A00005 - Fatima Muhammad al-Fihri, Ninth Century Founder of the World's First Academic Degree Granting Institution of Higher Education

Fihri

Fatima Muhammad Al-Fihri (? – 880) (فاطمة محمد الفهري, nicknamed Oum al Banine, meaning the mother of the kids) was a Muslim woman chiefly known as the founder of the world's first academic degree-granting institution of higher education, which is still in operation today as the University of Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morroco.

Fatima Al-Fihri was the child of Muhammad Al-Fihri, a wealthy businessman from the Fihrids family. She migrated along with her father from the city Kairouan located in present-day Tunisia to Fes located in current day Morocco. She also had a sister named Mariam.

After Fatima and Mariam inherited their deceased father's fortune, they decided to support the construction of mosques or educational institutions such as the Qarwiyyin mosque as a Waqf (a religious endowment) or Sadaqah Jariya (voluntary charity) for their deceased father. In 859, Fatima founded the world's first academic degree-granting institution of higher education, which is still in operation today as the University of Qarawiyyin in Fes, Morroco. The University of Qarawiyyin was regarded as being a major intellectual center in the Mediterranean and its excellent reputation even led Gerber of Auvergne to go there to study. Auvergne later went on to become Pope Sylvester II and has been given the credit of introducing Arabic numerals and the concept of "zero" to the rest of Europe.

Her sister Mariam is said to have been responsible for the construction of the Al-Andalus (Andalusian) Mosque in Fes .

A00004 - Naima Akef, Famous Egyptian Belly Dancer

Naima Akef (Arabic: نعيمة عاكف‎,‎ pronounced [næˈʕiːmæ ˈʕæːkef]; 7 October 1929 - 23 April 1966) was a famous Egyptian belly dancer during the Egyptian cinema's golden age and starred in many films of the time. Naima Akef was born in Tanta on the Nile Delta. Her parents were acrobats in the Akef Circus (run by Naima’s grandfather), which was one of the best known circuses at the time. She started performing in the circus at the age of four, and quickly became one of the most popular acts with her acrobatic skills. Her family was based in the Bab el Khalq district of Cairo, but they traveled far and wide in order to perform.

The circus disbanded when Naima was 14, but this was only the beginning of her career. Her grandfather had many connections in the performance world of Cairo and he introduced her to his friends. When Naima’s parents divorced, she formed an acrobatic and clown act that performed in many clubs throughout Cairo. She then got the chance to work in Badeia Masabny's famous nightclub, where she became a star and was one of the very few who danced and sang. Her time with Badeia, however, was short-lived, as Badeia favored her, which made the other performers jealous. One day they ganged up on her and attempted to beat her up, but she proved to be stronger and more agile and won the fight. This caused her to be fired, so she started performing elsewhere.

The Kit Kat club was another famous venue in Cairo, and this is where Naima was introduced to film director Abbas Kemal. His brother Hussein Fawzy, also a film director, was very interested in having Naima star in one of his musical films. The first of such films was “Al-Eïch wal malh” (Bread and Salt). Her costar was singer Saad Abdel Wahab, the nephew of the legendary singer and composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab. The film premiered on the 17th of January 1949, and was an instant success, bringing recognition also to Nahhas Film studios.  Naima quit acting in 1964 to take care of her only child, a son from her second marriage to accountant Salaheldeen Abdel Aleem. She died two years later from cancer, on April 23, 1966, at the age of 36. The filmography of Naima Akef reads as follows:

• Aish Wal Malh (1949)
• Lahalibo (1949).
• Baladi Wa Khafa (1949).
• Furigat (1950).
• Baba Areess (1950).
• Fataat Al Sirk (1951).
• Ya Halawaat Al Hubb (1952).
• Arbah Banat Wa Zabit (1954).
• Aziza (1955).
• Tamr Henna (1957). with Ahmed Ramzy, Fayza Ahmed and Rushdy Abaza.
• Amir El Dahaa (1964).

A00003 - Mariam Farhat, "Mother of Martyrs"

Mariam Farhat, Known as ‘Mother of Martyrs,’ Dies at 64

Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times

Mariam Farahat in front of a poster showing three of her sons who died in attacks on Israel.

By WILLIAM YARDLEY

Published: March 20, 2013

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Mariam Farhat, a Palestinian lawmaker known as the “mother of martyrs” after three of her sons died in attacks against Israel, one of which was a suicide mission that she encouraged in a homemade video, died on Sunday in Gaza City. She was 64.

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Hatem Moussa/Associated Press

Masked Hamas militants with the flagged-draped body of Mariam Farhat.

Ms. Farhat, who was also known as Umm Nidal, had liver and bowel diseases, according to the Web site of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Hamas movement, which announced her death.

A photograph on the site showed what was said to be Ms. Farhat’s body, wrapped in a Hamas flag, with an automatic weapon lying across it. Thousands of people, including top Hamas officials, attended her funeral on Sunday. The Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke at a service in her honor, according to al-Qassam.

Ms. Farhat was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006. Four years earlier, her 17-year-old son, Mohammad, was shot to death after he stormed an Israeli settlement with an automatic rifle and explosives, killing five students. Shortly before the attack, Ms. Farhat made a video in which she appeared with Mohammad to show support for what he was about to do.

“I wish I had 100 boys like Mohammad,” she once said. “I’d sacrifice them for the sake of God.”

Two more of Ms. Farhat’s sons, Nidal and Rawad, were later killed in clashes with Israel.

“I brought them up to be martyrs,” she said in an interview with National Geographic Television several years ago, “to become martyrs for the name of Allah.”

Nidal Farhat helped make Hamas rockets that were used to bomb Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. When he died, he left behind a 4-year-old son, Imad. Ms. Farhat told The New York Times in 2004 that she had assured Imad that he would be reunited with his father.

“You will be a martyr one day,” Ms. Farhat said she had told Imad, “and then you will go and see your dad.”

Ms. Farhat was born in Gaza City in 1949. She had at least three other sons, one of whom, Wesam, served time in an Israeli prison. She was involved with Hamas well before her sons grew up.

The al-Qassam Web site said she had provided shelter and protection for prominent Hamas military leaders, including Emad Akel, who was killed in 1993 by Israeli forces.

Ms. Farhat had not been active in politics before she was elected to the legislative council, where she was one of six women among the party’s 74 representatives in 2006. She was popular among young women in Hamas, though she said that not all of them should try to emulate her.

“It is not only sacrificing sons,” she said in 2006. “There are different kinds of sacrifice — by money, by education. Everybody, according to their ability, should sacrifice.”

*****

Farhat, Mariam

Maryam Mohammad Yousif Farhat (Arabic: مريم محمد يوسف فرحات‎), or Mariam Farahat (c. 1948 – 17 March 2013), popularly known as Umm Nidal (Arabic: أم نضال‎), "the mother of Nidal", was one of  the Hamas'  candidates elected in the Palestinian legislative election, 2006. Three of her six sons performed Hamas suicide attacks against Israel. The word "Nidal" in the Arabic language is a secular term, meaning "struggle", "effort" or "work".

Farhat attracted public attention after being filmed advising her 17-year old son, Muhammad Farhat, for his March 2002 operation against Israeli settlers. After entering the Gaza Strip former settlement of Atzmona, opening fire on the Israeli students and throwing hand grenades at the school where they were studying, killing five students and wounding 23 others, he was shot dead. Upon hearing of her son's death, she proclaimed "Allahu Akbar!" and gave out boxes of halva and chocolates. Her eldest son, Nidal, was killed in February 2003 by bombs planted by Israeli intelligence. A third son, Rawad, died in 2005 in an Israeli airstrike on his car carrying a Qassam rocket.

Farhat died on March 17,  2013, from multiple organ failure, in Gaza. Her funeral was attended by 4000 Palestinians and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. 

A00002 - 'A'ishah 'Abd al-Rahman, Egytian Writer and Professor of Arabic Language and Literature

‘Abd al-Rahman, ‘A’ishah (1913 - December 1, 1998) was an Egyptian writer and professor of Arabic language and literature and Qur’anic studies. Under the pseudonym Bint al-Shati’ ("Daughter of the Riverbank" or "Daughter of the Shore"), ‘Abd al-Rahman was the author of more than sixty books on Arabic literature, Qur’anic interpretation, the lives of women of the early Muslim community (especially members of the Prophet’s family), contemporary social issues, and fiction.

Raised in the Delta port city of Dumyat (Damietta), she was taught the Qur’an and classical Arabic literature by her father, an al-Azhar educated teacher at a mosque-based religious institute. Although he educated her in the traditional style at home, mosque, and Qur’anic school (kuttab), he objected to her attendance at public schools. With the assistance of her mother and maternal great-grandfather, she managed to get a secular education (at El Mansurah) despite her father’s objections.

‘Abd al-Rahman began her literary career by writing poems and essays for Al-nahdah, a women’s magazine, and became a literary critic for the semi-official newspaper Al-ahram in 1936, the same year she entered the Faculty of Letters at Fu’ad I University. At this time, she assumed the pen-name Bint al-Shati’ (“Daughter of the Shore”) in order to conceal her identity from her father. Her first articles for Al-ahram focused on conditions in the Egyptian countryside, but she is best known for her later works on religious and literary topics. She received her doctorate in 1950 for a thesis on the poet Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma‘arri (d. 1058).

In 1951, ‘Abd al-Rahman became professor of Arabic language and literature at ‘Ayn Shams University in Cairo. Throughout the 1960s, she participated in international literary conferences, served on several government sponsored committees on literature and education, and was a visiting professor at the Islamic University in Ummdurman (Sudan), the University of Khartoum, and the University of Algiers. After retiring from her position at ‘Ayn Shams University, she became professor of higher Qur’anic studies at al-Qarawiyin University in Fez, Morocco. Her regular articles for Al-ahram, her biographies of the women of the Prophet’s household, and especially her exegesis of the Qur’an brought her recognition and distinction in Egypt and throughout the Arab world.

‘Abd al-Rahman’s pursuit of public education offered her little challenge after her early education at the hands of her father, until she met Professor Amin al-Khuli when she was a student at Fu’ad I University (later Cairo University). He introduced her to the literary analysis of the Qur’an that became her trademark. In 'Ala al-jisr, ‘Abd al-Rahman decribes her entire life as a path to this encounter with Amin al-Khuli, whom she married in 1945. Her work is seen as the best exemplification of his method, and she has been much more prolific than her teacher, who died in 1966.

‘Abd al-Rahman’s rhetorical exegesis of the Qur’an makes a plea for removing the Qur’an from the exclusive domain of traditional exegesis (commentary) and placing it within literary studies. Whereas some earlier exegetes allowed for a multiplicity of interpretations of any single Qur’anic verse, seeing in this multiplicity a demonstration of the richness of the Qur’an, ‘Abd al-Rahman argues that every word of the Qur’an allows for only a single interpretation, which should be elicited from the context of the Qur’an as a whole. She rejects extraneous sources, particularly information derived from the Bible or Jewish sources (Isra'iliyat), the inclusion of which in traditional Qur’anic exegesis she sees as part of a continuing Jewish conspiracy to subvert Islam and dominate the world. She also argues that no word is a true synonym for any other in the Qur’an, so no word can be replaced by another. Whereas many scholars believe certain phrases in the Qur’an were inserted to provide the text with its characteristic rhythm and assonance, ‘Abd al-Rahman insisted that every word of the Qur’an is there solely for the meaning it gives.

‘Abd al-Rahman was both deeply religious and very conservative, despite her active public life. On the subject of women’s liberation, she affirmed the principle of male guardianship over women but firmly rejected male responsibility for the behavior of women. She insisted that a proper understanding of women’s liberation does not abandon traditional Islamic values. She was consistently supported and honored by successive Egyptian regimes.

'A'ishah 'Abd al-Rahman died of a heart attack following a stroke in Cairo on December 1, 1998.

'A'ishah 'Abd al-Rahman was born in Damietta in the governate of Domyat. Her father taught at the Domyat Religious Institute. When she was ten, her mother, though illiterate, enrolled 'A'ishah in school while her father was traveling. Though her father objected, her mother later sent 'A'ishah to El Mansurah for further education. Later, 'A'ishah studied Arabic at Cairo University earning her undergraduate degree in 1939, and an M.A. degree in 1941.

In 1942, 'A'ishah began work as an Inspector for teaching of Arabic literature for the Egyptian Ministry of Education. She earned her Ph.D. with distinction in 1950 and was appointed Professor of Arabic Literature at the University College for Women of the Ains Shams University.  

'Abd al-Rahman wrote fiction and biographies of early Muslim women, including the mother, wives and daughters of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as literary criticism.  She was the second modern woman to undertake Qur'anic exegesis, and though she did not consider herself to be a feminist feminist, her works reflect feminist themes. She began producing her popular books in 1959, the same year that Naguib Mahfouz published his allegorical and feminist version of the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

'Abd al-Rahman was married to Sheik Amin el-Khouli, her teacher at Cairo University during her undergraduate years. She died of a heart attack on December 1, 1998,  following a stroke in Cairo. She donated all her library to research purposes, and in 1985 a statue was built in her honor in Cairo.

A selective bibliography of her works reads as follows:

• The Egyptian Countryside (1936)
• The Problem of the Peasant (1938)
• Secret of the Beach and Master of the Estate: The Story of a Sinful Woman (1942)
• New Values in Arabic Literature (1961)
• Contemporary Arab Women Poets (1963)

Alternative names include:

'Abd al-Rahman, 'A'isha
'Abd al-Rahman, 'A'ishah
'A'isha 'Abd al-Rahman
'A'ishah Abd al-Rahman
Bint al-Shati’
Daughter of the Riverbank
Daughter of the Shore

A00001 - 'Abbasa, Daughter of Caliph al-Mahdi and the Sister of Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and al-Hadi

‘Abbasa (765-803) was a daughter of the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi and the sister of the caliphs Harun al-Rashid and al-Hadi.  Her name is connected with the fall of the Barmakids in 803 C.C., because of her alleged love affair.

The Barmakids were a Persian family that had become very powerful during the caliphate of al-Mahdi.  Yahya, the vizier of Harun al-Rashid, had aided Harun al-Rashid in obtaining the caliphate.  Yahya and his sons were in high favor until 803 when the caliph threw them in prison and confiscated their land.  Many reasons are given for this punitive action. Yahya's entering Harun's presence without Harun's permission; Yahya's opposition to Muhammad ibn al-Layth who later gained Harun's favor; and the Barmakid's ostentatious display of their wealth are said to be the cause of Harun's action.  However, the reason which has intrigued writers and storytellers for ages is the alleged romantic relationship between Ja'far, the son of Yahya, and Harun's sister, 'Abbasa.

As the story goes, Ja'far was the constant companion of Harun.  Harun was also very fond of his sister, 'Abbasa, and loved to have both her and Jafar around at times of recreation.  However, Muslim etiquette forbade their common presence.  To circumvent the rules of etiquette, Harun had a marriage ceremony performed between 'Abbasa and Ja'far, but only with the understanding that the ceremony was purely nominal and that 'Abbasa and Ja'far were not to become intimately involved.  Unfortunately, the heart of 'Abbasa ignored the ban.  She fell in love with Ja'far and became infatuated with him.  One night she entered Ja'far's bedroom in the darkness, masquerading as one of his slave girls.  She seduced Ja'far and had sex with him.

From this union, a child was conceived.  'Abbasa secretly gave birth to the child and the child was sent by 'Abbasa to Mecca.  However, a maid, after quarreling with her mistress, disclosed the scandal.  Harun, while on a pilgrimage in Mecca, heard the story and became enraged.  Upon his return to Baghdad, Harun had Ja'far executed, his body cut in two, and impaled on either side of the bridge.  Harun also had Ja'far's father (Yahya) and brother (al-Fadl) cast into prison.  Ja'far's body stayed impaled for three years until when Harun happened to pass through Baghdad from the East, saw the body, and gave the command for the remains to be taken down and burned.  

This story is discounted by modern scholars, but it has become part of the legend of the court of Harun al-Rashid.

Arabic Names/Names Compendium

‘Abd al-Rahman, ‘A’ishah (1913 - December 1, 1998) was an Egyptian writer and professor of Arabic language and literature and Qur’anic studies. Under the pseudonym Bint al-Shati’ ("Daughter of the Riverbank" or "Daughter of the Shore"), ‘Abd al-Rahman was the author of more than sixty books on Arabic literature, Qur’anic interpretation, the lives of women of the early Muslim community (especially members of the Prophet’s family), contemporary social issues, and fiction.

Raised in the Delta port city of Dumyat (Damietta), she was taught the Qur’an and classical Arabic literature by her father, an al-Azhar educated teacher at a mosque-based religious institute. Although he educated her in the traditional style at home, mosque, and Qur’anic school (kuttab), he objected to her attendance at public schools. With the assistance of her mother and maternal great-grandfather, she managed to get a secular education (at El Mansurah) despite her father’s objections.

‘Abd al-Rahman began her literary career by writing poems and essays for Al-nahdah, a women’s magazine, and became a literary critic for the semi-official newspaper Al-ahram in 1936, the same year she entered the Faculty of Letters at Fu’ad I University. At this time, she assumed the pen-name Bint al-Shati’ (“Daughter of the Shore”) in order to conceal her identity from her father. Her first articles for Al-ahram focused on conditions in the Egyptian countryside, but she is best known for her later works on religious and literary topics. She received her doctorate in 1950 for a thesis on the poet Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma‘arri (d. 1058).

In 1951, ‘Abd al-Rahman became professor of Arabic language and literature at ‘Ayn Shams University in Cairo. Throughout the 1960s, she participated in international literary conferences, served on several government sponsored committees on literature and education, and was a visiting professor at the Islamic University in Ummdurman (Sudan), the University of Khartoum, and the University of Algiers. After retiring from her position at ‘Ayn Shams University, she became professor of higher Qur’anic studies at al-Qarawiyin University in Fez, Morocco. Her regular articles for Al-ahram, her biographies of the women of the Prophet’s household, and especially her exegesis of the Qur’an brought her recognition and distinction in Egypt and throughout the Arab world.

‘Abd al-Rahman’s pursuit of public education offered her little challenge after her early education at the hands of her father, until she met Professor Amin al-Khuli when she was a student at Fu’ad I University (later Cairo University). He introduced her to the literary analysis of the Qur’an that became her trademark. In 'Ala al-jisr, ‘Abd al-Rahman decribes her entire life as a path to this encounter with Amin al-Khuli, whom she married in 1945. Her work is seen as the best exemplification of his method, and she has been much more prolific than her teacher, who died in 1966.

‘Abd al-Rahman’s rhetorical exegesis of the Qur’an makes a plea for removing the Qur’an from the exclusive domain of traditional exegesis (commentary) and placing it within literary studies. Whereas some earlier exegetes allowed for a multiplicity of interpretations of any single Qur’anic verse, seeing in this multiplicity a demonstration of the richness of the Qur’an, ‘Abd al-Rahman argues that every word of the Qur’an allows for only a single interpretation, which should be elicited from the context of the Qur’an as a whole. She rejects extraneous sources, particularly information derived from the Bible or Jewish sources (Isra'iliyat), the inclusion of which in traditional Qur’anic exegesis she sees as part of a continuing Jewish conspiracy to subvert Islam and dominate the world. She also argues that no word is a true synonym for any other in the Qur’an, so no word can be replaced by another. Whereas many scholars believe certain phrases in the Qur’an were inserted to provide the text with its characteristic rhythm and assonance, ‘Abd al-Rahman insisted that every word of the Qur’an is there solely for the meaning it gives.

‘Abd al-Rahman was both deeply religious and very conservative, despite her active public life. On the subject of women’s liberation, she affirmed the principle of male guardianship over women but firmly rejected male responsibility for the behavior of women. She insisted that a proper understanding of women’s liberation does not abandon traditional Islamic values. She was consistently supported and honored by successive Egyptian regimes.

'A'ishah 'Abd al-Rahman died of a heart attack following a stroke in Cairo on December 1, 1998.

'A'ishah 'Abd al-Rahman was born in Damietta in the governate of Domyat. Her father taught at the Domyat Religious Institute. When she was ten, her mother, though illiterate, enrolled 'A'ishah in school while her father was traveling. Though her father objected, her mother later sent 'A'ishah to El Mansurah for further education. Later, 'A'ishah studied Arabic at Cairo University earning her undergraduate degree in 1939, and an M.A. degree in 1941.

In 1942, 'A'ishah began work as an Inspector for teaching of Arabic literature for the Egyptian Ministry of Education. She earned her Ph.D. with distinction in 1950 and was appointed Professor of Arabic Literature at the University College for Women of the Ains Shams University.  

'Abd al-Rahman wrote fiction and biographies of early Muslim women, including the mother, wives and daughters of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as literary criticism.  She was the second modern woman to undertake Qur'anic exegesis, and though she did not consider herself to be a feminist feminist, her works reflect feminist themes. She began producing her popular books in 1959, the same year that Naguib Mahfouz published his allegorical and feminist version of the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

'Abd al-Rahman was married to Sheik Amin el-Khouli, her teacher at Cairo University during her undergraduate years. She died of a heart attack on December 1, 1998,  following a stroke in Cairo. She donated all her library to research purposes, and in 1985 a statue was built in her honor in Cairo.

A selective bibliography of her works reads as follows:

• The Egyptian Countryside (1936)
• The Problem of the Peasant (1938)
• Secret of the Beach and Master of the Estate: The Story of a Sinful Woman (1942)
• New Values in Arabic Literature (1961)
• Contemporary Arab Women Poets (1963)

Alternative names include:

'Abd al-Rahman, 'A'isha
'Abd al-Rahman, 'A'ishah
'A'isha 'Abd al-Rahman
'A'ishah Abd al-Rahman
Bint al-Shati’
Daughter of the Riverbank
Daughter of the Shore

Notes on the Use of The Women of Islam

For this on-line work, entries are listed alphabetically ignoring spaces, commas, hyphens and apostrophes.Listings which contain identical names are listed in chronological order unless the name is the beginning of a series of individuals from the same country.In that case, the names are grouped in chronological order within the context of the individual country.

In order to facilitate ease of reference, names used are those by which the person is commonly known to the Muslim world. Arabic names that begin with prefixes such as the "al"in "al-'Abbas" are listed under the root portion of the name. Thus, a listing for "al-'Abbas" would be found under "'Abbas."

Additionally, the following abbreviations are used in this text: b. = born; d. = died; c. = circa (or about); r. = period of reign; and ? = uncertain.