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playing with bows and arrows. rejoicing. drinking and amusing<br />

themselves. In the house, they spread Oakum (clothes in brilliant<br />

colours) to make coloured pictures on the house walls. as women<br />

played the tambourine.<br />

1 Also, women used to help girls to deck<br />

themselves out and to wear their jewels. Moreover. families<br />

even borrowed jewels from other families. For example,<br />

Utball bin<br />

Rabea. who had a remarkable position among the people <strong>of</strong> his tribe,<br />

borrowed jewels to marry <strong>of</strong>f his daughter to AN Suf-'y- 1h. and pawned<br />

his son for<br />

. them. Jewels were kept for one month<br />

by the<br />

borrowers before they were given back. It is significant that the<br />

more lavish ceremoAies <strong>of</strong> pre-Islamic weddings accompanied less<br />

emphasis on the quality <strong>of</strong> the marital relationship, whereas Islam<br />

stressed the responsible internal nature <strong>of</strong> marriage and simplified<br />

the extraneous<br />

festivities.<br />

Polygamy in Pre-Islamic Arabia<br />

According to the Arab law, a man was allowed to have more than<br />

one wife at the same time as it was suggested that 'some interpreters<br />

had reported that it was customary to the men <strong>of</strong> QuraVsh to have<br />

V-<br />

ten wives each, sometimes more or less.<br />

2<br />

This practice might<br />

prevail in urban societies more than in the Bedouins. as Hatab<br />

00<br />

believed that 'as a result <strong>of</strong> urban life, appearance <strong>of</strong> techniQ*ans<br />

and rich class, stability <strong>of</strong> resources <strong>of</strong> living and men's ability to<br />

spend. the rate <strong>of</strong> polygamy had risen.<br />

3<br />

In fact, polygamy was not<br />

confined only to Arabs. it existed among Jews and Christians.<br />

w- -<br />

6Afifi. Vol- 1. P. 161<br />

2. 'All. Vol. 5. P* 535<br />

3. See Hatabs op. cit. * P. 45<br />

00<br />

33

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