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SOCIETY IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD
hairstyles seen at the Hajj by Richard Burton in the 19th century
Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr. Wrote in “A Concise History of the Middle East”: “In the early period, the social structure of Islam was far more formalized than that of our society nowadays. Every class had certain rights and duties, as did each religion, sex, and age group. The rulers were expected to preserve order and promote justice among their subjects, to defend the ummah against non-Muslim powers, and to assure maximum production and exploitation of the wealth of their realm. Sunni Islam developed an elaborate political theory. It stated that the legitimate head of state was the caliph, who must be an adult male, sound in mind, descended from the Quraysh tribe. His appointment must be publicly approved by other Muslims. In practice, though, the assent given to a man's becoming caliph might be no more than his own. Some of the caliphs were juveniles. A few were insane. Eventually, the caliphal powers were taken over by vizirs, provincial governors, and military adventurers. The fiction, however, was maintained, and the Sunni legist might have asked whether to be governed by a usurper or a despot was worse than by no ruler at all. The common saying was that a thousand years of tyranny was preferable to one day of anarchy. [Source: Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., “A Concise History of the Middle East,” Chapter. 8: Islamic Civilization, 1979, Internet Islamic History Sourcebook, sourcebooks.fordham.edu /~]
“The abuse of political power was often checked by the moral authority of the ulama. The rulers were to govern with the aid of classes commonly called the "men of the pen" and the "men of the sword." The men of the pen were the administrators who collected and disbursed the state revenues and carried out the rulers' orders, plus the ulama who provided justice, education, and various welfare services to Muslims. The Christian clergy and the Jewish rabbinate had functions in their religious communities similar to those of the ulama. The men of the sword expanded and defended the borders of Islam and also, especially after the ninth century, administered land grants and maintained local order. /~\
Websites on Islamic History: History of Islam: An encyclopedia of Islamic history historyofislam.com ; Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World oxfordislamicstudies.com ; Sacred Footsetps sacredfootsteps.com ; Islamic History Resources uga.edu/islam/history ; Internet Islamic History Sourcebook fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook ; Islamic History friesian.com/islam ; Muslim Heritage muslimheritage.com ; Chronological history of Islam barkati.net
Social Groupings in Early Islamic Society
Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr. Wrote in “A Concise History of the Middle East”: “The great majority of the people in the Muslim world belonged to the subject class, responsible for producing the wealth of the ummah. The most basic division of subjects was between nomads and settled peoples, with the former group further divided into countless tribes and clans, and the latter broken down into many occupational groups. Urban merchants and artisans had various trade guilds, often tied to specific religious sects or Sufi orders (brotherhoods of Muslim mystics), which looked out for their common interests. By far the largest group was the peasant population, whose status tended to be lower. There were also slaves; some served in the army or the bureaucracy, others worked for merchants or manufacturers, and still others were household servants. Plantations using slave labor were rare. Islam did not prohibit slavery, which was common in seventh-century Arabia, but it enjoined masters to treat their slaves kindly and encouraged their liberation. Slaves could be prisoners of war, children who had been sold by their parents, or captives taken by slave traders from their homes. [Source: Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., “A Concise History of the Middle East,” Chapter. 8: Islamic Civilization, 1979, Internet Islamic History Sourcebook, sourcebooks.fordham.edu /~]
Bedouin family
“Crossing these horizontal social divisions were vertical ones based on ancestry, race, religion, and sex. Although various hadiths showed that Muhammad and his companions wanted to play down distinctions based on family origins, early Islam did nonetheless give higher status to descendants of the earliest Muslims or of Arabs generally than to later converts to the religion. As you have seen in earlier chapters, Persians and then Turks gradually rose to the same status as Arabs. Other ethnic groups, such as Berbers, Indians, and Black Africans, kept a distinct identity and often a lower status even after their conversion to Islam. Racial discrimina- tion, however, was generally less acute than it has been in Christian countries in modern times. /~\
“The divisions based on religion, though, were deep and fundamental. Religion was a corporate experience, a community of believers bound together by adherence to a common set of laws and beliefs, rather than a private and personal relationship between each person and his maker. Religion and politics were inextricably intertwined. Christians and Jews did not have the same rights and obligations as Muslims; they were protected communities living within the realm of Islam where the Shari'ah prevailed. Exempted from military duties, Christians and Jews were also not allowed to bear arms. If they did not have to pay zakat, they did have to pay a head tax vfizyah) plus whatever levies were needed to maintain their own religious institutions. They could not testify in a Muslim court against a Muslim, or ring bells or blow shofars ("ram's horns") or have noisy processions that might interrupt Muslim worship. Sometimes the restrictions were more humiliating, and in a few cases their lives and property were threatened. But they were able to maintain their identity as Jews or Christians and follow their own laws and religious beliefs for hundreds of years. The treatment of religious minorities in Muslim countries that upheld the Shari'ah was better than in those that have recently watered the code down or abandoned it altogether, and much, much better than the treatment of Jews in medieval Christendom, tsarist Russia, or Nazi Germany. /~\
“As for social divisions based on sex, Islam (like most religions that grew up in the agrarian age) is patriarchal and gives certain rights and responsibilities to men that it denies to women. Muslims believe that biology has dictated different roles for the two sexes. Men are expected to govern countries, wage war, and support their families; women to bear and rear children, take care of their households, and obey their husbands. There is little women's history in early Islam; a few women took part in wars and governments, wrote poetry, or had profound mystical experiences, but most played second fiddle to their husbands, fathers, brothers, or sons. /~\
Family Life and Personal Relations in Early Islamic Society
Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr. Wrote in “A Concise History of the Middle East”: “As you may have guessed, the family has played a primary role in Islamic society. Marriages were arranged by the parents or the oldest living relatives of the potential couple, because it was understood that a marriage would tie two families together or tighten the bonds between two branches of the same family (marriages between cousins were preferred because they helped keep the family property intact). Muslims assumed that love between a man and and a woman would develop once they were married and had to share the cares of maintaining a household and bringing up children. Romantic love did arise between unmarried persons, but it rarely led to marriage. The freedom of Muslim men to take additional wives (up to a total of four) may have caused some domestic trouble, but many an older wife rejoiced when her husband took a younger one who could better bear the strains of frequent pregnancy and heavy housework. The "harem" of the Western imagination was rare. Only the rich nd powerful man could afford to take the four wives allowed him by the Quran; many poor men could not afford any, since the groom had to provide a dowry. Islamic law made divorce easy for husbands, almost impossible for wives; but in practice divorce was rare, since the wife got to keep the dowry. A Muslim marriage contract might also discourage divorce by specifying that the groom pay part of the dowry to the bride at once and the rest of it only if he later divorced her. [Source: Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., “A Concise History of the Middle East,” Chapter. 8: Islamic Civilization, 1979, Internet Islamic History Sourcebook, sourcebooks.fordham.edu /~]
“Another point worth making about family life is that parents expected (and received) the unquestioning obedience of their sons and daughters, even after they had grown up. Once a woman married, she had also to defer to her husband's parents. Women naturally wanted to bear sons, who would eventually give them daughters-in-law to boss around. Parents disciplined their children harshly; yet, they loved them deeply and took great pride in their achievements in later life. While a youth usually learned his father's trade, the gifted son of simple peasant or tradesman could get an education and move into the ranks of the ulama or the administrative elite. Of course, a vizir's son might also turn into a bum. Opportunities for a girl to receive an education were limited, but certain occupations were re- served for women, and wives often worked beside their husbands in the fields or in domestic industries, such as weaving. Relationships between brothers, sisters, and cousins had an intensity (usually love, sometimes hate) that is rare in Western families, perhaps because Muslim youths spent so much of their free time within the family circle. /~\
Umar seeing the old widow and her children
“Even social relationships outside the household were apt to be more intense than in our culture. The individual in Islamic society tended to have fewer acquaintances than in our more mobile world, but his friendships (and enmities) were apt to be stronger and more enduring. Physical as well as verbal expressions of endearment between two friends of the same sex were common and did not usually signify homosexuality (though such relationships did exist). Men's friendships were generally based on common membership in a Sufi brotherhood, trade guild, or athletic club. We know less about women's social arrangements.
“Both men and women entertained their friends, segregated by sex, at home. Mutual visiting, at which food and drink were shared and news exchanged, was the most common pastime for every class in Islamic society. The usual time for this activity was in the late afternoon or early evening as the weather cooled off, or at night during the month of Ramadan. Large groups of men (or of women) liked to gather at someone's house to listen to poetry recitations or, less often, musical performances. Both sexes liked to go on picnics; Egypt and Iran even retained pre-Islamic holidays that required making an early spring trip into the countryside for a meal outdoors. The two great festivals of Islam, the Feast of (Abraham's) Sacrifice during the month of the hajj and the Feast of Fast-breaking following Ramadan, were major social occasions everywhere. People also gave lavish parties to celebrate births, circumcisions, and weddings. Funeral processions, burials, and postburial receptions also played a big part in the social life of Muslims. While a death was mourned, of course, the survivors consoled themselves with the certain belief that the deceased would soon be with God. Men also got together in mosques, bazaars, public baths, and restaurants. Women might also meet their friends at women's baths, at the public well where they drew their water, or at the streams where they did their laundry. Compared with our society, early Muslims had less freedom and privacy, but more security and less loneliness. /~\
Muslim Slavery
Muhammad condemned slavery and called the freeing of a slave a virtuous act. Even so slavery persisted in the Muslim world until fairly recently and still exists in places like the Sudan and Mauritania. However, it generally was not the cruel institution that slavery was in the New World Slaves did not have the same rights as non-slaves but they did have rights. According to laws laid out in the Qur’an and the hadiths, slaves were expected to be treated fairly and with kindness and in many cases received some kind of payment for their work.
slaves in Zabid, Yemen in the 13th century
The Qur’an, like other scriptures, mention slavery but only in a few passing references. The Caliph Umar established the principal that no Muslim could be enslaved and took measures to abolish the practice of selling children to pay off debts and enslaving captives from wars. The only person that could be kept as slaves were non-believers and their children. Masters had sole control over their slaves and could sell them, bequeath them and give them away as they pleased. A slave needed the permission of his master to get married.
According to Islamic law, Muslims could not be slaves. Slaves were usually captured soldiers, ex-convicts or children. Most slaves were household slaves, though the use of slave labor in industry and agriculture was not uncommon. Many became soldiers or concubines. From the 16th century on no Ottoman sultan was married to a free woman. Children of slaves were slaves. Children of slaves and non-slaves were born free. Many slaves rose to high government positions. One of the more remarkable Muslim institutions was the Mamluk slave army. Some slaves, name the Mamluks, became leaders and forged their own dynasty.
Some slaves were Slavs from Central Asia and Europe and Africans captured by rival tribes, bandits and raiders and sold to slave traders. Many slave traders in eastern Africa were Arabs. They arrived in East Africa about A.D. 800 in search of gold and ivory and were involved in schemes in which salt—greatly prized in Africa—was traded for gold and slaves
The “Deadly Road” was the name given to a caravan route used to transport slaves across present-day Libya, Niger and Nigeria from Lake Chad to Arab towns on the Mediterranean. The route is so named because most of the slaves died along the way. Those that survived were often barely alive and little more than skin and bones when they finished the trip. Since the late 19th century the route as been used mostly by camel traders.
Food in the Early Islamic Period
Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr. Wrote in “A Concise History of the Middle East”: “The foods Muslims ate, the clothing they wore, and the houses in which they lived differed according to their economic condition, locality, and the era in question, so it is hard to generalize on how they met their fundamental needs. Wheat was the basic cereal grain. It was usually ground at a mill, kneaded at home, and baked in small flattened loaves in large communal or commercial ovens. Bulgur or parched wheat was used in cooking, especially in Syria and Palestine. [Source: Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., “A Concise History of the Middle East,” Chapter. 8: Islamic Civilization, 1979, Internet Islamic History Sourcebook, sourcebooks.fordham.edu /~]
Bedouins making bread
“Wheat gruel or porridge was eaten by bedouins. Rice was less common then than now; corn and potatoes were unknown. Many fruits and vegetables were eaten, some fresh, others dried, pickled in vinegar, or preserved in sugar. Sheep, goats, camels, water buffaloes, and cows were milked, and the dairy products consumed included cheese, butter (also clarified for use in cooking), and yogurt. The meat most commonly eaten was lamb or mutton, usually roasted or baked. Various animal organs not highly prized by Westerners, such as eyes, brains, hearts, and testicles, were considered delicacies. /~\
“Pork was forbidden to Muslims, and so were fermented beverages, although Hanafi Muslims were allowed a very mild date wine. Lax Muslims drank wine from grapes and other fruits, beer, and araq (a fermented beverage made from date palm sap, molasses, or rice). The observant majority drank fruit juices in season, sherbet (originally snow mixed with rose water or fruit syrup), and diluted yogurt. Coffee and tea did not come into wide-spread use until the seventeenth century. Middle Eastern food has never been highly spiced; salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice are the commonest seasonings. Saffron was used for its yellow coloring more than its flavor, because Muslim cooks like to enhance the appearance of their dishes. Honey, more than sugar, served as a sweetening agent. /~\
Sharing a Meal in the Abbasid Period
In “Ruminations and Reminiscences,” Al-Tanûkhî wrote in A.D. 980: “The Qadi added that this agent told him how when any rare dainty or sweet was served up before Numân, he did not like to eat much of it, but would order it to be given away as it was to mendicants. Every day too he used to order what was taken away from his table with such of his slaves' rations as remained over in his kitchen to be given away, whence a great number of mendicants assembled at his gate every day. One day, he said, a Hashimite friend was eating at Nu'man's table, and some dainty dish was served up. Before they had finished Nu'man ordered it to be given to the mendicants. A fatted kid was then served, and before they had enjoyed it, he ordered it to be removed and given to the mendicants. There was served up a dish of almond made up with pistachio-nuts, of which Nu'man was fond, and for a glass of which according to the size he paid fifty dirhems, five dinars, more or less. They had only eaten a little of it when he said: "Hand it over to the mendicants." “[Source: D. S. Margoliouth, ed., The Table Talk of a Mesopotamian Judge, (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1922), pp. 64-67, 164-68, 135-37, 93, 2 9-92, 86-87, 31, 160, 97-101, 172-73, 84-86, 204-6]
Confession of Abu Nuwas in the Abbadis period
“The Hashimite held the glass fast, and said: "My friend, imagine us to be the mendicants, and let us enjoy our food; why do you hand on to mendicants everything for which you have a taste? What has a mendicant to do with this? They can do very well on beef and date-cake; so please, do not let it be removed." Nu'man replied: "My friend, what you see is a custom of mine. A bad custom it is," he said; "we shall not endure it. If the mendicants must have it, then order a similar dish to be prepared for them; let us enjoy this, and pay them its value in money." Nu'man replied: "I will counter-order and have a similar dish prepared for them; but as for money—a mendicant would not have the heart or spirit to prepare a dish of this sort, even if many times its value were paid him; when he gets the coins, he spends them on other things, on supplying more immediate needs, nor would he have the skill either to prepare such a dish. Now I like to share my pleasures."
“Addressing his slave, he bade him have a dish similar to theirs prepared at once and distributed to the mendicants. It was done; and after this occasion, when he was entertaining any one whom he respected, he ordered dishes similar to those which were to be served to be prepared and bestowed in charity, and only ordered them to be removed from his table when the guests had had sufficient.
Clothing and Housing in the Early Islamic Period
Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr. wrote in “A Concise History of the Middle East”: “People's clothing had to meet stiff requirements for modesty and durability. Linen or cotton clothes were worn in hot weather and woolen ones in the winter -- and at all times of the year by some mystics and nomads. Loose-fitting robes were preferred to trousers, except by horseback riders who wore baggy pants. Muslim men covered their heads in all formal situations, either with turbans or various types of brimless caps. Different colored turbans might identify a man's status; for instance, green singled out one who had made the hajj to Mecca. Arab nomads wore flowing kuJyahs (headcloths) bound by headbands. Hats with brims and caps with visors were never worn by Muslims, because they would have interfered with prostrations during worship. Women always wore some type of long cloth to cover their hair, if not also to veil their faces. Christians, Jews, and other minorities wore distinctive articles of clothing and headgear. If what you wore showed your religion and status, as did the attire of a stranger you might meet in the bazaar, each of you would know how to act toward the other.” [Source: Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., “A Concise History of the Middle East,” Chapter. 8: Islamic Civilization, 1979, Internet Islamic History Sourcebook, sourcebooks.fordham.edu /~]
“Houses were constructed from whatever type of building material was locally most plentiful: stone, mud brick, or sometimes wood. High ceilings and windows helped provide ventilation in hot weather; and in the winter, only warm clothing, hot food, and an occasional charcoal brazier made indoor life bearable. Many houses were built around courtyards containing gardens and fountains. Rooms were not filled with furniture; people were used to sitting cross-legged on carpets or very low platforms. Mattresses and other bedding would be unrolled when people were ready to sleep and put away after they got up. In houses of people who were reasonably well-off, cooking facilities were often in a separate enclosure. Privies always were. /~\
clothing in Muslim North Africa
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Internet Islamic History Sourcebook: sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Arab News, Jeddah; “Islam, a Short History” by Karen Armstrong; “A History of the Arab Peoples” by Albert Hourani (Faber and Faber, 1991); Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The New Yorker, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Library of Congress and various books and other publications.
Last updated April 2024