This paper explores female Sufi agency through the context of laic public performance. Hagiographical and literary works of Sufi women have gained considerable attention and scholarship in recent decades, however, most of the literature and actions attributed to Sufi women are limited to their spiritual vocation. Consequently, female Sufi agency is defined exclusively by their religious contributions such as praise poems for the Prophet Mohammad, religious treatises, and anecdotes about their asceticism. Focusing scholarship on these aspects of female authorship and literature has in turn limited our conception of agency among female Sufis (as-Sufiyat). The Sufi poetess ‘A’ishah al-Ba‘uniyah (d. 1517), represents a break with these traditional constructs of Sufi women. ‘A’ishah enjoys an overtly public role in Syrian and Cairene society. In addition to the conventional role of composing praise poems to the Prophet and writing theological treatises, tasks exemplified by previous Sufiyaat, ‘A’ishah is granted jurisprudential authority, composes praise poetry to men, and engages in public literary exchanges with scholars and politicians. In this paper, I analyze sections of ‘A’ishah’s praise poem to her patron Ibn Aja and their literary dialogues and argue that ‘A’ishah’s performances in the public sphere of Cairo illustrate a break from the traditional construct of female Sufi roles. Not only is the object of ‘A’ishah’s performance non-religious and her subject is notably not God, Mohammad, or Sufism, but her use of rhetorical devices and gendered language with her patrons and peers demonstrates an alternative mode of performance for as-Sufiyaat. I will draw on performance theory and concepts of ritual exchange as expounded by Stetkevych to show how ‘A’ishah’s performance with her audience provides us with a new context for female Sufi agency.