Thumal the Qahraman

Thumal the Qahraman (Arabic: ثمل القهرمانة) (died 929) was a Muslim woman appointed in 918 as a judge in a maẓālim (secular administrative) court during the reign of Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932).

When Shaghab secured the succession of her son to the throne, she de facto seized power and appointed a parallel bureaucracy to handle state affairs.

Shaghab stated that the affairs of the ummah, especially justice, was better administered with a woman in charge.

[2] According to the historian Tabari, Thumal carried out her duties well enough to achieve popularity among the public in her office, especially because of reforms which lowered the cost for a plaintiff to initiate a case.

However, her appointment was described in Muslim history, among others by Ibn Hazm, as one example of a series of "scandals whose equal has not been seen to this day".