The custom of wa’d as seen through the stories of two followers of the Prophet Muḥammad
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/meaharabe.v70i0.15445Keywords:
Wa’d, Maw’ūda, Female infanticide, Ṣa‗ṣa‗a b, Nājiya, Qays b, ‗ ṣimAbstract
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.
Downloads
References
ABŪ DĀWUD (m. 275/889). Sunan. Eds. Šu‗ayb AL-ARNA‘ŪṬ y Muḥammad Kāmil Qurah BALALĪ. Damasco: Dār al-Risāla al-‗Ālamiyya, 1430/2009.
ABŪ ḤAYYĀN AL-GARNĀṬĪ (m. 745/1344). Tafsīr al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ. Ed.
‗Ādil Aḥmad ‗ABD AL-MAWŶŪD. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‗Ilmiyya, 1413/1993.
ABŪ ‗UBAYDA (m. entre 207/822 y 213/828). Maŷāz al-Qur’ān. Ed. Muḥam- mad Fu‘ād SAZKĪN. El Cairo: Maktabat al-Jānŷī, s.d.
AL-ĀLŪSĪ, Maḥmūd Šukrī (m. 1342/1924). Bulūg al-arab fī ma‘rifat aḥwāl al- ‘Arab. Ed. Muḥammad Bahŷa AL-AṮARĪ. El Cairo: Dār al-Kitāb al-Miṣrī, s.d.
AL-‗ASQALĀNĪ, Ibn Ḥaŷar (m. 852/1449). Al-Iṣāba fī tamyīz al-ṣaḥāba. Eds.
‗Ādil Aḥmad ‗ABD AL-MAWŶŪD et al. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‗Ilmiyya, 1415/1995.
AL-AZHARĪ, Abū Manṣūr (m. 370/980). Tahḏīb al-luga. Ed. ‗Abd al-Salām Muḥammad HĀRŪN. El Cairo: al-Dār al-Miṣriyya li-l-Ta‘līf wa-l-Tarŷama, 1384/1964.
AL-BUJĀRĪ (m. 256/870). Al-Adab al-mufrad. Ed. Muḥammad Fu‘ād ‗ABD AL- BĀQĪ. El Cairo: al-Maṭba‗a al-Salafiyya, 1375/[1955-1956].
—. Ṣaḥīḥ. Damasco y Beirut: Dār Ibn Kaṯīr, 1423/2002.
AL-BUSTĀNĪ, Karam (ed.). Dīwān al-Farazdaq. Beirut: Dār Bayrūt li-l-Ṭibā‗a wa-l-Našr, 1404/1984.
EL CORÁN. Trad. Julio Cortés. Barcelona: Herder, 20059.
Divan de Fërazdak. Ed. y Trad. R. BOUCHER. París: Adolphe Labitte, 1870. FĀ‗ŪR, ‗Alī (ed.). Dīwān al-Farazdaq. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‗Ilmiyya, 1407/1987.
AL-ḤĀWĪ, Īlyā (ed.). Šarḥ dīwān al-Farazdaq. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-Lubnānī, [1403-1404]/1983.
IBN ‗ABBĀD, al-Ṣāḥib (m. 385/995). Al-Muḥīṭ fī l-luga. Ed. Muḥammad Ḥasan Āl Yāsīn. Beirut: ‗Ālam al-Kutub, 1414/1994.
IBN ‗ABD RABBIHI (m. 328/940). Al-‘Iqd al-farīd. Ed. Muḥammad AL- TŪNŶĪ. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1430/2009.
IBN AL-AṮĪR (m. 606/1210). Usd al-gāba fī ma‘rifat al-ṣaḥāba. Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1433/2012.
IBN DURAYD (m. 321/933). Al-Ištiqāq. Ed. Abd al-Salām Muḥammad HĀRŪN. Beirut: Dār al-Ŷīl, 1411/1991.
IBN FĀRIS (m. 395/1004). Maqāyīs al-luga. Ed. ‗Abd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn. [El Cairo]: Dār al-Fikr li-l-Ṭibā‗a wa-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzī‗, 1399/1979.
IBN ḤABĪB, Muḥammad (m. 245/860). Kitāb al-muḥabbar. Ed. Ilse LICHTENSTÄDTER. Beirut: Dār al-Ifāq al-Ŷadīda, s.d.
IBN JALLIKĀN (m. 681/1282). Wafayāt al-a‘yān wa-anbā’ abnā’ al-zamān. Ed.
Iḥsān ‗ABBĀS. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1398/1977.
IBN KAṮĪR (m. 774/1373). Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm. Ed. Sāmī Ibn Muḥammad AL-SALĀMA. Riad: Dār Ṭayyiba li-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzī‗, 1999/1420.
—. Al-Bidāya wa-l-nihāya. Ed. ‗Abd Allāh Ibn ‗Abd al-Muḥsin AL-TURKĪ. El Cairo: Hiŷr (al-Ṭibā‗a wa-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzī‗ wa-l-I‗lān), 1418/1997.
IBN MĀŶA (m. 273/887). Sunan. Ed. Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn AL-ALBĀNĪ. Riad: Maktabat al-Ma‗ārif li-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzī‗, s.d.
IBN AL-ŶAWZĪ (m. 597/1200). Zād al-masīr fī ‘ilm al-tafsīr. Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1423/2002.
—. Al-Muntaẓam fī tārīj al-mulūk wa-l-umam. Eds. Muḥammad ‗Abd al-Qādir
‗AṬĀ y Muṣṭafà ‗Abd al-Qādir ‗AṬĀ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‗Ilmiyya, 1415/1995.
AL-IṢFAHĀNĪ, Abū l-Faraŷ (m. entre 356/967 y 362/973). Kitāb al-agānī. Eds.
Iḥsān ‗ABBĀS et al. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1430/2009.
AL-JALĪL, Ibn Aḥmad (m. entre 160/776 y 175/791). Kitāb al-‘ayn. Ed. ‗Abd al- Ḥamīd HANDAWĪ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‗Ilmiyya, 1423/2003.
AL-MIZZĪ (m. 742/1341). Tahḏīb al-kamāl fī asmā’ al-riŷāl. Ed. Baššār ‗Awwād MA‗RŪF. Beirut: Mu‘assasat al-Risāla, 1403/1983.
AL-MUBARRAD (m. 286/900). Al-Kāmil fī l-luga wa-l-adab. Ed. ‗Abd al- Ḥamīd HINDĀWĪ. [Riad]: Wizārat al-Šu‘ūn al-Islāmiyya wa-l-Awqāf wa-l- Da‗wa wa-l-Iršād, 1419/1998.
MUSLIM, Ibn al-Ḥaŷŷāŷ (m. 261/875). Ṣaḥīḥ. Ed. Abū Qutayba Naẓar Muḥam- mad AL-FĀRIYĀBĪ. Riad: Dār Ṭayyiba li-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzī‗, 1427/2006.
The Naḳā’iḍ of Jarīr and Farazdaḳ. Ed. y Trad. Anthony Ashley BEVAN. Lei- den: Brill, 1905-1912.
AL-NASĀ‘Ī (m. 303/915). Sunan. Ed. Rā‘id Ibn Ṣabrī IBN ABĪ ‗ALAFA. Riad: Dār al-Ḥaḍāra li-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzī‗, 1436/2015.
AL-QURṬUBĪ (m. 567/1172). Tafsīr. Ed. ‗Abd Allāh Ibn ‗Abd al-Muḥsin AL- TURKĪ. Beirut: Mu‘assasat al-Risāla, 1427/2006.
AL-RĀZĪ, Fajr al-Dīn (m. ca. 606/1209). Mafātīḥ al-gayb (al-tafsīr al-kabīr). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1401/1981.
AL-ṢAFADĪ, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn (m. 764/1363). Al-Wāfī bi-l-wafayāt. Eds. Aḥmad AL- ARNĀWŪṬ y Turkī MUṢṬAFÀ. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā‘ al-Turāṯ, 1420/2000.
AL-SUYŪṬĪ, Ŷalāl al-Dīn (m. 911/1505). Al-Durr al-manṯūr fī l-tafsīr bi-l- ma’ṯūr. Ed. ‗Abd Allāh Ibn ‗Abd al-Muḥsin AL-TURKĪ. El Cairo: Markaz Haŷar li-l-Buḥūṯ wa-l-Dirāsāt al-‗Arabiyya wa-l-Islāmiyya, 1424/2003.
AL-ṬABARĀNĪ (m. 360/971). Al-Mu‘ŷam al-kabīr. Ed. Ḥamdī ‗Abd al-Maŷīd AL-SALAFĪ. El Cairo: Maktabat Ibn Taymiyya, 1404/[1983-1984].
AL-ṬABARĪ (m. 450/1058). Ŷāmi‘ al-bayān ‘an ta’wīl āy l-Qur’ān. Eds. ‗Abd Allāh Ibn ‗Abd al-Muḥsin AL-TURKĪ et al. El Cairo: Dār Hiŷr, 1422/2001.
AL-ṮA‗LABĪ (m. 427/1035). Al-Kašf wa-l-bayān (‘an tafsīr al-Qur’ān). Abū Muḥammad Ibn ‗ĀŠŪR y Naẓīr AL-ŠĀ‗IDĪ (eds.). 10 vols. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā‘ al-Turāṯ al-‗Arabī, 1422/2002.
AL-TIRMIḎĪ (m. 279/892). Al-Ŷāmi‘ al-kabīr. Ed. Baššār ‗Awwād MA‗RŪF. Beirut: Dār al-Garb al-Islāmī, [1416-1417]/1996.
YĀQŪT, al-Ḥamawī al-Rūmī (m. 626/1229). Mu‘ŷam al-udabā’: Iršād al-arīb ilà ma‘rifat al-adīb. Ed. Iḥsān ‗ABBĀS. Beirut: Dār al-Garb al-Islāmī, [1413- 1414]/1993.
AL-ZAMAJŠARĪ (m. 538/1144). Tafsīr al-kaššāf ‘an ḥaqā’iq al-tanzīl wa-‘uyūn al-aqāwīl fī wuŷūh al-ta’wīl. Ed. Jalīl Ma‘mūn ŠĪḤĀ. Beirut: Dār al-Ma‗rifa, 1430/2009.
AHMED, Leila. ―Women and the advent of Islam‖. Signs, 11, 4 (1986), pp. 665- 691.
BEAUVOIR, Simone de. The second sex. Trads. Constance BORDE y Sheila MALOVANY-CHEVALLIER. Nueva York: Vintage Books, 2011.
BLACHÈRE, R. ―al-Farazdaḳ‖. En EI2.
CARABAZA BRAVO, Julia María. ―Algunos arabismos en la traducción del Kitāb fī Ādāb al-ḥisba de al-Saqaṭī‖. En Julia María CARABAZA BRAVO y Aly Tawfik MOHAMED ESSAWY (eds.). El saber en al-Andalus: Textos y estudios. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla y Fundación el Monte, 1999, vol. 2, pp. 29-44.
CASKEL, W. ―Bakr b. Wā‘il‖. En EI2.
CORTÉS, Julio. Diccionario de árabe culto moderno: Árabe-español. Madrid: Gredos, 1996.
EL-CHEIKH, Nadia Maria. ―Mourning and the role of the Nā’iḥa‖. En Cristina de la PUENTE (ed.). Estudios onomástico-biográficos de al-Andalus XIII: Identidades Marginales. Madrid: CSIC, 2003, pp. 395-412.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM (EI2). 11 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1979-2002.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ISLAM (EI3). Leiden: Brill, 2007-. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3 FAHD, T. ―Niyāḥa‖. En EI2.
AL-FATḤĪ, Muḥammad al-‗Āmir. Al-Wa’d ‘inda l-‘arab: bayna l-nuṣūṣ wa-l- ārā’. Riad: Mu‘assasat al-Mufradāt li-l-Našr wa-l-Tawzī‗, 1431/2010.
GILADI, Avner. ―Some observations on infanticide in medieval Muslim society‖. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 22 (1994), pp. 185-200.
GOODMAN, Lenn E. Islamic humanism. Nueva York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
AL-ḤADDĀD, al-Ṭāhir. Muslim women in law and society. Trad. Ronak Husni y Daniel L. Newman. Londres: Routledge, 2007.
HEFFER, Thomas. ―Ḥilm‖. En EI3.
IBN TUNBĀK, Marzūq Ibn Ṣunaytān. Al-Wa’d ‘inda l-‘arab: bayna l-wahm wa- l-ḥaqīqa. Damasco: Dār al-Bašā‘ir, 1428/2007.
JAYYUSI, Salma K. ―Umayyad poetry‖. En A. F. L. BEESTON et al. (eds.). Ar- abic literature to the end of the Umayyad period. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- versity Press, 1983, pp. 387-432.
JOHNSON, Dennis V. ―Unusual date palm products: prayer beads, walking sticks and fishing boats‖. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture, 28 (2016), pp. 12-16.
JORGENSEN, Cory Alan. Jarīr and al-Farazdaq’s Naqā’iḍ Performance as so- cial commentary. Tesis doctoral. Austin: University of Texas, 2012.
KINDERMANN, H. ―Rabī‗a and Muḍar‖. En EI2. KISTER, M. J. ―Ḳays b. ‗Āṣim‖. En EI2.
KISTER, M. J. ―Al-Ḥīra: some notes on its relations with Arabia‖. Arabica, 15 (1968), pp. 143-169.
LANE, Edward William. An Arabic-English Lexicon. Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1968.
LEEMHUIS, F. ―Wa‘d al-banāt‖. En EI2.
MAKIN, Al. Representing the enemy: Musaylima in Muslim literature. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2010.
MESA FERNÁNDEZ, Elisa. El lenguaje de la indumentaria: Tejidos y vestidu- ras en el Kitāb al-Agānī de Abū l-Faraŷ al-Iṣfahānī. Madrid: CSIC, 2008.
MONTGOMERY WATT, W. ―Musaylima‖. En EI2.
OMRAN, Abdel Rahim. Family planning in the legacy of Islam. Nueva York: Routledge, 2004.
PAPOUTSAKIS, Nefeli. ―al-Farazdaq‖. En EI3.
PARASKEVA, Mika. Reseña de Al-wa’d ‘inda l-‘Arab: Bayna l-wahm wa-l- ḥaqīqa, por Marzūq Ibn Ṣunaytān IBN TUNBĀK. eHumanista/IVITRA, 13 (2018), pp. 557-559.
—. Entre la música y el eros: Artes y vida de las cantoras en el Oriente medieval según El libro de las canciones (Kitāb al-agānī). Granada: EUG et al., 2016.
PELLAT, Ch. ―al-Aḥnaf b. Ḳays‖. En EI2.
—. ―Ḥilm‖. En EI2.
AL-SAMMAN, Hanadi. Anxiety of erasure: trauma, authorship, and the diaspo- ra in Arab women’s writings. Siracusa (Nueva York): Syracuse University Press, 2015.
SAUNDERS, John J. A history of medieval Islam. Londres: Routledge, 2002. TYAN, E. ―Diya‖. En EI2.
VACCA, V. ―Sadjāḥ‖. En EI2.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors publishing their work in this journal agree to the following terms and conditions:
1. The authors retain the copyright and give the journal the right to be the first publication of the work and also to be licensee under a Creative Commons Attribution License which allows others to share the work, provided the author of the work and the initial publication in this journal are acknowledged.
2. Authors may make additional agreements separately for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, putting it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to electronically disseminate (for example, in institutional repositories or on their own web page) the published version of their works (publisher's post-print version) or, if not possible, the author's reviewed and accepted post-print version. This is to facilitate productive exchanges, and allow for earlier and greater citation by third parties of the published works (See The Effect of Open Access).
4. The journal accepts no responsibility for the opinions expressed by the authors.
