#Khawla bint Al-Azwar

[hzaidan]

01 Work, The Art of War, Khawla bint al-Azwar, Arab Muslim warrior in the service of the Rashidun Caliphate, with footnotes

Henry ZaidanKhawla bint al-Azwar, c. 2024AI Image with Deviant Art Due to religious dictates it is very difficult to find classical Islamic art portraying people! To tell the story I have decided to try and make my own through AI. I hope I will eventually get it right! Thanks for your patience. The Rashidun Caliphate was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled…

[lightdancer1]

Khawla, OTOH, was a major war hero of the early expansion era:

She distinguished herself in particular in the Battle of Yarmuk, which was one of the most crucial clashes in the history of the Islamic world not least for securing a Muslim claim to both Jerusalem and for unraveling the southern flanks of the East Roman/Byzantine state. This underscores, as with Nusaybah, the simple reality of how the earliest versions of the Islamic world worked. The people who built it were armies and the leaders of armies, and it was possible to achieve great and lasting fame in the process.

[dinaive]

Khawla bint al-Azwar

a Warrior

Her grave is in Damascus, Syria.

She is big, tall and strong.

She is in the campaigns of the companions that go to Syria to engage the Byzantines. And she goes in this campaign to keep the company of her brother. This is usually, the women would be in the army, that the army of the sahabah and those early generation, usually when the men go forth in a military campaign, the will bring the with the women folk. They will take their mothers, their sisters, their wives, possibly their daughters. Usually they will take women folks who will help them, who will cook for them, who will take care of the sick, and to do other things. Other thing that you have to remember that these women also could fight. They also know how to fight. When it is necessary they would fight. They will encourage the men to be courageous.

In the case of Khawla bint alAzwar, she is there in the army, to keep the company of her beloved brother and he is "Dhiraar" - which is a name means "a person who causes other people harm". It is kind of a bedouin name. Bedouin like names like that. It is like "i cause you harm if we fight, you will be in trouble".

Her brother was Dhiraar, and he was big. He fought without armour, the armours the arab wore during the battle is heavy and so was their swords. Arab also have spears, almost like an arrow, they have thin shaft and they would have a long blade on the spear. Perhaps, they use the spear like sword, they perhaps did not throw it very much.

Dhiraar did not wear armour, he did not wear helmet and he was a frightening soldier. And when he fought the Byzantines, he basically attack the at will, he was so effective, he was so dangerous, using sword, using a spear, maybe he had other weapon like arrow but idk.

And one of the thing he did was, he did not care about common soldier, he did not want to hurt the ordinary soldier. This is actually a good battle technique, if we look at the Europeans, the Swiss was a very good soldier. That was a Swiss technique. The Swiss was undefeated for three hundred years. And the Swiss when they fight, they go to the leaders, they go right to the King or right to the Prince.

Dhiraar was like that too. Dhiraar when right to the head of the Byzantine army - who was the son of Heraclius the Byzantine emperor and dispatch him to wherever he goes. Once he did that, the Byzantine caught him. They overwhelm him. And they took him as a prisoner.

Dhiraar does not come home for dinner. And when he does not come home for dinner, Khawla is broken hearted, because that is her brother. There is poetry of Khawla - Where is my brother, are you dead or alive? was he taken captive? I have to know. It is a beautiful poetry, it might make you cry. And arabs love poetry, they express themselves in poetry.

But the next day Khawla was not crying, the next day she puts on armour, and she put on black armour. So Dr Umar Faruq called her the black night. And then, to conceal her identity, so you do not know she is a women, she puts on a veil. Because the Arab actually, the veil was not distinctively for women. And therefore, she veil her face so that no want know who she is, so they do not know she was a women.

And, the veiling of women, the exclusion of women from the society, that really not part of the prophetic society. Nor was it part of, the Umayyad society. This is a custom that developed in the Abbasid society. And it was taken primarily from the Persians and also from the Greeks. Because the Greek did that too.

So Khawla put on a Niqab, so you did not know she was a women, you can not look at her face, i do not know if she was beautiful or frightening. idk.

Khawla fight just like her brother and she fight by herself. And she terrifies the Byzantines. She did Jihad, but actually she is trying to find her brother. She wanted to now whether he is dead or alive. And the Muslim was astounded by Khawla, they wanted to know who is that, "HERO" not who is that "HEROINE". Who is that hero? They wanted to know from which tribe this hero belong to, because they would want to compose a poetry if the hero came from their tribe.

They say, who is he? Who is he? And Khalid called "him" come with us. Khalid was actually tries to catch her. Would you come join the army, why are you fighting on your own. And he can't catch up with her, she is a warrior, she is a horsewomen, she kept plugging into the Byzantines army, and they were terrified of her. They can't stand in front of her. You can say she is the equal of Khalid Al Walid who has no equal among the men, but if he did had an equal it would be Khawla among the women.

And finally, Khalid finally catches up with Khawla, and he says to 'him' somehow like " i happen to be the commander of the army, it would be really good if you would fight with us. it is not a one man show". And he also say " i was startled, under the niqab, the voice of a women." and Khalid ask her, to explain, and she say, that she is the sister of Dhiraar. And Diraar was lost in battle. And i have to find my brother. And Khalid says, we can help you do that. And then Khalid puts her, right in front. When the byzantines notice the position of the unknown "Black Knight" was in front line of the Muslim army, they was devastated. the Muslim win the victory. And when the Muslin win the victory. Of course, they took the prisoners of war. And Khalid ask the prisoners of war if they know about Dhiraar, and of course they have to describe Dhiraar, he is a soldier, who fought without armour, he was fighting mostly own his own and he is the one who kill the emperor's son. And it does not take long until they would find out that Dhiraar was taken prisoner. And was being march to Constantinople, which century later would be Istanbul.

Khalid says, lets put together a party, and lets rescue him. And Khawla says do you mind if i come? Absolutely not. You are honoured to come. So this party of soldiers, they set out to intercept the party whose taken Dhiraar as prisoner in chains to Constantinople. Who does the scouting ? Who does the tracking ? it is Khawla. She is a Bedouin women. So she is actually the one who discovers, where they are, how they went, follow this path. And then finally she came to Khalid. She ride ahead. She says, we are now ahead of them. They're coming.

Khalid let her lead the attack. And they save her brother. They are able to rescue her brother.

And of course Khawla have a poetry about finding her brother and how happy she is.

On another occasion, Khawla is take prisoner herself. And in this case. The Muslim army would have women in it. And this women as you know that were going was mostly mothers, wives and daughters. they would have a kinship relationship with somebody in the army. And they will fight. If the men begin to lose the women, the women would fight, they will join.

In this case, the Byzantines are able to capture a number of the women. So they get hundreds of women. And it happen, one of those is Khawla, but the don't know that. The women was talking with each other in the camp of prisoner of war, most of them are Yemeni women, most of them are from the southern part of Hadramout, where was most and a lot of the Nusantara ancestors came from.

Khawla is saying to them so women, you're contempt to be slaves? You're contempt to be slave women. to be taken to Byzantine and be sold in the market. One of them says, we don't want to be that, we want to be free. It would be nice if we have weapons - we do not have any weapons. and Khawla says, you do not have weapons ? you dont have tents? you dont have tent poles?

You have tent poles, your tent are being held up by poles. so she organises the women. And she take one of the biggest tent poles. and she says, we will break out at night time. She says you will see the Byzantines (the Roman) have their weapons stack together.

So she says, break those weapons, break them in two. and she with some other women, if they are attacked by the men, they will fight with the tent poles and that what she does. and she liberates all the women.

from one of Dr. Umar Faruq's lecture.

[valkyries-things]

KHAWLA BINT AL-AZWAR // WARRIOR

“She was an Arab Muslim warrior in the service of the Rashidun Caliphate. She played a major role in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and fought alongside her brother Dhiraar. She has been described as one of the greatest female soldiers in history. She was a companion of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. She fought in the decisive Battle of Yarmouk in 636 against the Byzantine Empire. On the 4th day of the battle she led a group of women against the Byzantine army and defeated its chief commander, and later was wounded during her fight with a Greek soldier.”

[count-geekula]

So I didn't finish my day 2 fic for tggtvav week in time BUT I'm not giving up my prompt hat trick:

dreams ✅

historical au ✅

side character ✅

it's an Old Guard au

THE IMMORTALS GUIDE TO DREAMS AND HISTORY

FEATURING:

Sim

The leader of the team, over a millennium old, has seen some shit, she fought alongside Khawla bint al-Azwar and has met prophet Muhammad in person

Percy and Monty

Still pretty young in immortal standards, just a bit over a century, but their love can last millennia, ex-pirate and ex-pirate-hunter respectively, killed each other at a sea battle

Jeanne

The new one, she's a deserter of the Grand Armée during Napoleon's Russia campaign, the others set off to find her while she's alone somewhere in Russia

[city-of-ladies]

Kawlah bint Al-Azwar - The black knight

Kawlah bint Al-Azwar (active during the 7th century) was a Muslim warrior woman who fought against the Byzantine and notably rescued female captives. She also healed the wounded when she was not fighting. 

Before detailing Kawlah’s military career, it is important to note the presence of other fighting women in the Arab world. One of the most famous was Nusayba bint Ka’ab also known as Umm Umarah who fought alongside the Prophet Muhammad. She entered the Battle of Uhud in 625, according to some accounts alongside her mother. She staunchly defended the Prophet during the fight. When an enemy warrior boasted that he would kill Muhammad, she cut through the ranks and struck him, complaining that “the enemy of God had two suits of armor”. Some reports also state that she lost an arm and suffered eleven wounds during this battle. She participated in a total of six battles during her lifetime.

Umm Sulaim and her sister Umm Haram bint Milhan also fought at Uhud. Umm Sulaim carried a dagger and reportedly said: “O Messenger of Allah! I carry the dagger so if any disbeliever approaches me, I will spilt his stomach open”. Another woman Umm AlDhouda bint Mas’ud fought so valiantly during the Battle of the Khaybar that the Prophet gave her the same share of the spoils as the male warriors. Safiya, the Prophet’s aunt, killed a spy with a tent peg while her terrified male guard stood crying. During a battle, she killed a warrior and threw his severed head into the enemy camp. 

Martial women kept appearing after the Prophet’s death. His wife Āʾishah bint Abī Bakr lead troop during the Battle of the Camel in 656 while his granddaughter Zaynab bint Ali fought during the Battle of Karbala in 680. Umm Hakim single-handedly killed several Byzantine soldiers during the battle of Marj al-Saffar in 634 while a group of women reportedly fought at the Battle of Yarmouk in 637. A woman named Ghazala was also known for defeating general Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in a duel. 

Kawlah fought during a conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate (established in 632) which wanted to expend its territory deep into Syria. She was the daughter of a chief of the Bani Assad tribe and her family was quick to convert to Islam. Her older brother Dhiraar bin Al-Azwar taught her to fight and she was also a poet. Dhiraar served under general Khalid Ibn Al Walid, who conquered Byzantine Syria between 634 and 638.

Dhiraar was taken prisoner during the Battle of Ajnadayn in 634.  Kawlah then rushed into the fray. Dressed as a male knight she “slashed the head of the Greeks”. Khalid and his troops watched her in awe, wondering who was this warrior dressed in black. After the battle, Khalid went to Kawlah and asked her who she was. She told him that she was one of the women following the army and that she fought because her brother was captured. Khalid ordered them to pursue the Byzantine army and Kawlah kept fighting to find her brother, ultimately freed him. 

Kawlah was however captured in during another battle. She then realized that the Byzantine had attacked the women’s camp and taken several female captives. She decided to escape with the help of the other women. She reportedly said: “Do you accept these men as your masters? Are you willing for your children to be slaves? Where is your famed courage that has become the talk of the Arab tribes as well as the cities?”. One of the women then answered: “We are courageous and skillful as you describe. But in such cases a sword is quite useful and we were taken by surprise, unarmed”.

Kawlah then decided to use tent poles as weapons. The women fought their way to freedom, killing thirty Byzantine knights while Kawlah encouraged her with her verses. Khalid and his troops arrived to rescue the women. In the ensuing battle, Kawlah killed five knights including a leader that had insulted her.

In one of the next battles, Arab soldiers were overwhelmed by the Byzantines and many soldiers started to flee. Kawlah and the other women confronted the fugitives and she once again rose her sword to lead the counterattack. 

Kawlah’s legacy lives on today. The first women military college in the United Arab Emirates was named after her and her name was also given to schools and associations. 

References:

Ahmed Leila, Women and gender in Islam: Historical roots of a Modern debate

Bachay Judith B., Fernandez-Calienes Raul, Women moving forward vol.2

Cross Robin, Miles Rosalind, Hell Hath no Fury, true profiles of women at war from Antiquity to Iraq

Grant de Pauw Linda, Battle Cries and lullabies

Ma’n Abul Husn, Khawla Bint Al Azwar, the Islamic Heroine

Qazi Farhana, “The Mujahidaat, tracing the early female warriors of Islam”, in: Sjoberg Laura, Gentry Carol E., Women, gender and terrorism 

[modesty-stranger]

Khawlah bint al-Azwar (Arabic خولة بنت الأزور) was a prominent muslim woman during the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Khawlah was a Muslim Arab warrior, sister of Zirrar ibn Azwar, the legendary Muslim soldier and commander of the Rashidun army during the 7th century Muslim conquest. Born sometime in the seventh century, Khawlah was well known for her leadership in battles of the Muslim conquests in parts of what are today Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. She fought side by side with her brother Zirrar in many battles, including a decisive Battle of Yarmouk in 636 against the Byzantine empire. On the 4th day of the battle she led a group of women against the Byzantine army and was wounded during her fight with a Greek soldier.Born sometime in the seventh century, Khawlah was the daughter of one of the chiefs of Bani Assad tribe. Her family was among the first converts to Islam. Her father’s name was either Malik or Tareq Bin Awse; he was also known as al-Azwar. Her talent first appeared during the Battle of Sanita-al-Uqab in 634, fought during the Siege of Damascus, in which her beloved brother Zirrar (or Deraar) was leading the Muslim forces and was wounded and taken prisoner by the Byzantine army. Khalid ibn Walid took his mobile guard to rescue him. Khawlah accompanied the army and rushed on the Byzantine rearguard all alone. In her armor and typical loose dress of Arabian warriors she was not recognized as a woman, until she was asked by Khalid about her identity.In the Battle of Adnajin, Khawlah had accompanied the Muslim forces to provide medical attention to wounded soldiers. After her brother Diraar was captured by the Byzantine forces, Khawlah took a knight’s armor, weapons, and mare, wrapping herself in a green shawl. She fought the Byzantine battalion, routing the Muslim soldiers. Khalid bin Walid, the leader of the Muslim forces, ordered the soldiers to charge the Byzantine. Many of the Muslim soldiers thought that Khawlah was Khalid until Khalid appeared. The Muslims defeated the Byzantines, who fled the battlefield. When Khalid found Khawlah, she was covered in blood. He asked her to remove his veil. After refusing several times, Khawlah revealed her identity. Khalid ordered his army to chase the fleeing Byzantines, with Khawlah leading the attack. After a search, the Muslim prisoners were found and freed. One of the Rashidun army commanders, Sharjeel ibn Hassana, is reported to have said about her that:-This warrior fights like Khalid ibn Walid, but I am sure he is not Khalid. -Death and LegacyShe probably died at a young age during a plague in 639 A.D, along with her brother Zarrar. Jordan issued a stamp in her honor as part of the Arab Women in History. Many Arab cities have schools and institutions carrying the name of Khawla Bint al-Azwar. Today, an Iraqi all-women military unit is named the Khawlah bint al-Azwar unit in Khawlah’s honor.

[urfavmurtad]

What is your opinion on Khawla bint al-Azwar and Nusaybah Bint Kaab?

You mean if they were real or not? (Or if the stories about them are real or not, rather.) Nusaybah has more points in her favor than Khawlah does. Khawlah seems mythical whereas Nusaybah was at least a real person.

For those who don’t know, these are two ladies who were supposed to have taken part in some battles. Khawlah appears during the Islamic conquests and has a kind of Mulan-esque story, where she disguised herself and fought after her brother was captured by the Byzantine army. Nusaybah on the other hand appears earlier on in Islamic history, supposedly taking part in at least one of the battles against the Quraysh (and is sometimes said to have also participated in the Ridda Wars) with the knowledge of men around her.

As far as I know, Khawlah only begins appearing in medieval times (~1000s AD). Her first appearance is in a book attributed to the historian al-Waqidi called the Conquests of the Syria Region (Futuh Sham). This has long been recognized as a false attribution; the author is sometimes referred to as “Pseudo-Waqidi” in Western writings. The book has a bunch of colorful anecdotes and is generally meant to be entertaining rather than an actual historical source. So based on her total absence from any earlier or more reliable texts, I would classify Khawlah as a folk heroine.

Nusaybah is more interesting because there might be an actual basis to her story. She is listed as one of the early Ansar (Muslims from Medina) converted by a missionary Mohammed sent to the city. Apparently she was one of only two women present at the whole pledging incident that got Mo kicked out of Mecca. A bunch of sources say that she was at the Battle of Uhud, and sometimes she’s mentioned in other battles as well. Nusaybah is mentioned in some legitimate sources like Ibn Saad’s Tabaqat and Ibn Hisham’s sira, and her son and grandson transmitted some ahadith from her so at least she was a real person. The question is how much of this whole combat thing is based in historical accounts.

It was fairly common for pre-Islamic/early Islamic Arab women to be at battles, we at least know that much for a fact. They weren’t fighting, usually–they provided supportive roles like medical care, giving men water and supplies, or singing songs and reciting poetry to pump up their side and demoralize the other side. There are a small handful of semi-reliable stories placing women in combat, both on the Muslim side and on the enemy’s side, but it seems as though it was very rare.

So it’s possible that Nusaybah was at least present as a helper or whatever during some battles (if you’re picturing like… hellish, world-ending battles, it wasn’t like that, most of these were fairly low-casualty conflicts with less than 100 dead in total). And the story of her at the Battle of Uhud basically says that she didn’t set out to battle, she only ended up fighting when the Muslim army started to flee, leaving Mohammed behind with only a small group.

There are at least five versions of this story just in those two sources I mentioned. The one that both versions share was transmitted via Abu Zayd al-Ansari. I have no idea how reliable the story is, but it’s at least in legitimate ~800s AD sources. There are later and less reliable versions of the story that elaborate on it, but this is what it says:

I went out at the beginning of the day to see what the men were doing, carrying [water], and I came up to [Mohammed] who was with his companions while the battle was in their favour. When the [Muslims] were defeated, I [went to Mohammed] and stood up joining in the fight and protecting him with my sword and shooting with my bow until I suffered many wounds.

It goes on to say that she tried to stab a guy but couldn’t get past the armor he was wearing.

Now I will add that this story is absent from earlier (and other ~800s era) sources, and it wasn’t part of Ibn Ishaq’s original sira. The Battle of Uhud is portrayed as, like “the Muslims lost but the Quraysh just went home and said they’d meet again at Badr” in early sources and then it gets very dramatic as time goes on. Also, the pledging incident I mentioned involved the Ansar pledging to support Mohammed in battle (which is why the Meccans were pissed off about it), so this story may well have been created to show that even the women who pledged to him did in fact stand beside him in battle. But hey, I’ll grant it the “plausible” label, and we can at least say Nusaybah has a much stronger basis in history than Khawlah does.

Nusaybah is often said to have also been in the Battle of Yamama, which was part of a frustratingly vaguely-documented era called the Ridda Wars during the caliphate of Abu Bakr. After Mo died, various people tried to get in on his whole prophet-warlord technique, and one such guy was Maslama from the Najd region. Abu Bakr ordered his forces to put down Maslama’s rebellion, and so they battled at a place called Yamama. The Muslims won but endured a lot of casualties.

What she actually did at Yamama tends to vary from source to source, and in general this story is shakier than the one at Uhud. Some of the stories cast Nusaybah as an old woman whose son had died at Maslama’s hands and she wanted to avenge him. Some have her losing a hand or losing a whole arm; some have her killing Maslama himself (the more legitimate stories say he was killed by one of Abu Bakr’s soldiers), etc. These stories vary way too much for us to say they have a solid basis in history imo. Some other stories place her in other conquest expeditions like Khaybar, Hunayn etc but that’s where you start to get into really dicey sources.

The most I can say here is that it’s possible Nusaybah was at Uhud. Everything else is kinda “ehh it makes for a good story” territory.

[falzaaaam]

My prince, I did not answer because I am shy. You are a great leader, and I am only a woman whose heart is burning.“

-Khawla Bint Al Azwar when she was asked ‘who are you’ several times by Khalid ibn Al-walid رضي الله عنه

[ask-about-islam]

i know this is random, but do u think its okay to have art of a hijabi woman in a girl gang? (like a sukeban) even if it's not supposed to be taken seriously?

This is a question that is generally outside of religious jurisprudence.  Historically, I can mention the examples of women in the time of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ who were warriors and fought to defend the Muslim world.  Umm Amara was a woman who defended Muhammad ﷺ in the Battle of Uhud.  Khawla bint al-Azwar was a woman who fought for the Rashidun Army (alongside the famous general Khalid bin Walid), and even escaped from a Byzantine POW Camp.  Perhaps more relevant to you, Sayyida al Hurra was a legit pirate queen, whose fleet controlled much of the Mediterranean in the 1500s.  There are many many other examples of women like this in Islamic History.

So, again, without making a theological judgement, I can say with certainty that there is a long history of Muslim women being tough and taking up arms.

[schweizercomics]

hey could you draw Khawla bint al Azwar? she was a young Muslim warrior woman what I could find about her was: she had brown hair and was said to be very beautiful and allegedly shy she wore a hijab on a daily basis but wore a niqab one battle She was at first a military nurse who started the position as soon as her brother warrior-poet Dhirar became a soldier. he was captured by the Byzantine empire and she rescued him wearing a man's armour and fought alongside him in many battles later on

She’s on my someday list; the main reason she wasn’t on the first round of drawings was that most of her actual fighting (at least what I’d read) was done disguised as a fella, and I wanted the series to highlight that there have been many occasions throughout history when women fought without having to disguise their gender (hopefully upturning historical assumptions that it has always been expected that only men could fight in formal military settings). 

That doesn’t mean that these other women aren’t equally worthy of study or acclaim, but they didn’t fit the specific agenda of the Warrior Women Wednesdays project. If I end up doing my one-piece-a-day art down the road, I’ll certainly find the chance to give her the drawing treatment.

[hzaidan]

10 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretation of the Koran, Khawla bint Al-Azwar was a Muslim Arab warrior

Khawlah bint al Azwar. Buffy Mega Khawla bint Al-Azwar, who lived in 7th Century Arabia, was the daughter of a powerful chief of the Bani Assad tribe. As a young girl Khawla learned swordsmanship and literary from her brother Zirrar… Please follow link for full post

[jordanianroyals]

Royal Fashion → Training workshop, Khawla Bint Al Azwar Secondary School for Girls (4 August 2015)

Valentino waffle piqué bib sangallo lace shirt ($2,935)

Ana Khouri “Arachnid” pavé diamond earrings with white gold (£3,923)

[storiesofthesahabah]

Do you use amulets? Do you know people who do? I know this is quite spread out in cultures and traditions or sayings of the elders for I used to hear elders giving you pieces of papers or stuff to put on you and telling you this will protect you. Astagfirullah. We rely on Allah, especially for protection. So I thought as an enlightenment on this issue, I would share a story about this famous Sahabi RA and his story would defy all your thoughts on wearing amulets. in sha Allah. ____ During the conquests that were done from the time of Abu Bakr RA, there was a unit amongst the Muslim army called Mubarizun and this unit was lead by Khalid Ibn Al Walid, it was composed of the best of the best warrior from every kind of weapon - champions as you would say. Mubarizun (duelists) are the one who would always be the first to fight before the whole army would fight with each other, this was the way the battles were done during the time of Sahabah RA. Now, this sahabi that I am talking about is someone who was amongst the Mubarizun unit, a man who was expert with all kinds of weapons whether it be sword or the spear of the bow and arrow, an ace rider as well. Ma sha Allah. He was Dhirrar Ibn Al Azwar, the brother of the famous Khawla Bint Al Azwar! But his name is more known because of the title he was given, “The Naked Champion”, yes, you read that right. He has such courage that when he was fighting for the sake of Allah, he didn’t wear armor or shield rather he would plunge into the enemy lines only with the belief that Allah is the Most Powerful, the Protector and that Allah will not let down the Muslims. -this was his shield, his armor no “worldly” protection was hung on him, or clothed him but only the Protection of Allah Azza Wa Jall. One of the battles that highlighted this event was the battle of Ajnadayn wherein as a member of the elite unit of Mubarizun, he came forward and approached the Romans to fight with him and during this time, he was actually wearing armor, helmet and was carrying a shield and in the narration it was said that his poetry, the way he provoked the Romans were so powerful that after some time Romans answered his challenge and (this is the best part) the moment the Romans came forward to attack him, he immediately removed every single armor he had, the helmet even the shield and plunged into the enemies and Allah made him arose from it, victorious.  Dhirrar RA didn’t had amulets, he didn’t have papers with illegible writings on it but he had the firm and steadfast belief in Allah that caused him to have such unshakable courage that even infront of thousands of enemies, he would plunge into it not fearing if he would die with one struck of a sword because in his heart, he is with Allah Azza Wa Jall and Allah will protect him. Subhan’Allah. _____ It is sad to know that some Muslims nowadays rely on amulets rather than with Allah or worst is that they rely on the amulet and justifying that it is from the Qur’an or that it is a way from Allah to protect them or rather just associating it as a partner of Allah. Astagfirullah. Indeed, such stories of these great companions bring us so much motivation and knowledge that would make us ponder about our actions and deeds and puts us right back to our rightful places. Rely on Allah, know that if Allah protects you no army could harm you, so seek the protection of the One whom protects the best! This courage, this unshakable courage that Dhirrar RA had comes only from the firm and steadfast belief in Allah, and you find this kind of courage on every if not almost all the stories of these great companions. O how beautiful would it be when we rely on no one except in Allah.  Hasbun’Allah wa nimal wakeel. _____ And we pray that we all ponder hard from this story of Dhirrar RA and may Allah protect every single Muslim from the dangers of shirk. Amin Zohayma ______ Stories were taken from: • Commanders of the Muslim Army, Ghadanfar, pp.320-328 • Yarmuk 636: The Muslim Conquest of Syria, David, 1994

[webpaki]

Military And Peacekeeping Programme For Arab Women Launched

Military And Peacekeeping Programme For Arab Women Launched

A ceremony to mark the launch of the military and peacekeeping programme for Arab women was held today at the Khawla bint Al Azwar Military School in Abu Dhabi ABU DHABI, (WebPaki / Pakistan News / WAM – 05th Feb, 2019) A ceremony to mark the launch of the military and peacekeeping programme for Arab women was held today at the Khawla bint Al Azwar Military school in Abu Dhabi.

Staff Colonel…

[heartsfindrest-blog]

Khawla bint al-Azwar

When the news of her brother's captivity reached her, she-without a single thought of doubt- picked up her sword and cut through the army of Romans as an arrow. When Khalīd bin Walid (The Sword of Allah!) pursued her to reveal herself on the battlefield, as he was impressed, she turned away saying "I am a daughter of my people and I have done what I did due to my aching heart and out of desperate hope..." Overcome by modesty, she continued - "...I picked up my sword, mounted my horse and acted as you have seen me act."

Her enemy -the Roman leader - asked to marry her to which she replied without an atom of fear in her heart: "I wouldn't even accept you to be a shepherd of my camels! How do you expect me to degrade myself and live with you?"

May Allah be pleased with her.