Continued from “The Free Queen: Arwa | Part One”
The Undisputed Queen
After a long battle with his health, Al-Mukarram eventually succumbed and passed away. Queen Arwa, knowing this development would surely stoke rivalries she had exerted such great effort in quelling, kept the king's death a secret for more than a year.
She wrote, during this time, to the greater Fatimid authority in Cairo informing them of the news. Whereby she received a reply from the Caliph Al-Mustansir conveying his condolences and appointing the son of Queen Arwa and Al-Mukarram, Ali as the new king. The problem was, that Ali was ten years old. Undoubtedly his appointment would mean a massive challenge to the throne.
At the prospect of this, and in fear of losing Yemen, the caliph did something completely unprecedented. He appointed Queen Arwa as hujja. In the Ismaili Fatimid hierarchy, none besides the caliph had greater authority than the hujja. This appointment gave Queen Arwa a religious and spiritual legitimacy that few could question and none could match.
Queen Problems
Queen Arwa’s religious authority was now beyond reproach. But as a female member of the Sulayhid tribe and an unmarried queen, her political authority was routinely under threat.
Her male relatives on more than one occasion attempted to seize power for themselves but with the full backing of the Fatimid authority, none of these attempts proved successful, in time the threat of a direct military challenge from her male relatives became less of a concern. The greatest threat as it turns out, came from a stocky male suitor named Saba.
Saba was noted by historians as being both unattractive and short in stature. Though he bore redeemable qualities in his character and intelligence. He was kind, generous, and a celebrated poet. His intelligence led Queen Arwa to appoint him as her son’s tutor. He was a Sulayhi, the queen’s cousin, an authorized representative of the Fatimid Caliph—and as such, a legitimate suitor for Queen Arwa. The queen was still young, and incredibly beautiful, and of course, a marriage to her would make him the king. He sent word of his proposal to Queen Arwa in marriage. Unsurprisingly, his proposal was refused.
Furious at this rejection, Saba—in an act that might described as the most ridiculous instance of “love bombing” (look it up) in history—decided to march on Jibla with his army to win the queen's hand. Let me say here really quickly, as far as I can tell this wasn’t a normal thing to do. And even the historians I read regarding this instance treat it with some confusion. Either way, she apparently really, really did not want to marry this guy because his troops and hers fought for several days to a stalemate.
At the advice of some of his family members, Saba decided to end the fighting and instead appeal to the Caliph for Queen Arwa’s hand. She could not, after all, refuse should the Caliph accept the marriage proposal. And he did… the proposition of Queen Arwa to be married and have a male authority in Yemen was one that would strengthen Fatimid's position in Yemen and was just too good to refuse. Even if it meant some of the powers of the queen, which the Fatimid authority loved and trusted, would now have to be shared with someone far less competent than her.
The queen, with no choice, accepted the proposal. Saba held massive feasts in a camp that he set up outside the queen’s castle in Jibla. When he entered the castle to spend the night with Queen Arwa, she entered into their quarters dressed as a servant girl. Saba didn’t immediately recognize her, and being a religious man did not take a second look at her. He waited until morning and then departed, the marriage never being consummated.
Another account of the story says that Saba remained outside of the castle for months with the queen not permitting him to enter. The embarrassment of this caused Saba to write a letter to her imploring her for the sake of his honor, to allow him entry so that it at least might be perceived that the marriage was consummated. At this request, she allowed him entry and sent a servant girl who looked like her to be with him in her place. He didn’t so much as look at the servant girl and departed the following day, realizing his error and saying “Tell our lady that she is a precious pearl, to be worn only by whoever is worthy of her. No person could be fitly compared to her, she whose people called her their mistress.”
It’s true, by this point, Queen Arwa was deeply loved by her subjects. She had earned the title “Sayyidta” denoting a female master. It was a term of endearment and an acknowledgment of her exalted spiritual rank. Despite the continual threats to her authority and regular political disputes, the Queen had—by this time—mightily contributed to the wealth, well-being, infrastructure, and culture of her people and they loved her for it.
Legacy
Following the death of her pseudo-husband Saba and the untimely passing of her two sons, Queen Arwa would become a nearly complete sovereign in Yemen. She would, in time, grow disillusioned with the Fatimid power and begin to show signs thereof. This came to a head when the Fatimids sent a minister to act on their behalf to increase their influence in the region. This minister eventually attempted a coup but was opposed by such a massive plurality of the leadership in Yemen that he was forced to retreat. This was the mass support and loyalty that, eventually, Queen Arwa enjoyed in Yemen. The minister had to return to Cairo with his tail between his legs. Following this series of events, she completely severed ties with the Fatimids who by that time had so much regicide and infighting of their own to deal with, that they posed no challenge. Finally, she was the complete sovereign queen of Yemen.
Queen Arwa beyond being an astute strategist, diplomat, and military leader was also an exceptional administrator and oversaw what would be seen by historians as one of the most prosperous periods in Yemeni history. At a time when Yemen consisted of different religions and sects, including Christians, Jews, Zaidis, Ismailis, and Sunnis, she presided over all of these communities, maintaining complete harmony. She established international trade and cultural exchange networks. She also supported the sciences and arts and helped the poor. She was the first queen in Islam to have her name mentioned in the Friday sermon and minted on her kingdom's currency. Two particular signs of regency that before her, no Muslim female leader had enjoyed. She even created her own Arabic script, called “the venerable script.”
Her castle had 365 rooms in it and she would sleep in a different room every night based on the way the sun would shine on that part of the castle throughout the year. This is the kind of beauty that she sought to live her life according to. She was given so many titles by her people, Queen Arwa the free one, the noble, the clever, the pillar of Islam, the corrector of the guides, the unique one of her age, the master of the kings of Yemen, the haven of the seekers, the guardian of the guardians of the righteous.
Queen Arwa died of natural causes at the age of 93. A truly remarkable feat given not only the sheer number of years but the fact that her life was so imminently threatened during her seventy-one years in the public eye and fifty-three years in power. She left behind an incredible amount of endowments making her mosque the wealthiest in Yemen. A portion of her story that I chose not to include for brevity’s sake was that she also ruled over parts of India, particularly in the north. To this day, a religious sect in Gujarat celebrates her ascension to the throne and the day of her death on the 27th of Ramadan. To this community she donated two million rods of land where she planted coffee and commissioned gold and diamond mines tunneled, making them extremely wealthy.
It may be naive of me to think this, but I’ll say it here anyway. I don’t think that Queen Arwa’s motivation in maintaining her authority was out of her ambition or thirst for power. She didn’t choose the position and never fought for it to be given to her. On the contrary, the reports indicate that she was extremely hesitant, even given her husband's condition, to be trusted with as much authority as she was given. But, she rose to the occasion and became, quite possibly, Yemen’s greatest ruler. I truly believe that she fought to maintain power in large part because she realized that, should she lose, the reigns of her throne would be given to someone far less competent, and far more concerned with their own glory than the wellbeing of her realm.
There are dynasties in history that extend for centuries that today have little to nothing to show for it. Just centuries of kings and leaders who glorify themselves, fight in wars and give nothing to the people they’re charged with protecting and preserving. To this day, a millennium later, infrastructure, wells, irrigation, communities, mosques, and schools that Queen Arwa was responsible for remain. It’s unimaginable that this could have all been done for the sake of vanity. She was a truly great leader, great Queen, great Yemeni, and great, great woman.
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