Lalla Aicha al-Alami
??? ????? ??????
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Sayyida al Hurra, as imagined by a Modern artist.
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Rule
| 1515/1519
[1]
? 1542
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Predecessor
| Sidi Al-Mandri II
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Born
| c.1485 - 1495
[2]
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Died
| 14 July 1561
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Spouse
| Sidi Al-Mandri II (c.1501; died 1519)
[3]
Sultan Ahmad ibn Muhammad
(m.1541; died 1549)
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Lalla Aicha bint Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami
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Dynasty
| Wattasid
(by marriage)
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Father
| Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami
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Mother
| Zohra Fernandez
[4]
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Religion
| Sunni Islam
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Moroccan ruler of Tetouan and pirate
Sayyida al Hurra
(
Arabic
:
?????? ?????
), real name
Lalla Aisha bint Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami
(
Arabic
:
??? ????? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??????
) (1485 ? 14 July 1561),
[5]
was
Hakimat
Titwan
(Governor of
Tetouan
) between 1515?1542 and a Moroccan
privateer
leader during the early 16th century.
[6]
She became the wife of the
Wattasid
Sultan
Ahmad ibn Muhammad
. She is considered to be "one of the most important female figures of the
Islamic
West in the modern age".
[7]
The life of Sayyida al-Hurra can be understood within geopolitical and religious contexts, particularly the struggle between Muslim and Christian empires during her lifetime. The Muslim
Ottomans
had captured
Constantinople
in 1453, marking the
end of the Roman Empire
. Al-Hurra was two years old when the
Portuguese
started their
colonial conquest
by capturing some ports at the western coast of
Morocco
, starting the year 1487. A few years later,
Granada
fell into the hands of the
Catholic Monarchs
Isabella I of Castile
and
Ferdinand II of Aragon
and
forced conversions of Muslims in Spain
followed.
Allied with the Ottoman
corsair
Barbarossa
of Algiers,
[8]
al-Hurra controlled the western
Mediterranean Sea
while Barbarossa controlled the east.
[9]
She was also prefect of
Tetouan
. In 1515, she became the last person in Islamic history to legitimately hold the title of
al Hurra
(Female monarch) following the death of her husband, who ruled Tetouan. She later married the Berber King of Morocco,
Ahmed al-Wattasi
, but refused to leave Tetouan to do so. This marriage marks the only time in Moroccan history a king married away from the capital,
Fez
.
[7]
[10]
Etymology
[
edit
]
The title
Sayyida
al Hurra
means "noble lady who is free and independent; the woman
sovereign
who bows to no superior authority".
[11]
Hakimat Tatwan means
governor
of Tetouan.
[10]
Early life
[
edit
]
Sayyida al Hurra was born around 1485 and 1495 (
Hijri
around 890) or precisely in 1491,
[12]
to a prominent
Muslim
family of Andalusian nobles, who fled to Morocco with her family when
Ferdinand and Isabella
conquered the
Muslim kingdom of Granada
in 1492, at the end of the
Reconquista
and settled in
Chefchaouen
.
[10]
[13]
A
Sharifian
, she was a descendant of the Moroccan sufi saint
Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish al-Alami
,
[7]
and through him of
Hasan ibn Ali
.
[14]
Sayyida's childhood was happy and secure, yet clouded by constant reminders of the forced exile from Granada. During her childhood, she was given a first-class education. She was fluent in several languages which included
Castilian Spanish
and
Portuguese
. The famous Moroccan scholar
Abdallah al-Ghazwani
was one of her many teachers.
[5]
She was married at age 16 to a man 30 years her senior, Sidi al-Mandri II, a grandson or nephew of
Ali al-Mandri
who was a friend of her father and re-founder and governor of the city of
Tetouan
, himself an
Andalusian Moorish
refugee.
[15]
She was promised to her husband when she was still a child.
[7]
As Governor of Tetouan
[
edit
]
An intelligent woman, Al Hurra learned much whilst assisting her husband in his business affairs. She was a de facto vice-governor, with her husband entrusting the reins of power to her each time he made a trip outside the city. When he died in 1515, the population, who had become accustomed to seeing her exercise power, accepted her as a governor of
Tetouan
, giving her the title of
al-Hurra
.
[10]
Spanish
and
Portuguese
sources describe al-Hurra as "their partner in the diplomatic game".
[10]
Some historians believe that the unusual "degree of acceptance of al Hurra as a ruler" could be attributed to "Andalusian familiarity with female inheriting power from
monarch
families in Spain such as
Isabella I of Castile
."
[16]
Others believe that al Hurra succeeded as governor because she was "the undisputed leader of pirates of the western Mediterranean".
[17]
[18]
In 1541, she accepted a marriage proposal from
Ahmed al-Wattasi
, a
Sultan
of the Moroccan
Wattasid dynasty
, who traveled from
Fez
to
Tetouan
to marry her. Her marriage with him was the only recorded instance of a Moroccan king marrying outside of his capital. This occurred because al-Hurra was not ready to give up her role as ruler of Tetouan or even to leave the city for the marriage ceremony, forcing al-Wattasi to come to her.
[13]
It is believed that Sayyida al-Hurra insisted on this to show everybody that she was not going to give up governing Tetouan despite being married to the Sultan.
[10]
[16]
Sayyida al Hurra lived a life of adventure and romance.
[10]
She appointed her brother Moulay Ibrahim as vizier to Ahmed al-Wattasi, Sultan of
Fez
, and this placed the Rashids as major players in the effort to unify Morocco against the fast-growing powers of Spain and Portugal.
[19]
As a corsair
[
edit
]
Sayyida could neither forget nor forgive the humiliation of being forced to flee the
Granada
. In her wish to avenge herself on the "Christian enemy", she turned to piracy. She made contact with the legendary Ottoman admiral Hayrettin Barbarossa of Algiers.
[10]
Piracy provided a quick income, "booty and ransom for captives", and also helped to keep alive the dream of returning to Andalusia.
[10]
She was well respected by
Christians
as a "queen" who had power over the Mediterranean Sea, and over the release of Portuguese and Spanish captives.
[10]
[16]
For example, in
The Forgotten Queens of Islam
Fatima Mernissi
mentions Spanish historical documents of 1540, according to which there were negotiations "between the Spaniards and Sayyida al-Hurra" after a successful pirating operation in
Gibraltar
in which the pirates took "much booty and many prisoners".
[20]
Later life
[
edit
]
After she had ruled for 30 years, her son-in-law Muhammad al-Hassan al-Mandri overthrew her in October 1542.
[21]
According to the
Yemen Times
, "she was stripped of her property and power".
[13]
Accepting her fate, al Hurra retired to
Chefchaouen
, where she lived nearly 20 years more.
[5]
Relationship to California
[
edit
]
Sayyida al-Hurra is a possible inspiration for the myth of
Califia
, and therefore may have indirectly inspired the name of
California
.
[
citation needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Malika VI: Sayyida Al-Hurra"
.
Muslim Heritage
. 2018-02-08
. Retrieved
2022-04-09
.
- ^
"Malika VI: Sayyida Al-Hurra"
.
Muslim Heritage
. 2018-02-08
. Retrieved
2022-04-09
.
- ^
Elbl, Martin (2013-12-27).
Portuguese Tangier (1471-1662): Colonial Urban Fabric as Cross-Cultural Skeleton
. Baywolf Press / Editions Baywolf. p. 242.
ISBN
978-0-921437-50-5
.
- ^
Rodolfo Gil. Grimau (2000).
Sayyida al-Hurra, mujer marroqui de origen andalusi
(in Spanish). Anaquel de estudios arabes.
- ^
a
b
c
"Malika VI: Sayyida Al-Hurra"
. AramcoWorld
. Retrieved
29 January
2018
.
- ^
"Malika VI: Sayyida Al-Hurra"
.
Muslim Heritage
. 2018-02-08
. Retrieved
2022-04-09
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Rodolfo Gil (Benumeya) Grimau (January 2000).
"SAYYIDA AL-HURRA, MUJER MARROQUI DE ORIGEN ANDALUSI"
.
Anaquel de Estudios Arabes
.
11
: 311
. Retrieved
24 January
2022
.
- ^
Klausman, Ulrike (2010).
Women Pirates and the Politics of the Jolly Roger
. Perseus Book LLC. p. 98.
ISBN
978-1282000018
.
OCLC
892994261
.
- ^
Qazi, Moin (2015).
Women in Islam : exploring new paradigms
. Notion Press.
ISBN
9789384878030
.
OCLC
906544767
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Mernissi, Fatima
(1997).
The Forgotten Queens of Islam
. Univ. Of Minnesota Press. p. 18.
ISBN
978-0-8166-2439-3
. Retrieved
11 February
2011
.
- ^
Mernissi (1997)
, p. 115
- ^
Elbl, Martin (2013-12-27).
Portuguese Tangier (1471-1662): Colonial Urban Fabric as Cross-Cultural Skeleton
. Baywolf Press / Editions Baywolf. p. 242.
ISBN
978-0-921437-50-5
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Extraordinary Muslim women"
.
Yemen Times
. 6 April 2010. Archived from
the original
on 18 July 2011
. Retrieved
11 February
2011
.
- ^
Kugle, Scott A. (2011).
Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in Islam
. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 300.
- ^
Archivos del Instituto de Estudios Africanos, Volume 4
. El Instituto, 1950 - Instituto de Estudios Africanos (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Spain)). 1950. pp. 85, 94, 97.
- ^
a
b
c
Thomas Kerlin Park, Aomar Boum (January 28, 2006).
Historical dictionary of Morocco
. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 317.
ISBN
978-0-8108-5341-6
. Retrieved
11 February
2011
.
- ^
Ann Marie Maxwell.
"The Daring Daughters of Kahena"
. Archived from
the original
on 28 April 2016
. Retrieved
11 February
2011
.
- ^
Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous (2003),
"Non-Arab Women in the Arab World"
(PDF)
,
al-Raida
,
20
(101?2), Beirut University College. Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World: 20
, retrieved
11 February
2011
- ^
Verde, Tom; Solans Verde, Leonor (January?February 2017).
"Malika VI: Sayyida Al-Hurra"
.
AramcoWorld
. Retrieved
17 July
2018
.
- ^
Mernissi (1997)
, p. 193
- ^
Daoud, Mohammed (1993).
History of Tetouan (????? ?????)
(PDF)
(in Arabic). p. 122
. Retrieved
7 October
2018
.
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Commanders
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16th century
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17th century
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18th century
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19th century
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Conflicts
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16th century
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17th century
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18th century
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19th century
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