Asma bint Shihab

Asma Bint Shihab al-Sulayhiyya (Arabic: أسماء بنت شهاب الصليحي) (died 1087) was the queen and co-ruler of Yemen in co-regency with her cousin and spouse, Ali al-Sulayhi, and later her son Ahmad al-Mukkaram, and daughter-in-law, Arwa al-Sulayhi, from 1047 until 1087. Her full title as sovereign, "al-Sayyida al-Hurrat-ul" translates to "The noble lady who is free and independent, the woman sovereign who bows to no superior authority". As female sovereign, Asma bint Shihab has an almost unique position in history: though there were more female monarchs in the international Muslim world, Asma bint Shihab and Arwa al-Sulayhi were the only female monarchs in the Muslim Arab world to have had the khutba proclaimed in their name in the mosques as sovereigns.