Lalla Aisha bint Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami (Arabic: للا عائشة بنت علي بن رشيد العلمي; c. 1485 or 1495 – 14 July 1561),[5] commonly known as Sayyida al-Hurra (السيدة الحرة, transl. The Mistress, the Free Woman), was a Moroccan privateer who governed the city of Tétouan from 1515 or 1519 to 1542.[6] As the wife of Moroccan king Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad, who was her second husband, she belonged to the Wattasid dynasty of the Berber peoples. She is considered to be "one of the most important female figures of the Islamic West in the modern age."[7]
Al-Hurra split control over the Mediterranean Sea with her ally Hayreddin Barbarossa,[8] an Ottoman corsair who operated in the east while she operated in the west.[9] In 1515, she became the last person in Muslim history to legitimately hold the title "al-Hurra" following the death of her first husband Sidi al-Mandri II, who ruled Tétouan. Her marriage to her second husband marks the only time in Moroccan history that a king married away from the capital city Fez, as al-Hurra refused to leave Tétouan.[7][10]
Sayyida's childhood was happy and secure, yet clouded by constant reminders of the forced exile from Granada. During her childhood, she was given a first-class education. She was fluent in several languages which included Castilian Spanish and Portuguese. The famous Moroccan scholar Abdallah al-Ghazwani was one of her many teachers.[5] She was married at age 16 to a man 30 years her senior, Sidi al-Mandri II, a grandson or nephew of Ali al-Mandri who was a friend of her father and re-founder and governor of the city of Tétouan, himself an Andalusian Moorish refugee.[15] She was promised to her husband when she was still a child.[7]
Career
Governor of Tétouan
An intelligent woman, Al Hurra learned much whilst assisting her husband in his business affairs. She was a de facto vice-governor, with her husband entrusting the reins of power to her each time he made a trip outside the city. When he died in 1515, the population, who had become accustomed to seeing her exercise power, accepted her as a governor of Tétouan, giving her the title of al-Hurra.[10]Spanish and Portuguese sources describe al-Hurra as "their partner in the diplomatic game".[10] Some historians believe that the unusual "degree of acceptance of al Hurra as a ruler" could be attributed to "Andalusian familiarity with female inheriting power from monarch families in Spain such as Isabella I of Castile."[16] Others believe that al Hurra succeeded as governor because she was "the undisputed leader of pirates of the western Mediterranean".[17][18]
In 1541, she accepted a marriage proposal from Ahmed al-Wattasi, a Sultan of the Moroccan Wattasid dynasty, who traveled from Fez to Tétouan to marry her. Her marriage with him was the only recorded instance of a Moroccan king marrying outside of his capital. This occurred because al-Hurra was not ready to give up her role as ruler of Tétouan or even to leave the city for the marriage ceremony, forcing al-Wattasi to come to her.[12] It is believed that Sayyida al-Hurra insisted on this to show everybody that she was not going to give up governing Tétouan despite being married to the Sultan.[10][16]
Sayyida al Hurra lived a life of adventure and romance.[10] She appointed her brother Moulay Ibrahim as vizier to Ahmed al-Wattasi, Sultan of Fez, and this placed the Rashids as major players in the effort to unify Morocco against the fast-growing powers of Spain and Portugal.[19]
Barbary piracy
Sayyida could neither forget nor forgive the humiliation of being forced to flee Granada. In her wish to avenge herself on the "Christian enemy", she turned to piracy. She made contact with the legendary Ottoman admiral Hayrettin Barbarossa of Algiers.[10] Piracy provided a quick income, "booty and ransom for captives", and also helped to keep alive the dream of returning to Andalusia.[10] She was well respected by Christians as a "queen" who had power over the Mediterranean Sea, and over the release of Portuguese and Spanish captives.[10][16] For example, in The Forgotten Queens of IslamFatima Mernissi mentions Spanish historical documents of 1540, according to which there were negotiations "between the Spaniards and Sayyida al-Hurra" after a successful pirating operation in Gibraltar in which the pirates took "much booty and many prisoners".[20]
Later life
After she had ruled for 30 years, her son-in-law Muhammad al-Hassan al-Mandri overthrew her in October 1542.[21] According to the Yemen Times, "she was stripped of her property and power".[12] Accepting her fate, al Hurra retired to Chefchaouen, where she lived nearly 20 years more.[5]
^Kugle, Scott A. (2011). Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality, and Sacred Power in Islam. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 300.
^Archivos del Instituto de Estudios Africanos, Volume 4. El Instituto, 1950 - Instituto de Estudios Africanos (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)). 1950. pp. 85, 94, 97.
^Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous (2003), "Non-Arab Women in the Arab World"(PDF), al-Raida, 20 (101–2), Beirut University College. Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World: 20, retrieved 11 February 2011