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lave Girls under the Early `Abbäsids: A study of the role of slave-women and courtesans in social and literary 'AbbAsid life in the first two centuries of the Caliphate, based on original sources by Nasser Saad al-Rasheed A dissertation presented for the degree of Ph. D to St. Andrews University, September 1971. de ý.1ý iý a, f" 4J J, ý"yam BEST COPY AVAILABLE Variable print quality MISSING PRINT PAGE NUMBERS CUT OFF IN ORIGINAL CERTIFICAT10N I CERTIFY THAT Nasser ýaad Al Rasheed has completed nine terms of research work in the United Co1le6e of St. Salvator and St. Leonard, University of St. Andrews, that he has fulfilled the conditions of (1967) Resolution No. 1 of the University Court, and that he is qualified to submit the accompanying thesis in application for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. J. Parry (Supervisor) 1)eclnr;: tion I hereby declnro that the following is a record of roso,? rch work cn.rried out by me; that the thesis is my own composition, and that it has not previously been presented for any other degree. ýýrl^cer;;. a1-IH<nshced. St. Andrews. 6-9-1971. I 'Vnhl. o of Trnnslitoration d b 1% t = t z th gh h f kh q 4j d k = J. dh 1 J r m a z = n s h = uar sh = ý. w = 9 s fatha damma + sräw =ü =a kasra fatha + ya = ay =i da father + wäw = au a =u fatha. + alif aa kasra + ya iy Acknowledgement I wish, to thank Dr. M. A. Ghul and Dr. J. Burton, head of the. Arabio Department at St. Androws, 'for many useful suggostions. bey sincere thanks are due to Dr. J. R. Perry for his supervision and his assistance in relation to linguistic problems. To Dr. D. E. P. Jackson I owe an acknowledgement for taking pains in reading a part of this thesis and making some useful observations. Finally, I should like. to extend my thanks to the staff of the library of St. Andrews University for their kind-co-operation and help. a "I'Jln (iontoiitn Palo Introduction iii The Sources 1. Slavery in Islam: 18 a) Slavery among ancient nations. 18 b) Slavery among the pro-Islamic Arabs. 24 c), Slavery in Islam. 29 d) Treatment of slaves. 36 o) Legal position. 45 f) Social. position 50 and occupations of slaves. 2. Provenance of slave-girls: 73 a) Their origins. 73 b) Markets for slave-dealing. 82 c) 'Their numbers. 83 d) Prices of slave-girls. 86 e) Their characteristics. 89 3. Dealers and the treininr! of slave- irls: 96 a) Dealers' devices (1iiyal a.1-Nakhkhasin). 96 b) The N khkh-sün and the activities in their houses. 107 'c) professional training of slave-girls. 116 4. The eccomnlishments of slave-girls "in singing: 142 a) Prevalence of singing in the CAbbi.sid period. 142 b) Schools of singing. 148 c) Patronage of singing. 150 d) 1'lltllllf; (got Ll1f"ßllf 159 'jl'nm I; " o) Upponition to singing. 162 f) Traditions of 'singing. 169 g) Musical instruments and the Ntylo of the song. 170 li) Slave-girls and singing. 174 5. The literary role; 207 a), The ability of slave-girls to encourage the talent. 212 b) Importance of ;poetry for slave-girls. 222 c) Contribution of slave-girls to poetry. 223 d) Capping poetry (i aza). 235 e) Literary prose of slave-girls. 244 6. The social role of slave-girls: 249 a) Their position. 249 b) Umm al-Walad. 256 c) Social innovations and customs of slavo-girls. 260 d) The fashions of slave-girls. 275 o) al-izhulr mi Trt. 278 f) Reaction against slave-girls. 283 The effect of slave-girls on free women. 286 Biblio : 300 Original sources. 300 b) Secondary sources. 313 1..t. t . Introduction For a long time the study of 'Abbasid society has had a special fascination for mo, not only because it was "The Golden Age" of the Islamic civilization, but also because it witnessed changes in both literary and social life. Naturally, such changes were a result of a mixture of various nations and an intermarriage of different civilizations. From reading certain books which deal with social and literary aspects of that society, I have been struck by the idea that the numerous slave-girls might have participated in one way or another in such changes. This would not be surprising, since slave-girls in other societies played social and literary roles. It might be seen as conceivable that slave-girls, through their clothes, their social novelties, their fondness for poetry and above all their emergence in the households, influenced the man of that society, his way of'lifo and then his poetical production. I have thus decided to work on. the study of this subject, endeavouring to find out how far slave-girls of the LAbbäsid period played their social and literary roles. I hope this work interested in will stand as a useful contribution to serve those such a study. For the purpose of brevity and in view of the fact that I have the 'Abbäsid period covered several centuries, tried to confine this work exclusively to the so-called first 'Abbäsid Iv ( 0,1111 to, 749 A. D. to that poriod Cron, rsl : ºn t't'rils'rs )hn , of al- 1"lutawoldcil, 847), but at the camp time I have referred to incidents which took place outside this periods when Vic roforonco was nocossary. Ilowovor, two difficult things may be expected to confront anybody trying to study such a subjects. 1. The approach to this subject is narrative. The majority of the available information is acquired in the form of stories and tales, some of doubtful authenticity. In this case, it is necessary to throw an adequate critical light on such information, an art which requires knowing how widespread and accepted the stories about slavo-girls were. This art also requires reading the same information recorded in various books and told by different narrators. Again, a difficult task would arise from the fact that most of these stories were copied or borrowed from al-Aghani, even if they were available in other books. In this position, one has to rely upon familiarity with the uncertain nature of the stories and tales told by relators. 2. A great doal of information about slave-girls is subject their to exaggeration. This is so not only in the case of poetical their talents, but also of their numbers, their prices and musical has been dealt through- achievements. Such an exaggeration with out my work. It seems that discussion of slave-girls in the 'Abbasid period was customary and appreciated, not only among ordinary people in order to entertain themselves but also in the courts of V the caliphs. The caliph usually used to select his associates und hic boon companions among thoco with an adequate knowledge of (nkhbär). literature, history and stories Al-AsmaLI, Ish3q al- e0 II sill and Hammäd were among thomq and all found favour with several caliphs. The caliph, having his palace crowded with slave-girls; would be pleased when he retired to his private life to listen to stories and tales woven about slavo-girls. The caliph al-Mahd-1 was renotmed for his fondness for listening to such stories, and his vizier Yatqüb ibn Däwü.d used to provide him l with them. It appears that certain story tellers took to the inventing profession of stories about various subjects and spreading them. Among the most attractive subjects was, undoubtedly, slave-girls. For example, al-Asma'i, like other " 2 story tellers , was popular inside and outside the court. The caliph wanted him to entertain him with stories, and the public wanted to hoar them, and he himself wanted to make coney out of thorn and find favour with the caliph. Slave-girls represented an endless source for him to extract his stories from. In order to have his pocket full of the caliph's dinärs on one hand, he told him stories about the public's slave-girls and in order to establish his popularity on the other, he told the public stories about slave-girls of the palaces. 67. 1. Ibn al-t. thir, a1-Ký. mi1, v, p. 2. al-, Tarräh, al-Warana, p. 30. V 'Plio nin(or, nttornpting to provido nuitablo atmoophoro for his song, might toll a curious story, as for instance that he had borrowed his song from a slave-girl, adding more details in describing her and praising her talent and ability. The singer Ibn J7[miL told how he learned a particular song, which won the appreciation of his listenors, among whom was al-Rashid, from a 1 little pale slave-girl in al-MedIna. Ibrähim al Müsili told al-Rashid about his musical adventures with three slave-girls and how ho used to disguise himself when he went to them.