Hind bint al-Nuʿmān (), also known as al-Ḥurqah, was a pre-Islamic Arab poet. There is some historiographical debate, going back to the Middle Ages, over precisely what her names were, with corresponding debates over whether some of the bearers of these names were different people or not. An example of a poet-princess, she has been read as a key figure in pre-Islamic poetry.

Biography

Hind was the daughter of

al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir Al-Nuʿmān III ibn al-Mundhir (), also transcribed Naʿaman, Nuʿaman and Noman and often known by the patronymic Abu Qabus (), was the last Lakhmid king of al-Hirah (582 – ) and a Nestorian Christian Arab. He is considered one of the mos ...

, the last

Lakhmid The Lakhmid kingdom ( ), also referred to as al-Manādhirah () or as Banū Lakhm (), was an Arab kingdom that was founded and ruled by the Lakhmid dynasty from to 602. Spanning Eastern Arabia and Sawad, Southern Mesopotamia, it existed as a d ...

king of

al-Hira Al-Hira ( Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient Lakhmid Arabic city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. The Sasanian government established the Lakhmid state (Al-Hirah) on the edge of the Arabian Desert ...

() and an

Eastern Christian Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

mother. According to the ''Ḥarb Banī Shaybān maʻa Kisrà Ānūshirwān'', whose historical reliability is questionable,

Khosrow II Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; and ''Khosrau''), commonly known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran, ruling from 590 ...

, emperor of the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

() and her father's overlord, demanded Hind in marriage. Thinking better of the arrangement, al-Nuʿmān sent Hind to seek refuge among the Arabs, and was subsequently attacked and imprisoned by Khosrow. After failing to find sanctuary with the

Ghassanids The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian state, Christian kingdom unde ...

and other Arab tribes, Hind was granted sanctuary among the

Banu Shayban The Banu Shayban () is an Arab tribe, a branch of the Banu Bakr. Throughout the early Islamic era, the tribe was settled chiefly in al-Jazira Province and played an important role in its history. History In the pre-Islamic period, the Shayban ...

through the intercession of their princess

al-Ḥujayjah Al-Ḥujayjah (), also known as Safīyah bint Thaʻlabah al-Shaybānīyah () was a pre-Islamic poet of the Banū Shaybān tribe, noted for her work in the genre of taḥrīḍ (incitement to vengeance). Her dates of birth and death are unknown, a ...

. It was supposedly for this reason that the Banu Shayban had to fight the

Battle of Dhi Qar The Battle of Dhi Qar (), also known as the War of the Camel's Udder, was a pre-Islamic battle fought between Arab tribes and the Sasanian Empire in Southern Iraq. The battle occurred after the death of Al-Nu'man III by the orders of Khosru II. ...

in . She was then sent to marry

al-Nu'man ibn al-Rayyan Nu'man () is an Arabic given name dating to pre-Islamic times, meaning ''blood'' or ''red''. Prevailingly, the Islamic given name is most commonly associated to the Arabic word meaning ''bliss''. It is also used with the definite article, , translit ...

, "her only cousin to survive the Persian attack on the Kingdom of al-Ḥirah", after which Khosrow granted him the throne of al-Hirah. Ali ibn Nasr al-Katib's '' Encyclopedia of Pleasure'' tells that Hind loved a woman named Hind bint al-Khuss al-Zarqāʾ. When al-Zarqāʾ died, her faithful lover "cropped her hair, wore black clothes, rejected worldly pleasures, vowed to God that she would lead an ascetic life until she passed away". Hind bint al-Nuʿmān even built a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

to commemorate her love for al-Zarqāʾ. This source figures the two characters as the first

lesbians A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homo ...

in Arab culture..

Works

Some poetry is attributed to Hind, making her (if the attributions are correct) a relatively rare example of a pre-Islamic female poet whose work survives.

Other sources

Hind is the main figure in the

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

-Story ''‘Adî ibn Zayd and the Princess Hind.''Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen und Hassan Wassouf: ''The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia'', ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2004, p. 78 (ANE 140).

Literature

* Sindawi, Khalid (2022).
Pre-Islamic Arab Christian Poetesses: The Biography and Poetry of Hind bint al-Nuʿmān (The Nun of Grief, and the Princess of al-Ḥuraqa)
'. ''AL-Majma'', (17), 63–112.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurqah 6th-century Arab people 7th-century Arab people 6th-century Christians 7th-century Christian nuns Medieval women poets Poets of the early Islamic period Arabic-language women poets Arabic-language poets 7th-century women writers 7th-century Arabic-language poets 7th-century deaths 6th-century women writers 6th-century Arabic-language poets Arab Christians in Mesopotamia Christian poets Church of the East writers Lakhmids Arab princesses Arabs from the Sasanian Empire One Thousand and One Nights characters