Fatima al-Suqutriyya

Fāṭima bint Aḥmad Muḥammad al-Jahḍamī , known as Fāṭima al-Suqutriyya (, Fatima the Socotran) and nicknamed al-Zahra on the model of the Prophet's daughter Fāṭima, for whom al-Zahra ('the shining one') was a popular epithet, was a Yemeni writer and poet who lived on the island of Socotra in the third century AH (816–913 CE). She is thought to be the first known Socotran poet.

Biography Little is actually known about al-Suqutriyya. She was a poet and was related to Sultan al-Qāsim bin Muḥammad al-Jahḍamī, the ruler of the Yemeni island of Socotra. He was killed by Ethiopians who attacked the island. The Imam sent a fleet of one hundred boats to Socotra, defeating the Ethiopian force on Socotra.

Al-Suqutriyya died some time after the year 273 AH / 886 CE.

Reception Al-Suqutriyya is considered a lost voice in Omani literature, whose work was re-discovered in the twentieth century. In the assessment of Serge D. Elie, her poem seems to be the first act of writing—or more aptly, discursive insurrection—attributed to a Soqotran, and as such it is the source of pride among Soqotrans. However, as this poem became part of popular ‘historiology’—that peculiar combination of orality and literacy, resulting into a synthesis of fact and fiction—the incident was believed to have taken place during the time of the Portuguese, and through a process of osmosis (as literacy remains a problem) has permeated the culture and shaped collective memory. This programme became controversial when it was aired in Socotra, because it claimed that Al-Suqutriyya was from Oman. A resident of the island, Abdul Karim Qabalan, called on the television company to apologise.