1. Arwa al-Sulayhi was the last of the rulers of the Sulayhid Dynasty and was the first woman to be accorded the prestigious title of Hujjah in the Isma'ili branch of Shia Islam, signifying her as the closest living image of God's will in her lifetime, in the Ismaili doctrine.
Arwa al-Sulayhi founded several mosques, the most prominent of which is Queen Arwa Mosque.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was the first queen regnant in the Muslim world.
Third, after his death, Arwa wielded power as queen mother to her son Abd al-Mustansir, and she was ordered by al-Mustansir to marry Saba' al-Sulayhi for legitimacy and then was nominally consort even if she held the real power.
Finally, after Saba's death in 1097 or 1098, Arwa al-Sulayhi reigned as sole queen in her own right, with no male nominally in charge.
The name Arwa al-Sulayhi literally means "female ibex".
Hamdani says Arwa al-Sulayhi was probably known interchangeably by both names during her own lifetime.
Arwa al-Sulayhi's book covered the Sulayhid dynasty and influenced later chroniclers like Taj al-Din al-Yamani, Ali al-Khazraji, and Yahya ibn al-Husayn.
Arwa al-Sulayhi's work is important because, as a da'i, he had insider access to sources that would have been off-limits for others.
Arwa al-Sulayhi's father died while she was young and her mother remarried 'Amir ibn Sulayman al-Zawahi, a member of an allied tribe who would later become one of Arwa's major political rivals.
In 1067, Ali Arwa al-Sulayhi was killed by the Najahid ruler of Zabid, Sa'id.
Meanwhile, Shahla Haeri says that Asma was "in charge of political affairs and governance, controlling sensitive strategic information and managing all state and financial matters" until her death, and that Arwa al-Sulayhi "might have learned from Asma simply by observing her or assisting her in her various official duties, given the close relationship between the two women and the ease with which Arwa al-Sulayhi replaced her mother-in-law after her death".
In Umara's version, Arwa al-Sulayhi was reluctant to accept this authority, saying "a woman who is [still] desirable in bed is not suitable for running a state".
In practice, whether Umara's description of her reluctance is true or not, Arwa al-Sulayhi seems to have had "few, if any, qualms about her gender or the extent of her political authority".
In contrast to her mother-in-law, Queen Asma, Arwa al-Sulayhi did not appear unveiled when she attended councils as Asma had famously done.
The Najahids were devastated, and Arwa al-Sulayhi had Sa'id's head displayed directly under her room's window at the palace at Dhu Jibla.
Arwa al-Sulayhi left a will stating that his cousin Saba' should succeed him.
Arwa al-Sulayhi concealed the news of her husband's death and wrote to the Fatimids to request the appointment of her 10-year-old son Abd al-Mustansir Ali as the official new Sulayhid ruler.
Whether Arwa al-Sulayhi was hujjah in religious matters or solely a political figurehead is debated.
Husain Hamdani writes that Arwa al-Sulayhi was given full authority over both spiritual and political matters, while Delia Cortese and Simonetta Calderini say that al-Mustansir's decision must have been based on solid theological ground.
Arwa al-Sulayhi's appointment was political, rather than religious, and was motivated by the Fatimids wanting to promote stability in the region by authorizing Arwa.
Whatever the exact nature of her hujjah-ship was, Arwa al-Sulayhi now ruled Yemen as regent for her son Abd al-Mustansir, with Lamak in charge of administering the da'wah.
Arwa al-Sulayhi put him in charge of her sons' education.
The sources are silent about the causes for this conflict but it was probably over control of the Sulayhid state - as a woman, Arwa al-Sulayhi was seen as unfit to rule.
Arwa al-Sulayhi sent a letter to al-Mustansir explaining the precarious situation in Yemen.
Arwa al-Sulayhi's letter has not survived, but the sijill al-Mustansir sent in reply has.
Arwa al-Sulayhi waited outside for a while but eventually realized that Arwa was not going to let him marry her, so he ended up returning to his own fortress in embarrassment.
Arwa al-Sulayhi had no choice but to obey the imam's command and agreed.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was thus freed of her two main political rivals, and she was now the uncontested monarch of Yemen in her own right, without any need for marriage or sons.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was publicly named al-malika, or "queen" - the first time this had ever happened in the Islamic world.
Chroniclers like 'Umara al-Yamani or Idris Imad al-Din never mention any later Fatimid decrees expressing that they were upset with Arwa al-Sulayhi remaining in power this way, or that they objected to her policies.
However, with the deaths of Saba' and 'Amir - as well as Lamak, who had died at about the same time - Arwa al-Sulayhi was left without some of her most important advisors.
Arwa al-Sulayhi appointed the loyal amir al-Mufaddal ibn Abi'l-Barakat al-Himyari to succeed Saba' as army commander and to guard the royal treasures at al-Ta'kar.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was most successful in bringing the Zuray'ids of Aden into submission, who agreed to pay an annual tribute of 50,000 dinars.
Arwa al-Sulayhi appointed al-Mufaddal's cousin, As'ad ibn Abi'l-Futuh, to succeed him as deputy, but he does not seem to have been very effective.
The Fatimid vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah responded by sending Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Najib al-Dawla, who Arwa al-Sulayhi appointed commander of the army.
However, the tribal leaders loyal to Arwa al-Sulayhi were expressing "some discomfort at his presence".
Meanwhile, Ibn Najib al-Dawla's victories had apparently inflated his ego, and he tried to stage a coup against Arwa al-Sulayhi and replace her as leader - he thought she was "old and feeble-minded and needed to step down".
Arwa al-Sulayhi quickly led a counterattack and besieged his soldiers; meanwhile, she ordered "large sums of Egyptian money to be distributed" to the tribal leaders who were on bad terms with Ibn Najib al-Dawla.
Arwa al-Sulayhi apparently spread rumors that the money had come from Ibn Najib al-Dawla himself.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was arrested and kept prisoner in Dhu Jibla for an unknown length of time.
Arwa al-Sulayhi sent Ibn Najib al-Dawla back to Egypt by boat - in a wooden cage.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was accused of paying the ship's captain to scupper it, but according to Taef El-Azhari this is unlikely because al-Azdi was on the ship.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was given the highest rank in the Yemeni dawah, that of Hujjat, by Imam Al-Mustansir Billah in 1084.
The Taiyabi Ismaili believe that Imam al-Amir bi'Ahkamill-Lah sent a letter to Arwa al-Sulayhi commissioning her to appoint a vicegerent for his infant son, Imam Taiyyab.
The fact that Arwa al-Sulayhi had been chosen as hujjah necessitated theological explanations for why the infallible imam would choose a woman for this position.
Al-Khattab was basically claiming that Arwa al-Sulayhi was male in essence.
In Sana'a, Arwa al-Sulayhi had the grand mosque expanded, and the road from the city to Samarra improved.
Arwa al-Sulayhi is known to have built numerous schools throughout her realm.
Arwa al-Sulayhi improved the economy, taking an interest in supporting agriculture.
Arwa al-Sulayhi was buried in the mosque that she had had built at Dhu Jibla.
Arwa al-Sulayhi's tomb has since become a place of pilgrimage for Muslims of various communities, both local and foreign, although they are not always aware of her Isma'ili background.
Arwa al-Sulayhi gave all her wealth to the Tayyibi da'wah when she died, and although some members of the Sulayhids held on to scattered fortresses in the decades after her death, they were relatively insignificant.
In modern times, Farhad Daftary has characterized Arwa al-Sulayhi as having had an independent personality.