"Islam began as a stranger and will go back to being a stranger just as it began, so give glad tidings to the strangers."

Saturday, September 19, 2009

The OTHER Veiled Knight

Assalamu Alaikum brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, atheists and christians, Muslims, and non-Muslims :),
Today I found out about another VeiledKnight in the blogger world, and I hope she doesn't already have bad feelings towards me. I want everyone to know that I would NEVER copy or plagiarise anyone's work or ideas. So just for the record, I thought the name VeiledKnight was original and that I was the one who thought of it. Here my brothers and sisters is the story of the first VeiledKnight in the history of the world.
Her name remained greatly unknown, until the battle of Ajnadin, not far from Jerusalem, where Derar lost his spear, fell from his horse, and was taken prisoner. She disguised herself as a male knight, took her arms and rode her horse through the Roman ranks, using her sword skillfully against whoever tried to stop her. The Muslim soldiers, and their leader Khalid Ibn-Al-Waleed (RadiyaAllahu 3anhu), watched her with great admiration, presuming that she was a man. The 'man' had a green shawl wrapped around 'his' waist and covering whatever part of 'his' dress that was tight. That knight broke through the Roman ranks as an arrow. Khalid and the others followed him and joined battle, while the leader was wondering about the identity of the unknown knight. Rafe' Bin Omeirah Al Taei described how that knight scattered the enemy ranks, disappeared in their midst, reappeared after a while with blood dripping from his spear. He swerved again and repeated the deed fearlessly, several times. All the Muslim army was worried about him and prayed for his safety. Rafe' and others thought that he was Khalid, who had won great fame for his bravery and genius military plans. But suddenly Khalid appeared with a number of knights. Rafe' asked the leader: “Who is that knight? By God, he has no regard for his safety!"
Khalid answered that he didn't know the man, though he greatly admired his courage. He called on the army to attack as one man and to make sure that they protect their hero(ine). They were fascinated as they watched the knight appear with a number of Roman knights chasing him. Then he would turn around and kill the nearest before resuming his attacks.The Romans eventually lost the battle and fled, leaving many dead and wounded in the battlefield. Khalid looked for the knight until he found him. By then he was covered in blood. He praised his bravery and asked him to remove his veil. But the knight did not answer, and tried to break away. The soldiers wouldn't let him do that. And everyone asked him to reveal his identity.When the knight found that there was no way to avoid that, he replied in a feminine voice: "My prince, I did not answer because I am shy. You are a great leader, and I am only a woman whose heart is burning."
"Who are you?" Khalid insisted."I am Khawlah Bint Al Azwar. I was with the women accompanying the army, and when I learnt that the enemy captured my brother, I did what I did."Khalid ordered his army to chase the fleeing Roman army, with Khawla leading the attack, looking in all directions for her brother, but in vain. By noontime, the victory was decisive. Most of the Roman soldiers were killed.Knowing that the prisoners had to be somewhere, Khalid sent Khawla with a number of knights to find them. After a hot chase, they managed to catch up with a Roman detachment that was taking the prisoners to their headquarters. Another fight took place, the Roman guards were all killed and the prisoners saved.
In another battle in Ajnadin, Khawla's spear broke, and her mare was killed, and she found herself a prisoner. But she was astonished to find that the Romans attacked the women camp and captured several of them. Their leader gave the prisoners to his commanders, and ordered Khawla to be moved into his tent. She was furious, and decided that to die is more honorable than living in disgrace. She stood among the other women, and called them to fight for their freedom and honor or die. The others were enthusiastic to her plan. They took the tents' poles and pegs and attacked the Roman guards, keeping a formation of a tight circle, as she told them.Khawla led the attack, killed the first guard with her pole, with the other women following her. According to Al Waqidi, they managed to kill 30 Roman knights, while Khawla was encouraging them with her verses, which in fact caused their blood to boil.The Roman leader was infuriated by what happened, and led a detachment of his knights against the women, though he tried first to tempt them with many promises. He told Khawla that he planned to marry her and make her the first lady of Damascus. But she answered him calmly and with great contempt: "I wouldn't even accept you to be a shepherd of my camels! How do you expect me to degrade myself and live with you? I swear that I'll be the one to cut off your head for your insolence."In the ensuing battle, the ladies proved their mettle, kept their grounds for some time, encouraging each other and driving off the attackers with their long poles. Suddenly, Khalid and the army reached the battlefield. In the ensuing fight, over 3.000 Romans were killed. The women who took part in the fighting were proud to say that Khawla killed five knights, including the leader that insulted her.In another battle, the Muslims were overwhelmed by a much bigger Roman army. Many soldiers fled away, but not for long. Khawla and the other women met the fleeing soldiers, questioning their claims of bravery and forced them to return to the battle. The men were stunned when they saw Khawla drawing her sword and leading a counter-attack. They turned their horses and joined the battle, which was eventually won. One of the knights present that day said: "Our women were much harsher with us than the Romans. We felt that going back to fight and die was much easier than facing the fury of our women later on".Following his succession as the fourth caliph, Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) married Khawla. She became a legend during her life and remains a legend to this day. Khawla set an example to men and women alike that one should fight for what he or she believes in, and never accept defeat.Yeah, so thats the story of the lady I pen-named myself after. She is a great women, and I'm sorry to Veiled Knight if I offended her in any way.

:) -Veiled Knight

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah. uh that was long!! SORRYY!!

ModestJustice said...

No! That was AWESOME!

I just learned something new :D

So are you saying the other Veiled Knight in the blogging world was Khawla, hence writing the story of your name? Or is there really another Veiled Knight?

Either way I loved it! :)

Anonymous said...

ModestJustice: Oh, sorry I didn't make that so clear. There is one other VeiledKnight in the blogging world, and she left a comment on my blog asking if i copied her or did I not know there was another Veiled Knight. So this post was my answer to her, that I named my self not after her, but after Khawlah bint Al-Azwar. At the time I made this, I didn't even know there was soemone else with the name "Veiled Knight" these days!

Veiled Knight said...

salaam,
lol no hard feelings from me at all, just was curious how that began an if it was either a historical related name like mine was or it was s pun of sorts... Alhamdulillah sis no worries...besides you carry the name better mashaAllah :) keep it up, may Allah reward you for your efforts:)
Wasalam mal'ikram

Anonymous said...

Veiled Knight: Wa'Alaikum Assalam,
Awww, thats really nice of u. Alhamdulillah, I actually thought the name was original after studying Khawlah (R) for a competition I was participating in. I remember the day I went to my friends, telling them, "Oh i know what we shoukd call ourselves; the Veiled Knights!" I was so excited that day, that I had made a discovery of that sort, till I met the OTHER Veiled Knight on blogger.... JK!!

Imani said...

As salmualaikum!

May this comment reach you in the best state of health and iman! AMEEN.

Firstly im a new comer and MASHAALLAH ur blog is great!! are u really 12? if so subanaallah, ur so mature and admirable and i only dream to have daughters like u!! mashaallahh!!

Secondly, this is my first time hearing the story of kawlah and MANNNNN do i look up to her! shes amazing for her strength and encouragement. subanaallah im like in super awe!! our sisters in islam form the past were the BESTTTT examples of HUMANS. yayyy :D

So ur blog is a new regular inshaallah!! haha

Salaams sis!

Anonymous said...

Life's Balance Beam: Wa'alaikum assalaamu warahmatu Allahi wabarakaatuh,

MashaAllah..your comment really made me smile! When I read it, I said: "Awww..may Allah reward her!" And then I hadn't noticed my voice was so loud until I received a few bewildered stares from my family members! LOL

So welcome to the blogging world..glad to have you here!
Yes..I am twelve walHamduLillah. But since I live in the United States, I feel as if it's my duty as a Muslimah to spread the message of Islam in the best matter possible despite my age. May Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala bless you with daughters better than I inshaAllah ta'ala.

The sisters of the past..yessss!! MashaAllah they are AMAZING role models for us! I always wished we could have more Khawlahs and Khaled(Bin al-Waleed)s out here in our Ummah. May Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala bless us all! =D