Wallada bint al-Mustakfi
Born in 1011, she was the daughter of Muhammad bin ‘Abd ar-Rahman bin ‘Obayd Allah (known as Muhammad III of Córdoba) and his Ethiopian slave. He was the one of the last Umayyad Caliphs, ruling in Córdoba for only two years before his assassination in 1025. Wallada could not inherit the throne but inherited all his properties, becoming a very wealthy woman. She was considered quite exotic- blonde and blue-eyed in the Berber descendants of the original invaders. She had been very well educated, and was known for her wit, charm, singing and poetry.
When she was thirty, she sold the properties and set up a literary salon, where she competed with men in poetry. It was probably there in poetry competitions she met Abu al-Waleed Ahmad Ibn Zaydún al-Makhzuml, known as Ibn Zaydún. From different sides of the political gap, they had a very public passionate affair. In the poetry competitions, she had said-
I fear for you, my beloved so much, that even my own sight even the ground you tread even the hours that pass threaten to snatch you away from me. Even if I were able to conceal you within the pupils of my eyes and hide you there until the Day of Judgment my fear would still not be allayed.
He then answered back-
Your passion has made me famous among high and low your face devours my feelings and thoughts. When you are absent, I cannot be consoled, but when you appear, my all my cares and troubles fly away. When she offers me jasmine in the palm of her hand I collect bright stars from the hand of the moon.
Ibn Abdús, the vizier, was a jealous rival. He had Ibn Zaydún watched and caught him with Wallada’s black slave girl. Spurned, Wallada wrote this-
If you had been truly sincere in the love, which joined us, you would not have preferred, to me, one of my own slaves. In so doing, you scorned the bough, which blossoms with beauty and chose a branch, which bears only hard and bitter fruit. You know that I am the clear, shining moon of the heavens but, to my sorrow, you chose, instead, a dark and shadowy planet.
Wallada then moved into the house of Ibn Abdús and walked the streets of Córdoba with him, side by side. This made Ibn Zaydún jealous, and he wrote-
You were for me nothing but a sweetmeat that I took a bite of and then tossed away the crust, leaving it to be gnawed on by a rat.
This outraged Wallada, who then outed Ibn Zaydún-
The nickname they give you is Number Six and it will stick to you until you die because you are a pansy, a bugger a fornicator a cuckold, a swine and a thief. If a phallus could become a palm tree, you would turn into a woodpecker.
While homosexuality was illegal, in some places in Andalus it had been accepted. However, since a public scandal happened due to the poetry, he was imprisoned in Seville. He was eventually released, but was a broken man, only returning to Córdoba once. They renewed their relationship while he was in Córdoba, but it was still politically divisive.
Wallada, while living with the vizier Ibn Abdús, never married him and walked the streets of Córdoba without a hijab. When she was called a harlot by the local religious authorities, she had her poems embroidered on her clothes. On the left it said-
I am fit for high positions by God and am going my way with pride.
and on the right-
I will give my cheek to my lover and my kisses to anyone I choose.
Wallada died on March 26, 1091. She lived in a time of great political and religious upheaval. Conservative Islam had been rising during her life and it telling that she died on the day the conservative Berbers the Almoravidsinvaded Spain.
Bibliography
‘I Am, by God, Fit for High Positions’: On the Political Role of Women in al-Andalus by Nada Mourtada-Sabbah and Adrian Gully. JStor article.
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> | ||
 | ||
| Died March 26, 1091, Cordoba, Spain | ||
Wallada bint al-Mustakfi (Arabic: ولادة بنت المستكفي) (born in Cordova in 1001 - died March 26, 1091), was an Andalusian poet.
Early life
Wallada was the daughter of Muhammad III of Córdoba, one of the last Umayyad Cordoban caliphs, who came to power in 1024 after assassinating the previous caliph Abderraman V, and who was assassinated himself two years later in Uclés. Her early childhood was during the high period of the Caliphate of Córdoba, under the rule of Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir. Her adolescent years came during the tumultuous period following the eventual succession of Aamir's son, Sanchuelo, who in his attempts to seize power from Hisham II, plunged the caliphate into civil war. As Muhammad III had no male heir, Wallada inherited his properties, and used them to open a palace and literary hall in Córdoba. There she offered instruction in poetry and the arts of love to women of all classes, from those of noble birth to slaves purchased by Wallada herself. Some of the great poets and intellectuals of the time also visited.
Poet and controversial figure
Wallada was an ideal beauty of the time: blonde, fair-skinned and blue-eyed, in addition to being intelligent, cultured and proud. She also was somewhat controversial, walking out in public without a hijab and in the fashion of the harems of Baghdad, she wore transparent tunics and embroidered her verses on the trim of her clothing. Her behavior was regarded by the local mullahs as perverse and was strongly criticized, but she also had numerous people who defended her honor, like Ibn Hazm, the famous author of The Ring of the Dove. A Cordovan custom of the time was for poets to compete in finishing incomplete poems. Wallada gained recognition for her skill, particularly as a woman in what was almost entirely a male competition.
One example of Wallada's work is her 'Taraqqab idha janna l-zalamu ziyarati' (When night falls, plan to visit me), addressed to Ibn Zaydun. The poem is in the tawil metre (14-syllable hemistichs comprising alternating 3-syllable and 4-syllable feet of a short syllable followed by two or three long ones, rhyming in -ri)
Relationship with Ibn Zaydún
It was during one of these poetry competitions that she met the great love of her life, the poet Ibn Zaydún. Zaydún was also a poet and a nobleman with great political influence who had been making measured political strides towards Cordoba. Because of this and Zaydún's ties with the Banu Yahwar — rivals of her own Umayyad clan — their relationship was controversial and had to remain a secret.
Eight of the nine poems preserved from Wallada were written about their relationship, which apparently ended under contentious circumstances. Written as letters between the two lovers, the poems express jealousy, nostalgia, but also a desire to reunite. Another expresses deception, sorrow and reproach. Five are sharp satires directed against Zaydún, whom she criticized for, amongst other things, having male lovers. In one writing, it was implied that the relationship ended because of an affair between Ibn Zaydún and a "black lover". The verse was as follows:
You know that I am the moon of the skies But, to my disgrace, you have preferred a dark planet.
Some say that the lover was a slave girl purchased and educated as a poet by Wallada, while others speculate that it could have been a male. A third possibility is that the poem was written in response to the times, as infidelity with black lovers was a common theme in Islamic poetry. The last of the nine poems alludes to Wallada's liberty and independence.
Relationship with Ibn Abdús
After her split with Zaydún, Wallada entered a relationship with the vizier Ibn Abdús, who was one of Zaydún's major political rivals. Abdús, who was completely enamored with Wallada, would end up seizing Zaydun's properties and having him imprisoned. Soon afterwards Wallada moved into the vizier's palace, and although she never married him, he remained by her side and protected her until his death, well into his 80s.
Death
Wallada died on March 26, 1091, the same day that the Almoravids entered Cordova.
Legacy
Among Wallada's most outstanding students was Muhya bint al-Tayyani, the young daughter of a fig salesman, whom Wallada welcomed into her house. After Wallada's
death, Muhya would go on to write a number of kind satires about her.
death, Muhya would go on to write a number of kind satires about her.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق