Layla al-Akhyaliyya
ليلى الأخيلية
the poetess; in al-Baladhuri via al-Mada'ini, she came to al-Hajjaj who honored her, and asked a letter to his Rayy agent — dying at Sawa, where she lies buried.
At a glance
- Era
- The Rashidun Caliphate · The Umayyad Period · The Early Abbasid Caliphate
- Region
- Persia & Central Asia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Overview
A poet. Al-Baladhuri relays from al-Mada'ini that she came to al-Hajjaj, who gave her a gift, and she asked him to write for her to his governor in al-Rayy. When she reached Sawa, she died and was buried there. 1
Al-Mas'udi says that al-Hajjaj never showed his boon companions a cheerfulness like the day Layla al-Akhyaliyya entered upon him, when she apologised to him as she passed the grave of Tawba ibn al-Humayyir. He liked her words and fulfilled her needs. Hammad the transmitter relates that she went down into his grave and died and was buried beside him. 2
The two accounts differ on the place of her death, and the two sources are reported here without a preference.
Sources
- Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition), p.434-439
- Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi, p.131-132
- الدولة الأموية — بكر محمد إبراهيم بكر (الطبعة الأولى، مركز الراية للنشر والإعلام، القاهرة 2002)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Layla al-Akhyaliyya”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/layla-al-akhyaliyya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.