Concubinage in the Muslim world refers to the mostly historical practice of Muslim men entering into sexual relationships with women outside the institution of marriage. In the main, this involved enslaved women, though there are exceptional cases involving free women. Historically it was common practice in societies of the Mediterranean and Ancient Near East for the owners of slaves to have sexual relations with individuals considered their property. This fact persisted, with distinct legal differences, among the three major Abrahamic religions, from antiquity. Standing in contrast to modern interpretations of Islamic law, traditionalist interpretations historically permitted men to have sexual relations with their female slaves, while at the same time affording affected female slaves a variety of different rights and privileges, whose scope varied over different periods. An example is the status of umm al-walad, which could be granted to a concubine who gave birth to a child whose paternity was acknowledged by the slave owner. In certain times and places, this status could prevent the concubine from being sold, and provided other benefits. Concubinage was widely practiced throughout the Umayyad, Abbasid, Ottoman, Timurid and Mughal Empires. The prevalence within royal courts also resulted in many Muslim rulers over the centuries being born the children of concubines, including the great majority of early Abbasid caliphs and several Shia imams. The practice of concubinage declined with the abolition of slavery. Today, the institution of slavery has been officially abolished across the Muslim world and the vast majority of modern Muslims and Islamic scholars consider slavery, including slave-concubinage, to be unacceptable practices.
Characteristics
Classifications of concubinage often define practices in Islamic societies as a distinct variant. In one reading, there are three cultural patterns of concubinage: European, Islamic and Asian. Concubinage has also been categorised in terms of form and function, which in the Islamic world varied between times and places. The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology gives four distinct forms of concubinage, three of which are applicable to the Muslim world: 'elite concubinage', where concubine ownership was primarily related to social status, such as under the Umayyads; royal concubinage, where concubines became consorts to the ruler and perpetuated the royal bloodline and politics and reproduction were deeply intertwined, including under the Abbasids and in the Ottoman Empire; and concubinage as a patriarchal function, where concubines were of low status and the children of concubines became permanently inferior to the children of wives, such as in Mughal India. The expansion of various Muslim dynasties resulted in the acquisitions of concubines, through purchase, gifts from other rulers, and captives of war. To have a large number of concubines became a symbol of status. While Muslim soldiers in the early Islamic conquests were given female captives as a reward for military participation, they were later frequently purchased and men were permitted to have as many concubines as they could afford. As slaves for pleasure were expensive, they were typically the preserve of privileged elites. The concubines of Islamic rulers could achieve considerable power, and often enjoyed higher status than other slaves. Abu Hanifa and others argued for the extension of Islamic modesty practices to concubines, recommending that the concubine be established in the home and their chastity be protected from friends or kin. Most Islamic schools of thought restricted concubinage to a relationship where the female slave was required to be monogamous to her master. While scholars exhorted masters to treat their slaves equally, a master was allowed to show favoritism towards a concubine. Some scholars recommended holding a banquet (walima) to celebrate the concubinage relationship, though this was not required by the teachings of Islam. In slave-owning societies, most, but not all, concubines were slaves. In the Muslim world, as in about one-third of non-Islamic slave-holding societies, a concubine was typically freed after giving birth to her master's child. In Islamic culture, a slave who bore a child to a free man was known as an umm al-walad, could not be sold, and, in most circumstances, at her owner's death, was freed. The children of concubines in Islamic societies were generally declared as legitimate. Among societies that did not legally require the manumission of concubines, it was often done anyway. Almost all Abbasid caliphs were born to concubines and several Twelver Shia imams were also born to concubines. The Ottoman sultans also appeared to have preferred concubinage to marriage, and for a time all royal children were born of concubines. Over time, the concubines of the Imperial Harem came to exercise a considerable degree of influence over Ottoman politics. The consorts of Ottoman sultans were often neither Turkish, nor Muslim by birth, and it has been argued that this was intentional so as to limit the political leverage a concubine might possess as compared to a princess or a daughter of the local elite. Ottoman sultans also appeared to have only one son with each concubine, and after a concubine gave birth to a son, would no longer have intercourse with them. This also limited the power of each concubine and son. Even so, many concubines developed social networks, and accumulated personal wealth, both of which allowed them to rise in terms of social status. The practice declined with the abolition of slavery, starting in the 19th century.
Islamic legal positions
Enslavement
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