Wallada bint al-Mustakfi

Wallada bint al-Mustakfi ولادة بنت المستكفي
Born	Wallada bint Muhammad 994 or 1001 Córdoba, Caliphate of Córdoba
Died	(1091-03-26)26 March 1091 Córdoba, Taifa of Córdoba
Resting place	Córdoba, Spain
Dynasty	Umayyad
Occupation	Poet

Wallada bint al-Mustakfi (Arabic: ولادة بنت المستكفي) (born in Córdoba in 994 or 1001 – 26 March 1091) was an Andalusian poet and the daughter of the Umayyad Caliph Muhammad III of Córdoba.

Early life

Wallada was the daughter of Muhammad III of Córdoba, one of the last Umayyad Cordoban rulers, who came to power in 1024 after assassinating the previous ruler Abderraman V, and who himself was assassinated two years later in Uclés. Her mother is generally believed to have been an Iberian Christian slave. Her early childhood was during the high period of the Caliphate of Córdoba, under the rule of Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir. Her adolescent years came during the tumultuous period following the eventual succession of Aamir's son, Sanchuelo, who in his attempts to seize power from Hisham II brought the caliphate into civil war.

As Muhammad III had no male heir, some scholars theorize that Wallada may have inherited his properties, and used them to create a sort of literary salon in Córdoba. There she acted as a mentor to poets, especially women, from all social classes, from those of noble birth to slaves purchased by Wallada herself. Some of the great poets and intellectuals of the time also attended.

Image and artistry

Wallada had a reputation for intelligence, quick-mindedness, eloquence, and depth of knowledge. She also was somewhat controversial, walking out in public without a veil. Her behavior was regarded by the local imams as perverse and was strongly criticized, but she also had numerous people who defended her, such as Ibn Hazm, the famous author of The Ring of the Dove. Wallada gained recognition for her poetry skills, particularly as a woman in what was a male-dominated field.

One example of Wallada's work and audacious character is her "Ana Wallah Asluh Lilmaʿali'" (I am, by God, fit for high positions), which verses she had embroidered in gold on the trim of her dress. The poem is in the wafir metre.

Arabic text أَنَا وَاللهِ أَصْلُحُ لِلْمَعَالِي وَأَمْشِي مِشْيَتِي وَأَتِيهُ تِيها أُمْكِنُ عَاشِقِي مِنْ صَحْنِ خَدّي وَأُعْطِي قُبْلَتِي مَنْ يَشْتَهِيها

Romanized Arabic ʾanā wallāhi aṣluḥu lilmʿālī wa amshī mishyati wa atīhu tīhā ʾumkinu ʿāshiqī min ṣaḥni khaddī wa ʾuʿṭī qublatī man yashtahīhā

English translation I am, by God, fit for high positions. and am going my way, with pride. Forsooth I allow my lover to kiss my cheek, and bestow my kisses on him who craves it.

Wallada's poetry was in free verse, uncommon at the time.

Only nine of Wallada's poems have been preserved. Eight of these are about her relationship with Ibn Zaydun. The ninth alludes to Wallada's liberty and independence.

Wallada has been called the "Arabic Sappho."

Relationship with Ibn Zaydun

Monumento a los Enamorados (Monument to the Lovers) in Córdoba

A Cordovan custom of the time was for poets to compete in finishing incomplete poems. It was during one of these poetry competitions that Wallada met Ibn Zaydun. Zaydun was also a poet and a nobleman who had been making measured political strides towards Cordoba. Because of this and Zaydun's ties with the Banu Yahwar — rivals of her own Umayyad clan — their relationship was controversial and had to remain a secret.

Most of the nine poems preserved from Wallada were written about their relationship, which apparently ended under contentious circumstances. Written as letters between the two lovers, the poems express jealousy, nostalgia, but also a desire to reunite. Another expresses deception, sorrow and reproach. Five are sharp satires directed against Zaydun, whom she accuses of, amongst other things, having male lovers. In one writing, it was implied that the relationship ended because of an affair between Zaydun and a "Black lover". Some say that the lover was a slave girl purchased and educated as a poet by Wallada, as she herself suggests, while others speculate that it could have been a male. A third possibility is that the poem was written in congruence with the times, as infidelity with Black lovers was a common theme in Arabic poetry.

After her split with Zaydun, Wallada entered a relationship with the vizier Ibn Abdus, who was one of Zaydun's major political rivals. Abdus, who was completely enamored with Wallada, would end up seizing Zaydun's properties and having him imprisoned. Soon afterwards Wallada moved into the vizier's palace, and although she never married him, he remained by her side until his death, well into his eighties.

In popular culture

Wallada's name (spelled "Valada") appears on the Heritage Floor of Judy Chicago's art installation The Dinner Party.

Further reading

• Dozy, R. P. Historia de los musulmanes en España . Madrid, Turner, 1988.
• Garulo, T. Diwan de las poetisas andaluzas de Al-Andalus. Madrid, Ediciones Hiperión, 1985.
• López de la Plaza, G. Al-Andalus: Mujeres, sociedad y religió. Málaga, Universidad de Málaga, 1992.
• Sobh, M. Poetisas arábigo-andaluzas. Granada, Diputación Provincial, 1994.

External links

• Andalucia.com article
• A Biography of Wallada (in Spanish)
• Another Biography (in Spanish)
• Project Continua: Biography of Wallada bint al-Mustakfi Project Continua is a web-based multimedia resource dedicated to the creation and preservation of women’s intellectual history from the earliest surviving evidence into the 21st Century.
• [1] Portrait of Wallada by J.L. MUÑOZ
• "[When you told us our glances, soft, timid, and mild,]," a translation by Joseph Dacre Carlyle of one of Wallada's poems
• "Four Poems to Ibn Zaydun", a translation of Wallada's poems by Christopher Middleton & Leticia Garza-Falcón