Women Under Polygamy/Chapter 20
CHAPTER XX
THE ARABIAN CONCUBINATE
The early Arabs, a fierce, militant race, became, through conquests in India, Persia and Spain, a powerful and civilising force from the seventh to the tenth centuries. Before their expansion they were nomadic shepherds, wresting a poor substance from a sterile soil. In the height of their prosperity the Arabs excelled in the sciences, in medicine, in the arts and in philosophy, and built up a mighty civilisation.
The town dwellers in modern Arabia are sometimes polygamous, but the mass of the wandering herdsmen and traders marry only one wife. About a hundred years ago plural marriage was as comparatively uncommon in Arabia as it is to-day.
Pinkerton, in his "Voyages and Travels," 1811, states that the Bedouins were mostly monogamists, though a few had two wives. In these cases the women were supervisors of the husband's affairs during his absence, or one would travel with him on trading expeditions, while the other remained in charge at home.
AN ARAB WOMAN.
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 date. But it is apparently still known in some parts of Arabia. Letourneau says that mutʾah unions were practised by the ancient Hebrews.[1]
Some writers seem anxious to prove that Arab polygamy and concubinage are commonly practised, and that the women are in a condition of slavery. There is, however, conclusive evidence that the nomadic Arabs are mostly monogamous; also that their women exercise considerable influence and possess clearly-defined rights. Arabian poetry contains many laudatory tributes to the fidelity, gentleness, and courage of women.
Pinkerton noted very little difference between Moslem and Christian marriage. He states that the women of Arabia "seem to be as free and happy as those of Europe can possibly be." Divorce, says Pinkerton, was rarely undertaken without the most stringent reasons, repudiation being considered a dishonourable proceeding, because it casts a stigma on the wife and her relatives. The writer observes further that the women seemed to have much liberty, and often a high degree of power in the family and the group.
The townspeople who kept harems were urged more by social vanity than by sensuality. Pinkerton says that the women of the seraglios were not guarded by eunuchs; in fact, there were then no eunuchs in Arabia. But Sir Richard Burton alludes in two or three passages to eunuchs in modern Arabia. Pinkerton asserts that the Arabs strongly disapproved of castration.
Burton, in his "Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah," relates that while staying in the house of the Shayk Hamid he never saw any women but the slaves. Those girls were shy, and usually covered their faces while they talked to him. Slave girls could be bought for about £60, and the Abyssinians were the most highly valued among the women of colour. The Circassians were worth £100 to £400.
Yet it is amongst the wandering, adventurous Arabs that we must look for the birth of the ideals of romantic love and chivalry. These sons of the desert, who have been unjustly charged with cruelty to women, were, even in early times, very ardent and tender lovers. Sir Richard Burton says that men will die for love in the East. The passionate, imaginative Bedouins are mostly chivalrous in their conduct towards women. They are still gentlemen, retaining strong, lasting traditions of honour, courtesy and hospitality.
The Bedouin women are lithe and active. Arabs dislike fat persons. As a rule, the women are unveiled, though they wear a head covering. Burton describes some of the beauties of the plains as extremely handsome. The Bedouins do not only esteem the women for their bodily attractions. There is a real sentiment of conjugal love, and both husband and wife lament partings, if only for a few months. On the return of the husband, the wife greets him with cries of delight.
Ages ago the women of Arabia were "a race of heroines." We cannot suppose that the spirit of those days is dead; that Arabian poets do not voice the emotions of living men, and that the Arab lover of to-day looks upon his bride, or his concubine, as a mere serf. Men do not languish, lapse into despair, and commit suicide for the simple possession of slaves. Yet Letourneau is inclined to class the Arabs with barbarians.
A form of capture-marriage is practised among the Bedouins. The girl is wooed and her consent secured; but she must flee from her suitor and assume a defensive attitude, in accordance with ancient convention. Sometimes she hides coyly from her lover, and is provided with food by her relatives. In one tribe the bride is protected by her women friends, but she allows herself to be caught and carried to the bridegroom's tent.
It is curious to note the pains taken by some writers to underrate the refinement of sentiment in love among races practising polygamy. Conjugal affection, as I have endeavoured to show in these pages, is not incompatible with plural marriage. Burckhardt, who is often quoted by Professor Westermarck, says that he doubts whether the Arabs ever mean anything but "the grossest animal desire" when they talk of the passion of love. Westermarck often allows his monogamic bias to colour his inquiry into polygamy. But Sir Richard Burton is more dispassionate. He quotes Sonnini, who, by the way, was no great admirer of Egypt.[2]
This writer speaks of "the generous virtues, the example of magnanimity and affectionate attachment, the sentiments ardent, yet gentle, forming a delightful unison with personal charms in the harems of the Mamluks."
Pinkerton discerned but little difference in the marriage of Christians and Mohammedans; Mrs. Garnett thinks the women of Turkey are, in the main, quite as happy as the women of England; and apparently Miss Margaret Noble would not exchange the life of a Hindu woman for that of an emancipated English sister.
It may be urged that the tending towards equality of the sexes among the Bedouins is attributable to the fact that they are, for the greater number, monogamous. That may be so. But polygamy is not condemned, and would probably be practised more widely were it not for the poverty of these nomads.
The Bedouins are not a religious people. Nominally they are Mohammedans, but they are not strictly devout. They observe the rule of circumcision and a few other Moslem rites. Their marriage ceremony is simple. Sons are married as soon as the father can afford the bride-price.
The system of concubinage existing in Arabia is a survival of the militarist days, when women were taken captives in battle. It is, in a sense, "free marriage." Letourneau, in "The Evolution of Marriage," writes: "If we interrogate all races, all epochs, and all countries, we see that the concubinate and concubinage have flourished, and still flourish, by the side of legal marriage."
Sir Samuel Baker was told by an Arab chief that he owned four wives. When one grew old, he "replaced her with a young one." He made four marks with a stick in the sand, saying, "This one carries water; that grinds the corn; this makes the bread; the last does not do much, as she is the youngest and my favourite."
Jealousy often exists between wives and concubines. A young girl is purchased as a slave, and her youth and comeliness allure her master. She has been "gazed upon," and in due time she becomes a paramour. The legal wife, or one of the wives, conceives a hatred for this rival, and a plot may be concocted for the slave girl's ruin.
Palgrave offers the strongest evidence that the itinerant Arabs have always accorded the virtues of courage and loyalty to their women. The tribes that are led by women-soldiers have a high estimation of the capacity of women, and among the Arabs there were many fair warriors and leaders. Often a maiden of good birth rode at the head of an army, mounted upon a camel.
It is erroneous, therefore, to associate invariably the total subjection of women with communities practising polygamy and concubinage.