Umm al-Khayr bint al-Huraysh al-Bariqiyya

Umm al-Khayr bint al-Huraysh al-Bariqiyya was, in the words of Kahhala in A'lam al-Nisa', one of the "mistresses of eloquence"; she lived at Kufa, supported Ali ibn Abi Talib at Siffin, and later came before Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan. ¹

He relates that Mu'awiya wrote to his governor at Kufa to send her to him, promising to reward the governor according to what she said of him, good for good and evil for evil. When the governor read her the letter she said she was neither turning from obedience nor making false excuses, and that she had long wished to meet him over matters stirring in her breast. When he reminded her of Mu'awiya's promise, she said: "Your kindness to me will not make me dress up falsehood, nor will your acquaintance with me make me say anything of you but the truth." ¹

Mu'awiya lodged her with the women of his household for three days, then received her on the fourth before an assembly, and a quick-witted exchange followed. He asked about her speech on the day Ammar ibn Yasir was killed; she said she had neither prepared it beforehand nor polished it afterward — they were words her tongue threw out in the shock of battle. ^{1 2} Mu'awiya had one of his men who had memorised it recite it: he described her that day on a dark camel, whip in hand, addressing Ali's army — urging them to stand firm, citing Muhammad 31 on trial, praying that God unite them in piety, praising Ali for his kinship to the Prophet ﷺ, his precedence and his feats at Badr, Uhud and Hunayn, and attacking Mu'awiya and the Syrians in harsh terms. ^{2 3 4}

Mu'awiya said she had meant nothing by that speech but his death; she answered that it would not grieve her if it were so. He asked her about Uthman; she said people had made him caliph unwillingly and killed him willingly, then added that she meant no disparagement — he had been quick to good deeds and high in rank. Of Talha she said he was struck down where he felt safe, though the Prophet had promised him Paradise; of al-Zubayr she first begged to be excused, then called him the son of the Prophet's aunt and his disciple, promised Paradise, and asked Mu'awiya by God's right to excuse her from such questions. He excused her and sent her home with honour. ⁴

The stories of these 'women who came before Mu'awiya' are told in the adab literature; Kahhala takes them from Ibn Tayfur's Balaghat al-Nisa', al-Iqd al-Farid, Subh al-A'sha, Ibn Asakir's history and Nihayat al-Arab. They voice the positions their speakers took in the civil war, and the museum gives them as attributed reports, without a verdict. ⁴