Mihera Bint Abboud (
Arabic: مهيرة بت عبود; 1780 – 1840)[1] was a 19th-century Sudanese female poet and warrior, celebrated as a
heroine for her attitude of resistance to the
Turco-Egyptian invasion of Sudan.[2]
Mihera Bint Abboud was the daughter of the leader of the
Shaigiya people in
Northern Sudan.[3] After
Muhammad Ali Pasha's troops had invaded Sudan in 1820, rumors of their power made the Shaigiya men reluctant to fight the invaders. Mihera is said to have mounted her camel, dressed in men's clothes and carrying a sword, and declared to the men: "Here we are; our clothes are for you". After her performance had roused the men to battle, Mihera composed this verse to celebrate their courage:[2]
Today our men all on their horses In front of them their commander On his beautiful horse struts. Our men are like lions when they roar Oh, fool Pasha, just let your chickens go away.
Shaigiya swords and lances were no match for Egyptian firearms, and the Egyptian troops continued their conquest of the Sudan.[4]
^
abBaqie Badawi Muhammad (2013).
"Mihera bint Abboud". In Robert S. Kramer; Richard Andrew Lobban; Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban (eds.). Historical Dictionary of the Sudan. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 294.
ISBN978-0-8108-6180-0.
^Mawahib Ahmed Bakr, 'From a Concealed Face to Parliament Member: A question into History of Gender and Meaning of Feminism in Sudan', Journal of Academic Perspectives, Vol. 2017, No. 1.