10 Works, RELIGIOUS ART - Interpretation of the Koran, Khawla bint Al-Azwar was a Muslim Arab warrior

Henry Zaidan

Khawlah bint al Azwar

OpenArt

Khawla bint Al-Azwar, who lived in 7th Century Arabia, was the daughter of a powerful chief of the Bani Assad tribe. As a young girl Khawla learned swordsmanship and literary from her brother  Zirrar, a well-known local warrior-poet. Zerar, as the son of the chief, had been trained from birth in the art of literature and war. 

Khawla and her brother were early converts to the religion of Islam, in the early 600s, and participated in the entire Islamic Conquest, as the sons of the Prophet conquored most of the Middle East civilizations. She served as a nurse and a healer, and fought as a front-line warrior.  

Traveling with general Khalid bin Walid in Palestine, Syria and Jordan, Khawla was one of a team responsible for patching together gaping sword wounds, bringing water to dying men, and replacing bandages and cleaning out wounds. 

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA, (b. 1416, Borgo San Sepolcro, d. 1492, Borgo San Sepolcro)

Battle between Heraclius and Chosroes, 1452-66

Fresco

329 x 747 cm

San Francesco, Arezzo

One of the most important events in that period was the famous battle near the Yarmouk River in August 636, in which the Arabs completely crushed the Byzantine army.

Piero della Francesca (c. 1415 – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is characterized by its serene humanism, its use of geometric forms and perspective. His most famous work is the cycle of frescoes The History of the True Cross in the church of San Francesco in the Tuscan town of Arezzo.

He was probably apprenticed to the local painter Antonio di Giovanni d'Anghiari. He certainly took notice of the work of some of the Sienese artists active in San Sepolcro during his youth. In 1439 Piero received, together with Domenico Veneziano, payments for his work on frescoes for the church of Sant'Egidio in Florence, now lost.

Piero returned to his hometown in 1442. Three years later, he received his first commission, to paint the Madonna della Misericordia altarpiece for the church of the Misericordia in Sansepolcro. In 1449 he executed several frescoes in the Castello Estense and the church of Sant'Andrea of Ferrara, now also lost. His influence was particularly strong in the later Ferrarese allegorical works of Cosimo Tura.

In his later years, painters such as Perugino and Luca Signorelli frequently visited his workshop. More on Piero della Francesca

One day, during a battle against the Byzantine Empire outside Jerusalem, Khawla was watching the battle from a ridge when she saw her brother Zerar get knocked from his horse and dragged off by Byzantine troops as a prisoner. Rather than sit back and weep about over her brother, Khawla ran to the supply tent, grabbed a suit of armor, threw on a black robe with a green sash, turned a black strip of cloth into a mask that concealed everything on her face except her eyes, and rode out into battle on horseback carrying a heavy spear and a scimitar.

Maciej Kuciara

Stories written down from people who were there claimed that they just saw a knight in a black hood blasting into the Byzantine lines, swinging around a spear that dripped blood, and massacring everything in the way. One man mentioned that he thought this warrior fought with such fury that it must have been Khalid himself. 

Maciej Kuciara has established himself as a go-to talent for awe-inspiring concept art. Originally hailing from Poland, Maciej quit university to create artwork for tabletop games, then landed jobs at video game developers People Can Fly (Painkiller), Crytek (Crysis) and Naughty Dog (The Last of Us), and then worked on movies including the Ghost in the Shell remake, Blade Runner 2049 and Terminator: Dark Fate.

Most recently, Maciej unleashed his short film “Showtime,” a painstakingly accurate homage to classic animes Akira and Ghost in the Shell. He tells Chris about his life behind the Iron Curtain, his love of role-playing games and anime, how working hard on major games and movies helped him bring his incredible vision to life — and his plans for its future. More on Maciej Kuciara

Arab Trap

When the real Khalid arrived, he saw this one warrior wasting an entire battalion singlehandedly, and ordered all of his men to attack; he even sent a trusted member of his personal bodyguard out to ensure that the warrior made it through the battle alive. 

In the battle that ensued, the Byzantines were driven from the field. Khawla had not only helped turn the tide of the battle, but as the Byzantine army was routing she led a small detachment that rode down their ranks, found her brother (and the other Muslim prisoners), slew the guards, and brought all of the POWs back to friendly lines.

cosplay, nightingale armor

At the end of the battle, Khalid tracked down this mysterious black-clad knight and demanded her to reveal his true identity. Once she revealed herself as a woman Khalid really didn't seem upset, but told her that while she may have started the battle standing with the women, now she was going to fight like a man. From that point on, she continued to serve throughout the campaign, battling on horseback with sword and spear in battles across Palestine, Syria and Jordan, including one fight when she personally rallied a routed Muslim force, re-organized them, and led them in an all-out counter-attack.

Khawla served the rest of the war, eventually married a powerful Arab prince, and is now remembered as one of the greatest female warriors in the Muslim world. 

Found on garoopatternandcolour.tumblr.com

ضریح خوله

Khawla bint Al-Azwar's Shrine

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