Ghazala al-Haruriyya

Ghazāla al-Harūriyya (غزالة الحرورية) was the wife of Habib ibn-Yazīd al-Harūrī, founder of the Harūriyya sect of Kharijite Islam, which held that it is permissible to entrust the imamate to a woman if she is able to carry out the required duties.

Ghazāla commanded troops, following in the footsteps of previous Muslim women like Juwayriyya bint al-Ḥārith at the Battle of Yarmuk. In one battle, she put the famous Umayyad Iraqi general Hajjāj ibn-Yūsuf to flight.

In 677 AD (77 AH), after having controlled the city of Kufa for a day, Ghazāla led her male warriors in prayer as well as recited two of the longest chapters from the Quran during the prayer in the Mosque