Al-Khansa
One of the great poets of the Arabic language. Her elegies for her brothers Sakhr and Muawiya established the classical form of the marthiya. Accepted Islam in old age. Sent her four sons to Qadisiyya. When she heard all four had been killed, she said: 'Praise be to Allah who honoured me with their martyrdom.'
- Lived
- c. 575 - 645 CE
Who was Al-Khansa? One of the great poets of the Arabic language. Her elegies for her brothers Sakhr and Muawiya established the classical form of the marthiya. Accepted Islam in old age. Sent her four sons to Qadisiyya. When she heard all four had been killed, she said: 'Praise be to Allah who honoured me with their martyrdom.'
Life
Tumadir bint Amr, known by her kunya Al-Khansa ("the gazelle"), was born about 575 CE in the Banu Sulaym in central Arabia. She was already famous before Islam as one of the great poets of the Arabic language. When her brothers Sakhr and Muawiya were killed in tribal warfare, she composed elegies for them (marathi) that became the foundational works of the classical marthiya genre. Umar ibn al-Khattab said of her: "Al-Khansa has surpassed every poet, man or woman."
She met the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, accepted Islam, and moved with her tribe to the Muslim community. She lived to see her four sons old enough to fight.
When the call went out for the army of Qadisiyya against the Sasanian Empire, she called her four sons to her one night in the camp. In one of the most preserved speeches of early Islamic literature, the exhortation of a mother to her sons on the eve of battle, she said to them:
"My sons, you have accepted Islam willingly. You have made hijrah on your own choice. By Allah beside whom there is no god, you are the sons of one man as you are the sons of one woman. I have not betrayed your father, nor shamed your uncle, nor mingled your lineage, nor changed your ancestry. You know what Allah has promised the Muslims who fight the unbelievers. Know that the eternal abode is better than the abode that passes."
She sent them into battle. All four were killed at Qadisiyya. When the news reached her she said: "Praise be to Allah who honoured me with their martyrdom. I hope my Lord will unite me with them in the abode of His mercy."
Umar granted her a lifetime pension in the names of her four sons. She died in 645 CE, aged about 70.
Stories
Each story below is drawn from the classical Islamic historical sources.
Four sons at Qadisiyya
Al-Khansa, the greatest elegist of pre-Islamic Arabia, met the Prophet ﷺ, accepted Islam, and lived to see her four sons old enough to fight. She sent them to Qadisiyya. When all four were killed, she said: 'Praise be to Allah who honoured me with their martyrdom.'