Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
5. Muslim women
~ 89 ~
77. lbn Majah,
Sunan, Al-Muqaddimah
17, 1/81.
78. Sayings and deeds of the Prophet’s
Companions.
ISLAM GIVES COURAGE
Tumadir bint ‘Amr ibn ath-Tharid as-Sulamiyya
(d.24
A.H
), a poetess, later known as Khansa, who
was born into a noble family (her father was the
Chief of the Banu Salim tribe of Mudar), lost her
two brothers in a war fought prior to the advent of
Islam. Their deaths were a great shock to her. Before
this tragedy it had been her wont to compose just
two or three couplets at a time, but now, after her
bereavement, the verses simply flowed from her
heart as the tears flowed from her eyes. The elegies
she wrote in memory of her brothers, particularly
Sakhr, were heart-rending: she continued to write
and lament until she became blind in both eyes.
After the fall of Mecca, she came to the Prophet
with her tribe and accepted Islam. It is related that
when she read out some of her verses to the
Prophet, he was very moved, and asked her to
continue reading.
