Egyptian Women After the Drowning of Pharaoh: A Historical Observation

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After mentioning the drowning of Pharaoh, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar Ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE) states that the king, Pharaoh, along with his entourage, generals, and soldiers, were destroyed, and that none remained in Egypt except the general populace. He then cites what ʿAbd al-Ḥakam ibn Aʿyān Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam (d. 257 AH / 871 CE) mentioned in his work Futūḥ Miṣr wa Akhbārihā (also known as Tārīkh Miṣr), namely:

“Ever since that time, the women of Egypt have exercised dominance over its men. This occurred because the women of the fallen generals and eminent figures married men of lower social standing from the general populace. As a result, they held authority over them. This has continued to be the condition of Egyptian women until this day.”

The wording recorded by Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam in Futūḥ Miṣr wa Akhbārihā is as follows:

“When Pharaoh and his people drowned, the women were regarded as the nobles of society, and no one remained except slaves and labourers. Since the women could not remain patient without men, a woman would free her slave and marry him, or others would simply marry their own slaves. These women would stipulate conditions upon their husbands that they were not to undertake anything without their permission, and the men would comply with them in this regard. Thus, women came to command men.”

He further reports:

“ʿUthmān informed me that Ibn Lahīʿah said that Zayd ibn Abī Ḥabīb stated that the Coptic women continue this practice to this day in accordance with their history. None of the men among them would buy or sell anything except that he says: ‘Let me seek the instruction of my wife.’”

References

Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE), al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, Beirut: Maktabat al-Maʿārif, 1966 CE, vol. 1, p. 262.

Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, ʿAbd al-Ḥakam ibn Aʿyān (d. 257 AH / 871 CE), Futūḥ Miṣr wa Akhbārihā, Cairo: al-Hayʾah al-Miṣriyyah al-ʿĀmmah lil-Kitāb, n.d., relevant sections on the aftermath of the drowning of Pharaoh.