Queen Arwa: 79 years over throne

Great number of foreign visitors who believe in Buhara doctrine come from all over the world to visit the shrine of Queen Arwa during the last ten days of Sha’ban (the eighth  month in Arabic calendar ). This made me feel how important it is to see the traces that one of the most outstanding women in the entire history of the world has left; a woman that successfully ruled Yemen for about 79 years. Queen Arwa settled in Jibla and ruled all of Yemen from it. 

Queen Arwa was born in Sana’a in 440 AH. Since childhood, people knew her as Assaidah bent Ahmed bin Jaafar bin Mosa al-Sulaihi. Her mother was al-Horrah Arroaah bent al-Fare bin Mosa. Her father died very early in her childhood, therefore, she was adopted and brought up by A’mer ben Salman al-Ziwahi, her step father. A’mer married her mother and conceived a son named Salman ben A’mer al-Ziwahi, who later on was poisoned by Prince al-Mofadal ben al-Barakat Ibn al-Waleed. Arwa then was adopted by al-Horrah Asma bent Shihab. It was said that once Arwa told Asma about a dream. In her dream she saw that she was cleaning the castle, to which Asma replied “It is you then, who will clean it from the corrupt”

Queen Arwa was fair and a little bit reddish, tall and plump. She was pure-hearted and a lover of reading. She was literate and loved poetry and history. 
In 461 AH, Arwa married al-Mokarram Ahmed ben Ali. They had four children: Mohammed, Ali, Fatima and Oum Hamdan. The two boys died in their early childhood. Oum Hamdan married her cousin, the Sultan Ahmed ben Salman al-Ziwahi. They had one child Abdul-Mustala. Fatima married Shams al-Ma’ni  ben Ali al-Dai Saba ben Ahmed.

In 519 AH, Oum Hamdan died. Fatima died two years after the death of her grandmother.  After the death of al-Mokaram’s mother, he took to drinking and abdicated the throne to his wife, Arwa. In the beginning, she tried to persuade her husband that she was more suitable for the household work than for running a country. However, al-Mokarram did not pay any attention for her. After this, Queen Arwa left Sana’a to Jibla accompanied by a big army. She arrived in Jibla in 480 AH and there she started her new life as a Queen. The first thing she did was build her castle which came to be called Dar al-Iz al-Oula (the first).

As far as the name of the town is concerned, it is said that Jibla was a name of a Jew who was living in the same place where Queen Arwa chose to build her castle. Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Sulaihi, was the first person to build near the Queen’s castle.

In 458 AH, she gave orders to build a mosque and Dar al-Iz al-Thaniah (the second) which was a walled field full of trees. Dar al-Iz II, was located on top of a high mountain overlooking two rivers adjoining where she is now burried.

In 481 AH, al-Mokarram joined his wife in Jibla and left Sana’a  to be governed by Amran ben al-Fadl and Asaad ben Shihab. In the same year, Queen Arwa managed to kill Zabid’s King, Saeed Ibn al_Ahwal. She asked al-Habashi Attobai to write to him saying that al-Mokarram had become very weak, whereas he (al-Ahwal) was the strongest king in Yemen at that time. In the letter Al-Habashi suggested to al-Ahwal to surround Jibla until it surrendered. After that the whole country would be led by al-Ahwal. When Saeed read the letter, he considered it seriously. He left Zabid with 3000 soldiers. At the same time, Queen Arwa wrote to Asaad ben Shihab and Amran Ibn al-Fadl in Sana’a ordering them to leave Sana’a with 3000 soldiers and follow al-Ahwal. When al-Ahwal arrived in al-Shaeer Castle, he was surrounded and killed in the encounter. His head was cut off and presented to Queen Arwa who hung it on one of the castle’s windows.

In 484 AH, al-Mokarram died. His wife, Arwa outlived him by 48 years after she ruled Yemen for 79 years. Although she is dead, she is still living in the memory of all Yemenis. People remember how she contributed to strengthening the foundations of Islam through her mosque whose minaret is still piercing the sky.

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