‘In a battle that took place in Beit Lahia near Ajnadin, Khalid [ibn Walid] watched a knight, in black attire, with a big green shawl wrapped around his waist and covering his chest. That knight broke through the Roman ranks like an arrow. Khalid and the others followed him and joined battle ... wondering about the identity of the unknown knight,” wrote the Arab historian, Al Waqidi, in his book The Conquest of Al Sham.
That black-clad knight disguised as a man was the Muslim Arab woman warrior Khawlah bint Al Azwar. Born in the seventh century in the area that today comprises Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, Khawlah’s beauty, bravery and poetry have lasted the test of time and have become the stuff of legends. Daughter of one of the chiefs of the Banni Assad tribe, she fought in many battles, and one of her more famed conquests is when she went to save her brother, Zirrar ibn Al Azwar, a famous commander in his own right, after he was captured by Byzantine forces.
Her story is still relevant, with Iraq’s all-women military unit and the Gulf’s first military college for women, based in Abu Dhabi, named after her.
An example to all powerful women in the region, she must have really bothered ISIL, because the group destroyed her grave earlier this year in Sermin village, Syria.
While many "Jihad Janes" and other women have joined the cancerous group ISIL, there have been many women fighting back. One of the newest forces that will be terrorising the terrorists is a new generation of Khawlahs known as Banat Al Haq ("girls of righteousness").
These women will be fighting in Iraq’s Anbar region, which now is largely under the control of ISIL and was previously an Al Qaeda base. It is such a dangerous area that the US has just deployed 50 troops to Anbar province to help the Iraqi forces in an advisory capacity. The women, including widows, have reportedly joined the fight as a reaction to the destruction around them and the deaths of their loved ones at the hands of the jihadists.
More and more women are fighting back against ISIL, including Kurdish Peshmergas who have been fighting for months and have died alongside the men, but whose deaths have gone unrecorded.
Their presence is most strongly felt in the Syrian town of Kobani, perched along the Turkish border. The town, surrounded on the east, south and west by ISIL, is being defended by Kurdish forces, including these brave women.
International media have reported that a Canadian-Israeli woman has joined the Kurdish force in Syria – one of the first foreigners known to have joined the defending side. There are now reportedly more than 10,000 women fighting against ISIL.
This is happening at a time when people have become used to reading about foreigners joining the dark side of ISIL. The jihadist group has been recruiting its own women, mainly to marry its fighters and function as a brutal morality police to bully other women in the areas they invade and occupy.
The role of women in this war, and in past wars, should not be underestimated or taken for granted. They not only join the fighting, they are nurses and healers on the battle ground.
The latest hero to remind us of this legacy of bravery is Maj Mariam Al Mansouri, 35, the UAE’s first female fighter pilot, who led the UAE Air Force into action against ISIL targets in Syria.
As the battles rage on against the terrorists and their ideologies, I am sure we will be hearing about more wartime heroines. Their names should be recorded in history and their sacrifices recognised and honoured, for too often it’s the unworthy Jihad Janes who get all the attention.
rghazal@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @Arabianmau
