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ArZý; The wife of Shai used to disregard his son. and because of
that. he threatened her with divorce.
1 Another reason for divorce
was the woman's giving birth to girls only. However, there was
divided opinion on this. It was reported that when Pbu Nukhail
divorced his wife. who was from his own tribe, for bearing a
daughter. his people blamed him for what he did so he returned to
his wife.
2A
further reason for divorce was poverty. For example.
when Bunaih al-HaJZ'j al-Sahm! "became poor. he divorced his two wives 3
Some men used to divorce their wives if they had any suspicion
of their unchastity. An example of that is made very clear by the
story of Hind BinteUtha. "We-are told that she was married to al-Fakih
of the tribe of Quraysh, ý and that he dismissed her to her home after
catching sight of a man in suspicious circumstances near her tent.
When she arrived at her father's house, he urged her to tell the
truth. 'If the accusation is a true one' he said, 'I will set someone
on to kill al-Fakih and prevent people from talking about you. If it
is false, I will have him arraigned before one of his kahins
(soothsayers) of Yemen. "
The social and the economic condition in Pre-Islamic society
had the greatest effect as regards the occurrence of divorce.
Divorce was a very simple action which a man undertook against his,
sometimes
wifejin order to take revenge either on her or on her own people.
Sometimes. this was because of reasons which had nothing to do
with the marriage itself. Also, poverty, and prejudice were! important
reasons for the occurrence of divorce; what sin had a woman committed
le Ibid. P%'262
2. Abu al-Farj al-Asbtranr*. al-Ag Vol, 23s P. 8129
3. Al-frufr, op. cit:, P. 263
4. - Levi, op. cit., P. 206
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