WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
In this country, as elsewhere, the harem is the luxury of the wealthy. Polygamy is declining in Arabia, as it is in Turkey; but in Mecca, the rich sometimes maintain two or three wives and a number of mistresses. According to Burckhardt, some of the middle-class Arabs used to buy young Abyssinian girls, keep them as concubines, and often sell them to foreigners.
In ancient times a custom known as beena marriage was common in Arabia. The wife was the actual owner of her tent and household goods, and could leave her husband upon just cause. There is no doubt that the Arabs have always tended to respect a woman's rights regarding property, and this respect has favoured the position of women, especially since the coming of Mohammed, who laid down definite laws.
Mutʾah marriage, still surviving in Arabia and Persia, is a curious form of temporary alliance, and is of ancient origin. Letourneau refers to this union as motʾa. R. Smith, in " Kinship," alludes to it. The woman remains in her own home, but becomes a temporary wife on payment to her of a fixed amount. Sometimes the union becomes permanent; but if the wife wishes to leave the husband at the end of the agreed period, she possesses full liberty to do so. After the transient conjugal life, a woman is free to form another mutʾah marriage. Mohammed did not sanction this marriage, and it was abolished at a later
209
