At a glance
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Rashidun Caliphate · The Umayyad Period
- Region
- Arabia · Levant & Iraq
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
WomenPolitics, governance and authorityFactions, splits and schisms
Place in the story
- ScholarTradition
Sunni (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Summary
Amina bint al-Sharid was an eloquent woman, quick of answer, counted among the partisans of Ali ibn Abi Talib 1.
Imprisonment and curse
After Ali was killed, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan hunted his partisans; her husband Umar ibn al-Humq al-Khuza'i fled, and Mu'awiya kept Amina in Damascus prison for two years 1. Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Hakam then captured and killed Umar ibn al-Humq — the first head carried in Islam — and Mu'awiya sent it to Amina in her cell, telling the guards to record whatever she said 2.
They laid the head in her lap and she spoke her famous verses beginning "Wahazannahu li-sighrihi fi dar hawan" and cursed him 3. She was released and came before Mu'awiya in a gathering that included Iyas ibn Hilal, where she rebuked him and said to him, when he asked about killing her, "as he killed my husband yesterday" 4. Mu'awiya then gestured with his finger for her to leave and said he would not hear her in Syria again 5.
End
She took what Mu'awiya sent to silence her tongue — remarking "ya 'ajij, Mu'awiya kills my husband and sends me gifts" — and set out toward the Jazira, passing Homs where the plague killed her; al-Asla' al-Hilali then brought Mu'awiya the news that his prayer against her had been answered 5.
Connections
- Died in
- Hims (Emesa)
- Spouse of
- Umar ibn al-Humq al-Khuza'i
- Opposed
- Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan
People and things also explored
Arwa bint al-Harith· Umm Aban bint Utba· Diwan al-Barid (the postal diwan)· Ali declines to keep Muawiya in office· Qays ibn Sa'd's governorship of Egypt and Ali's letter to him· al-Zarqa' bint Adi al-Kufiyya· Hind bint Utba· Ikrisha bint al-Atrash
Sources
- A'lam al-Nisa' fi Alamay al-Arab wa-al-Islam — Umar Rida Kahhala, vol. 1 (Mu'assasat al-Risala, Beirut, 5th ed. 1984) , p. 15
- A'lam al-Nisa' fi Alamay al-Arab wa-al-Islam — Umar Rida Kahhala, vol. 1 (Mu'assasat al-Risala, Beirut, 5th ed. 1984) , p. 15-16
- A'lam al-Nisa' fi Alamay al-Arab wa-al-Islam — Umar Rida Kahhala, vol. 1 (Mu'assasat al-Risala, Beirut, 5th ed. 1984) , p. 16
- A'lam al-Nisa' fi Alamay al-Arab wa-al-Islam — Umar Rida Kahhala, vol. 1 (Mu'assasat al-Risala, Beirut, 5th ed. 1984) , p. 16-17
- A'lam al-Nisa' fi Alamay al-Arab wa-al-Islam — Umar Rida Kahhala, vol. 1 (Mu'assasat al-Risala, Beirut, 5th ed. 1984) , p. 17
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Amina bint al-Sharid”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/amina-bint-al-sharid/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-09.
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