La costumbre del <em>wa’d</em> a través de los relatos de dos seguidores del profeta Muḥammad

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to analyze, compare and translate accounts referring to Qays b. ‗Āṣim and Ṣa‗ṣa‗a b. Nājiya, two noblemen of the last stage of the jāhiliyya who were involved in the custom of wa’d, the alleged pre-Islamic practice of burying female infants alive at birth. Qays is depicted as a man who finds himself obliged to commit wa’d in a certain period of his life in order to safeguard his honour. In the op- posite position is Ṣa‗ṣa‗a, who becomes the saviour of the maw’ūdāt, baby girls on the verge of being buried alive. To achieve the proposed objectives, pertinent sources have been thoroughly examined and relevant excerpts extracted. These texts have been ana- lysed, translated, and classified according to their content. Taken together, the results of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the custom of wa’d and they shed light on the mechanisms used by the sources to turn the acts of Qays b. ‗Āṣim and Ṣa‗ṣa‗a b. Nājiya into symbolic representations of good and evil in the context of the pre-Islamic period.