The Women of the Arabs

Excerpt

CHAPTER I.

STATE OF WOMEN AMONG THE ARABS OF THE JAHILIYEH, OR THE "TIMES OF THE IGNORANCE."

In that eloquent Sura of the Koran, called Ettekwir, (lxxxi.) it is said, "When the girl buried alive shall be asked for what sin she was slain." The passage no doubt refers to the cruel practice which still in Mohammed's time lingered among the tribe of Temîm, and which was afterwards eradicated by the influence of Islam. The origin of this practice has been ascribed to the superstitious rite of sacrificing children, common in remote times to all the Semites, and observed by the Jews up to the age of the Captivity, as we learn from the denunciations of Jeremiah. But in later times daughters were buried alive as a matter of household economy, owing to the poverty of many of the tribes, and to their fear of dishonor, since women were often carried off by their enemies in forays, and made slaves and concubines to strangers.

So that at a wedding, the wish expressed in the gratulations to the newly-married pair was, "with concord and sons," or "with concord and permanence; with sons and no daughters." This same salutation is universal in Syria now. The chief wish expressed by women to a bride is, "may God give you an arees," i. e. a bridegroom son.

In the Koran, Sura xiv, Mohammed argues against the Arabs of Kinaneh, who said that the angels were the daughters of God. "They (blasphemously) attribute daughters to God; yet they wish them not for themselves. When a female child is announced to one of them, his face grows dark, and he is as though he would choke."

The older Arab Proverbs show that the burying alive of female children was deemed praiseworthy.

"To send women before to the other world, is a benefit."

"The best son-in-law is the grave."

The Koran also says, that certain men when hearing of the birth of a daughter hide themselves "from the people because of the ill-tidings; shall he keep it with disgrace, or bury it in the dust." (Sura xvi.)

It is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear, was when his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of the grave-earth from his beard!

Before the Seventh Century this practice seems to have been gradually abandoned, but was retained the longest in the tribe of Temîm. Naman, king of Hira, carried off among his prisoners in a foray, the daughter of Kais, chief of Temîm, who fell in love with one of her captors and refused to return to her tribe, whereupon her father swore to bury alive all his future female children, which he did, to the number of ten.

Subsequent to this, rich men would buy the lives of girls devoted to inhumation, and Sa Saah thus rescued many, in one case giving two milch camels to buy the life of a new-born girl, and he was styled "the Reviver of the Maidens buried alive."

The following Arabic Proverbs having reference to women and girls will illustrate the ancient Arab ideas with regard to their character and position, better than volumes of historic discourse:

"Obedience to women will have to be repented of."

"A man can bear anything but the mention of his women."

"The heart of woman is given to folly."

"Leave not a girl nor a green pasture unguarded."

"What has a girl to do with the councils of a nation?"

"If you would marry a beauty, pay her dowry."

"Fear not to praise the man whose wives are true to him."

"Woman fattens on what she hears." (flattery)

"Women are the whips of Satan."

"If you would marry a girl, inquire about the traits of her mother."

"Trust neither a king, a horse, nor a woman. For the king is fastidious, the horse prone to run away, and the woman is perfidious."

"My father does the fighting, and my mother the talking about it."

"Our mother forbids us to err and runs into error."

"Alas for the people who are ruled by a woman!"

The position of woman among the Arabs before the times of Mohammed can be easily inferred from what has preceded....