Harem (
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic servants, and other unmarried female relatives. In harems of the past, slave
concubines were also housed in the harem. In former times some harems were guarded by
eunuchs
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
who were allowed inside. The structure of the harem and the extent of monogamy or polygamy has varied depending on the family's personalities, socio-economic status, and local customs. Similar institutions have been common in other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations, especially among royal and upper-class families, and the term is sometimes used in other contexts. In
traditional Persian residential architecture
Traditional Persian residential architecture is the architecture employed by builders and craftsmen in the cultural Greater Iran and the surrounding regions to construct vernacular houses. The art draws from various cultures and elements from bot ...
the women's quarters were known as ''
andaruni
Andaruni ( fa, اندرونی) in Iranian architecture, is the inner quarter where the women lived. It has been described as ''harem'' in Arabic.
Private space
In traditional Persian residential architecture the ''andaruni'' is a part of the h ...
'' (
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: اندرونی; meaning inside), and in the Indian subcontinent as ''
zenana
Zenana ( fa, زنانه, ur, , bn, জেনানা, hi, ज़नाना) literally meaning "of the women" or "pertaining to women", in Persian language contextually refers to the part of a house belonging to a Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu f ...
'' (
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: زنانه).
Although the institution has experienced a sharp decline in the modern era due to a rise in education and economic opportunities for women, as well as the influence of
Western culture
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
, the seclusion of women is still practiced in some parts of the world, such as rural
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and conservative states of the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
.
In the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
,
Orientalist conceptions of the harem as a hidden world of sexual subjugation where numerous women lounged in suggestive poses have influenced many paintings, stage productions, films and literary works. Some earlier
European Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
paintings dating to the 16th century portray the women of the Ottoman harem as individuals of status and political significance. In many periods of Islamic history, women in the harem exercised various degrees of political power, such as the
Sultanate of Women
The Sultanate of Women ( Turkish: ''Kadınlar saltanatı'') was a period when wives and mothers of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire exerted extraordinary political influence.
This phenomenon took place from roughly 1528-30 to 1715, beginning in ...
in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
Terminology
The word has been recorded in the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
since the early 17th century. It comes from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
''ḥarīm'', which can mean "a sacred inviolable place", "harem" or "female members of the family". In English the term harem can mean also "the wives (or concubines) of a polygamous man." The
triliteral
The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or " radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowel ...
''
Ḥ-R-M '' Ḥ- R- M'' (Modern he, ח–ר–מ; ar, ح–ر–م) is the triconsonantal root of many Semitic words, and many of those words are used as names. The basic meaning expressed by the root translates as "forbidden".
Arabic
Names
*'' Al-Masj ...
'' appears in other terms related to the notion of interdiction such as ''
haram
''Haram'' (; ar, حَرَام, , ) is an Arabic term meaning 'Forbidden'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowle ...
'' (forbidden), ''
mahram
In Islam, a ''mahram'' is a family member with whom marriage would be considered permanently unlawful (''haram''). One's spouse is also a mahram. A woman does not need to wear hijab around her mahram, and an adult male mahram may escort a woman ...
'' (unmarriageable relative), ''
ihram
''Ihram'' ( ar, إِحْرَام, iḥrām, from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-R-M) is, in Islam, a sacred state which a Muslim must enter in order to perform the major pilgrimage ('' Ḥajj'') or the minor pilgrimage (''ʿUmrah''). A pilgrim mus ...
'' (a pilgrim's state of ritual consecration during the
Hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
) and ''al-Ḥaram al-Šarīf'' ("the noble sanctuary", which can refer to the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...
or the sanctuary of
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
).
In the
Ottoman Turkish language
Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...
, the harem, i.e., the part of the house reserved for women was called ''
haremlik
In pre- Atatürk Turkey, a haremlik was the private portion of upper-class Ottoman homes, as opposed to the ''selamlik'', the public area or reception rooms, used only by men in traditional Islamic society. This contrasts with the common usage o ...
'', while the space open for men was known as ''
selamlık''.
The practice of female seclusion is not exclusive to Islam, but the English word harem usually denotes the domestic space reserved for women in Muslim households. Some scholars have used the term to refer to polygynous royal households throughout history.
The ''ideal of seclusion''
Leila Ahmed
Leila Ahmed ( ar, لیلى أحمد); (born 1940) is an Egyptian-American scholar of Islam. In 1992 she published her book ''Women and Gender in Islam'', which is regarded as a seminal historical analysis of the position of women in Arab Muslim s ...
describes the ''ideal of seclusion'' as "a man's right to keep his women concealed—invisible to other men." Ahmed identifies the practice of seclusion as a social ideal and one of the major factors that shaped the lives of women in the Mediterranean Middle East. For example, contemporary sources from the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
describe the social mores that governed women's lives. Women were not supposed to be seen in public. They were guarded by eunuchs and could only leave the home "veiled and suitably chaperoned." Some of these customs were borrowed from the Persians, but Greek society also influenced the development of patriarchal tradition.
The ideal of seclusion was not fully realized as social reality. This was in part because working-class women often held jobs that required interaction with men. In the Byzantine Empire, the very ideal of gender segregation created economic opportunities for women as midwives, doctors, bath attendants and artisans since it was considered inappropriate for men to attend to women's needs. At times women lent and invested money, and engaged in other commercial activities. Historical records shows that the women of 14th-century
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
Cairo freely visited public events alongside men, despite objections of religious scholars.
Female seclusion has historically signaled social and economic prestige. Eventually, the norms of female seclusion spread beyond the elites, but the practice remained characteristic of upper and middle classes, for whom the financial ability to allow one's wife to remain at home was a mark of high status. In some regions, such as the Arabian peninsula, seclusion of women was practiced by poorer families at the cost of great hardship, but it was generally economically unrealistic for the lower classes.
Where historical evidence is available, it indicates that the harem was much more likely to be monogamous. For example, in late Ottoman Istanbul, only 2.29 percent of married men were polygynous, with the average number of wives being 2.08. In some regions, like Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, prevalence of women in agricultural work leads to wider practice of polygyny but makes seclusion impractical. In contrast, in Eurasian and North African rural communities that rely on male-dominated plough farming, seclusion is economically possible but polygyny is undesirable. This indicates that the fundamental characteristic of the harem is seclusion of women rather than polygyny.
[
]
Pre-Islamic background
The idea of the harem or seclusion of women did not originate with Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
or Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. The practice of secluding women was common to many Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
communities, especially where polygamy was permitted. In pre-Islamic Assyria and Persia, most royal courts had a harem, where the ruler's wives and concubines lived with female attendants, and eunuchs. ''Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encycl ...
'' uses the term ''harem'' to describe the practices of the ancient Near East.
Ancient Egypt
There has been a modern trend to refer to the women's quarters of the Pharaoh's palace in Ancient Egypt as a harem.
The popular assumption that Pharaonic Egypt had a harem is however an anachronism
An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...
; while the women and children of the pharaoh, including his mother, wives, and children, had their own living quarters with its own administration in the Palace of the Pharaoh, the royal women did not live isolated from contact with men or in seclusion from the rest of the court in the way associated with the term "harem".[Silke Roth, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2012, escholarship.org] The custom of referring to the women's quarters of the pharaoh's palace as a "harem" is therefore apocryphal, and has been used because of incorrect assumptions that Ancient Egypt was similar to later Islamic harem culture.
Assyria
The kings of Ancient Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
are known to have had a harem regulated by royal edicts, in which the women lived in seclusion guarded by slave eunuchs.[A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, Locust Valley, New York, 1975.]
A number of regulations were designed to prevent disputes among the women from developing into political intrigues.[ The women were guarded by the eunuchs who also prevented their disputes from developing into political plots, banned from giving gifts to their servants (as such gifts could be used as bribes) and not allowed any visitors who had not been examined and approved by officials.] When the king traveled, his harem traveled with him, strictly supervised so as not breaking regulations even under transport.
In the 7th century BC, Assyria was conquered by the Median Empire
The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, the ...
, which appears to have adopted the harem custom, from whom it was in turn taken over by the Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...
.
Greece and Byzantium
Female seclusion and a special part of the house reserved for women were common among the elites of ancient Greece, where it was known as the gynaeceum
In Ancient Greece, the gynaeceum ( gr, γυναικεῖον ''gynaikeion'', from Ancient Greek ''gynaikeia'' "part of the house reserved for the women"; literally "of ''or'' belonging to women, feminine") or the gynaeconitis ( ''gynaikōnitis'' ...
. However, while gender segregation was the official ideal in Classical Athens, it is debated how much of this ideal was actually enforced, and it is known that even upper-class women appeared in public and were able to come in contact with men on at least religious occasions.
These traditional Greek ideals were revived as an ideal for women in the Byzantine Empire
The situation for women in the Byzantine Empire is a matter of debate. For a long time, the attention of historians was attracted only by individual prominent Byzantine women, mainly the Empress, especially the wife of Emperor Justinian I Theodora, ...
(in which Greek culture eventually became dominant), though the rigid ideal norms of seclusion expressed in Byzantine literature did not necessarily reflect actual practice. The Byzantine Emperors were Greek Orthodox and did not have several wives - or official concubines - secluded in a harem. When Greek culture started to replace the Roman in the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century, it came to be seen as modest for especially upper-class women to keep to a special women's quarters (''gynaikonitis''), and until the 12th century, men and women are known to have participated in gender-segregated banquets at the Imperial Court; however Imperial women still appeared in public and did not live in seclusion, and the idealized gender segregation was never fully enforced.
The Median and Achaemenid Empires
There is no evidence of among early Iranians for harem practices, that is, to take large numbers of wives or concubines and keeping them in seclusion. However, Iranian dynasties are said to have adopted harem practices after their conquests in the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, where such practices were used in some cultures such as Assyria (the Median Empire
The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, the ...
conquered Assyria in the 7th-century BC, and Media transformed into the Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...
).[ According to Greek sources, the nobility of the ]Medes
The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, the ...
kept no less than five wives, who were watched over by eunuchs.[
Greek historians have reported about the harems of the ]Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...
. Herodotus reported that each Persian royal or aristocratic man had several wives and concubines, who came to the husband on a well-regulated turn-basis. and had sole control over their children until these were five years old.
The Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
word for the harem is not attested, but it can be reconstructed as ''xšapā.stāna'' (lit. night station or place where one spends the night).
The royal household was controlled by the chief wife and queen, who as a rule was the daughter of a Persian prince and the mother of the heir to the throne, and who was subject only to the king, with her own living quarter, revenue, estates and staff, which included eunuchs and concubines.
The second rank under the queen consisted of the legal secondary wives, with the title ''bānūka'' (“Lady”); the third rank consisted of unmarried princesses as well as the married princesses who lived with their own family, with the title ''duxçī'' (daughter), The fourth group of women in the harem were the royal slave concubines, who were bought in slave markets, received as a gifts or tribute or taken as prisoners of war. The concubines were trained to entertain the king and his guests as musicians, dancers and singers. The harem of Darius III
Darius III ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; c. 380 – 330 BC) was the last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, reigning from 336 BC to his death in 330 BC.
Contrary to his predecessor Artaxerxes IV Arses, Dar ...
reportedly consisted of his mother, queen-wife, children, over 300 concubines and nearly 500 household servants.[
However, it is a matter of debate if the Achaemenid court had a full harem culture, as women do not appear to have been fully secluded in the harem. The fact that women lived in separate quarters at the Royal Palace does not necessarily mean that they were secluded from contact with men, and despite the (possibly biased) Greek reports, there is no archeological evidence supporting the existence of a harem, or the seclusion of women from contact with men, at the Achaemenid court.]
Royal and aristocratic Achaemenid women were given an education in subjects which did not appear compatible with seclusion, such as horsemanship and archery.[ It does not appear that royal and aristocratic women lived in seclusion from men since it is known that they appeared in public and traveled with their husbands, participated in hunting and in feasts: at least the chief wife of a royal or aristocratic man did not live in seclusion, as it is clearly stated that wives customarily accompanied their husbands to dinner banquets, although they left the banquet when the “women entertainers” of the harem came in and the men began "merrymaking".
Little is known about the alleged harems of the ]Parthians Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
. Parthian royal men reportedly had several wives and kept them fairly secluded from all men but relatives and eunuchs. According to Roman sources, Parthian kings had harems full of female slaves and hetaira
Hetaira (plural hetairai (), also hetaera (plural hetaerae ), ( grc, ἑταίρα, "companion", pl. , la, hetaera, pl. ) was a type of prostitute in ancient Greece, who served as an artist, entertainer and conversationalist in addition to pro ...
s secluded from contact with men, and royal women were not allowed to participate in the royal banquets. Also aristocratic Parthian men appear to have had harems, as Roman sources report of rich men travelling with hundreds of guarded concubines. However, the Roman reports about Parthian harems seem to mirror the traditional Greek reports about the Achaemenid harems, and they similarly are biased, and cannot be verified by archeological evidence.
Sasanian Empire
The information about the Sasanian harem reveals a picture that closely mirrors the alleged Achaemenid customs.
In the Sassanian Empire, Roman reports that it was common for men to have multiple wives. The hierarchy of the Sassanian harem is not clear. The Sassanian kings had one chief consort, who was the mother of the heir to the throne, as well as several wives of lower rank and concubines, all of whom accompanied him on travels, even on campaigns. Five titles are attested for royal women: “royal princess” (''duxšy'', ''duxt''); “Lady” (''bānūg''); “Queen” (''bānbišn''); “Queen of the Empire” ('' rānahr bānbišn'') and “Queen of Queens” (''bānbišnān bānbišn'').[ The rank of these titles has been the matter of debate and it appears that their status varied depending on circumstances and that the highest female rank was not necessarily borne by the chief wife, but could be held by a daughter or a sister.][ The Sasanian harem was supervised by eunuchs, and also had female singers and musicians.][
However, while the Sasanian kings had harems, ]women in the Sassanid Empire
In the Sassanid Empire, the state religion Zoroastrianism created the policy that dictated relationships between men and women. Zoroastrianism set what roles women would have, the marriage practices, women's privileges in Sasanian society and in ...
in general did not live in seclusion and elaborate harems were detested and appear to have been exceptions to the rule, which is illustrated by the fact that big harems when they occurred, were abhorred by the public.[
According to ]Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
legend, of all the Persian kings, Khosrow II
Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩, Husrō), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling fr ...
was the most extravagant in his hedonism. He searched his realm to find the most beautiful girls, and it was rumored that about 3,000 of them were kept in his harem.[ This practice was widely condemned by the public, who abhorred of him keeping those girls in seclusion and denying them the benefit of marriage and progeny, and it was counted as the fourth of the eight crimes for which he was later tried and executed.][ Khosrow himself claimed that he sent his favorite wife ]Shirin
Shirin ( fa, شیرین; died 628) was a Christian wife of the Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') Khosrow II (). In the revolution after the death of Khosrow's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. S ...
every year to offer them a possibility of leaving his harem with a dowry for marriage, but that their luxurious lifestyle always prompted them to refuse his offer.[
]
South Asia
South Asian traditions of female seclusion, called ''purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
'', may have been influenced by Islamic customs, but the practice of segregation by gender in Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
society predates the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent
The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 13th to 17th centuries. Earlier Muslim conquests include the invasions into what is now modern-day Pakistan and the Umayyad campaigns in India in eighth century and res ...
.
Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
, the emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty
The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...
in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, kept a harem of around 500 women, all of whom were under strict rules of seclusion and etiquette.
In Islamic cultures
Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
In contrast to the earlier era of the Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God in Islam, God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. So ...
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
and the Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate ( ar, اَلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ, al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah) was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his ...
, women in Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
and Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
society were absent from all arenas of the community's central affairs. While it was very common for early Muslim women to play an active role in community life, and not unseen for women to lead men into battle and even start rebellions as demonstrated in the Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
literature, by the time of the Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, women were ideally kept in seclusion.
The practice of gender segregation in Islam was influenced by an interplay of religion, customs and politics.The harem system first became fully institutionalized in the Islamic world under the Abbasid caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
. Seclusion of women was established in various communities of the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and Persia before the advent of Islam, and some scholars believe that Muslims adopted the custom from the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and Persia, retrospectively interpreting the Quran to justify it. Although the term ''harem'' does not denote women's quarters in the Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
, a number of Quranic verses discussing modesty and seclusion were held up by Quranic commentators as religious rationale for the separation of women from men, including the so-called ''hijab verse'' (33:53). In modern usage ''hijab'' colloquially refers to the religious attire worn by Muslim women, but in this verse, it meant "veil" or "curtain" that physically separates female from male space. Although classical commentators agreed that the verse spoke about a curtain separating the living quarters of Muhammad's wives from visitors to his house, they usually viewed this practice as providing a model for all Muslim women.
The growing seclusion of women were illustrated by the power struggle between the Caliph Al-Hadi
Abū Muḥammad Mūsā ibn al-Mahdī al-Hādī ( ar, أبو محمد موسى بن المهدي الهادي; 26 April 764 CE 14 September 786 CE) better known by his laqab Al-Hādī (الهادي) was the fourth Arab Abbasid caliph who succee ...
and his mother Al-Khayzuran, who refused to live in seclusion but instead challenged the power of the Caliph by giving her own audiences to male supplicants and officials and thus mixing with men.[Mernissi, Fatima; Mary Jo Lakeland (2003). The forgotten queens of Islam. Oxford University Press. .] Her son considered this improper, and he publicly addressed the issue of his mothers public life by assembling his generals and asked them:
:'Who is the better among us, you or me?' asked Caliph al-Hadi of his audience.
:'Obviously you are the better, Commander of the Faithful,' the assembly replied.
:'And whose mother is the better, mine or yours?' continued the caliph.
:'Your mother is the better, Commander of the Faithful.'
:'Who among you', continued al-Hadi, 'would like to have men spreading news about your mother?'
:'No one likes to have his mother talked about,' responded those present.
:'Then why do men go to my mother to speak to her?'
Conquests had brought enormous wealth and large numbers of slaves to the Muslim elite. The majority of the slaves were women and children,[Morony, Michael G. Iraq after the Muslim conquest. Gorgias Press LLC, 2005] many of whom had been dependents or harem-members of the defeated Sassanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
upper classes.[Abbott, Nabia. Two queens of Baghdad: mother and wife of Hārūn al Rashīd. University of Chicago Press, 1946.] In the wake of the conquests an elite man could potentially own a thousand slaves, and ordinary soldiers could have ten people serving them.
Nabia Abbott
Nabia Abbott (31 January 1897 – 15 October 1981) was an American scholar of Islam, papyrologist and paleographer. She was the first woman professor at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. She gained worldwide recognition for he ...
, preeminent historian of elite women of the Abbasid Caliphate, describes the lives of harem women as follows.
The choicest women were imprisoned behind heavy curtains and locked doors, the strings and keys of which were entrusted into the hands of that pitiable creature – the eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
. As the size of the harem grew, men indulged to satiety. Satiety within the individual harem meant boredom for the one man and neglect for the many women. Under these conditions ... satisfaction by perverse and unnatural means crept into society, particularly in its upper classes.
The marketing of human beings, particularly women, as objects for sexual use meant that elite men owned the vast majority of women they interacted with, and related to them as would masters to slaves. Being a slave meant relative lack of autonomy, and belonging to a harem caused a wife and her children to have little insurance of stability and continued support due to the volatile politics of harem life.
Elite men expressed in literature the horror they felt for the humiliation and degradation of their daughters and female relatives. For example, the verses addressed to Hasan ibn al-Firat on the death of his daughter read:
:: To Abu Hassan I offer condolences.
:: At times of disaster and catastrophe
:: God multiplies rewards for the patient.
:: To be patient in misery
:: Is equivalent to giving thanks for a gift.
:: Among the blessings of God undoubtedly
:: Is the preservation of sons
:: And the death of daughters.
Even so, courtesans
Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or oth ...
and princesses produced prestigious and important poetry. Enough survives to give us access to women's historical experiences, and reveals some vivacious and powerful figures, such as the Sufi mystic Raabi'a al-Adwiyya (714–801 CE), the princess and poet 'Ulayya bint al-Mahdi (777–825 CE), and the singing-girls Shāriyah
Shāriyah ( ar, شارِية, born c. 815 in al-Basra; died c. 870 C.E.) was an ‘Abbasid ''qayna'' (enslaved singing-girl), who enjoyed a prominent place in the court of Al-Wathiq (r. 842–847).
Biography
The main source for Shāriyah's life ...
(–70 CE), Fadl Ashsha'ira
Fadl al-Qaysi or Faḍl al-Shāʻirah ( ar, فضل الشاعرة "Faḍl the Poet"; d. 871) was one of "three early ʻAbbasid singing girls ... particularly famous for their poetry" and is one of the pre-eminent medieval Arabic female poets who ...
(d. 871 CE) and Arib al-Ma'muniyya (797–890 CE).
Al-Andalus
The harem system developed in the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates was reproduced by the Islamic realms which developed from them, such as in the Emirates and Caliphates in Muslim Spain, Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
, which attracted a lot of attention in Europe during the Middle Ages until the Emirate of Granada
The Emirate of Granada ( ar, إمارة غرﻧﺎﻃﺔ, Imārat Ġarnāṭah), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada ( es, Reino Nazarí de Granada), was an Emirate, Islamic realm in southern Iberia during the Late Middle Ages. It was the ...
was conquered in 1492.
The most famous of the Andalusian harems was perhaps the harem of the Caliph of Cordoba
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
. Except for the female relatives of the Caliph, the harem women consisted of his slave concubines. The slaves of the Caliph were often European saqaliba
Saqaliba ( ar, صقالبة, ṣaqāliba, singular ar, صقلبي, ṣaqlabī) is a term used in medieval Arabic sources to refer to Slavs and other peoples of Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe, or in a broad sense to European slaves. The t ...
slaves trafficked from Northern or Eastern Europe; while male saqaliba could be given work in a number of tasks such as offices in the kitchen, falconry, mint, textile workshops, the administration or the royal guard (in the case of harem guards, they were castrated), female saqaliba were placed in the harem.
The harem could contain thousands of slave concubines; the harem of Abd al-Rahman I consisted of 6,300 women. They (the saqaliba
Saqaliba ( ar, صقالبة, ṣaqāliba, singular ar, صقلبي, ṣaqlabī) is a term used in medieval Arabic sources to refer to Slavs and other peoples of Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe, or in a broad sense to European slaves. The t ...
concubines) were appreciated for their light skin. The concubines (jawaris
Jarya, also called jariyah and jawaris, was a term for a certain type of slave girl in the medieval Islamic world. They were "slaves for pleasure" (muṭʿa, ladhdha) or “slave-girls for sexual intercourse” (jawārī al-waṭ), who had receive ...
) were educated in accomplishments to make them attractive and useful for their master, and many became known and respected for their knowledge in a variety of subjects from music to medicine.
A jawaris
Jarya, also called jariyah and jawaris, was a term for a certain type of slave girl in the medieval Islamic world. They were "slaves for pleasure" (muṭʿa, ladhdha) or “slave-girls for sexual intercourse” (jawārī al-waṭ), who had receive ...
concubine who gave birth to a child attained the status of an ''umm walad
An ''umm walad'' ( ar, أم ولد, , lit=mother of the child) was the title given to a slave-concubine in the Muslim world after she had born her master a child. She could not be sold, and became automatically free on her master's death. The off ...
'', and a favorite concubine was given great luxury and honorary titles such as Marjan, who gave birth to al-Hakam II
Al-Hakam II, also known as Abū al-ʿĀṣ al-Mustanṣir bi-Llāh al-Hakam b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (; January 13, 915 – October 16, 976), was the Caliph of Córdoba. He was the second ''Umayyad'' Caliph of Córdoba in Al-Andalus, and son of Ab ...
, the heir of Abd al-Rahman III
ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil () or ʿAbd al-Rahmān III (890 - 961), was the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba from 912 to 92 ...
, who called her ''al-sayyida al-kubra'' (great lady).
Concubines were however always slaves subjected to lack of freedom and the will of their master, and Caliph Abd al-Rahman III is known to have executed two concubines for reciting what he saw as inappropriate verses and tortured another concubine with a burning candle when she refused sexual intercourse; the concubines of Caliph Abu Marwan al-Tubni (d. 1065) were reportedly so badly treated that they conspired to murder him, and women of the harem are also known to have been subjected to rape when rivaling factions conquered different palaces. Several concubines are known to have had great influence through their masters or their sons, notably Subh during the Caliphate of Cordoba, and Isabel de Solís Isabel de Solís () ( fl. 1510) was the slave concubine and later the consort of Abu l-Hasan Ali, Sultan of Granada. Originally a Christian from Castile, she converted to Islam under the name of Zoraya. She exerted a strong influence over her spou ...
during the Emirate of Granada
The Emirate of Granada ( ar, إمارة غرﻧﺎﻃﺔ, Imārat Ġarnāṭah), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada ( es, Reino Nazarí de Granada), was an Emirate, Islamic realm in southern Iberia during the Late Middle Ages. It was the ...
.
Afghanistan
The rulers of Afghanistan customarily had a harem of four official wives as well as a large number of unofficial wives for the sake of tribal marriage diplomacy.
They also had a large amount of enslaved women in the royal harem known as ''kaniz'' and ''surati'', guarded by the ''ghulam bacha'' (eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
s).[Emadi, Hafizullah, Repression, resistance, and women in Afghanistan, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 2002] Habibullah Khan
Habibullah Khan (Pashto/Dari: ; 3 June 1872 – 20 February 1919) was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until his death in 1919. He was the eldest son of the Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, whom he succeeded by right of primogeniture in October 1901. ...
(r. 1901–1919) famously had at least 44 wives and hundreds of slave women (mostly Hazara) in his harem in the Harem Sara Palace. The women of the royal harem dressed in Western fashion since at least the reign Habibullah Khan but did not show themselves other than completely covered outside of the enclosed area of the royal palace. The royal harem were first abolished by king Amanullah Khan
Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1919, ...
who in 1923 freed all slaves of the royal harem as well as encouraged his wife queen Soraya Tarzi
Soraya Tarzi (Pashto/Dari: ملکه ثريا; November 24, 1899 – April 20, 1968) was the first queen consort of Afghanistan as the wife of King Amanullah Khan. She played a major part in the modernization reforms of Amanullah Khan, particula ...
and the other women of the royal family to unveil and live public lives. While the royal women returned to the purdah of the royal complex after the deposition of Amanullah in 1929, it was finally dissolved with the final unveiling of the royal women in 1959.
Crimean Khanate
In the Muslim dynasties of Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, the harem culture did not initially exist, since the customary nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
culture made it impractical. The wives of the rulers of the Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...
did not live secluded in a harem but was allowed to show themselves and meet unrelated men,[Maryna Kravets: Blacks beyond the Black Sea: Eunuchs in the Crimean Khanate] and the system of harem gender segregation was not fully implemented in the Islamic dynasties of Central Asia until they stopped living a nomadic lifestyle, such as in the Crimea.
The household organization of the khans of the Giray dynasty
The House of Giray ( crh3, Geraylar, كرايلر, ota, آل جنكيز, Âl-i Cengiz, lit=Genghisids), also Girays, were the Genghisid/ Turkic dynasty that reigned in the Khanate of Crimea from its formation in 1431 until its downfall in 1783. ...
in the Crimean Khanate
The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to ...
is described first in the reign of Sahib I Giray
Sahib I Giray (1501–1551) was Khan of Kazan for three years and Khan of Crimea for nineteen years. His father was the Crimean Khan Meñli I Giray. Sahib was placed on the throne of Kazan by his ambitious brother Mehmed of Crimea and driven out ...
, while most court offices were initiated by Sahib I Giray
Sahib I Giray (1501–1551) was Khan of Kazan for three years and Khan of Crimea for nineteen years. His father was the Crimean Khan Meñli I Giray. Sahib was placed on the throne of Kazan by his ambitious brother Mehmed of Crimea and driven out ...
. It is clear that there were separate women's quarters in the court of Sahib I Giray, however complete gender segregation in the form of a harem does not appear to have been introduced until the 1560s.
The Giray court appear to have been organized in the slave household normal in other Muslim dynasties, and many of the officials and courtiers (such as the viziers and equerries) as well as the servants were enslaved, while some were free Muslim noble clients and ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
family members. The servants of the royal harem however were all clearly slaves, particularly the eunuchs, who guarded the harem and who were of Black African origin, imported from Africa via the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East and often trained in the Ottoman Imperial harem.
Inside the harem, the highest positions were that of ''ana biyim'' and ''ulug biyim (ulug hani)'', which were given to the khan's mother and to the khan's first wife or the eldest Giray princess, respectively. The royal women had their own property and administered their property from the harem through their legal agents, known as ''vekils'', who also acted as their intermediaries with supplicants and petitioners.
The princes and the khans normally married free Muslim daughters of the Circassian vassal begs, and trusted high officials; the khans also customarily practiced levirate marriage
Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage out ...
. Similar to what was normal in the royal harem of other Islamic dynasties, the khans had four official wives (all with their own separate quarters within the harem), and an unknown number of enslaved concubines.[Maryna Kravets: From Nomads Tent to Garden Palace: Evolution of a Chinggisid House in the Crimea] In 1669, the khan reportedly received fifteen Circassian slave virgins as an annual tribute from his subjects in the Caucasus; in the 1720s khan Saadet Giray reportedly owned twenty-seven slave concubines, and in the 1760s khan Qirim Giray owned about forty. But not all slave concubines were Circassians: some royal children are recorded to have been born by slave mothers from Central and Eastern Europe, but the occurrence of European women in the royal harem diminished in the 18th century when the Crimean slave raids to Eastern Europe were suppressed. Some of these women, though all formally concubines, would not have been the khan's concubines in practice but rather acted as the servants of his wives; this was the case in the Royal Ottoman harem as well, which served as the role model of the Giray harem.
The Giray princesses were normally married off to poor noblemen and vassals who would be provided with great dowries, which put the princesses in advantage to their husbands and made the husbands loyal to the Girays.
Initially, the royal women did not live in seclusion in the harem; they notably gave their own audiences to men, significantly the ceremonial visit of the Russian ambassador, who presented them with diplomatic gifts, but in 1564 the Russian ambassador was met with the message that such audiences were no longer to be given. The Giray women did continue to play a role in diplomacy, as they were allowed to exchange formal diplomatic correspondence with female rulers and consorts. Ğazı II Giray
Ğazı II Giray (1554 – November 1607) was a khan of the Crimean Khanate. Born in 1554, he distinguished himself in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–90), gaining the trust of his Ottoman suzerains. He was appointed khan in 1588, after his hom ...
assigned his wife Han Tokai to act as a mediator and write to tsaritsa Irina Godunova
Irina Feodorovna Godunova, later Alexandra (1557–1603) was a Tsaritsa of Russia by marriage to Tsar Feodor I Ivanovich (r. 1584–1598) and the sister of Tsar Boris Godunov (r. 1598–1605). For nine days after the death of her spouse in 1598 ...
, while he himself wrote to tsar Feodor I
Fyodor I Ivanovich (russian: Фёдор I Иванович) or Feodor I Ioannovich (russian: Феодор I Иоаннович; 31 May 1557 – 17 January (NS) 1598), also known as Feodor the Bellringer (russian: Феодор Звонарь), ...
, negotiating the return of their son Murad Giray from Moscow in 1593.
There are few examples of politically active and influential women of the Giray harem. Only Nur Sultan
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, thou ...
, wife of Mengli I Giray, Ayse Sultan, wife of Devlet I Giray
Devlet I Giray (1512–1577, r. 1551–1577, ; ', ) was a Crimean Khan. His long and eventful reign saw many highly significant historical events: the fall of Kazan to Russia in 1552, the fall of the Astrakhan Khanate to Russia in 1556, th ...
(r. 1551–1577) and Emine Sultan Biyim, wife of Mehmed IV Giray
Mehmed IV Giray, the Sufi (1610–1674), was khan of the Crimean Khanate in 1641–1644 and 1654–1666. His two reigns were interrupted by that of his brother Islyam III Giray. His first reign was uneventful, except for the recapture of Azov from ...
(1642–44 and 1654–66), have been historically acknowledged as politically influential.
Khedivate of Egypt
The royal harem during the Khedivate of Egypt
The Khedivate of Egypt ( or , ; ota, خدیویت مصر ') was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brou ...
(1805-1914) was modelled after Ottoman example, the khedives being the Egyptian vice roys of the Ottoman sultans. Similar to the Ottoman Imperial harem, the harem of the khedive was modelled on a system of polygyny
Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women.
Incidence
Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any o ...
based on slave concubinage, in which each wife or concubine was limited to having one son.[Kenneth M. Cuno: ]
Modernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology, and Law in Nineteenth- and Early ...
'
The khedive's harem was composed of between several hundreds to over a thousand enslaved women, supervised by his mother, the walida pasha, and his four official wives (hanim) and recognized concubines (qadin). However, the majority of the slave women served as domestics to his mother and wives and could have servant offices such as the bash qalfa, chief servant slave woman of the walida pasha. The enslaved female servants of the khedive harem were manumitted and married off with a trousseau in strategic marriages to the male slaves (kul or mamluk) who were trained to become officers and civil servants, in order to ensure the fidelity of their husband's to the khedive when they begun their military or state official career. A minority of the slave women were selected to become the personal servants (concubines) of the khedive, often selected by his mother: they could become his wives, and would in any case become free as an umm walad (or mustawlada) if they had children with him. The Egyptian elite of bureaucrate families, who emulated the khedive, had similar harem customs, and it was noted that it was common for Egyptian upper-class families to have slave women in their harem, which they manumitted to marry off to male protegees. Muhammad Ali of Egypt
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
reportedly had at least 25 consorts (wives and concubines), and Khedive Ismail
Isma'il Pasha ( ar, إسماعيل باشا ; 12 January 1830 – 2 March 1895), was the Khedive of Khedivate of Egypt, Egypt and conqueror of Sudan (region), Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when Tewfik Pasha, he was removed at the behest of Great Bri ...
fourteen.
This system started to change in 1873, when Tewfik Pasha
Mohamed Tewfik Pasha ( ar, محمد توفيق باشا ''Muḥammad Tawfīq Bāshā''; April 30 or 15 November 1852 – 7 January 1892), also known as Tawfiq of Egypt, was khedive of Egypt and the Sudan between 1879 and 1892 and the sixth rule ...
married Emina Ilhamy
tr, Emine İlhami, italic=no
, house = Muhammad Ali
, father = Ibrahim Ilhami Pasha
, mother = Nasrin Qadin
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Constantinople (now Istanbul), Ottoman Empire
, death_date =
, death_place = Bebek, Bosphorus, I ...
as his sole consort, making monogamy the fashionable ideal among the elite, after the throne succession had been changed to primogeniture, which favored monogamy. Around the same time, the Tanzimat
The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. ...
reforms abolished the custom of training male slaves to become military men and civil servants and replaced them with free students. The Anglo-Egyptian Convention for the Abolition of Slavery in 1877 officially banned the slave trade to Sudan, followed by the 1884 ban on the import of white women as slaves (the harem slave women were normally Circassian), a ban on the selling on existing slaves as well as the introduction of a law giving slaves the right to apply of manumission. All this gradually diminished the royal harem, though the royal harem as well as the harem of the elite families did still maintain a smaller number of both male eunuchs as well as slave women until at least World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
; Khedive Abbas II of Egypt
Abbas II Helmy Bey (also known as ''ʿAbbās Ḥilmī Pāshā'', ar, عباس حلمي باشا) (14 July 1874 – 19 December 1944) was the last Khedive ( Ottoman viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan, ruling from 8January 1892 to 19 December 1914 ...
bought six "white female slaves" for his harem in 1894, and his mother still maintained sixty slaves as late as 1931. The royal harem was finally dissolved when the royal women escaped seclusion and took on a public role in the 1930s.
Morocco
Moulay Ismail
Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif ( ar, مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف), born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727, as the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty. He was the se ...
, Alaouite sultan of Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
from 1672 to 1727, had over 500 (enslaved) concubines. He is said to have fathered a total of 525 sons and 342 daughters by 1703 and achieved a 700th son in 1721.
Many of his concubines are only fragmentary documented. As concubines, they were slave captives, sometimes from Europe. One of them, an Irishwoman by the name Mrs. Shaw, was brought to his harem after having been enslaved and was made to convert to Islam when the Sultan wished to have intercourse with her, but was manumitted and married off to a Spanish convert when the Sultan grew tired of her; the Spanish convert being very poor, she was described by contemporary witnesses as reduced to beggary.[Bekkaoui, Khalid., White women captives in North Africa. Narratives of enslavement, 1735-1830, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2010] Other slave concubines became favorites and as such were allowed some influence, such as an Englishwoman called Lalla Balqis {{expand Swedish, topic=bio, Lalla Balqis, date=May 2021
Lalla Balqis also known as Lalla Bilqis (1670 – ''after'' 1721), was a slave concubine of Sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif (r. 1672–1727).
She was of English origin. In 1685, when she was fiftee ...
. Another favorite was a Spanish captive renamed Al-Darah, mother to Moulay Ismail's once favorite son that he himself educated: Moulay Mohammed al-Alim; and to Moulay Sharif. Around 1702, Al-Darah tragically died strangled by Moulay Ismail whom Lalla Aisha had made believe she had betrayed him.
According to the writings of the French diplomat Dominique Busnot
"Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by the Belgian female singer Jeannine Deckers, better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile" in French) or The Singing Nun. The song is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-born ...
, Moulay Ismail had at least 500 concubines and even more children. A total of 868 children (525 sons and 343 daughters) is recorded in 1703, with his seven hundredth son being born shortly after his death in 1727, by which time he had well over a thousand children. The final total is uncertain: the ''Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' claims 1042,[.] while Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer of the University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
put the total at 1171. This is widely considered among the largest number of children of any human in history.
Mughal Empire
The king's wives, concubines, dancing girls and slaves were not the only women of the Mughal harem. Many others, including the king's mother, lived in the harem. Aunts, grandmothers, sisters, daughters and other female relatives of the king all lived in the harem. Male children also lived in the harem until they grew up. Within the precincts of the harem were markets, bazaars, laundries, kitchens, playgrounds, schools and baths. The harem had a hierarchy, its chief authorities being the wives and female relatives of the emperor and below them were the concubines.
Urdubegis
During the Mughal Dynasty, urdubegis were the class of women assigned to protect the emperor and inhabitants of the zenana.
Because the women of the Mughal court lived sequestered under purdah, the administration of their living quarters was run e ...
were the class of women assigned to protect the emperor and inhabitants of the zenana
Zenana ( fa, زنانه, ur, , bn, জেনানা, hi, ज़नाना) literally meaning "of the women" or "pertaining to women", in Persian language contextually refers to the part of a house belonging to a Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu f ...
. Because the women of the Mughal court lived sequestered under purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
, the administration of their living quarters was run entirely by women. The division of the administrative tasks was dictated largely by the vision of Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
, who organized his zenana of over 5,000 noble women and servants. The women tasked with the protection of the zenana were commonly of Habshi
The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived to ...
, Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different , Turk and Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
origin. Kashmiri women were selected because they did not observe purdah. Many of the women were purchased as slaves and trained for their positions.
The women of the Mughal harem could exercise enormous political power. Nur Jahan
Nur Jahan, born Mehr-un-Nissa P ersian: نورجهان (; – 18 December 1645) was the wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Jahangir from 1620 until his death in 1627.
Nur Jahan was born Mehr-un-Nissa, as the daughter of a Mirza Ghi ...
, chief consort of Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
, was the most powerful and influential woman at court during a period when the Mughal Empire was at the peak of its power and glory. More decisive and proactive than her husband, she is considered by historians to have been the real power behind the throne
The phrase "power behind the throne" refers to a person or group that informally exercises the real power of a high-ranking office, such as a head of state. In politics, it most commonly refers to a relative, aide, or nominal subordinate of a poli ...
for more than fifteen years. Nur Jahan was granted certain honours and privileges which were never enjoyed by any Mughal empress before or after. Nur Jahan was the only Mughal empress to have coinage struck in her name. She was often present when the Emperor held court, and even held court independently when the Emperor was unwell. She was given charge of his imperial seal, implying that her perusal and consent were necessary before any document or order received legal validity. The Emperor sought her views on most matters before issuing orders. The only other Mughal empress to command such devotion from her husband was Nur Jahan's niece Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal (/'/; ), born Arjumand Banu Begum (27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631) was the empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, oft ...
, for whom Shah Jahan
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
built the Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...
as a mausoleum. However, Mumtaz took no interest in affairs of state and Nur Jahan is therefore unique in the annals of the Mughal Empire for the political influence she wielded.
Ottoman Empire
The Imperial Harem of the Ottoman sultan
The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...
, which was also called ''seraglio
A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) is a castle, palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former Ott ...
'' in the West, was part of Topkapı Palace
The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio
A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) i ...
. It also housed the valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan
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, as well as the sultan's daughters and other female relatives.
and servant girls were also part of the harem. During the later periods, the sons of the sultan lived in the Harem until they were 12 years old.It is being more commonly acknowledged today that the purpose of harems during the Ottoman Empire was for the upbringing of the future wives of upper-class and royal men. These women would be educated so that they were able to appear in public as a wife. In general, however, the separation of men's and women's quarters was never practiced among the urban poor in large cities such as Constantinople, and by the 1920s and 1930s, it had become a thing of the past in middle and upper-class homes.
Some women of Ottoman harem, especially wives, mothers and sisters of sultans, played very important political roles in Ottoman history, and during the period of the
, it was common for foreign visitors and ambassadors to claim that the Empire was, ''de facto'' ruled by the women in the Imperial Harem.
), was one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history and wielded vast political power. The title of
. Kösem Sultan achieved power and influenced the politics of the
(r. 1603–1617) and
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