Ghazala al-Haruriyya

Ghazāla al-Harūriyya (Arabic: غزالة الحرورية‎) was the wife of Habib ibn-Yazīd al-Harūrī, founder of the Harūriyya sect of Kharijite Islam, which held that it is permissible to entrust the imamate to a woman if she is able to carry out the required duties.

Ghazāla commanded troops, following in the footsteps of previous Muslim women like Juwayriyya bint al-Ḥārith at the Battle of Yarmuk. In one battle, she put the famous Umayyad Iraqi general Hajjāj ibn-Yūsuf to flight.[1]

In 677 AD (77 AH), after having controlled the city of Kufa 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 [2][1][3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (Yale University Press, 1992) p.71
  2. ^ M. A. Shaban, Islamic history: A new interpretation (Cambridge University Press, 1971) p.107
  3. ^ Mohammad Ibn Jareer Al-Tabari, History of Messengers and Kings, Ch. 51, p.80;
  4. ^ Ali Masudi, Gardens of Gold, (Dar al-Andalus, Beirut, 1965), Ch. 3, p.139