamic Relief's Yemen outreach: irusa.org/Yemen/
