Fatima Al-Suqutriyya
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Fāṭima bint Aḥmad Muḥammad al-Jahḍamī (), known as Fāṭima al-Suqutriyya (, Fatima the Socotran) and nicknamed al-Zahra on the model of the Prophet's daughter
Fāṭima Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...
, for whom ''al-Zahra'' ('the shining one') was a popular epithet, was a Yemeni writer and poet who lived on the island of
Socotra Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...
in the third century AH (816–913 CE). She is thought to be the first known Socotran poet.Serge D. Elie,
Soqotra: South Arabia’s Strategic Gateway and Symbolic Playground
, ''British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies'', 33.2 (November 2006), 131-60, (p. 158 n. 105).


Biography

Little is actually known about al-Suqutriyya. She is thought to have been born on the island of Socotra, during the third century AH. She was a poet and was related to Sultan al-Qāsim bin Muḥammad al-Jahḍamī, the ruler of the Yemeni island of Socotra. He was killed by Ethiopians who attacked the island. Al-Suqutriyya reputedly wrote a
qasida The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; plural ''qaṣā’id'') is an ancient Arabic word and form of poetry, often translated as ode. The qasida originated in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and passed into non-Arabic cultures after the Arab Mus ...
to Imam al-Ṣalt ibn Mа̄lik, who had assumed the
imamate of Oman The Imamate of Oman () was a historical state within the ''Oman proper'' () in the Hajar Mountains, part of the present-day Sultanate of Oman. The capital of the Imamate alternated historically between Rustaq and Nizwa. The Imamate's territ ...
in 273 AH / 886 CE, requesting help from him. The poem was sent by sea and found by a fisherman who passed it on to the imam. The Imam sent a fleet of one hundred boats to Socotra, defeating the Ethiopian force on Socotra. Al-Suqutriyya died some time after the year 273 AH / 886 CE.


Work

Al-Suqutriyya is known for the long poem attributed to her, addressed to al-Ṣalt ibn Mа̄lik. The opening of the poem runs


Reception

Al-Suqutriyya is considered a lost voice in Omani literature, whose work was re-discovered in the twentieth century. In the assessment of Serge D. Elie, her poem
seems to be the first act of writing—or more aptly, discursive insurrection—attributed to a Soqotran, and as such it is the source of pride among Soqotrans. However, as this poem became part of popular ‘historiology’—that peculiar combination of orality and literacy, resulting into a synthesis of fact and fiction—the incident was believed to have taken place during the time of the Portuguese, and through a process of osmosis (as literacy remains a problem) has permeated the culture and shaped collective memory.
Al-Suqutriyya's story and her poetry featured in an episode of "History and Heritage (Omani Personalities Immortalized by History)" presented by Dr. Hamid Al-Nawfali for Al-Ru'ya TV. This programme became controversial when it was aired in Socotra, because it claimed that Al-Suqutriyya was from Oman. A resident of the island, Abdul Karim Qabalan, called on the television company to apologise. In 2016, the novelist Munir Talal published a retelling of the poem.


Notes


References


External links

* Of Oman's Poets: Al-Zahra Al-Soqatriya
Fatima bint Hamad bin Khalfan Al-Jahhamiya
by Dr. Muhammad Al-Harthi {{DEFAULTSORT:Fatima al-Suqutriyya Medieval women poets Arabic-language women poets Arabic-language poets 9th-century deaths 9th-century women writers 9th-century Arabic-language poets Socotra 9th-century Arab people Arab women