Woman in the Umayyad Era

If we wish to take up the subject of the Arab woman during the Umayyad era, we find ourselves before a singular phenomenon by which this era stands almost alone among all the eras that have succeeded one another in Arab history from antiquity to this day. For when we speak of this woman, it will not do for us to select some particular corner of the public life of that time and content ourselves with it, never passing beyond it to another. For the Arab woman in that revolutionary period was not one to accept things as they stood, or to be satisfied with a share of life consisting of the placid femininity God had ordained for her. Rather, she never ceased raising her hopes and desires toward what lay beyond, aspiring to a full life that would leave tangible traces behind it.

Perhaps it was this fierce ambition that made her so intent on keeping close to the forces that had a clear hand in the shaping of important events or in their direction!

It must be noted that the Arab woman found, in the circumstances that surrounded the Umayyad era, much that tempted her to this ambition and drove her to take part in public life on an equal footing with man — indeed, she may have found what allowed her to outstrip him on many occasions! This came about because the social condition of the Arab nation was governed in those days by national traditions so far-reaching in their tolerance that we may claim no society in any age has enjoyed their like, or anything near it!

Religion moved alongside this tolerance — indeed it endorsed it and let it continue without scruple or caution. The proof is that the circumambulation of the Kaaba, one of the important rites of the faith, brought woman and man together on one ground and at one time. Such a gathering was never a cause, open or hidden, of any religious problem, nor did any of the age's jurists or traditionists rise up to protest or object to it... And so matters remained during the circumambulation, until the poet's verses spread among the people:

How fine the pilgrimage season as a standing-place,
and how fine the Kaaba as a mosque;
and how fine the women who press against us
as we touch the Black Stone!

This reached the ears of the court in Damascus... Thereupon Khalid al-Qasri, governor of the Hijaz for Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, ordered the sexes separated during the circumambulation, lest there be a temptation to distract people from their rites.

Yet this measure never went beyond a purely administrative character, nor did it extend past the bounds of the Kaaba. This does not mean that the meeting of the sexes was no longer easy, or that when it did occur, it took place only out of sight of the watchers or in wariness of the authorities. Not at all: the literary compendia that have transmitted to us truthful reports and frank pictures of the features of Arab society throughout its ages and dynasties have placed in our hands no small collection of incidents in which the life of man was interwoven with the life of woman.

The first thing that presents itself to the mind at the mention of woman is that wanton image which adorns libertinage, tempts to debauchery, and inspires in poets fantasies of love, pleasure, and enjoyment. This is the notion of woman that has lodged itself in people's understanding through the turning of days and the succession of generations. Yet the nature of the political life in which the Umayyad age took shape has given us more than one proof of the error of this notion — or, if you prefer, of its extremism.

Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, the sword of the Umayyads and their tyrant, detested this interference and wished he could curb it or abolish it altogether. This desire kept working within his soul, yet he found no way to declare it — until once, when he was with al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik, a slave girl came in, whispered to al-Walid, and went out; then she returned, whispered again, and departed. Al-Walid said: "Do you know what she said, Abu Muhammad?" Al-Hajjaj said: "No, by God." Al-Walid said: "My cousin Umm al-Banin bint Abd al-Aziz sent her to say: 'What are you doing sitting with this Bedouin bristling with weapons while you are in a thin shift?!' So I sent word back to her: it is al-Hajjaj. That alarmed her, and she said: 'By God, I do not like him to be alone with you — he has killed multitudes!'" Then al-Hajjaj — the opportunity having presented itself to declare what was in his soul concerning women's interference in public affairs — said:

"O Commander of the Faithful, leave off bantering with women in gilded words, for woman is a sweet basil, not a stewardess. Do not let them into your secrets nor into your struggle with your enemy; do not obey them in anything beyond their own persons; do not occupy them with more than their adornment. Beware of consulting them in affairs, for their opinion tends to feebleness and their resolve to weakness! Restrain their eyes with your veiling; give no one of them power over matters beyond her own self; do not let her hope to intercede with you for another; and do not sit long among them — that will keep your mind the sounder and show your excellence the clearer!"

This outburst, if it is authentic of al-Hajjaj — and the likelier opinion is that it is authentic — means that the caliph's court in Damascus and the palaces of his governors in the provinces welcomed the women who frequented them and scattered through their halls opinions and conversations whose echo and effect appeared in all circles and gatherings.

Nor did the Umayyad woman's activity stop at direction, instigation, or guidance alone; she went beyond that into the very heart of the battle and plunged into partisan struggle. She would confront the campaigns of her opponents with her tongue when she found in it sufficiency and adequacy... and with her spearpoint when she found it indispensable to her very existence...

And if we return to history, we find that the Umayyad era is all but crowded with the names of the many women who fought in the decisive battles and distinguished themselves there with their swords and their blood; and we find that a company of them set the example for men in seeking martyrdom and death for the sake of idea, creed, and principle!