Abbasid harem
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The harem of the
Background and origin
The harem system first became fully institutionalized in the Islamic world under the
In contrast to the earlier era of the
The growing seclusion of women were illustrated by the power struggle between the Caliph Al-Hadi and his mother Al-Khayzuran, who refused to live in seclusion but instead challenged the power of the Caliph by giving her own audiences to male supplicants and officials and thus mixing with men.[7] Her son considered this improper, and he publicly addressed the issue of his mothers public life by assembling his generals and asked them:
- 'Who is the better among us, you or me?' asked Caliph al-Hadi of his audience.
- 'Obviously you are the better, Commander of the Faithful,' the assembly replied.
- 'And whose mother is the better, mine or yours?' continued the caliph.
- 'Your mother is the better, Commander of the Faithful.'
- 'Who among you', continued al-Hadi, 'would like to have men spreading news about your mother?'
- 'No one likes to have his mother talked about,' responded those present.
- 'Then why do men go to my mother to speak to her?'[7]
Conquests had brought enormous wealth and large numbers of slaves to the Muslim elite. The majority of the slaves were women and children,[8] many of whom had been dependents or harem-members of the defeated Sassanian upper classes.[9] In the wake of the conquests an elite man could potentially own a thousand slaves, and ordinary soldiers could have ten people serving them.[8]
Nabia Abbott, preeminent historian of elite women of the Abbasid Caliphate, describes the lives of harem women as follows.
The choicest women were imprisoned behind heavy curtains and locked doors, the strings and keys of which were entrusted into the hands of that pitiable creature – the eunuch. As the size of the harem grew, men indulged to satiety. Satiety within the individual harem meant boredom for the one man and neglect for the many women. Under these conditions ... satisfaction by perverse and unnatural means crept into society, particularly in its upper classes.[9]
The marketing of human beings, particularly women, as objects for sexual use meant that elite men owned the vast majority of women they interacted with, and related to them as would masters to slaves.[10]
Hierarchy and organisation
The Abbasid harem established a model of hierarchy and organisation which was to become a standard for Muslim harems for centuries. It was a large institution; during the reign of al-Muqtadir, the harem consisted of 4000 enslaved women and 11.000 enslaved servants.[11]
The mother
On the top of the hierarchy was not the wife of the ruler. As a Muslim, the ruler could have several wives, and as he must formally treat them equally, he could not give one wife higher status than another, and give her a role similar to that of a Christian queen consort. Instead, it was the mother of the Caliph who had the highest rank and position in the harem and thereby among all the women at court.
Her background could be both that of a free wife, or that of an enslaved concubine.
Female relatives
In the harem resided also the unmarried or divorced daughters, sisters and other nonmarried female relatives of the Caliph.
The Abbasid princesses could make themselves known for their poetry and other accomplishments, as long as they observed the seclusion. Princess
Wives
The wives of the Abbasid caliphs were known as hurra.[13] The caliph sometimes entered diplomatic marriages. During the later centuries of the Abbasid Caliphate the caliphs often married Seljuk princesses, who acted as pious role models by founding or making donations to pious or charitable institutions.[14] It was common for caliphs to manumit and marry their former slave concubines.[15]
Concubines
Below the legal wives were the enslaved concubines of the caliph. These included the jariya also known as ama and khadima, who were often acquired through warfare or slave markets. She could be used for sexual relations by him and could also be shared with other men for their pleasure. The jariya was regarded as property and could be bought, inherited, or freed at the discretion of her owner.[13]
Above the jariyas were the mahziyyat or hazaya. These concubines unlike the jariyas could not be shared with other men. The cost for acquiring a mahziyya could soar to hundreds of thousands of dirhams. She often assumed a significant antagonistic role towards the master's wife.[13]
A slave concubine who was selected to have sex with the Caliph and then gave birth to a child by him, attained the coveted position of an umm al-walad.[11] This prevented her from being sold, ensuring she remained a slave under her master's control,[13] and she became freed upon her master’s death. She could also become a legal wife of the caliph, if he manumitted her and chose to marry her.[15]
Female entertainers
The harem also consisted of a large number of
The Jawari entertainers were not synonymous with the concubines, and the jawaris and concubines belonged to two different categories.[11] However, the Jawaris could be chosen by the Caliph for sexual intercourse, and thus transition to become a concubine.[13]
The jawaris were sometimes former
During reign of the
Qahramana
The qahramana (Arabic: قَهْرَمانَة qahramānah, 'stewardess') were female slaves responsible for various tasks within the harem. They could act as governesses for the children, as well as the personal servants and agents of the women, functioning as intermediaries between the harem women and the outside world.
The qahramana were the only women who were allowed the mobility to leave and enter the harem, and they regularly left the harem to make purchases for the secluded harem women and handle the affairs between the women and the merchants and tradespeople of the outside world.[11] This mobility was envied by the harem women, and one story describe the envy of a harem woman, who wished to become a qahramana so that she would be able to leave the harem, and finally managed to achieve her goal to become a qahramana.[11]
The mobility of a qahramana made them into influential figures as the personal agents and messengers between the harem women and the world outside the harem.
Eunuchs
The eunuchs were the castrated male slaves responsible for guarding the harem, for preventing the women from leaving the harem and for approving any visitor before they gained entrance.[11]
Harem slavery
With the exception of the legal wives and female relatives of the Caliph, the inhabitants of the harem—concubines, entertainers and eunuchs—were all enslaved people. The slaves were either war captives (called sabaya) or bought from slave markets, and the slave women were divided in to the categories jawari and qiyan (singers), mahziyyat (concubines) and qahramanat (stewardesses).[13] The men meant for the harem were all eunuchs; the non eunuch males served the palace outside of the harem.
According to Islamic practice of slavery and slave trade, foreign non-Muslims were free to enslave, and it was preferred that slaves were to be
One of the chief regions for the export of
Impact
The Abbasid harem system came to be a role model for the harems of later Islamic rulers, and the same model can be found in subsequent Islamic nations during the Middle Ages, such as the
See also
References
- Marilyn Booth Harem Histories: Envisioning Places and Living Spaces
- Maaike van Berkel, Nadia Maria El Cheikh, Hugh Kennedy, Letizia Osti Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court: Formal and Informal Politics
- Jeroen Duindam, Tülay Artan, Metin Kunt Royal Courts in Dynastic States and Empires: A Global Perspective
- Leigh K. Jenco, Murad Idris, Megan C. Thomas, Megan Christine Thomas The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Political Theory
Notes
- ^ a b c d Eleanor Abdella Doumato (2009). "Seclusion". In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021.
- ^ Siddiqui, Mona (2006). "Veil". In Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Brill.
- ^ [Quran 33:53 (Translated by Yusuf Ali)]
- ^ Youshaa Patel (2013). "Seclusion". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on September 7, 2020.
- .
- ^ Ahmed 1992, pp. 112–15.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-579868-5.
- ^ a b Morony, Michael G. Iraq after the Muslim conquest. Gorgias Press LLC, 2005
- ^ a b Abbott, Nabia. Two queens of Baghdad: mother and wife of Hārūn al Rashīd. University of Chicago Press, 1946.
- ^ Ahmed 1992, p. 85.
- ^ S2CID 201770373.
- ^ Matthew Gordon, Kathryn A. Hain: Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4744-2318-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4798-0477-1.[page needed]
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-508677-5.
- ^ Textiles of Medieval Iberia: Cloth and Clothing in a Multi-cultural Context. (2022). Storbritannien: Boydell Press. p. 180-181
- ^ a b c BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI iii. In the Islamic period up to the Mongol invasion https://iranicaonline.org/articles/barda-iii
- ^ Fuad Matthew Caswell, The Slave Girls of Baghdad; The Qiyan in the Early Abbasid Era (London: I.B.Tauris, 2011), Appendix II, 274.
- ^ N. Abbott, Two Queens of Baghdad, Chicago, 1946, pp. 141-42
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-300-05583-2.