Ghazāla (; died 696 AD near

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...

) was a leader of the Kharijite movement.

Biography

Ghazāla, born in

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

, was the wife of

Shabib ibn Yazid al-Shaybani Shabīb ibn Yazīd ibn Nuʿaym al-Shaybānī () (646/47 – 697/98) was the leader of the Kharijite rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in central Iraq between 696 and his death in 697/98. Life Origins and early career Shabib was born in Sept ...

. Shabib rebelled against Umayyad rule, and Ghazala was actively at his side. She commanded troops, following in the footsteps of previous Muslim women like Juwayriyya bint al-Ḥārith at the

Battle of Yarmuk The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 63 ...

. In one battle, she made the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

governor Hajjāj ibn-Yūsuf flee, and take refuge in his palace in

.Leila Ahmed, ''Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate'' (Yale University Press, 1992) p.71 As a result, a poem was composed shaming him for posterity:

You are a lion against me, but in the battle an ostrich which spreads its wings and hurries off on hearing the chirping of a sparrow. Why did you not go forth in the conflict and fight with Ghazala hand to hand? But no! Your heart fled from you (as if) with the wings of a bird.

In 696 AD (77 AH), after having controlled the city of

for a day, Ghazāla led her male warriors in prayer as well as recited two of the longest chapters from the Quran during the prayer in the Mosque.Ali Masudi, ''Gardens of Gold'', (Dar al-Andalus, Beirut, 1965), Ch. 3, p.139 She was killed in battle, and her head was cut off for presenting it to Hajjaj. However, her husband Shabib sent a horseman who killed the carrier of his wife's head, and had a proper burial for it.

References

696 deaths 7th-century women Women in medieval warfare Year of birth unknown People from Mosul Women in war in the Middle East 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Military history of the Umayyad Caliphate Kharijites 7th-century Arabs Arab women in war {{MEast-mil-bio-stub