Aïcha Al-Qourtoubiya (? – around 1010) is an Andalusian poet, woman of letters and calligrapher who contributed to the influence of Cordoba.
Caliphate of Cordoba
Aïcha Al-Qourtoubiya lives in the golden age of Al-Andalus. She was born in the 10 th century, probably within the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba. The city then knows its apogee; one of the most populated in the West, it is a real cultural and intellectual center and has more than nine hundred public baths and six hundred mosques.
Aïcha probably comes from a well-to-do family of scholars. We know very little about her existence, except that she is a cultured woman and a lover of beautiful letters. His bold poems, mostly written in Arabic, were often read and acclaimed at court.
“I am a lioness”
Aïcha Al-Qourtoubiya is also famous as a speaker and as a calligrapher. The beauty of her writing is widely recognized, and she makes several copies of the Koran and a few other books with her own hand. Intelligent, cultured and interested in science, she collects books in her library.
Aisha strives to remain single, rejecting all her suitors, until her death at the start of the civil war in Al-Andalus. One of his most famous poems is a sarcastic response to a rejected suitor.
I am a lioness
and I will never allow my body
to be someone's resting place. But if I did,
I wouldn't give in to a dog ─
and oh! the lions I drove away!