WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
That the wives of the harem possess many rights and privileges is beyond question. Very frequently they are the close companions of their husbands, the advisers, and the arbiters in domestic affairs.
The Moorish wives of the khalifs of Spain were frequently women of character and culture; and we read of their devotion to their husbands. Moon, the spouse of Ibn-Hajjaj, of Seville, wrote to her husband: "In all the West I find no right noble man save Ibrahim, but he is nobility itself. When one has known the delight of living with him, to dwell in any other land would be misery."
Kalam, a beauty of the Court of Abd-er-Rahman II., of Cordova, was one of several favoured and cultured women of the harem. She was a poet and a wonderful musician. Tarib, a much-loved concubine, was also greatly honoured by the monarch, who proclaimed her virtues and her loveliness in verse.
Strict modesty was inculcated amongst early Moslems. In pre-Mohammedan days, the preservation of modesty was marked among the Arabs. The Sunna code enjoins that a man should not uncover himself, even when alone, for nakedness was abhorrent to God. We may recall Job's atonement for this offence. Women, when in grief for the loss of a relative by death, expressed their emotion by uncovering the bosom, and often by tearing their garments. A man
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