Hazrat Khansaa

``Khansaa (R.A.) mourned over Sakhr‘s death; she embraced Islam late in life but continued to lament for her brothers. Hazrat Umar (R.A.), during his caliphate, asked her why she lamented and mourned even after embracing Islam (as mourning is forbidden in Islam). She replied: “Before embracing Islam, I lamented for their (brothers’) vengeance and I lament now for their being in hell”. ``

This shows not only this character was supposedly a poet-genius but happened to have a great sense of political timing too. To no avail embracing Islam under Umer`s rule! heh.

on another note, this article sounds like taken out of suicide bombers` requisite coursework.

Assalamu alaykum and thank you Zainab for this wonderful article. I have certainly learnt a lot from it about a figure in Arabic literature whom I was not even aware of (surprisingly the anthologies of Arabic literature I have read by orientalists do not even mention her!)-Hazrat Khansa`a radhi Allahu anhaa. Could you perhaps post more examples of her poetry? That`d be great.

a refreshing change for Chowk. Please write more!

:-)

A google search for ``al-Khansa`` led me to this informative site:

http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/khansa.html

I ofcourse do not mean any disrespect to Hazrat Khansaa , pur for a second I thought the title was Hazrat Khansama...

I ofcourse do not mean any disrespect to Hazrat Khansaa , pur for a second I thought the title was Hazrat Khansama...

I like articles like this because they have some educational value and are devoid of subjective opinions. It may have been a good idea to elaborate on some of the terms for people who may not be familiar with such terms (in other words, do not assume that your readership fits a particular profile).

I guess the subject lady was a case of somebody who writes from the heart and goes about creating mayhem and destruction, without seemingly intending to. In fact, this particular lady seems to have been a one person demolition squad! Going through three husbands, two brothers, and four sons – and causing the demise of one and all in one way or other – not to mention the countless other souls she made sad and mournful through her poetry – and perhaps continues to do so – till this day! Wow! One could be almost forgiven for surmising that she deliberately went about creating pain, so she could create poetry!

Notes:
[…was commonly known as “al-Khansaa” (R.A.)]
Forgive me for my ignorance, but what do the initials R.A. stand for?

[… she was married Abdul-Azza who was a spendthrift and was fond of gambling, wine and food. Once he lost everything and was about to leave the house when she went to her brother, Sakhr who gave her half the share from his property. When destitute for a second time, she went to her brother again and again Sakhr gave her half of what he possessed.]
Mooching off her brother, again and again! I understand that the hubby Abdul-Azza was a young stud, but COME ON!

[When she went to him for the third time, his wife asked him to give Khansaa something inferior fearing her husband would ruin it. But, Sakhr helped her generously in a manner befitting her status of a princess and thus set an illustrious example of generosity in the pre-Islamic era.]
At least the brother’s wife had some sense! Some people would call the brother’s generosity mere foolishness, perhaps irresponsibility!

[After her second husband’s death, Khansaa (R.A.) got married to Mird’as bin Ali Aamir Assalma of her own tribe and had three children from the marriage: Zaid, Mu’awiya and Umar (R.A.).]
I guess poetry alone was insufficient company!

[She had started poetry to call upon vengeance of Mu`awiya and then continued it till late in life.]
Not that he will do anything along those lines, but I KNEW there was a good, practical reason why people around here need to be nicer to Temporal!

...who the eff gives a damn about a long dead arab poetess who no one knows nor wishes to know on a site predominantly visited by south asians...surely chowk has not been declared a medinat-al-fikr after it received a huge grant from the house of swines also known as house of al-sauds...

beejay,

``I like articles like this because they have some educational value and are devoid of subjective opinions``

........... i hate to inform you that R.A. is a ``subjective opinion``........... it tells you a lot about the writer`s twisted mindset and warped weltanschauung.........

.... buyer, beware !

#8 Hamidm (my long lost soul-mate, maybe even a kin from my past life!)

Sorry, since I still don’t know what R.A. stands for, I can not be accused of falling for anything (I did enquire about the initials, didn’t I!). Besides, I didn’t “buy” anything, I just enjoyed this poetess’ story of life lived and loves loved (and (sadly) somewhat expeditiously dispatched through exhortation)! Besides, the way she stood by her husband no. 2, attending to all his critical basic needs in spite of his various VERY human limitations – ought to inspire the vast multitude of our South Asian fair sex members to no end (perhaps even to the bitter end). What an ideal role model – just bring on the booze, bring on the chops, and roll that dice (not to mention that roll in the bed, of course)!

I am in fact very much inspired by the fact that the poetess has stood the test of time (like few poetesses from the past and present) and, in spite of singing SAD songs (“melancholy” to some and perhaps “depressing” to others (the likes of you and me?)), she enjoys a certain degree of popularity to this day! That’s nothing to sneeze at, or cry over (take your pick)!

And of course, some of us have a soft corner for those who venture into the domain of poets and poetesses! Like I said when I challenged Chowkies to a game of chess (such chickens and no-shows!) THAT domain is NFTFI (not for the fear-impaired)!

Sorry for a kaffir butting in. But is there a Qadiani angle to this story a la Hazrat whatever Naked pir business. How long will it take a full blooded derby between urstruly/asifbhai and sattarbhai to break out on this. Any bets.

Regards

zainab siddique,

.... beejay asked a question - what does R.A. stand for ? ..........

beejay,

...... i am not sure what R.A. stands for, but it could be one of the following :

1. ancient egyptian sun god who journeyed across the sky every day
2. the element radium (atomic number 88) - i think this is the most likely definition since it was discovered by a woman and this article is about a woman
3. rheumatoid arthritis - this is a long shot, but it is possible that khansaa bibi suffered from ra in addition to pms, qrt, adhd, jv and other abbreviations that afflict women

beejay,

....... i did some more research and found that abu bakr siddiq (probably related to the author) was the first RA and quaid-i-azam muhammad ali jinnah was the last RA ( khatim-ul-RA?) ........... i also found out that mirza ghulam ahmed is not an RA and some people (depending on who you talk to) think that omar and osman also did not deserve the title of RA ..... of course ali is a bonafide RA ...........

..... but then again, maybe RA simply stands for resident assistant - a frigid born again christian graduate student who wears little house on the prairie skirts, jesus sandals, and tries to maintain law and order in a freshman dorm .......

In the battle of Qa’dsia, she urged all four of her sons to take part and to fight bravely. When she heard the news of the martyrdom of them all, she exclaimed: “All praise is to Allah who honoured me through their martyrdom.” So, this was the change that Islam had brought in her: on the one hand, we find her urging her tribesmen to avenge her brothers’ death and on the other hand, she, as a mother, sends all her children to the battlefield and is grateful for their martyrdom.


THESE LINES DEFINITELY SHOW US A FACET OF HER PERSONALITY THAT CANNOT BE OVERLOKED: SACRIFICE IN THE WAY OF ALLAH. SURELY, IF A PERSON CAN SACRIFICE ALL HIS CHILDREN FOR THEIR LORD, THEY ARE NOT BEING HYPOCRITES OR DIPLOMATIC. INFACT, THEY ARE ON THE ZENITH OF HUMANITY.

Re: # 3
THANKYOU FOR THE APPRECIATION AND THE ECOURAGEMENT AND ALSO FOR GIVING THE ADDRESS OF THE WEBSITE.

Re: # 6
R.A. STANDS FOR RAZIALLAHU-ANHAA, AN ARABIC TERM MEANING `MAY ALLAH, THE ALMIGHTY BE PLEASED WITH HER`. THE MUSLIMS USE THIS TERM BECAUSE ALLAH HIMSELF STATED IN THE HOLY QURAN THAT HE HAS BEEN PLEASED WITH THE COMPANIONS OF THE HOLY PROPHET,MUHAMMAD(PEACE BE UPON HIM).PLEASE REFER TO THE HOLY QURA`N, CHAPTER26,VERSE #18. AND NOW THIS TERM IS USED WITH THE NAMES OF ALL THE COMPANIONS(R.A.).