She was a Arab woman who led military resistance against the Ottoman Invasion of Mecca during the Egyptian Ottoman invasion of Arabia . She was given the title Amira, which is the female version of the title Emir, in recognition of her acts.
Ghaliyya al-Boqmiyyah (عليه رحمه),was a Bedouin Women Scholar’ as well as a fighter from the Hanbali Stronghold of Turba near Tai’f southeast of Mecca. In the early 19th-century, Mecca was under attack from the Ottoman _ Egyptian armies and she formed a military resistance movement to defend Mecca against the Ottoman forces.
She was credited with boldness and strategic ability, and chronicles describe her participation: “Never had the resistance of the Arab tribes from the vicinity of Mecca been so strong as was that of the Arabs of Turbah .
At the Battle of Turba in 1814 her troops defeated the Join Egyptian and Ottoman armies near Turba( in Hejaz )and Qunfudha( in Najd). The Egyptians immediately ascribed that her prayers and Curses always get answered from Allah “
When Ottoman Governor Egypt Ibrahim Pasha was asked about Arabia he said:
“The true scholars are the ones that are in the desert of Najd. ”
He said this due to what he seen from their faith, truthfulness and their following the example of the state of the first pious predecessors (of the Muslims).
Source: [‘Ulamā Najd Khilāl Thamāniyah Qurūn 1/177 and Tarikh Al Arab]
