2 - ʿAʾisha Bint Abu Bakr: Battle of the Camel, Battle for Succession

Summary

This chapter focuses on the military/political leadership of the favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad, ‘A’isha, and her involvement in the Battle of the Camel. ‘A’isha’s actual presence on the battlefield leading the army caused neither unanimous dissent nor anxiety among her generals or the rank and file, though her military leadership was contested in the aftermath of her defeat. Though her religious authority is almost universally acknowledged, her political authority is contested and the subject of much hand-wringing and controversial commentary, invariably leading to the invocation of the alleged Prophetic hadith, “Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler.” Conveniently ignoring the Queen of Sheba’s sovereignty, the male political/religious elite has historically upheld this hadith as a “sacred” principle against women’s political authority. In view of the actual leadership of some charismatic Muslim women in medieval or modern times, the question is how to interpret the incongruity between the Quranic revelations and the prophetic tradition regarding women’s political authority – one supporting, and the other opposing. I argue that it is dynastic power, the dynamics of the father-daughter relationship, and her own charisma that enables a woman to wear the crown.