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Arab women before Islam |
The status of women differed according to the social level to which they belong. Some writers discussed the situation of women in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam, and found that they were facing a mixed situation. According to the tribal custom that was the law in force at the time, women, as a rule, had no legal status to mention. Women were sold through their guardians, who in turn were “female merchants” who received the price in return. Women have the right to property or inheritance.
Some writers argue that women were more liberated before Islam than they should have been after it, and they cite the first marriage of the Prophet Muhammad. Which was a marriage by request of Khadija bint Khuwaylid, where she sent one of her friends; She is Nafisa, the sister of Ya`la bin Umayyah, who offered him marriage to Khadija, the Prophet Muhammad. Khadija was a lady in her people and a merchant with money. Likewise, these writers rely on other points, including the Arabs' worship of Al-Lat, which is one of the idols that the Arabs worshiped before Islam.
The Saudi historian Hatoon Al-Fassi considers that the rights of Arab women are deeply rooted in history, and she uses evidence from the ancient Nabataean civilization in the Arabian Peninsula. She found that Arab women under this civilization enjoyed independent legal personality, and Al-Fassi indicated that women lost many Its rights under Greek and Roman law before the entry of Islam, and these Greco-Roman constraints were retained under Islam.
The status of women varies widely in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam from one place to another due to the different customs and cultural habits of the tribes that were present at the time. The laws of Christianity and Judaism were very dominant among the Sabeans and Himyarites in the prosperous south of Arabia. In other places such as Mecca, where the Prophet Muhammad was born, a group of tribes had the right to the place; This was also applied among the Bedouin desert dwellers, and the situation differed according to custom from one tribe to another, and therefore there was no single definition of the role that women played or the rights they obtained before the advent of Islam.
The status of women in the class of nobles and the rich
In the class of nobles, gentlemen, and the rich, women were respected, protected, and enjoyed all rights. Swords were drawn without them, and blood was spilled for their dignity. She had her independent financial responsibility, so she owned money and participated in trade. She is engaged in commerce, and has commercial convoys that go out annually to the Levant, and she herself supervised her trade, and entrusted it to people of trust, competence, and honesty.
Women in wars
As for the wars, women played a major role in them by arousing the spirit of enthusiasm among the men, and encouraging them to give life and precious things and to achieve victory for their tribes. Spirit of enthusiasm and determination.
This role is repeated in another scene when the Quraysh fight the Muslims on the day of Uhud, when the Quraysh women, led by Hind bint Utbah, the wife of Abu Sufyan, went out touring the ranks, beating with tambourines, rousing the men, inciting them to fight, and agitating the people of beating and stabbing.
Women accompanied men to the battlefield to treat the wounded, and to carry water to the thirsty. Their role was not limited to this point only, but they excelled with the sword, rode on horseback, and raised the banner of war, and some of them were no less than the knights of their tribes.
Just as the woman was able to ignite the fire of war and fighting between the tribes, she was also able to stop the fighting and call for peace, stop bloodshed, and end the dispute. He was extravagant in killing. She made her hiding place a safe sanctuary for all those who sought refuge in it from Qais, and Harb bin Umayyah passed that, so he granted protection to those who sought refuge in it, and said to her, “Oh, aunt, whoever clings to your hiding place or circles around it is safe.” There was no one left who had no escape but he went around its hiding place, so he called this place Madar Qais.
Any assault on women was also a cause of war between tribes and bloodshed. When Laila, the mother of the poet Amr ibn Kulthum, called out to “Waqumah,” her son could only draw his sword and slaughter Amr ibn Hind, the king of al-Hirah, and took his horses and women as punishment for his mother’s deliberate insult to her guest. The mother of the poet.
The Arabs persisted in this, so the attack of Clip Wael, the leader of Rabia, on the camel of Al-Basous, was the cause of bloody wars and battles that lasted for forty years, and a man eating a loaf from the head of the Khawla, whose baker Bani Saad bin Zaid Manat caused her to complain to her people, so they took revenge on him, and wars and battles took place between them. At least a thousand men were killed.
Some Arab women were famous for their wisdom and reason, so they were a reference for men to take their advice and listen to their opinions, and we have seen how Saadi, the mother of Aws bin Haritha bin Lam Tai, was able to convince her son to refrain from killing the poet who satirized and satirized him, and to pardon him and be kind to him and honor him, until he swore not to say poetry Except that they were praised, so she ended with her wisdom a conflict that was about to break out, and she injected blood that was about to be spilled.
Women and literature
As for the literary life, there have emerged women poets, who excel in poetry compositions, and they possessed such eloquence of pronunciation and meaning that put them on an equal footing with the great poets, and among the most famous of them was Jalila Bint Murra, and Al-Khansa’, who had reached such eloquence, statement, and fame that she was qualified to do arbitration. Among the top competing poets, female doctors and healers also emerged.
And if the woman enjoyed all this respect, then the mother in particular was given a prestigious position, as her children were keen to honor her and earn her affection.
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The woman is at home
As for the women in the domestic life, the women of the nobles and the rich enjoyed comfort and ease in their homes, served by maidservants and maidservants, spending their free time in beautification, and holding councils with women of their class to talk and bargain.
Vernacular or Bedouin women
As for women in colloquial or Bedouin circles, they were less fortunate than their counterparts from the upper class, as it fell upon them the responsibility of the house, taking care of the children, preparing food, watering and fetching water from wells and springs, milking animals, spinning wool, and making clothes for herself and her children. And the manufacture of tents and rugs, and the collection of firewood for fuel, and in addition to that, some women used to share with their husbands in earning a living and seeking a livelihood. Some of them worked in fortune-telling, divination and astrology, and historical sources mentioned part of their news, especially since most of the Arabs used to turn to them to know the unknown, or read horoscopes or to learn about the will and will of the gods as they claim, especially those who added to their previous work the custodianship of a temple or the service of an idol. ,