IL POETA AL-FIND AL-ZIMMĀNĪ E LE SUE FIGLIE IN BATTAGLIA

The life of women in pre-Islamic era, handed down by the voices of Arab poets and elaborated later by philologists, is a source of experience worthy of note: women inspiring love and women instigating the battle, invoking revenge and taking an active part in the course of Ayyām al-'Arab. In this context, we can remark the proud attitude of the two daughters of the famous poet-knight al-Find al-Zimmānī. The two women, defined devils (šayṭānatān), bring the battle screaming intense verses, unveiling their bodies. Their participation in the yawm al-taḥāluq dispels the image of the Arab woman poets devoted almost exclusively to the elegy. Their story, handed down in the Kitāb al-Aġānī, reveals a significant moment in the Arabic history and literature, bringing to light a different perspective, not only poetic but also of gender.