Balāghāt al-nisāʾ (Arabic: كتاب بلاغات النساء, "The Eloquence of Women") constitutes volume eleven of the now fragmentary al-Manẓūm wa al-Manthūr ("The Book of Prose and Poetry") by Ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr (d.
[5][6][7][8] The degree to which the anthology really represents women's discourse has been questioned by Nancy Roberts's case study of three women's disputes with men reported in the collection: One might even go so far as to say that the male-dominated tradition has, if not composed, at least exploited these addresses in order to express views which a man could not get away with espousing directly lest he be exposed as critical of revered figures such as the Caliph Muʿāwiyah or the powerful governor, al-Ḥajjāj.
If such is case, then the literary genres of anecdote (nādirah, in the passage featuring Umm al-Banīn), public oration (khuṭbah, delivered by Umm Kulthūm), and an instance of the type of archetypal account known as al-wāfidāt ʿalā Muʿāwiyah (featuring Arwā bint al-Ḥārith) become media for the expression of views or sentiments which in standard male literary discourse would have to be suppressed in order to protect the social standing or reputation of the one holding them.
[9]: 55 On the other hand, Pernilla Myrne has argued that although there is reason to be cautious, we should not take for granted that all poems and speeches attributed to women are fabricated.
The speeches are made by named and famous women with important positions in early Umayyad society, and it is not clear why they cannot represent themselves.