Lalla Zaynab (c. 1862 – 19 December 1904) was an Algerian Sufi Muslim spiritual leader. Regarded as a living saint by her followers, she fought a bitter battle over the succession of her father's barakah and Zawiya with her cousin Sa'id ibn Lakhdar which involved the French colonial administration. She would later build a friendship with Isabelle Eberhardt.
Early life
Lalla Zaynab was born around 1862, a daughter of Muhammad bin Abi al-Qasim, founder and Shaykh of the Rahmaniyya zawiya (Sufi institution) of El Hamel in Algeria. She was a Sufi Muslim, and a member of a family who claimed to be direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad.
Prior to succeeding her father as Shaykh of zawiya, Zaynab faced great societal and political opposition. She lived during a time where the mainstream social order in Algeria oppressed people based on their class, gender and racial characteristics. This was most blatant in the determination by French colonial authorities that native Algerians uncivilized and unequal.
In the Algerian Muslim community, Zaynab was depicted as extraordinary due to her saintliness, piety, Sharifian descent and miracles attributed to her by religious authorities. However, barely any Arabic literature is written about her, as she lived in her father's shadow prior to 1897. This is a result of her age, prestige, and amount of respect she commanded. Such shadowing is a common occurrence for subordinates to Sufi superiors, and was not a restraint on gender enforced on her by the Algerian community who highly regarded her.
The French colonial administration refused to recognize her spiritual authority on two bases. Firstly, they did not hold the same beliefs as the Algerian Muslims and never understood the importance the Algerian Muslims attributed to Zaynab. Secondly, the French authorities refused to accept the rule of a woman, as women were seen to be the weaker sex. Hence, Zaynab's rise was accompanied by an increase in meddling of the affairs of succession by the French colonial administration.
Despite her many suitors, Zaynab maintained a vow of celibacy which allowed her to move freely in the community while harnessing and exerting her spiritual authority and social empowerment.
Lalla enjoyed a close relationship with her father the Shaykh. She spent most of her time in the oasis and grew up in the harim (the private residence attached to the Shaykh's house that housed around 40 women). Lalla was personally educated by her father, which allowed her to accumulate great prestige among his followers due to her formidable knowledge. Sidi Muhammad also educated her on the matters of his rule, and she would later help in the keeping of accounts and properties of the Rahmaniyya order.
Lalla stayed informed about the political and financial decisions taken by her father, and she acted as a confidant regarding these matters. It was claimed that the Shaykh had “trained her from childhood to fill the role that awaited her,” but this can only be inferred, as no official written will of his succession was left, and the Shaykh had no living sons. However, two months prior to her father's death in 1897, he wrote a letter to Bu Sa’ada, under intense pressure from the French colonial authorities, to designate Zaynab's cousin, Muhammad b al Hajj Muhammad, as the rightful successor. Only the French knew of this document, and Zaynab remained uninformed on all the matters of succession.
Another document would be invoked during Zaynab's fight to claim her father's place. In 1877, when Sidi Muhammad suffered a heart attack, he drew up a will regarding the distribution of his inheritance upon his death. Although it was customary for daughters to receive half of what sons received, he specified that Lalla Zaynab, his ‘favorite daughter,’ should receive the same as any male heir (although he had none at this time).