Family Ties between Muslim Men and High-Status Non-Muslim Women (Seventh–Ninth c. CE)
This article explores unions between elite Muslim men and elite non-Muslim women from the conquered populations during the seventh to ninth centuries CE. It considers cases from a range of geographic settings, including the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, the Fertile Crescent, and Iran. It examines...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2024
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| In: |
Medieval encounters
Year: 2024, Volume: 30, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 302-329 |
| Further subjects: | B
Muslim-Zoroastrian relations
B Muslim-Jewish relations B Muslim-Christian relations B Umayyads B women and gender B ʿAbbasids B Persian literature B Arab conquests B religiously mixed marriages B Arabic Literature |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article explores unions between elite Muslim men and elite non-Muslim women from the conquered populations during the seventh to ninth centuries CE. It considers cases from a range of geographic settings, including the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, the Fertile Crescent, and Iran. It examines these unions in their immediate historical contexts as well as literary artifacts of much later periods. With respect to the former, it argues Muslim conquerors often used elite non-Muslim women to cement their alliances with indigenous elites and as instruments to humiliate and abase these elites. With respect to the latter, it argues that stories of aristocratic non-Muslim women constitute a neglected but important feature of conquest narratives and they show how elite non-Muslim lineage remained prized among Muslims long after the conquests were over. Finally, as the article argues, the phenomenon demonstrates that many in early Muslim society considered maternal lineage to be very important, even if social standing was technically based mainly on the father. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0674 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Medieval encounters
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700674-12340189 |