Fatima.Mernessi_The-Forgotten-Queens-of-Islam-EN

54 Queens and Courtesans
and to understand why the harems were full of jawari at the time
of the great Muslim conquests. Everybody knows that Islam permits
a man to marry no more than four women. However, it must be
added that that limit refers only to free women, because the shari'a
gives to the happy husband, in addition to the four free women
married with a marriage contract, the right to have sexual relations
and children with as many jawari (women slaves) as he possesses.
The authorization for this comes from verse 3 of sura 4, 'Women',
which is the unassailable foundation for polygyny as an institution;
marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four;
and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only)
or (the captives) that your right hands possess. 8
There is no limit to the number of concubines, Tabari tells us in
his Tafsir, because the believer 'does not have towards them the
same duties that he has towards free women', since they are
amlakuhu (his property). 9 The master was not constrained by law
in his treatment of a slave, and he could have any number of them.
The great danger to Khayzuran as the reigning favourite came above
all from the jawari, slaves like herself, whom the winds of destiny
ceaselessly deposited on the steps of the palace.
Sometimes jawari were offered to the caliph as part of the booty
of conquest; sometimes they were preferred by one of his governors;
sometimes sent as gifts by those who hoped to better themselves with
al-Mahdi; and obviously sometimes bought if they had exceptional
talents. Developing their intellectual skills, such as learning thefiqh
(religious knowledge) or poetry, or improving their musical talents
for playing the lute or singing were the only avenues open to these
women, sometimes Arabs but very often foreigners torn from their
country of origin and having to survive in a strange environment.
One of the jawari of whom Khayzuran was very jealous was
named Maknuna. She had 'a very beautiful face and was raskha 1
(that is, with slender hips and legs), and she was renowned in
Medina, her home town, as a mughanniyya, a singer. Al-Mahdi had
bought her when he was still the royal heir and had paid 100,000
dirhams for her. This was an exorbitant price and had to be kept
secret, for his father, al-Mansur, would not have approved of such
extravagance. 10 Al-Mahdi was so captivated by her charm that
Khayzuran later admitted: 'I never had such fear of another woman
as I had of her.' 11
The price of a jarya increased according to her education and