دی اسکالر (Jan 2016)
ENGLISH-MARRIAGE IN THE PRE-ISLAMIC ARAB WORLD
Abstract
The Arabs, before the advent of Islam, had contacts with different nations and followers of various religions & schools of thoughts. It influenced them in a number of different ways. Such impacts can easily be seen on their personal and social lives as we can see from their writings, poems and also from the Islamic literature including the Qur’ān and the Ḥadīth. Marriage is an integral part of the social life and comes with many benefits e.g. continuation of the human generations, a mechanism for fulfilling our bodily needs while remaining pious and staying away from the evil. The pre-Islamic Arabs generally preferred marriage over remaining single except a few who were influenced with the Christianity. When Islam came it strengthened this view of getting married. The likening of marriages among Arabs was due to a number of factors. One of influencing factors was their bad habit of being inclined towards wars and their daily businesses, like feeding the animals. For wars, they needed the manpower. Similarly for grazing the animals, they needed youngsters to take up the task. They used to do ‘arranged’ as well as ‘love marriages‘. Some of them even practiced homosexuality. The current paper presents their view of marriage, its reasons, criteria, different ways & kinds, right of divorce and duties of the couple.
