al-Sayyida bint al-Mansur al-Sanhajiyya (Umm Malal)

Al-Sayyida bint al-Mansur ibn Yusuf al-Sanhaji, known as Umm Malal, is described by Kahhala in A'lam al-Nisa' as a woman of influence, authority, intelligence and judgement; she was born at the palace of al-Mansuriyya at Sabra, a mile from Kairouan, and grew up in the care of her father al-Mansur, ruler of Ifriqiya, and her brother Badis, his heir, receiving a fine education in letters and learning. ¹

Kahhala says she surpassed her brother Nasir al-Dawla Badis, who made her a partner in government and took her advice on state policy, and that his preoccupation with putting down revolts across the realm allowed her to share in policy and in relations with neighbouring states. ¹

In 406 AH Badis set out against rebels in the central Maghrib and died at al-Masila; the great men of the state concealed his death and agreed to proclaim his son al-Mu'izz, not yet nine, who took the throne in Dhu al-Hijja 406, and they made his aunt Umm Malal his guardian until he came of age. She governed the realm, rode out in procession among banners to celebrate his accession, and continued until he was ready to take power, al-Mu'izz acknowledging what he owed her. ^{1 2}

She fell gravely ill and died in Rajab 414 AH; al-Mu'izz prayed over her. Kahhala relates from Abu al-Qasim al-Raqiq a coffin of Indian aloeswood set with jewels and gold plates, says she was carried to al-Mahdiyya and buried there, that al-Mu'izz distributed ten thousand dinars among needy women at her mourning, and that more than a hundred poets lamented her. ^{2 3} He cites Hasan Husni Abd al-Wahhab that, on closer study, she was first buried at al-Mahdiyya and then moved to Monastir, to the cemetery of the Sanhaja princes known after her as "the Sayyida's cemetery". ³