Jarya or jariya (; ), also jawari (), was a term often used for female slaves in the

medieval Islamic world In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

. In a courtly context, they could be " slaves for pleasure" (muṭʿa, ladhdha) or “slaves for

sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (also coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion of the Erection, erect male Human penis, penis inside the female vagina and followed by Pelvic thrust, thrusting motions for sexual pleasure ...

” (jawārī al-waṭ), who had received special training in artistic skills. In contrast to the

Qiyan (, ; singular , , ) were a social class of women, trained as entertainers, which existed in the pre-modern Islamic world. The term has been used for women who were both free, including some of whom came from nobility, and non-free women. It ...

, however, they normally did not perform for men other than the man in whose

harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

they were placed.

History

The slave category of the jarya—similar to the qiyan—rose to fame during the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

era, possibly because free

Arab women Women in the Arab world have played different and changing roles, depending on the time period, the regional area, their social status. Differences in history, tradition, social structure and religion in different Arab countries have also largel ...

became more and more secluded from society during this time period. They were acquired by purchase or captured as

war booty Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

. The term were applied to such enslaved women who, by instruction or self-education, acquired a great knowledge of artistic skills and intellectual knowledge by which they could entertain a man, rather than by sexuality and physical beauty. They could study issues from music and poetry to religion, history and literature, and many were known to be able to entertain their owner by both intellectual as well as musical abilities. There were many examples of jawaris who managed to gain influence over male rulers. The jawaris differed from qiyan in that they appear not to perform in public, only in the harem to which they belonged. Royal harems could employ a very large number of jawaris, who acted as the entertainers of the royal harem and who were not necessarily synonymous with the concubines of the ruler. The

Abbasid harem The harem of the caliphs of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) in Baghdad was composed of their mothers, wives, slave concubines, female relatives and slave servants (women and eunuchs), occupying a secluded portion of the Abbasid house ...

had thousands of jawari as well as concubines who were not always the same, and this was adopted by the harems of many other Islamic rulers, such as the rulers of the

Caliphate of Cordoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the enti ...

and the

Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, i ...

. The jariya category of sexual harem slaves were described by the 9th-century writer

Al-Jahiz Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri (; ), commonly known as al-Jahiz (), was an Arab polymath and author of works of literature (including theory and criticism), theology, zoology, philosophy, grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, philology, lin ...

, who accused them of exerting a destructive influence over their owners created by their artistic skills, which created a web of dependent feelings such as love (hub), passion (hawa), affinity (mushakala) and a wish for continued companionship (ilf). Though most scholarly attention has gone to courtly contexts, jawari were also present in non-courtly urban settings, including the homes of merchants and artisans, notably as domestic workers. A wide range of representations features jawari, including technical treatises and spiritual literature.

Examples

There were many famous jaryas noted in Islamic literature and history, such as

Al-Khayzuran Al-Khayzuran bint Atta () (died 789) was the wife of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mahdi and mother of both Caliphs Al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid. She maintained de facto influence from 775 to 789 during the reign of her husband and sons and is known for ...

Alam al-Malika Alam al-Malika () (died 1130), was the chief adviser and ''de facto'' prime minister of the Najahid dynasty of Zubayd in Yemen in 1111–1123, and its ruler in 1123–1130. She was the slave singer, or '' jarya'', to King Mansur ibn Najah of Zubay ...

, and Hababah.

References

{{Reflist * Arabic-language women poets Arabic-language poets History of slavery Slaves of the medieval Islamic world Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate Slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate Sexual slavery Women and slavery Islam and women

History

Examples

See also

References