|
Page 4 of 4 Often leading her troops personally into battle, Mavia proved herself an able military tactician as well as an excellent politician. Because the Arabs had fought with the Romans for hundreds of years, they were familiar with Roman battlefield techniques and proved superior in open battle. She had her people withdraw from Aleppo into the deserts making it difficult for the Romans to counter attack. Through guerilla warfare techniques and with her highly mobile units she conducted raids to further frustrate Roman attempts to subdue the revolt. After her army easily defeated the Roman governor of Palestine and Phoenicia, the Roman military commander of the East was sent himself to try his hand at conquering Queen Mavia. Once again, using Roman military technique combined with traditional fighting methods, her troops succeeded in winning. Her cavalry used long lances with deadly effect. Unlike a century before when fighting Zenobia, the Roman emperor couldn’t call on help from the indigenous Arab forces as it was these same forces he was fighting now. Valens was forced tosue for peace. Mavia got her orthodox bishop, a saracen and the first Arab monk to be appointed as spiritual leader in Christian Arabia.
Yet it wasn’t just queens and upper class women who fought in ancient Arabia. The prophet Mohammed had many women of all ranks and classes as followers even in the war for Islam. The most famous one was Nusseybah bint K’ab al-Maziniyyah (from Maazin). She was one of the first two women to convert to Islam and the first to fight for it. She was at the battle of Uhud where Hind al-Utbah was battle queen for the Quraish. Nasibah (there are various spellings of her name) was present to aid the wounded and bring water to the soldiers. During the battle she noticed that the archers started to retreat. They thought victory was theirs and disobeyed orders to hold off the enemies. Because of their retreat the tides turned and they brought on an imposing defeat. Nasibah saw that Mohammed was unprotected and quickly grabbed her sword and shield to ward off his enemies. In so doing she sustained many wounds herself. When one of the Quraish cavalry attacked her she grabbed the bridle of the rider’s horse and plunged her sword into its neck. The horse fell on its rider which the “all-seeing” prophet witnessed and called her son, Abdullah, to her aid. They quickly killed the rider and ran to protect Mohammed by throwing stones (some say with bows and arrows) at the advancing enemy. Then, Mohammed noticed her wounds and ordered her son to attend to them. Abdullah was then attacked leaving a gash across his left arm which Nasibah bandaged and encouraged him not to give up. Mohammed praised their courage and pointed out the man who attacked her son. She promptly took her sword, attacked the man and cut off his leg. One report states that she and her son finished him off while another states that other fighters did. Her 12th wound left her unconscious. When she awoke her first concern was if the Prophet survived. It took a year to heal from this wound. She took part in three more battles after the battle of Uhud.
There are a lot of myths about Arabic women in general, but, in researching this article I found it fascinating to learn how strong the arabian women were in ancient and even up to present times. Research shows that most of the warrior and battle queens were actually treated better than their male counterparts in defeat. Of course, there were a few who were executed but most were able to continue living and even ruling. My hope would be that the respect these women were shown would inspire the same in all cultures and break the myth that arabic women live under: that they have always been suppressed by a patriarchal society that would rather beat them down than build them up.
|
Articles