A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Khaula
K.
KHAULA, (an Arabian Heroine)
Amongst this warlike and unsettled nation, when the flower of any tribe went upon a distant enterprize, some hostile neighbours would often attack those they had left behind, and thence arose, perhaps, the custom of the Arabian women, even of the highest rank, attending their husbands, fathers, and brothers, in their military expeditions, and fighting, often with a degree of heroism not inferior to the fabled achievements of the ancient Amazons. We have many instances of the day having been restored by them after the men had fled; but none more remarkable than the famous battle of Yermouks, fought in the year 636, which proved decisive of the fate of Syria, and of the Greek empire of the east.
The Grecians greatly out-numbered the Arabians, and their onset was so impetuous that they drove them to their tents: there the fugitives were stopped by the women, who alternately encouraged and reproached them; they threatened even to join the Greeks; and one of their bravest officers appearing disposed for flight, a lady knocked him down with a tent pole, saying, "Advance; paradise is before your face! Fly, and the fire of hell is at your back!" The chief women then took the command, and made head, till night parted the combatants. The next day they led them again to the attack, a young lady, named Khaula, sister to one of the principal commanders, acting as general. In leading the van, she was beaten to the ground by a Greek; when Wafeira, one of her female friends, striking off his head at a blow, brought the heroine off. Animated by the noble behaviour of the women, the Arabs soon became irresistible, and routed the Grecian army, with the loss, it is said, of 150,000 killed, and about 50,000 prisoners. Khauli was afterwards espoused by the khaliff Ali.
"Nothing is so disgusting as unnecessary bravadoes, or uselessly running into dangers in women. They have seldom any opportunity or rather need of being heroines, except by suffering with patience and fortitude whatever pains and misfortunes may fall to their lot in this life. But sometimes there are occasions which awaken active courage; and when duty or compassion call for more than customary exertions, they must want even feminine excellence to be deaf to it; and bereft of generosity, sense and feeling, to be helpless at such a juncture."