If there is an iconic woman in the mythical imaginary of Al Andalus, it was Wallada Bint Al Mustakfi. Wallada Bint Al Mustakfi. Daughter of the eleventh Umayyad caliph, born in the midst of the crumbling of the Andalusian splendor, Wallada managed to break many of the female clichés of the time and escaped from male tutelage to open a literary salon and give free rein to her creative energy.

Al Mustakfi’s daughter defied patriarchal power, even in her turbulent and transgressive relationship with the poet Ibn Zaydun, whose story is the origin of some of the most passionate pages of medieval literature. The Andalusian sources describe it as a secret and stark love, conditioned by the family rivalry between the Banu Yahwar and the Umayyads. Eight of Wallada’s nine surviving poems evoke her tormented passionate attachment to Zaydun.

Wallada’s is not a paradigmatic story of Andalusian women. She represents, in any case, the model of the courtesan woman integrated in the circles of power. In reality, there is no female pattern in Al Andalus. “There is a great difference between them, both from a social and cultural point of view,” says the Arabist Manuela Marín, author of Women of Al Andalusone of the reference titles.

Their research reveals that the information available in the sources reflects much more judgmental elements about urban and affluent women. “About women in the field, we have very little information,” she points out. This gap significantly affects gender studies on the Andalusian period. In part, archaeology is correcting this gap in recent decades, thanks to the tracing of domestic structures and the assignment of roles in residential areas.

Social differences mark gender patterns. “Affluent women do not leave their homes. And rural women work in the fields, as in any traditional society,” explains the researcher. With some exceptions, women do not hold relevant public positions. There are no women judges, doctors or police officers. On the other hand, many of them exercised a notable social or political influence, mainly women from the upper classes. There is the case of Subh, the favorite concubine of Al Hakam II and mother of Hisham II, of whom she was regent in alliance with Almanzor.

They also play an important role as patrons, especially as promoters of public works, mainly pious, such as mosques, madrasas or charitable institutions. They are women belonging to the circles of power who, due to different circumstances, have ended up managing important sums of money or material properties. Others, such as the daughter of Abderraman II, specialized as a copyist of the Koran.

In many respects, Andalusian women played a social role similar to other women in medieval societies of the time. Almost always in the narrow margin of the domestic space. “This is a profile typical of patriarchal societies in general,” emphasizes Manuela Marín. Although there are some women who go beyond the social framework assigned to them and manage to set up their own business or carry out certain professional activities.

It must be taken into account that the chronicles are written by men and their points of view are sifted by the male gaze, with its macho prejudices and moral biases. Women, therefore, are often invisibilized and when they appear on the scene they are subject to multiple clichés. “To the chroniclers it doesn’t look good at all that there is a woman with political relevance. This happened in Al Andalus and in any Christian kingdom in the Middle Ages,” says the arabist.

What did distinguish the Andalusian woman from the Christian woman of the north was her economic independence, as required by Islamic law. “They are economic subjects and have their own assets separate from those of their husbands,” Manuela Marín remarks. “And that in a Christian society took until the 19th century.” In inheritance, however, they receive half as much as their male siblings.

The arabist Bárbara Boloix, PhD in Arabic Philology from the University of Granada, has also researched the role of women in Al Andalus. In 2013 he published The Sultanas of the Alhambra where she examines the social status and political influence of women in the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. Although they could not legally occupy public positions of power, in practice they exercised it behind the scenes.

The Nasrid court system was plagued by bloody litigation and frequent political assassinations, forcing many women to cross the threshold of their private lives to take on administrative responsibilities as regents of their own children. Boloix also highlights how Islamic law gives women the ability to own property. So they could buy, sell or rent, as reflected in the abundant documentation available.

They also frequently fulfilled diplomatic functions. Zahra Riad, the second wife of Mohammad IX, exchanged letters with the queen of Aragon. In some cases, for example, women reached high levels of cultural or scientific training. Fatima Bin Al Ahmar, mother of Ismail I, exhibited a vast culture and devoted herself to the transmission of works and masters of her time.

Professor Caridad Ruiz de Almodóvar is the author of the study Women in Muslim Legislation and has focused part of her academic career on gender issues. The arabist recalls that Islamic law treats men and women as equals “because they were created by Allah”. Islam prohibited the archaic practices of female infanticide and allowed them to be part of the family inheritance. However, according to Ruiz de Almodóvar, it assigns them a different nature and establishes the “preeminence” of the man as “provider and protector” of the family.

Several aleyas halved the value of female testimony and prohibited women’s access to public office, while in marriage, progress was made by stipulating the consent of both parties and allowing its dissolution. The wife receives a dowry of which she is the legal owner and therefore financially sovereign.

As in similar contexts of their time, the women of Al Andalus maintained traditional roles and experienced significant advances in some cases, particularly in court circles, which sowed the seeds of profound social transformations.