The protagonists of this chapter are the influential and powerful women at the Fatimid courts and at the courts of the Fatimids' vassal dynasties. Their rise to a position of influence was often a by-product of wider dynastic and palace power struggles; moreover, by consolidating and extending their influence, a few women were able to exercise some degree of power. While this power was exclusively confined to the secular domain, the case of one woman, the Yemeni queen Arwa, stands out as the only example thus far of a female ruler who might have held a position of religious authority in addition to her status as a secular sovereign.

Besides the Fatimids, during the period between the tenth and twelfth centuries, other Muslim dynasties were experiencing the strong influence of women belonging to the ruling family. In al-Andalus, during the Umayyad caliphate of al-Hakam al-Mustansir (r. 350–62/961–76), in one instance female influence turned into the sharing of outright power. Upon becoming the umm al-walad of two of al-Hakam's sons, the caliph's singing slave-girl, Subh al- Bashkunsiyya, saw her wealth and status significantly increased. Furthermore, at her consort's death, as mother of his minor heir, she was able to rule in conjunction with the vizier and her treasurer, only to be out-manoeuvered by the latter, who became the effective ruler of the region. Similarly, within the 'Abbasid dynasty, several wives and mothers of caliphs-to-be were known to have influenced dynastic politics by supporting the succession claims of one or the other of their sons.