Aisha Al-Manoubya

Aïsha Al-Manoubya (Arabic: عائشة المنوبية, ʿĀʾisha al-Mannūbiyya), also known by the honorific As-Saida ('saint') or Lella ('the Lady') (1199–1267 CE), is one of the most famous women in Tunisian history and a prominent figure in Islam.

[2] According to the standard hagiography, ʿĀʾisha was born in the village of Manouba, near Tunis, and showed signs of her saintliness already in childhood, challenging social norms and effecting miraculous deeds (karamāt).

In portraying ʿĀʾisha's socially-transgressive behavior, narrations of her story tend to "alig[n] her with the Ṣūfī model of the 'blamable ones" (ahl al-malāma), those who went about transgressing social norms on purpose" (see also: Malamatiyya).

[3] According to a popular narrative, "after her father had slaughtered a bull at her request, she cooked it, distributed its meat to villagers, and brought it back to life in order to reveal her sainthood," an event which was then "regularly commemorated in song during rituals held at her shrines.

Whereas it was customary for female saints in her region to be recluses, ʿĀʾisha mixed with male society, including the poor, Sūfī scholars, and even the Ḥafṣīd sultan.