"Alas for the people who are ruled by a woman!"

The position of woman among the Arabs before the times of Mohammed can
be easily inferred from what has preceded. But there is another side to
the picture. Although despised and abused, woman often asserted her
dignity and maintained her rights, not only by physical force, but by
intellectual superiority as well. The poetesses of the Arabs are
numerous, and some of them hold a high rank. Their poetry was impromptu,
impassioned, and chiefly of the elegiac and erotic type. The faculty of
improvisation was cultivated even by the most barbarous tribes, and
although such of their poetry as has been preserved is mostly a kind of
rhymed prose, it often contains striking and beautiful thoughts. They
called improvised poetry "the daughter of the hour."

The queen of Arabic poetesses is El Khunsa, who flourished in the days
of Mohammed. Elegies on her two warrior brothers Sakhr and Mu'awiyeh are
among the gems of ancient Arabic poetry. She was not what would be
called in modern times a refined or delicate lady, being regarded as
proud and masculine in temper even by the Arabs of her own age. In the
eighth year of the Hegira, her son Abbas brought a thousand warriors to
join the forces of the Prophet. She came with him and recited her poetry
to Mohammed. She lamented her brother for years. She sang of Sakhr:

"His goodness is known by his brotherly face,
Thrice blessed such sign of a heavenly grace:
You would think from his aspect of meekness and shame,
That his anger was stirred at the thought of his fame.
Oh rare virtue and beautiful, natural trait,
Which never will change by the change of estate!