This paper brings Arab women activists’ voices from early Islam to meet their counterparts in current opposition movements, in light of gender theory. Women of the Shurat/Kharijites participated in a number of ways in opposing the Umayyad regime in the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., beginning with their self-identification as Exchangers/Shurat, i.e., those willing to exchange their lives “for God’s pleasure” as described in the Qur’an. Poignant scenes in poetry by them and for them reveal how their activism affected not only their political ideals, but also marriages, families, marginalized classes, and communities. In a scene foreshadowing, to some degree, the ‘virginity tests’ committed on women at Tahrir Square, the murder and public naked display of a woman named Balja’ inspired quiescent men to take up arms against the Umayyad military. In other scenarios, Jamra convinces her husband to divorce her so she can marry an activist leader; a new bride begs her arms-merchant husband not to join the opposition; while conversely another woman sells her bangles to buy a sword and join her husband on the field. She equates her action with her very identity: If someone asks my name - it’s Maryam. I sold my bangles to buy a lethal sword. In a potent instance where woman’s word is mightier than the sword, a woman’s sarcasm-spiked poem prevents the fearsome General Hajjaj from destroying her village. Although Shurat/Kharijites are often presented as a forgotten early sect surviving unobtrusively in Oman and Algeria, an alternate view locates them as models of dissident voices challenging power in contemporary times. For instance, ‘Abla Ruwaini entitled her collection of daring women’s poetry "Kharijite Poets" (Cairo, 2004) while Syrian journalist Riyad Rayyis dubbed himself and his book "The Last of the Kharijites" (Beirut, 2004). The values which the Shurat identified as Islamic, and as the basis of crucial social changes that the prophet Muhammad brought, resonate with what many consider progressive values today: equality among ethnicities and races, qualified religious tolerance, election of leaders, a modicum of consensus or democratic ideals, commitment to the common weal, and a deep sincerity, the last of which was recognized outside their ranks as well. Voices of Shurat women call across the centuries to women today as they head to the square, speak in public, question in private, find new self-worth, and define their contribution to a future they seek to shape.