In the surviving historical record, medieval Arabic female poets are few compared with the number of known male Arabic-language poets: there has been 'an almost total eclipse of women's poetic expression in the literary record as maintained in Arabic culture from the pre-Islamic era through the nineteenth century'. However, there is evidence that, compared with medieval Europe, women's poetry in the medieval Islamic world was 'unparalleled' in 'visibility and impact'. Accordingly, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, scholars have emphasised that women's contribution to Arabic literature requires greater scholarly attention.

Attestation

The work of medieval Arabic-language women poets has not been preserved as extensively as that of men, but a substantial corpus nonetheless survives; the earliest extensive anthology is the late ninth-century CE '' Balāghāt al-nisāʾ'' by Ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr (d. 280/893). Abd al-Amīr Muhannā named over four hundred female poets in his anthology. That much literature by women was once collected in writing but has since been lost is suggested particularly by the fact that al-Suyuti's fifteenth-century ''Nuzhat al-julasāʼ fī ashʻār al-nisāʼ'' mentions a large (six-volume or longer) anthology called ''Akhbar al-Nisa' al-Shau‘a'ir'' containing 'ancient' women’s poetry, assembled by one Ibn al-Tarrah (d. 720/1320). However, a range of medieval anthologies do contain women's poetry, including collections by

Al-Jahiz Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī ( ar, أبو عثمان عمرو بن بحر الكناني البصري), commonly known as al-Jāḥiẓ ( ar, links=no, الجاحظ, ''The Bug Eyed'', born 776 – died December 868/Jan ...

Abu Tammam Ḥabīb ibn Aws al-Ṭā’ī (; ca. 796/807 - 845), better known by his sobriquet Abū Tammām (), was an Arab poet and Muslim convert born to Christian parents. He is best known in literature by his 9th-century compilation of early poems kn ...

Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Iṣfahānī ( ar, أبو الفرج الأصفهاني), also known as Abul-Faraj, (full form: Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥaytham al-Umawī al-Iṣfahānī) (284–356 AH / 897 ...

, and

Ibn Bassam Ibn Bassām or Ibn Bassām al-Shantarinī (; 1058-1147) was an Arab poet and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (sometimes spelled Shantarin or Xantarin) and hailed from the Banu Taghlib tribe. He died in 1147. Ibn Bassam descr ...

, alongside historians quoting women's poetry such as

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari i ...

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...

, and

Ibn 'Asakir Ibn Asakir ( ar-at, ابن عساكر, Ibn ‘Asākir; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib S ...

. Medieval women's poetry in Arabic tends to be in two genres: the '' rithā’'' (elegy) and ''

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

'' (love-song), alongside a smaller body of

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

poems and short pieces in the low-status ''

rajaz Rajaz (, literally 'tremor, spasm, convulsion as may occur in the behind of a camel when it wants to rise') is a metre used in classical Arabic poetry. A poem composed in this metre is an ''urjūza''. The metre accounts for about 3% of surviving ...

'' metre. One significant corpus comprises poems by ''

qiyan ''Qiyān'' ( ar, قِيان, ; singular ''qayna'', ar, قَينة, ) were a social class of women, trained as entertainers, which existed in the pre-modern Islamic world. The term has been used for both non-free women and free, including some ...

'', women who were slaves highly trained in the arts of entertainment, often educated in the cities of

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

Ta’if Taif ( ar, , translit=aṭ-Ṭāʾif, lit=The circulated or encircled, ) is a city and governorate in the Makkan Region of Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat M ...

, and

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

. Women's poetry is particularly well attested from

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...

. According to Samer M. Ali,

In retrospect we can discern four overlapping persona types for poetesses in the Middle Ages: the grieving mother/sister/daughter ( al-Khansāʾ,
al-Khirniq bint Badr Al-Khirniq bint Badr ibn Hiffān (or Haffān, , d. perhaps c. 600) was an early Arabic elegiac poet. She was half-sister or aunt to the poet Tarafa ibn al'Abd.G. J. H. Van Gelder, 'al-Khirniq (d. perhaps c. 600)', in ''Encyclopedia of Arabic Litera ...
, and
al-Fāriʿah bint Shaddād Al-Fāriʿah bint Shaddād al-Murriyah ( ar, الفارعة بنت شداد) was a pre-Islamic Arabic poet, noteworthy both for being one of a relatively small number of known Medieval Arabic female poets In the surviving historical record, medi ...
), the warrior-diplomat (
al-Hujayjah 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, an ...
), the princess (
al-Ḥurqah Hind bint al-Nu'man ( ar, هند بنت النعمان, 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, wi ...
,
ʿUlayyah bint al-Mahdī Ulayya bint al-Mahdi ( ar, عُلَيّة بنت المهدي, ʿUlayya bint al-Mahdī, 777–825) was an Abbasid princess, noted for her legacy as a poet and musician. Biography ‘Ulayya was one of the daughters of the third Abbasid Caliph al- ...
, and Walladah bint al-Mustakfī), and the courtesan-ascetic ( ʿArīb,
Shāriyah Shāriyah ( ar, شارِية, born c. 815 in al-Basra; died c. 870 C.E.) was an ‘Abbasid ''qayna'' (enslaved singing-girl), who enjoyed a prominent place in the court of Al-Wathiq (r. 842–847). Biography The main source for Shāriyah's life ...
, and Rābiʿah al-ʿAdawīyah). Rābiʿah’s biography in particular projects a paradoxical persona that embodies the complementary opposites of sexuality and saintliness.

While most Arabic-speaking medieval woman poets were Muslim, of the three probable medieval female Jewish poets whose work has survived, two composed in Arabic: Qasmūna bint Ismāʿil and the sixth-century

Sarah of Yemen Sarah of Yemen ( ar, سارة, fl. 6th century CE) is noted as one of the small number of Arabic-language female poets known for the sixth century CE. It is possible that she was Jewish,Emily Taitz, Sondra Henry, and Cheryl Tallan, 'Sarah of Yemen', ...

(the remaining, Hebrew-language poet being the anonymous wife of

Dunash ben Labrat Dunash ha-Levi ben Labrat (920/925 – after 985) ( he, ר׳ דוֹנָש הַלֵּוִי בֵּן לָבְּרָט; ar, دناش بن لبراط) was a medieval Jewish commentator, poet, and grammarian of the Golden age of Jewish culture in Sp ...

Anthologies and studies

Anthologies

* ''Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology'', ed. and trans. by Abdullah al-Udhari (London: Saqi Books, 1999), ncludes facing Arabic texts and English translations* ''Dīwān de las poetisas de al-Andalus'', ed. by Teresa Garulo (Madrid 1986) * ''Poesía femenina hispanoárabe'', ed. and trans. by María Jesús Rubiera Mata (Madrid 1990) *
Nisāʾ min al-Andalus
', ed. by Aḥmad Khalīl Jumʻah (Damascus: al-Yamāmah lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, 2001) �سـاء من الأندلس, أحمد خليل جمعة * Rubiera Máta, María Jesús, ''Poesía feminina hispanoárabe'' (Madrid: Castalia, 1989) * ''We Wrote in Symbols: Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers'', ed. by Selma Dabbagh (London: Saqi Books, 2021), * Ibn al-Sāʿī, ''Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad'', ed. and trans. by Shawkat M. Toorawa, Library of Arabic Literature (New York: New York University Press, 2017),
Arabic text

Studies

* Hammond, Marlé, ''Beyond Elegy: Classical Arabic Women's Poetry in Context'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), * Myrne, Pernilla, ''Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World: Gender and Sex in Arabic Literature'', The Early and Medieval Islamic World (London: I. B. Tauris, 2020)

Known female poets

The following list of known women poets is based on (but not limited to) Abdullah al-Udhari's ''Classical Poems by Arab Women''. It is not complete.

Jahilayya (4000 BCE–622 CE)

Mahd al-Aadiyya Mahd al-Aadiyya ( ar, مَهد العادية) was supposedly an Arab poet from around 4000 BCE.Abdullah al-Udhari (ed. and trans.), ''Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology'', (London: Saqi Books, 1999), pp. 26-27. She is unlikely to ...

( ar, مَهد العادية, c. 4000 BCE) *

Afira bint 'Abbad Afira bint 'Abbad ( ar, عَفِيرة بنت عبَّاد Ashshamus) was an Arab poet from around the 3rd century CE. Anthologies Moris Farhi (ed) ''Classical Poems by Arab Women'' translated Abdullah al-Udhari, Saqi Books, 1999. References ...

( ar, عَفِيرة بنت عَبََّاد, C3 CE) *

Laila bint Lukaiz Laila bint Lukaiz or Layla bint Lukayz ( ar, لَيْلَى بنت لُكَيْز died 483), otherwise known as "Layla the Chaste" (Arabic: ليلى العفيفة), was a legendary Arab poet and one of the leading poets of the fifth century.''Cl ...

( ar, لَيْلَى بنت لُكِيْز, d. 483 CE) * Jalila bint Murra ( ar, جليلة بنتُ مُرَّة, d. 540 CE) * Umama bint Kulaib ( ar, أُمَامَة بنت كُلَيْب, C5–6 CE) * al-Ḥujayjah, aka Safīyah bint Thaʻlabah al-Shaybānīyah ( ar, صفية بنت ثعلبة الشيبانية, C5–6 CE) *

al-Ḥurqah Hind bint al-Nu'man ( ar, هند بنت النعمان, 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, wi ...

( ar, الحُرقة, C5–6 CE) * Safiyya bint Khalid al-Bahiliyya ( ar, صفية بنت خالد الباهلية) * Juhaifa Addibabiyya ( ar, جُحَيْفَة الضَّبَابية) * Umm Khalid Annumairiyya ( ar, أُمُّ خَالد النُّمَيْريّة) * Ishraqa al-Muharibiyya ( ar, عِشْرَقة المحاربية) * Umm Jamil bint Harb ( ar, أم جميل بنت حرب, C6–7 CE) * Hind bint al-Khuss al-Iyādiyya ( ar, هند بنت الخس الإيادية, legendary, supposedly C6-7 CE) *

Hind bint ‘Utbah Hind bint ʿUtba ( ar, هند بنت عتبة), was an Arab woman who lived in the late 6th and early 7th centuries CE; she was the wife of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, a powerful man of Mecca, in western Arabia. She was the mother of Mu'awiya I, the fou ...

( ar, هند بنت عتبة, C6-7 CE) * Qutayla ukht al-Nadr ( ar, قُتيلة أخت النضر, C7 CE) * Umm Addahak al-Muheribiyya ( ar, أم الضحّاك المحاربية) * Janūb Ukht ‘Amr dhī-l-Kalb ( ar, جنوب أخت عمرو ذي الكلب النهدي) *

al-Fāriʿah bint Shaddād Al-Fāriʿah bint Shaddād al-Murriyah ( ar, الفارعة بنت شداد) was a pre-Islamic Arabic poet, noteworthy both for being one of a relatively small number of known Medieval Arabic female poets In the surviving historical record, medi ...

( ar, الفارعة بنت شداد) *

al-Khansa Tumāḍir bint ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Sharīd al-Sulamīyah ( ar, تماضر بنت عمرو بن الحارث بن الشريد السُلمية), usually simply referred to as al-Khansāʾ ( ar, الخنساء, links=no, meaning "snub-n ...

( ar, الخنساء, d. 646 CE) *

( ar, سارة, C6 CE)

Muhammad Period (622–661 CE)

Al-Khansa Tumāḍir bint ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Sharīd al-Sulamīyah ( ar, تماضر بنت عمرو بن الحارث بن الشريد السُلمية), usually simply referred to as al-Khansāʾ ( ar, الخنساء, links=no, meaning "snub-n ...

, was one of the most influential poets of the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods. *

Fatima bint Muhammad Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, t ...

( ar, فاطمة بنت محمد, 605–632 CE) * 'Amra bint Mardas ( ar, عمرة بنت مرداس). Daughter of al-Khansa. *

Atiqa bint Zayd Atika bint Zayd () was an Islamic scholar and poet. She was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She was a wife of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Caliph. She was a poet who is notable for having married Muslim men who died as ''shahid ...

was the companion of Muhammad and an Arab poet.

Umayyad Period (661–750 CE)

* Laila bint Sa'd al-Aamiriyya ( ar, ليلى بنت سعد العامرية, d. 668 CE) * Maisūn bint Jandal ( ar, ميسون بنت بَحْدل, c. C7 CE) * Ḥumayda bint Nu‘mān ibn Bashīr (C7 CE) * Laila al-Akhyaliyya ( ar, ليلى الأخيلية, d. 75×90 AH/694×709 CE) * Dahna bint Mas-hal ( ar, الدهناء بنت مسحل, c. C7–8 CE) * Bint al-Hubab ( ar, ابنة الحباب) * Umm al-Ward al-Ajlaniyya ( ar, اُم الورد العجلانية) * Umaima Addumainiyya ( ar, اُميمة الدمَيْنِيَّة, C8 CE)

Abbasid Period (750–1258 CE)

* Hajna bint Nusaib ( ar, الحجناء بنت نصيب, c. C8–9 CE) * Raabi'a al-Adwiyya ( ar, رابعة العدوية, 714–801 CE) * Laila bint Tarif ( ar, لَيلْى بنت طريف, d. 815 CE) * 'Ulayya bint al-Mahdi ( ar, عُلَيّة بنت المهدي, 777–825 CE) * Lubāna bīnt ‘Alī ibn al-Mahdī ( ar, لُبَانَة بنت علي بن المهدي, c. C8–9 CE) * Inan ( ar, عِنان, d. 841 CE) * 'Asiya al-Baghdadiyya ( ar, آسِيَة البغداديّة, c. C9 CE) * Zahra al-Kilabiyya ( ar, زهَرْاء الكِلابية, c. C8–9 CE) * Aa'isha bint al-Mu'tasim ( ar, عائشة بنت المعتصم, c. C8–9 CE) *

Shāriyah Shāriyah ( ar, شارِية, born c. 815 in al-Basra; died c. 870 C.E.) was an ‘Abbasid ''qayna'' (enslaved singing-girl), who enjoyed a prominent place in the court of Al-Wathiq (r. 842–847). Biography The main source for Shāriyah's life ...

( ar, شارِية, c. 815-70 CE) *

Fadl Ashsha'ira Fadl al-Qaysi or Faḍl al-Shāʻirah ( ar, فضل الشاعرة "Faḍl the Poet"; d. 871) was one of "three early Abbasid Caliphate, ʻAbbasid qiyan, singing girls ... particularly famous for their poetry" and is one of the pre-eminent medieval ...

( ar, فضل الشاعرة, d. 871 CE) * Zabba bint Umair ibn al-Muwarriq ( ar, الزباء بنت عُمَير بن المُورَّق, c. C9 CE) * Juml ( ar, جُمل, C9 CE) * Fatima al-Suqutriyya ( ar, فاطمة السقطرية, C9 CE) * Umm Ja'far bint 'Ali ( ar, اُم جعفر بنت علي) *

Arib al-Ma'muniyya ʿArīb al-Ma’mūnīya ( ar, عريب المأمونية, b. 181/797–98, d. 277/890–91) was a ''qayna'' (slave trained in the arts of entertainment) of the early Abbasid period, who has been characterised as 'the most famous slave singer to ...

( ar, عَرِيب المأمونية, 797–890 CE) * Thawab bint Abdullah al-Hanzaliyya ( ar, ثواب بنت عبد اللّه الحنظلية) * Salma bint al-Qaratisi ( ar, سلمى بنت القراطيسي, c. C12 CE) *

Safiyya al-Baghdadiyya Safiyya al-Baghdadiyya ( ar, صفية البغدادية) was a Medieval Arabic poet writing during the 12th Century CE. This late period of the Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّ� ...

( ar, صفية البغدادية, C12 CE) *

Taqiyya Umm Ali bint Ghaith ibn Ali al-Armanazi Umm ‘Alī Taqiyya bint Abi’l-Faraj Ghayth b. ‘Alī b. ‘Abd al-Salām b. Muḥammad b. Ja‘far al-Sulamī al-Armanāzī al-Ṣūrī (), also known as Sitt al-Ni‘m () (born Damascus 505/1111, died, probably in Egypt, 579/1183-4), was a poet ...

(a.k.a. Sitt al-Ni‘m, ar, تقية أم علي, 1111-1183/4) * Shamsa al-Mawsiliyya ( ar, شَمْسَة المَوْصِلِيّة, C13 CE)

Andalus Period (711–1492 CE)

* Aziz (court of

Al-Hakam I Abu al-As al-Hakam ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Rahman () was Umayyad Emir of Cordoba from 796 until 822 in Al-Andalus ( Moorish Iberia). Biography Al-Hakam was the second son of his father, his older brother having died at an early age. When he came ...

, early C9 CE) * Hafsa bint Hamdun ( ar, حفصة بنت حمدون, C10 CE) * Aa'isha bint Ahmad al-Qurtubiyya ( ar, عائشة بنت أحمد القر طبية, d. 1010 CE) * Mariam bint Abu Ya'qub Ashshilbi ( ar, مريم بنت أبي يعقوب الشَّلْبي, d. 1020 CE) * Umm al-Kiram bin al-Mu'tasim ibn Sumadih ( ar, أم الكر ام المعتصم بن صُمادح, d. 1050 CE) * Umm al-Ala bint Yusuf ( ar, أم العلاء بنت يوسف, d. 1050 CE) * Khadija bint Ahmad ibn Kulthum al-Mu'afiri ( ar, خديجة بنت أحمد بن كُلثوم المُعافرِيّ, C10–11 CE) * Al-Ghassaniyya al-Bajjaniyya ( ar, الغسَّانية البجانية, C10–11 CE) * Qasmuna bint Isma'il ( ar, قسمونة بنت إسماعيل, C11 CE) *

Wallada bint al-Mustakfi Wallada bint al-Mustakfi ( ar, ولادة بنت المستكفي) (born in Córdoba in 994 or 1010 – died March 26, 1091) was an Andalusian poet. Early life Wallada was the daughter of Muhammad III of Córdoba, one of the last Umayyad Co ...

( ar, وَلاَّدة بنت المستكفي, d. 1091 CE) * Umm al-Fath bint Jafar (fl. C11), author of the lost ''Kitab fi qiyan al-Andalus'' (''The Book of the

Qiyan ''Qiyān'' ( ar, قِيان, ; singular ''qayna'', ar, قَينة, ) were a social class of women, trained as entertainers, which existed in the pre-modern Islamic world. The term has been used for both non-free women and free, including some ...

of al-Andalus'') * Suada (fl. C11)Dwight F. Reynolds, 'The Qiyan of al-Andalus', in Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History, ed. by Matthew S. Gordon and Kathryn A. Hain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 100-21 (pp. 116-17); . * I'timad Arrumaimikiyya ( ar, أعتماد الرميكية, b. 1045×47 CE) * Muhja bint Attayyani al-Qurtubiyya ( ar, مهجة بنت التيابي القرطبية, d. 1097 CE) * Nazhun al-Gharnatiyya ( ar, نز هون الغرْناطية, d. 1100 CE) * Zaynab al-Mariyya (C11–13 CE) * Amat al-Aziz ( ar, أمة العزيز, C12 CE) * Buthaina bint al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad ( ar, بثينة بنت المعتمد بن عباد, 1070–? CE) * Hind ( ar, هند, C12 CE) * Umm al-Hana bint Abdulhaqq ibn Atiyya ( ar, أم الهناء بنت عبد الحق بن عطية, C12 CE) * Hafsa bint al-Hajj Arrakuniyya ( ar, حفصة بنت الحاج الركونية, d. 1190 CE) * Ashshilbiyya ( ar, الشلبية, C12 CE) * Aa'isha al-Iskandraniyya ( ar, عائشة الإسكندرانية) * Hamda bint Ziyad ( ar, حمدة بنت زياد, c. 1204 CE) * Umm Assa'd bint Isam al-Himyari ( ar, أم السعد بنت عصام الحميري, d. 1243 CE)

References

{{Reflist * * Poets of the medieval Islamic world * Lists of poets *