Ikrisha bint al-Atrash

Ikrisha bint al-Atrash, as Kahhala describes her in A'lam al-Nisa', was one of the women of eloquence, clear speech and forceful argument; he notes that Balaghat al-Nisa' calls her "bint al-Atash". ¹

She came in to Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan with a staff in her hand, greeted him as caliph and sat. He said, "So now I have become Commander of the Faithful?" She said, "Yes — since Ali is not alive." ¹

Mu'awiya reminded her that at Siffin she had stood between the lines with a sword-belt slung on her, preaching, and he recited her speech: it opens with al-Ma'ida 105, says Paradise is a home its dwellers never leave, so buy it with a home whose bliss does not last; warns against leaving the fight to others, which would undo the bond of Islam; calls that day "the lesser Badr and the second Aqaba"; urges the Muhajirun and Ansar to fight with clear sight; and describes the Syrian army in harsh terms. ^{1 2} Mu'awiya said, "Were it not for God's decree, and His wish to give us this rule, the two armies would have turned upon me." ²

He asked what had moved her. She said God had returned their alms to them and their wealth among them, except by right; they had lost that, so no poor man of theirs was relieved and no broken one set; if it was his doing, then someone like him should not take traitors for helpers or wrongdoers for officials. He said matters weighed on him more pressing than theirs — seas bursting and frontiers breaking open; she replied that God had not prescribed a right for them that harmed others. He said, "Alas, people of Iraq — Ibn Abi Talib roused you, and you cannot be withstood," and ordered her alms returned, gave her redress and sent her back with honour. ²

The stories of these 'women who came before Mu'awiya' are told in the adab literature; Kahhala takes them from Ibn Tayfur's Balaghat al-Nisa', al-Iqd al-Farid, Subh al-A'sha, Ibn Asakir's history and Nihayat al-Arab. They voice the positions their speakers took in the civil war, and the museum gives them as attributed reports, without a verdict. ²