Wallada bint Al-Mustakfi & Ibn Zaydun: An Unforgettable & Unfulfilled Love story | Mufti Abu Layth

Right, today I want to share take you all on a journey. Oh. Right, so whilst we I want to share with you a story. Let's time travel. This story is about love.

It's about fear. It's about suffering. It's about self-sabotaging. It's about poetry. It's about the fusion of souls. And it's about regret. Huh, what better than that?

So, to do this, guys, we've got to time travel. Chicas y chicos, gals and guys, we've got to go back almost a thousand years. Not too far from where I am and maybe where some of you are, and that is we've got to go to Southwest Europe.

España. All right. Or as it was known then, Al-Andalus. Allah. The golden era of the I was about to say Murabitun, of Banu Umayyah has come to an end. The sun has finally set on the magnificent dynasty of Banu Umayyah and Islam in the West.

Hailed in its heydays by Abd-al-Rahman III an-Nasir as the most powerful kingdom on Earth. Allah. But the sun, like all good things, Everything, once it attains perfection, once you you've hit the ceiling, the only other direction is to go down.

And so it does. The great powerful imperishable state, the what the whole of Europe bowed and saluted to, or who the king of England wrote to in a personal letter, and we'll speak about this in the future, Abdurrahman an-Nasir. His great-grandson, by the time it reaches him, the kingdom this this peninsula, the Iberian Peninsula, which is Spain and Portugal today, but Andalusia has shattered into

several little kingdoms, known in Arabic as al-Muluk wa al-Tawa'if, or Muluk al-Tawa'if. People say differently at times, but it's fine. So it's the kings and the the Tawa'if in Urdu means uh like a prostitute or a but in in in Arabic, it doesn't mean that.

It means the parties, the kind of um Yeah, like the groups, if you like, and the factions, because that's what you've got here. You've got all these different factions who have a different part of al-Andalus for themselves. So this is going on, and the great city of Cordoba is also part and parcel of this Arab tribes, this this era of Muluk what the wife of Muluk of the wife the kings of the um of the parties.

Right, so so people just you can just call it kings and kingdoms if you like. So this era of kings and kingdoms might be a better way to translate it is the downfall of Muslim Spain because you know the glory has now gone. And in this time the great grandson of Abd-al-Rahman al-Nasir is al-Mustakfi.

And he's in Cordoba. Right, so and he's going to be the stepping stone to today's story because the story is about this woman Wallada bint al-Mustakfi. She was hailed as one of the most outstanding poetesses of her era.

Acclaimed and renowned for her stunning beauty. She was someone that who the gossip and rumors and stories would go far and wide about. Okay, she loved literature, she loved poetry, she participated.

She was a woman who left an indelible mark and left her name an imprint on the legacy of what we call Islamic history. But getting to her we've got to slightly backtrack just to get a grasp.

And that is her father al-Mustakfi. In his time, he's this kind of king who ruled over Cordoba, Cordoba. And he's incredibly indulgent. As one can be. Why Why not, huh? Why not? And they say he would just spend his time with alcohol and women.

As often the 1% do. So, he just lived a life of just indulgence to the nth degree. Why not see the pleasures in this dunya? But as anyone who does that, other things get out of control.

So, in his time, there are these there is a rising power in the form of this person known His name is Jahwar. Abu al-Hazm Jahwar. And he's of uh Berber descent. But these are people who have a political standing. So, some people uh he His generally His name is Jahwar.

Some people have read it as Jahur, but it's Jahwar. He has served as a minister for the kings before Mustakfi. And he served in different amongst different dynasts. And he comes from this family where this They've all been ministers. So, they've had courtly experience, and they've worked with kings, and and he's based in Cordoba, and he's a man of great They say pious um not a pious reputation, and somebody very um

a man of his word, and a man of honor. So, what happens is in his time he starts to see Mustakfi is just drowning in decadence. So, they think, "Look, we're going to assume control here because it's not like he's got any control anyway." So, when they do, like any struggle for power, there's always some resistance and um naturally the lines are drawn and as often blood is unfortunately shed.

So, whilst the swords are drawn, Mustakfi, he is not really one for you know, for for the battlefield. So much indulgence in just the king-size in just a king-size bed has left him not of that field. You see, he plays different fields.

So, he thought, "You know what? I might as well just do one. Why not? Time for a sharp exit." So, he says to his daughter, who is al-Mustak- uh sorry, Wallada, that's his daughter, that would do. Let's I'm I'm out of here. So, she refuses. She says, "I'm not going to go with you. I'm going to stay. It's It's cowardly to run." And and and this will take us to her personality, but just to conclude on him, al-Mustakfi runs from Qurtuba.

Um he goes into some kind of hiding, on escape as a refu- as as a fugitive. Bani Jahwar, these people, they take over. Abu al-Hazm Jahwar, who is now the king that is he has taken that authority, he's considered a very uh respectable and dignified leader.

He refuses to take over the palace because he knows that Wallada and other family people are still living there. And he says that it's okay. Because as ministers we already had a very nice comfortable dwelling. And those of you that would remember from my Andalus course that Cordoba was already designed with you had Um you had Cordoba and then there was Al Madinat al-Zahra was built there as a for the kind of upper classes and the arist- aristocracy to live in.

And then Madinat al-Zahra was also built by Ibn What is it? Ibn Abi Amir. And these people like Jawhar have served as ministers with Ibn Abi Amir. So now that they are in control, they refuse to take over the palace. They say, "Look, it's fine. We're going to stay where we are." He He What he does is he resumes duties as the Imam. Like he leads certain prayers.

He visits if he finds out certain people are ill, he will try to visit them. He actually gets involved in community projects like in giving some funding, in trying to So you can imagine he's won the hearts and minds of people. And we move that to a side. Wallada. The princess, which she was, she grew up in opulence, obviously.

She was in a palace. She had wealth. Her father was very indulgent. She herself grew up very confident. She was, they say, incredibly beautiful. She herself um her mother was Spanish, European. And Spanish in the sense she was blonde, not because some Spaniards are uh slightly darker with their hair and complexion.

And she took after her mother, so you can see that she generally stood out because most people were in Andalus, especially the Muslims, they may have had like a golden kind of skin, but they they usually had darker hair and dark eyes, and but she herself had blue eyes and was blonde. So, that made her somewhat different.

But, in addition to that, she was incredibly confident. Very bold. And she would openly go out, she would be in the presence of people without hijab. She would not wear hijab. And she would um co- host these kind of socialite parties and dinners where people would come.

And especially people of some stature, and especially people that had were good at poetry or literature. She would host them. She loved poetry, and she herself competed. So, this is who we're dealing with, Wallada bint al-Mustakfi. Okay. And the king just would just let her be. They never really interfered with her, they never tried to take over or repossess whatever her assets and things like this.

They just let her be, and she thrived. And she was somebody that um even her poems, now check this out. This is a poem of hers. And this will give you an idea of her. Uh that she says, "Ana wallahi aslahu lil-ma'ali." "Amshi mishyati wa atihutiha." This is not Check the first stanza.

She says, "Wallahi, I am most cut out for grandeur, for greatness and opulence and ma'ali. Allah. She says, "I walk my special walk." Amshi mishyati. Wa ati tiha. And I do whatever the hell I want. Look at this. Like, if I want to get be lost somewhere, I'll be lost.

If I want to indulge, I'll indulge. She says, "Umakkino ashiqi min sahni khaddi." Says, "The person who loves me, I give him my cheek. I I enable him over my cheeks." Wa wa u'ti qublati min yashtahiha. She says, "And I give my kisses to whoever wants them." This is wallahi.

Look look how open And this is in that time. And by the way, this is in the time of who? Just so we could give you an idea. Who's living in Qurtuba when she's around? Ibn Abd al-Barr. The great Maliki don. Ibn Hazm. Ibn Hazm, uh most likely it it it's been argued that he was he used to attend her gatherings because Ibn Hazm was from aristocracy as well.

So, he had that link and he always grew up around women. And he And he writes this in his book, uh and that he would attend her gatherings and learn from her. This is what some historians have argued. So, these are the kind of people Abu Walid al-Baji is there. All these great people are around.

This is And they're in that same town, Qurtuba. This is what we talking about. So, And Abu al-Qasim al-Jahwar, by the way, had studied with the likes No, not with the Ibn Hazm, actually. Abu al-Qasim al-Jahwar uh uh had he studied? No. No, no, no. That's uh No, certainly he hadn't studied with uh

Yeah. But, I believe that al-Mustakfi, the indulgent father, had studied with some great uh Maliki scholars before because naturally the kings would grow up with a good education. I'm pretty sure he studied with Abu Muhammad al-Asili, who's obviously the father who's already gone out of the picture now. He, in his uh younger days, in his youth, uh he had studied, I believe, with Abu Muhammad al-Asili, who is the person who introduced Sahih al-Bukhari to um al-Andalus, the Iberian Peninsula, and it's his uh transmission of Bukhari that is part

of the He's one of the powerhouses of the transmission, and I've got that in my Bukhari gate and other uh my discussion with Dr. Abdul Majid, as well. So, okay. Now, this is Wallada. So, we mentioned her father had run gone off as a fugitive. He eventually gets tracked down and is killed.

Wallada continues her life. She is very bold and daring. She does as she pleases. She calls people. And many many a good soul is smitten Allah by her charm. That she has so many people that fall for her. And she would because she had this they say in addition to her looks, they say and her speech, she had this way that was just so like wow, you know, what a woman like that.

So, amongst the broken souls that lay in her wake is Abu al-Walid ibn Zaydun. Ibn Zaydun. Right, so just who is this character? Let us pause that and briefly just briefly introduce him. So, he's somebody who's grown up.

He He comes from a family of knowledge. And he finds himself in diplomatic positions. So, he he starts rising in the political ranks. And remember I mentioned to you that Jahwar family who take over used to be ministers.

So, Ibn Zaydun and Jahwar's son, Abu al-Hazm Jahwar's son, his name is uh his name is actually Abu al-Walid uh ibn Jahwar as well. So, Ibn Jahwar, they actually friends. So, Ibn Zaydun and Ibn Jahwar, they kind of friends because they they share that same aristocracy background. So, as he's grown older, when Jahwar, Abu al-Hazm Jahwar takes over, he takes up a diplomatic role.

So, he works as And this diplomacy role of his he'll continue to progress in and later on he ends up becoming known as Dhu al-Wizaratayn. So, he he is like the equivalent of the foreign secretary and the home secretary in one later on with the That's with this um a different dynasty, but this is the role of this person. And he becomes this huge political figure.

But also he becomes a great poet. And that side we owe to Wallada. Allah. In the words of Is it Rashi Kapoor? That may shayar to nahi magar that I'm not a poet, but this love has made him into a poet.

Allah. So, he falls for Wallada, and he falls hard. Allah. But he himself is incredibly eloquent. So, him and Wallada sparks begin to fly. Right? And they have this powerful connection straight away. But like any good tricycle there's always a third wheel.

Uh-huh. All right. Actually, there there were a few competitors, right? So, there were many people that loved were were like madly uh obsessed with Wallada because of who she is. She's this celebrity socialite and she's always out and she she's very apparent. She doesn't do hijab. She eloquent with her poetry. She invites these people, but she's not interested.

You see, it's difficult to win her over. See, many people are won over by her. What what what did he say? That's that sub ki saqi pe nazar ho ye zaruri hai magar sab pe saq no What did he say?

Sab ki saqi pe nazar ho ye zaruri hai magar sab pe He says that the one the barman the one who's giving everybody's watching him, but who that he watches everyone that's not necessary. So she's only interested. You have to be the creme de la creme the best of the best to win her over.

So a few people are trying to compete now even as they do on he has this pizzazz factor to him. Allah and he has this poetry that catches her captivates her. And she likes him and he's he's good-looking. He's handsome. And he's also of some stature. He's not he's not as high as her, but he's still you know he's a minister. He works for the Jahwar.

Now admittedly the Jahwar were against the Umayyad, but still they you know he's fine. She takes a liking to him. But there's some people competing. Now there's another character. There's two actually one I believe his name is Alqallasi or something. But there's another main character by the name of Abu Amir. Uh Uh what's his what's his name that we're dealing with here?

Very popular Ibn Abdus Abu Amir Ibn Abdus. There's a famous Maliki by the way with the name Ibn Abdus. This is obviously not him who has the book uh the uh not the the Majmua which is the Maliki mother text of Ibn Abdus. But this Ibn Abdus Abu Amir Ibn Abdus he works he also comes in and out of the palace.

He's got a ministerial role as well. But he's not as charming he's not as handsome as Ibn Zaydun. And his poetry ain't on that level. But he's still trying. You know, it was one of those who tries too hard. He's one of those characters. Trying too hard, y'all, this one. So, what happens is the relationship between Ibn Zaydun and Wallada is blossoming, and they arguably, they get up to the fun and the fishier of fun, shall we say.

But, there's always these question marks. And they're all what we would call today mind games. Now, the question is, why were these mind games there? One could come up with many reasons, but I would say it's just the fitra of insan.

You see, this fear, perhaps disguised as practicality. That often we take the path of fear. People may self-sabotage. So, Wallada had this thing about her that she would often um she would kind of tease. She would tease Ibn Zaydun. Like, she would never openly Yes, she's with him.

Let's say she's with him, but she would also entertain other people. She wasn't like, you know, I'm not yours, yours. I'm not committed. I'm committed, but not committed, man. Samjh aaya karo. Janam, samjh aaya karo. So, Wallada bint al-Mustakfi. So, you can imagine this would uh wind up Ibn Zaydun. Now, Ibn Zaydun is saying all this poetry to her.

Uh there's an epic one of his that agharu alayki uh min nafsi wa minni. So, let me just bring that back. So, Ibn Zaydun saying to her, "That agharu alayki that this is how look unsettled I am about you. That even from my own self, I'm kind of jealous almost about you."

That from every even from you, I'm jealous over you. He says, "If I could hide you away my eyes till the day of judgement, it still wouldn't be enough." This is his kind of So, she would she would be with him and she would obviously say all these poems as well about him.

But, she would also tease and she would be a bit uh self-sabotaging at times as well. So, what she would do is sometimes she would entertain Ibn Abdus cuz he was also a minister and he had a lot of wealth as well. And so, she would entertain him. So, what happens is Ibn Zaydun obviously he reacts as well.

Like, he thinks like, "Oh." So, he thinks, "Yeah, I got a cha. Two people can play this game, man. Two people can play this game." So, he also starts trying it on occasionally with one of Wallada's servants. One of her She has these uh palace girls, the girls in this palace. So, there was a particular one uh known as Inaba, a grape.

So, he says, "This one, grape." So, Ibn Zaydun starts trying it on with her. Some people say he genuinely was trying it on with her. Some people say, "No, he was just doing it to wind up Wallada." Um but anyway, this it becomes apparent that wait a minute, something's going on. So, in this one gathering, Wallada is there, Ibn Abdus, all these people, it's a socialite gathering, and they have this Inaba, this this girl, palace girl, she's singing.

Ibn Zaydun is taking so much attention to her. Paying attention to and he's he's praising her so excessively and he's clearly enamored by her. That this infuriates Al-Wallada. Huh? She's like, "Huh-uh. In my presence? You? Not in La'l A'la?" So, she is not having this.

So, what she does is starts distancing um Ibn Zaydun. She's clearly upset with him. And she asks him, can he leave? So, he tries to say, "Look, hey, chill, you know, relax. Hey, hey, what's up?" He says, "Look, no, I was just What do you mean? You're misunderstanding this." And and he gives her time to cool down, but she doesn't.

She's like, "No. No. No. No. No. No." So, and she says some poems in this as well. She says to him, she has this poem that Lo kunta tan tanseefu baynana fil hawa. Lam tahwa jariati walam tatakhayari. That if you were to be just in our in this desire between us, you wouldn't have chosen my slave girl. And you know, you wouldn't like you wouldn't have desired her.

That she she's saying this to her to to him. She and she says um that uh wa tarakta uh wa tar wa ta What is it? That What? Let's see if I've actually got it here somewhere. There's a poem. All right, let me bring this up. I think it's actually I've got it on one of these pictures as well.

Oh, there it is. What was that Muslim be Jamal that you left a branch full of fruits? And you went to a branch that didn't have fruits. Meaning you chose my slave girl. Why didn't you go with her? Like I Obviously she wasn't going to let him go with her either, but she was like, you know, that's it. This is over.

And then the mind games come back in. So she to wind up Ibn Zaydun even more, she starts bringing Ibn Amar closer. So So you've got So now we've got Sorry, Abu Amar Ibn Abdus, she starts bringing him closer. So she'll start hanging out with him.

And it becomes clear obviously Ibn Zaydun hears from people, oh, you know, she's taking a liking to him. And So obviously Ibn Abdus is kind of peeved off that what the hell? We had a thing going on and you know, how can she be doing this to wind me up? And so what happens is Ibn Zaydun comes to learn that Ibn Abdus is writing all these is writing this these love letters to her.

And this one particular occasion he writes something quite like, you know, really grandiose to her. But Ibn Zaydun finds out and remember he's part of diplomacy and that ministerial platform. So he has access to sometimes when letters are going. So, he intercepts this letter and he reads it and then what he does is he writes a letter pretending that it's coming from Wallada and it's going to Ibn Abdus and he proper insults him.

This became known in history as Al-Risalah al-Hazliyyah. The the kind of uh hysterical letter or disparaging letter. And in it uh I'll see for I actually may have brought it here to to give you an example. He he writes proper just insulting. And he's taking the mick out of him and he's and it's coming allegedly from Wallada and he's obviously got all these seals and things to to make it look like that.

So, let me just give you read a bit of it as an example. Um Amma ba'd ayyuhal musab bi aqlihi that oh you whose aql has been uh you know, afflicted da'id an wal murat bi jahlihi and who's been caught in a dilemma because of his ignorance wal mubayyin saqtuhu al-fahish ghaltuhu and he's just going on. He's just really uh the one al-a'ma an shams al-nahari that person who's so blind he can't even see the day of light as-saqit suqut al-dhababi ala ash-sharabi the one who who has fallen like the way a fly has fallen onto a drink al-mutahafit tahafut

al-farashi ala ash-shihabi fa inna he's just go he's ripping into him. He's really ripping into him. And he just goes and he ends it by saying as well look who people uh who who they laugh at and they do this and his knowledge wa dinuka zandaqa wa ilmuka mahraqa uh and he's just going on. He's just ripping into him. So, this poem of his sorry, this letter of his becomes viral.

Like people find out. And they they're all mocking uh Ibn Abdus. Obviously, they find out this was a prank. So, Ibn Abdus is obviously, as you can imagine, incredibly annoyed. Wallada is a bit of quite upset as well, because she's saying, "Well, how dare you pretend to impersonate me and write a letter?" So, she's annoyed.

Ibn Abdus uses this opportunity to get himself a bit closer to her. You know the ah the opportunity. So, he says, "Huh, yeah, why don't we both We should meet up more in this diss him." You know it's like that those memes with the guy is with the wife saying, "Hiya." I saying about her husband, "Yeah, what the" "Say"

He's like, "So" Uh so, he uses this as an opportunity to draw closer. And Wallada kind of knows as well, and she's angry, so she entertains this to enrage Ibn Zaydun even further. So, Ibn Zaydun writes some poems to her. Um really popular ones as well. They're like, "Why are you doing this?

Ala ma sarumti hablakan musuli." Like, "Why have you kind of cut us off?" And And she's not engaging him. She's not She's not allowing him entrance into the palace. She doesn't want to see him. And she's like, as far as he's concerned, she can he can burn a bit more. But she does actually love him. Now, this is the thing. She actually loves him. And she doesn't love this Ibn Abdus.

But she's using this that I know, "Why don't we let him use allow this opportunity to make him burn a bit more. These mind games are going on. Which are in many ways self-sabotaging. So, yeah, so whilst this is happening, even as Ibn Zaydun gets quite annoyed because he's heard that they you know, these two have an intimate relationship.

So, people are telling him, "Hey, you know what? Ibn Abdus is really close to her, you know, uh blah blah blah blah blah." And so, what he does is he comes out with another poem, Ibn Zaydun does. Which was quite insulting to Wallada. So, he has this poem where he says uh He says in it, let me see if it's um

Let Let's see actually. Have I got it here? I might not have it here. No, I don't think I've got it here. Um but it He says in it that uh wa qalu wa qalu Abu Amir in qad yu'limu biha. Uh that he says that they tell me that Abu Amir is trying trying it on with her.

That and he says qultu al-farashatu qad tadnu min al-nari. See now, he says, "And I told them the butterfly go draws itself close to the fire." Now, this the reason he uses butterfly is because Wallada was known as farashatu Qurtuba, as the butterfly of Qurtuba. This was her kind of title, her tag that people would call her. So, he says, "Qultu al-farashatu qad tadnu min al- min al-nari." He says, "I I told them that the butterfly flies close to the fire.

He says you take you you you you call this out as a blemish that somebody has followed after succeeded us. He says that somebody has succeeded us, like come after us and taken our love. He says but there's no shame in that. There's no blemish in this. And then this last line stanza, he says um that he says that what come shaheehin he says what come shaheehin asabna min atayibihi

ba'dan wa ba'dan safahna anhu lil fari. Now this Ibn Abdus, he used to be known. He used to have a nickname, the mouse. Used to be called far. Okay, so people used to call him far. So Ibn Zaydun says in this final stanza, he says in how many delicious foods have we already asabna min atayibihi, we've already consumed the best of it.

Ba'dan wa ba'dan safahna anhu lil fari. And he says and we've had a good amount of it ourselves, and then some of it we've left for the mouse to eat. Now this was incredibly degrading. And obviously one he's likened her to food, but in many ways he's he's indicating that she's she's just basically like a that this is what she is, that you know, oh, we've already had so much of her and we've um you know, we've eaten our fill.

We've had our fill and now we've just thrown it to the mice and the rats. She took naturally she Walada took incredible offense to this. She was so offended. That because she is ultimately I mean she is the great you know, great granddaughter of Annasir Abdurrahman Annasir. In his time the most powerful Muslim on earth.

I mean she she's not just although she doesn't have that same glory today but she's still from the upper elite echelons of Andalusi society and he says you know, treating her like this in this poem and and the poems would go viral. They were like viral clips today. So she said I can never forgive him for that.

And this is the the strange thing that this kind of love story they both had so much love for each other. But it's like for some reason these push-pull factors kept making them sabotage their relationship. So she's absolutely fuming. Ibn Abdus obviously uses this opportunity and he says you know what?

He says that he needs to be taught a lesson. So the princess is obviously she's had it with him as well. So she's not going to take his side right now. So he wins her approval and using his ministerial reach he has him arrested over some charges which are to do with something else. He says he tells the king which is Abu al-Hazm Jahwar that did you know Ibn Zaydun is actually liaising with the king of Seville.

Which is Ishbiliya and I think there were actually some liaisons. So, and I think Ibn Zaydoun had been offered a job pro- prospect from Ishbiliya from Ishbiliya which is Seville in southern Spain. Which was a slightly more powerful kingdom than Cordoba. But he hadn't taken it up yet. But this is said to the king. The king says, "What the hell is this guy a traitor?" Has him imprisoned.

So, Ibn Zaydoun is in Cordoba in prison. Now, this news obviously reaches Wallada and for some reason she set has it makes it known to Ibn Zaydoun in prison that let it be known that I'm actually very close these days with Ibn Abdus. Me and Ibn Abdus So, it's weird that these mind games continued.

In prison, Ibn Zaydoun writes one of his most popular poems known as his Nouniya because it ends with a noun. I mean, he says several poems, but um he has this poem which became so well known. He says, "Adha He says, "Adha tanai badilan antadani." That separation or being far from each other has now substituted our proximity.

That adha tanai adha tanai badilan an ta- tadaniina from our closeness. Wa naba an tibi luqyana tajafina. Allah. He says, "And in place of the goodness that we you know, the pleasures of meeting each other, we now have this bitterness that has taken its place.

He says, "Indeed like the time, the day and age which used to always have me smiling in laughter with meeting you has now come back to make me cry." Allah. And he says, "Wallahi um he says, "Wallahi our desires today do not desire a replacement for you. Like you are still the one in my heart." He ends it with that line.

He says, "Wallahi our desires today do not desire a replacement for you. Like you are still the one in my heart." This is what he's saying. "Neither have my heart's intent changed." This is one of his most powerful poems. It is said by some historians that Wallada does have a change of heart and writes to him because she has this poem that

that she writes this poem that when it's nightfall, wait for my visit. But she never does visit. Now, why arguably once again, people say it's because of her um this kind of this this split mind. Okay. Some people say that she was always bothered by this thought that she felt uh she and she says to Ibn Zaydun on certain things, "You just want to achieve me as though I'm a prize because I'm this princess and you need

to have me. But this is like your goal." And this And she doesn't deny that he loves her and she doesn't deny that she loves him. She actually says that she is the love of her life. But there's a side of her that says, "Well, he just wants like but he needs to have you. Is it because you're like a prize to him?" And this self-sabotaging of being able to just embrace this relationship the fear.

And this is why this whole thing of fear disguised as practicality. That if she just fully embraced it if he fully embraced it if maybe there's a fear that I don't know like what if I fail in it. So why don't I just sabotage You know, years ago when I remember when I did a psycho when I was doing my psychology degree I read this book Games People Play.

I think Is it What's his name? Berne. Is it Eric Berne? But So one of the games and it's it's about transactional analysis which is like a splinter off from psychoanalysis. And what he argues is that people often play games but they may not know that this is a game. So he gives the example like let's say um he says there's a housewife who wants to become something like she wants to have a career in something.

But she's always afraid that she's going to fail in that. Like she'll never be able to make it. So she marries a man who is very controlling and doesn't let her have a career. And then she says to people, well, all the reason I don't follow career is because, you know, my husband won't really have it. And he's too strict. But in underlying this, there's a game script where she has facilitated a situation that will then prevent her from doing that thing that she's afraid of.

She's afraid of failing in. So, this is a scenario like and and the whole book is with many different kind of games that people play. So, it's called get uh games people play. So, similarly, you've got this going on here between Wallada and Ibn Zaydun. And whilst this is happening, Ibn Abdus thinks that, "Yar Yar, strike while the iron is hot.

Yar, strike." So, he thinks, "You know what? Ibn Zaydun's been in prison for over a year now or maybe like two Sorry, for about 2 years, I think, or 1 and 1/2 year. So, he plots to have him executed. Obviously, he's got ministerial uh prestige and power. He's got a lot of wealth and he's got sway with the people the powers that be.

So, because his charge as well was one of treason, alleged treason, because although it was debatable, he was saying he's becoming very friendly with a neighboring king that is in opposition. So, he kind of ramps it up and tells the king and he he's plotting to have him executed now. And apparently, the king agrees. He says, "Well, if he is a traitor, then, you know, rather without him than with him." So, upon hearing this, Ibn Zaydun thinks, "Yar He thinks, "Damn." He says, "Think You know, beep things

got real, huh?" He thinks, I can't be having this. So, rat or rat, overnight, huh? He plots and does a prison escape. Ah, prison break. Allah. And he pulls it off. He escapes from prison and and with the sec- with the security of nightfall, he they say in one day reaches Seville, a journey that would normally take 3 days.

This is how he fled for his life. And he makes it to Seville. And in Seville, the king, as I'd mentioned, already knew of him. And he was a great You see, Ibn Zaydun was a great diplomat. There's no denying that. He had been He was also somebody that had been called in when there were tensions between non-Muslims and Muslims. He actually came in and there's at least two popular incidents that he resolves or he's called in as a mediator at a national level.

This is who he is. So, when he arrives in Seville, the king immediately grants him the post. Says to him, "I want you to be my home secretary." And then foreign secretary. And And he eventually gets two posts. But in between, he's now in Seville. So, he saves he he escapes with his life, but his heart has been left behind in Cordoba.

Allah. Allah, people. Allah. And he can't get Wallada out of his mind. But he has to focus on his new job, his career. And he has to build this up. And Wallada as well, she just like because of that insult that he in that poem degraded her, she maintains her stance.

And the years start to go by. And they're still saying poems. Ibn Zaydun has said so many poems in between. And these poems have circulated. People in Cordoba have heard of them. And he says poems about Wallada. He says in need the car took it with Zahara. Allah, remember the place I said you had Medina to Zahara. You can still visit some kind of remnants of it in Spain today.

The museum and stuff they've they've kind of created this tourism aspect to it. Um And he says that um in need the car took it that in need the car took it with Zahara E uh must talk out. Allah, says I remember you in Zahara.

Like whilst I would driven with so much passion towards you. But this this is him saying this. Um Yeah, and he says uh What matter of earth? Uh but but that's but these poems of his are well known. He continues to write poems. She does say a few poems but not directly towards Ibn Zaydun but she continues to lament and have this feeling and uh and she feels that she was insulted but same time she's torn in this love

uh towards him. And then the years start to pile up. All these year these years are piling up. Ibn Ibn Zaydun comes back to Cordoba. He makes peace with Jahwar. And Jahwar they say is passing away. He passes away. His son becomes king. And his son was a childhood friend of Ibn Zaydun. So Ibn Zaydun gets a job with him, a diplomatic post, but it it's not that long.

He then has to go back to the Ishbili kings of Seville, who are planning to take over, by the way. And he gets elevated, his career's thriving. They send him off to different places. He has to go on diplomatic missions, and these diplomatic missions take like half a year sometimes. You got to go all the way to Valencia, go all the way to Malaga, stay there, set sort this dispute, travel over there, come back.

So, this is going on. Uh and the years have passed, and a decade and more has passed now. Ibn Zaydun, although he does marry, people saw marriage more as pragmatism back then. He does marry, and he does have kids, but he continues to be blindly in love with Wallada.

That after more than a decade plus, they say almost nearing two decades, he comes back to Cordoba to find Wallada. And they say that Wallada at that time hears that he's looking for her, but she's aged.

And she feels that you see, because Wallada, by the way, refused to marry anyone. She keeps her gatherings going, she has people coming. Ibn Abdus is showering money over her. She lets him s- be with her, by her side for stuff. She does take his money when it's needed and his help, but she refuses to marry him.

And he tries and tries, Ibn Abdus continues to try till omar till his death. She refuses. So at this stage, coming back to this, so it's been almost just under two the better part of two decades, Ibn Zaydun comes to visit. But she's aged.

And they say that she finds out Ibn Zaydun is looking for her and he's in Cordoba. But she says that, you know what? She refuses to meet him and she says, I would rather the memory he keeps of me is that of me with my youth. Because I don't want him to see me and replace that face with this old face.

And Ibn Zaydun doesn't get to meet her and he goes back and falls ill and then dies. She almost continues to live almost another two decades after she dies an incredibly old woman. I think in her late 80s she dies. Till her death she remains a bachelorette. She refuses to marry.

Uh with a deeply anchored love for Ibn Zaydun. But a a love that never got to see its fruition. Mostly because of an an uncertainty, a a self-sabotaging self.

A fear, perhaps, that maybe Ibn Zaydun was just doing this to because she had some notoriety, because she had stature and she was from the elite or maybe he she was just a prize to him or maybe better will come or maybe it was too good to be true, so it was But this to and fro between her love and teasing and tantalizing and and self-sabotaging led to one of the most

unfulfilled love stories of Islamic history. She dies as a bachelorette having left though in her wake a legacy of so much poetry especially from Ibn Zaydun. She turns Ibn Zaydun into one of the greatest poets

of all time. You know, there's a poem that in Nigahe Karishma Toba Pak Bazoo Kobi Mekhar Bana Dete Hain that the the kind of intoxication of these eyes Toba they turn even the pious into into alcoholics.

This is what it said. Or Pe Ba Pe Zulm O Sitam Raah-e-Muhabbat Mein Qamar Ek Insaan Ko Funkaar Bana Dete Hain It is so true. He says that and the a series of Zulm and Sitam of just affliction and tragedy the poet whose name is Qamar says they turn an insaan into an artist.

Wow. And such is true. What Although their love story was incomplete, what it triggered through sublimation as psychoanalysts would say was Ibn Zaydun actualizing his passion and channeling it into poetry. And he went on to write some of the most incredible poetry, most of which was always dedicated to Wallada.

But there we find people a path they chose to take was unfortunately a path of fear disguised perhaps as practicality that what would people say that now he said this poem about me. And for him as well he you know that she was teasing him. What would people say if he didn't do other things and What a story, huh?

Wow. Honestly. So do in your own time if you have an opportunity to check that out. Um this was just a picture. You can see there one of his famous poems as well. Ala ma sarramta hablaka min wusuli. That why did you cut this rope between us, huh?

The of unity. Why did you of union? Why did you cut it? Or why do you cut it? So people with that I give you Ibn Zaydun and Wallada bint al-Mustakfi. Allahu Akbar. And we find in stories strength and lessons. Yeah, wow.

So let's move on, people.