Ok guys, everything is terrible, so let me tell you about the great sorceress heroine Aqila from the Sirat Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan...
First, in case you missed it, I did another thread on a supernatural heroine from this sira a little while ago that talks a little bit about why there are so many magical women in the tale:
Aqila is one of Sayf's mothers-in-law (her daughter, Tama, is his fiery warrior wife), & is powerful in both sand divination & magical combat. When she sees in the sand that her daughter will marry Sayf, she devotes her life and her powers to him, quickly becoming indispensable.
Directly upon introducing her to the story, we get her history. When she was only 150 years old, some distant time in the past, she had married a powerful sorcerer and killed him. After a failed revolt, his 180 followers joined her 180, and all served her as their "king"
She spends some time running her local government and growing her followers, but changes course when she sees in the sand that Sayf will marry her daughter and she will help him steal the magical Book of the Nile, whose owner is destined "to rule the Abyssinians & the Blacks"
The book is in Aqila's city, in a box of black ebony w/ gold plates that is itself in a teak chest, that is itself in a dome w/ a door of Chinese iron. I picture it something like this 16th c. Ottoman reliquary box, even though it would of course be much earlier! (TSM 2/4736) 
Aqila gets Sayf into the city w/ clever ruses. She puts him inside the skin of a large fish, from which his head & feet protrude. When the other sorcerers report it, their account sounds so absurd they are dismissed. After this, she does the same w/ gazelle's skin & eagle's wings
Once he is in the city, Sayf has to get the book. Even without all its protective enclosures, it has magical guards that can see through deception. For this reason, Aqila tells Sayf not to approach the dome: as per usual, he doesn't listen, and is captured & thrown into a dungeon
This dungeon, however, is where he meets his foster-sister 'Aqisa, who I wrote about in the other thread I mentioned earlier, thus gaining another powerful supernatural helper. She doesn't replace Aqila, though, who is better in battle & more reliable
What DOES threaten Aqila is when Sayf gets close to a male sorcerer, Hadhad. He starts to prefer Hadhad's services over Aqila's, and this makes her incredibly jealous. Along with another sorcerer, she agrees to kill the interloper.
They try poison first, but Hadhad detects it and takes an antidote he has ready in a rhinoceros horn. He then goes on a trip and fakes his own death, going so far as to have Sayf bury him. When he shows up again later, Aqila poisons him again, succeeding this time.
Here the narrative faces a quandary: Aqila is supposed to be a heroine, a devoted mother figure despite her awful power. How can it reconcile this terrible deed while still allowing her to help the hero?
The answer is guilt! Aqila can hardly live with what she's done, and mentions it time and again. She helps Sayf in several more battles, but finally faces a powerful enemy sorcerer who she suspects is more powerful than herself.
As she prepares to face him on the battlefield, she says to herself, "If he kills me, at least I will finally be free from the guilt of murdering Hadhad!"
The sorcerer does, indeed, kill her, despite all her power. And despite all her years of service, Sayf and his army are not described as mourning her death, which is unusual for loyal retainers. In the end, it seems her transgression was too much to come back from!
Nonetheless, Aqila's story is a dazzling display of female occult power, and how this power could, at least in the world of the siras, be used in both good and evil ways. Like the jinn, sorcerers & sorceresses are portrayed as a bit wild & unpredictable, but still capable of good
I hope this story gives you a little bit of enjoyment on a difficult day! Everyone stay safe, and may we all have Aqila's blend of cunning and caring in this crisis.
