Introduction

IN EARLY ELEVENTH-CENTURY al-Andalus, al-Dalfa’, one of the concubines of the hajib and de facto ruler Ibn Abi ‘Amir, known as al-Mansur, was involved in the events that led to the civil war— fitna— that preceded the downfall of the Umayyad Caliphate in Iberia. As a slave, al-Dalfa’ had borne her master a child, ‘Abd al-Malik, granting her the status of umm al-walad— literally, the “mother of a child”— which legally improved her condition from the common form of concubinage. In 1002 al-Mansur died and ‘Abd al-Malik, who would be later known as al-Muzaffar, followed his father's footsteps in the hijaba, whereas Caliph Hisham II was left with a merely symbolic role as figurehead of the caliphate. During ‘Abd al-Malik's rule al-Dalfa’ influenced some of his decisions, and after his death, in controversial circumstances, she plotted to overthrow and kill ‘Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo, al-Muzaffar's half-brother, who had taken ‘Abd al-Malik's position, as Sanchuelo was suspected of having orchestrated ‘Abd al-Malik's death.

Thus, al-Dalfa’ endorsed the opponents of the Amirids in their endeavours to eradicate Sanchuelo, removing Hisham II, who had proved to be unfit for rule, and reinstalling a strong caliphate, according to the model of ‘Abd al-Rahman [III] al-Nasir, the founder of the Umayyad Caliphate of al-Andalus. The uprising was headed by a descendant of al-Nasir, Muhammad b. Hisham, whose father had been put to death a few years beforehand by al-Muzaffar, under al-Dalfa's counsel. After a four-month period in office Sanchuelo was executed and Hisham II was dethroned. Al-Dalfa’ had attained her goal. However, the collapse of the Amirid regime and the absence of a strong and consensual leadership led to civil war and, ultimately, to the end of the Umayyad Caliphate, in 1031.

Considering that female interference in public affairs was discouraged in al-Andalus, as well as throughout the Muslim world, al-Dalfa's intervention looks surprising. A hadith spread by Aisha's adversaries in Islam's early days states: “A population which had put a woman in charge of its affairs shall not prosper.”