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The harem of the caliphs of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
was composed of their mothers, wives, slave concubines, female relatives and slave servants (women and
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
s), occupying a secluded portion of the Abbasid household. This institution played an important social function within the Abbasid court and was that part were the women were confined and secluded. The senior woman in rank in the harem was the mother of the
Caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
. The Abbasid harem acted as a role model for the harems of other Islamic dynasties, as it was 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 ...
that the
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 ...
system was fully enforced in the Muslim world.


Background and origin

The harem system first became fully institutionalized in the Islamic world under 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 ...
. Although the term ''harem'' does not denote women's quarters in the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
, a number of Quranic verses discussing modesty and seclusion were held up by Quranic commentators as religious rationale for the separation of women from men, including the so-called ''
hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...
verse'' (33:53). In modern usage ''hijab'' colloquially refers to the religious attire worn by
Muslim women The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies due to culture and values that were often predating Islam's introduction to the respective regions of the w ...
, but in this verse it meant "veil" or "curtain" that physically separates female from male space. Although classical commentators agreed that the verse spoke about a curtain separating the living quarters of Muhammad's wives from visitors to his house, they usually viewed this practice as providing a model for all Muslim women. In contrast to the earlier era of the
Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
and the
Rashidun Caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate () is a title given for the reigns of first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali collectively — believed to Political aspects of Islam, represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the ...
, women in
Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...
and
Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...
society were ideally kept in seclusion and absent from all arenas of the community's central affairs. The growing seclusion of women were illustrated by the power struggle between the Caliph
Al-Hadi Abū Muḥammad Mūsā ibn al-Mahdī al-Hādī (; 26 April 764 CE 14 September 786 CE) better known by his laqab al-Hādī () was the fourth Arab Abbasid caliph who succeeded his father al-Mahdi and ruled from 169 AH (785 CE) until his death in 1 ...
and his mother
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 ...
, who refused to live in seclusion but instead challenged the power of the Caliph by giving her own audiences to male supplicants and officials and thus mixing with men.Mernissi, Fatima; Mary Jo Lakeland (2003). The forgotten queens of Islam. Oxford University Press. . Her son considered this improper, and he publicly addressed the issue of his mothers public life by assembling his generals and asked them: :'Who is the better among us, you or me?' asked Caliph al-Hadi of his audience. :'Obviously you are the better, Commander of the Faithful,' the assembly replied. :'And whose mother is the better, mine or yours?' continued the caliph. :'Your mother is the better, Commander of the Faithful.' :'Who among you', continued al-Hadi, 'would like to have men spreading news about your mother?' :'No one likes to have his mother talked about,' responded those present. :'Then why do men go to my mother to speak to her?' Conquests had brought enormous wealth and large numbers of slaves to the Muslim elite. The majority of the slaves were women and children,Morony, Michael G. Iraq after the Muslim conquest. Gorgias Press LLC, 2005 many of whom had been dependents or harem-members of the defeated
Sassanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
upper classes.Abbott, Nabia. Two queens of Baghdad: mother and wife of Hārūn al Rashīd. University of Chicago Press, 1946. In the wake of the conquests an elite man could potentially own a thousand slaves, and ordinary soldiers could have ten people serving them.
Nabia Abbott Nabia Abbott (31 January 1897 – 15 October 1981) was an American scholar of Islam, papyrologist and paleographer. She was the first woman professor at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. She gained worldwide recognition for her ...
, preeminent historian of elite women of the Abbasid Caliphate, describes the lives of harem women as follows.
The choicest women were imprisoned behind heavy curtains and locked doors, the strings and keys of which were entrusted into the hands of that pitiable creature – the
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
. As the size of the harem grew, men indulged to satiety. Satiety within the individual harem meant boredom for the one man and neglect for the many women. Under these conditions ... satisfaction by perverse and unnatural means crept into society, particularly in its upper classes.
The marketing of human beings, particularly women, as objects for sexual use meant that elite men owned the vast majority of women they interacted with, and related to them as would masters to slaves.


Hierarchy and organisation

The Abbasid harem established a model of hierarchy and organisation which was to become a standard for Muslim harems for centuries. It was a large institution; during the reign of
al-Muqtadir Abū’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Al-Mu'tadid, Aḥmad ibn Al-Muwaffaq, Ṭalḥa ibn Al-Mutawakkil, Jaʿfar ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn Al-Muqtadir bi'Llāh () (895 – 31 October 932 AD), better known by his regnal name a ...
, the harem consisted of 4000 enslaved women and 11.000 enslaved servants.


The mother

On the top of the hierarchy was not the wife of the ruler. As a Muslim, the ruler could have several wives, and as he must formally treat them equally, he could not give one wife higher status than another, and give her a role similar to that of a Christian queen consort. Instead, it was the mother of the Caliph who had the highest rank and position in the harem and thereby among all the women at court. Her background could be both that of a free wife, or that of an enslaved concubine.


Female relatives

In the harem resided also the unmarried or divorced daughters, sisters and other nonmarried female relatives of the Caliph. The Abbasid princesses could make themselves known for their poetry and other accomplishments, as long as they observed the seclusion. Princess
Ulayya bint al-Mahdi Ulayya bint al-Mahdi (, 777–825) was an Abbasid dynasty, Abbasid princess, noted for her legacy as a poet and musician. Biography ‘Ulayya was one of the daughters of the third Abbasid caliph, Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi (Reign, r. 775–85), wh ...
only performed in private, chaperoned family functions to avoid any potential impropriety, such as to be compared to the slave-''
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 ...
'', ''
jawaris Jarya or jariya (; ), also jawari (), was a term often used for female slaves in the medieval Islamic world. In a courtly context, they could be " slaves for pleasure" (muṭʿa, ladhdha) or “slaves for sexual intercourse” (jawārī al-wa ...
'' or ''mughanniyat'', but she was referred to as a ''
qayna (, ; 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 Islamic views on con ...
'' as a tribute to her musical ability.


Wives

The wives of the Abbasid caliphs were known as ''hurra''. The caliph sometimes entered diplomatic marriages. During the later centuries of the Abbasid Caliphate the caliphs often married
Seljuk Seljuk (, ''Selcuk'') or Saljuq (, ''Saljūq'') may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * S ...
princesses, who acted as pious role models by founding or making donations to pious or charitable institutions. It was common for caliphs to manumit and marry their former slave concubines.


Concubines

Below the legal wives were the enslaved concubines of the caliph. These included the ''jariya'' also known as ''ama'' and ''khadima'', who were often acquired through warfare or slave markets. She could be used for sexual relations by him and could also be shared with other men for their pleasure. The jariya was regarded as property and could be bought, inherited, or freed at the discretion of her owner. Above the jariyas were the ''mahziyyat'' or ''hazaya''. These concubines unlike the jariyas could not be shared with other men. The cost for acquiring a mahziyya could soar to hundreds of thousands of dirhams. She often assumed a significant antagonistic role towards the master's wife. A slave concubine who was selected to have sex with the caliph and then gave birth to a child by him, attained the coveted position of an ''
umm al-walad In the Muslim world, the title of ''umm al-walad'' () was given to a slave-concubine who had given birth to a child acknowledged by her master as his. These women were regarded as property and could be sold by their owners, a practice that was ...
''. This prevented her from being sold, ensuring she remained a slave under her master's control, and she became freed upon her master's death. She could also become a legal wife of the caliph, if he manumitted her and chose to marry her.


Female entertainers

The harem also consisted of a large number of
jawaris Jarya or jariya (; ), also jawari (), was a term often used for female slaves in the medieval Islamic world. In a courtly context, they could be " slaves for pleasure" (muṭʿa, ladhdha) or “slaves for sexual intercourse” (jawārī al-wa ...
; enslaved female entertainers. They performed for the caliph and the rest of the harem. The Jawari entertainers were not synonymous with the concubines, and the jawaris and concubines belonged to two different categories. However, the Jawaris could be chosen by the Caliph for sexual intercourse, and thus transition to become a concubine. The jawaris were sometimes former ''
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 ...
''. One famous harem entertainer was the concubine
ʽInān Inān bint Abdallāh (, died 841) was a prominent poet and qiyan of the Abbasid period, even characterised by the tenth-century historian Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahāni as the slave-woman poet of foremost significance in the Arabic tradition. She ...
and the singer
Shāriyah Shāriyah (, born c. 815 in al-Basra; died c. 870 C.E.) was an ‘Abbasid '' qayna'' (enslaved singing-girl), who enjoyed a prominent place in the court of Al-Wathiq (r. 842–847). Biography The main source for Shāriyah's life is the tenth-c ...
. During reign of the Caliph al-Amin (r. 809–813) in Baghdad, there was a category of female entertainers known as ''ghulamyyat'', slave-girls dressed as boys, who were trained to perform as singers and musicians and who attended the drinking parties of the sovereign and his male guests.


Qahramana

The ''qahramana'' (
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: قَهْرَمانَة ''qahramānah'', 'stewardess') were female slaves responsible for various tasks within the harem. They could act as governesses for the children, as well as the personal servants and agents of the women, functioning as intermediaries between the harem women and the outside world. The qahramana were the only women who were allowed the mobility to leave and enter the harem, and they regularly left the harem to make purchases for the secluded harem women and handle the affairs between the women and the merchants and tradespeople of the outside world. This mobility was envied by the harem women, and one story describe the envy of a harem woman, who wished to become a qahramana so that she would be able to leave the harem, and finally managed to achieve her goal to become a qahramana. The mobility of a qahramana made them into influential figures as the personal agents and messengers between the harem women and the world outside the harem. Umm Musa, qahramana to the mother of
al-Muqtadir Abū’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Al-Mu'tadid, Aḥmad ibn Al-Muwaffaq, Ṭalḥa ibn Al-Mutawakkil, Jaʿfar ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn Al-Muqtadir bi'Llāh () (895 – 31 October 932 AD), better known by his regnal name a ...
, became an influential figure as a messenger of supplicants to the Caliph mother and the Caliph. Another example was qahramana Zaydan, who acted as the jailkeeper of high status prisoners: after having been the jailer of the vizier
Ibn al-Furat Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm b. ʿAlī al-Miṣrī al-Ḥanafī () (1334–1405 CE), better known as Ibn al-Furāt, was an Egyptian historian, best known for his universal history, generally known as ''Taʾrīkh al-duwal wa ...
, who had fallen from favour, she managed to have him restored to power through her harem contacts and was rewarded by him with lands and wealth, a cooperation which continued for the rest of their careers. The perhaps most famous of them all were
Thumal the Qahraman Thumal the Qahraman () (died 929) was a Muslim woman appointed in 918 as a judge in a maẓālim (secular administrative) court during the reign of Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932). She was not a Qadi (a judge adjudicating Islamic law), for she ...
.


Eunuchs

The eunuchs were the castrated male slaves responsible for guarding the harem, for preventing the women from leaving the harem and for approving any visitor before they gained entrance. The custom of using eunuchs as servants for women inside the Islamic harems had a preceding example in the life of
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
himself, who used the eunuch Mabur as a servant in the house of his own slave concubine
Maria al-Qibtiyya , better known as or (), or Maria the Copt, died 637, was an Egyptian woman who, along with her sister Sirin bint Shamun, was given as a slave to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 628 by Al-Muqawqis, a Christian governor of Alexandria, during ...
; both of them slaves from Egypt.Taef El-Azhari, E. (2019). Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661-1257. Storbritannien: Edinburgh University Press. Eunuchs was for a long time used in relatively small numbers, exclusively inside harems, but the use of eunuchs expanded significantly when eunuchs started being used also for other offices within service and administration outside of the harem, a use which expanded gradually during the
Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...
and had its breakthrough during the Abbasid Caliphate. During the Abbasid period, eunuchs became a permanent institution inside the Islamic harems after the model of the Abbasid harem.


Harem slavery

With the exception of the legal wives and female relatives of the Caliph, the inhabitants of the harem—concubines, entertainers and eunuchs—were all enslaved people. The slaves were either war captives (called ''sabaya'') or bought from slave markets, and the slave women were divided in to the categories ''jawari'' and ''qiyan'' (singers), ''mahziyyat'' (concubines) and ''qahramanat'' (stewardesses). The men meant for the harem were all eunuchs; the non eunuch males served the palace outside of the harem. According to Islamic practice of slavery and slave trade, foreign non-Muslims were free to enslave, and it was preferred that slaves were to be non-Muslims from non-Muslim regions. In accordance with the ''
Ma malakat aymanukum Islamic views on slavery represent a complex and multifaceted body of Islamic thought,Brockopp, Jonathan E., "Slaves and Slavery", in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. ...
'', the principle of
concubinage Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...
, women could be legally kept as concubines in the harem if they were of non-Muslim origin. The four main ways to enslave a person were by kidnapping, by slave raids, by piracy, or by buying a child from poor parents. One of the chief regions for the export of slaves to the Abbasid Caliphate came through
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
(Iran), which was a passage area for several slave trade routes: the
saqaliba Saqaliba (, singular ) is a term used in medieval Arabic sources to refer to Slavs, and other peoples of Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe. The term originates from the Middle Greek '' slavos/sklavenos'' (Slav), which in Hispano-Ara ...
slave trade of Europeans provided by the Vikings to the
Samanid Empire The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest extent encompassing northeastern Iran and Central Asia, from 819 ...
in
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
via the
Volga trade route In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea and the Sasanian Empire, via the Volga River. The Rus' (people), Rus used this route to trade with Muslim history#The Umayyad Calipha ...
; the slave trade of mainly
Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...
from
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
, also via the Samanid slave trade; Christian
Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
,
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
, and
Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...
from the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
by Muslim slavers; and the slave route of Hindu Indians following the Islamic invasion of India from the 8th-century onward.BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI iii. In the Islamic period up to the Mongol invasion https://iranicaonline.org/articles/barda-iii Since many parts of Persia remained
Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...
the first centuries after conquest, some non-Muslim "
infidel An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person who is accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or irreligious people. Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which th ...
territory" in Persia were also exposed to Muslim slave raids, particularly Daylam in northwestern Iran and the Pagan mountainous region of Ḡūr in central
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. Two of the twelve caliphs’ mothers whose nationalities are known were European saqaliba;
Al-Musta'in Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Mustaʿīn bi-ʾllāh (; 836 – 17 October 866), better known by his regnal title al-Mustaʿīn (836 – 17 October 866) was the Abbasid caliph from 862 to 866, during the "Anarchy at ...
's mother Mukhariq, and
Al-Mu'tazz Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Muʿtazz bi-ʾLlāh (; 847 – 16 July 869), better known by his regnal title al-Muʿtazz bi-ʾLlāh (, "He who is strengthened by God") was the Abbasid caliph from 866 t ...
's mother Qabiha. A Zoroastrian-Persian background were not uncommon among 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 ...
-entertainers and slave concubines in the Caliphate, and some ended up in the Abbasid harem itself; Marājel, concubine of
Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...
and mother of the future caliph
Al-Ma'mun Abū al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Hārūn al-Maʾmūn (; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name al-Ma'mun (), was the seventh Abbasid caliph, who reigned from 813 until his death in 833. His leadership was marked by t ...
, and Māridah, slave of
Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...
and mother of the future caliph
Al-Mu'tasim Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd (; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his laqab, regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh (, ), was the eighth Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid caliph, ruling from 833 until his death in 842. ...
, were both Iranians.


Dissolution

The harem slaves where enslaved once again when the Abbasid harem was dissolved during the
Sack of Baghdad The siege of Baghdad took place in early 1258. A large army commanded by Hulegu, a prince of the Mongol Empire, attacked the historic capital of the Abbasid Caliphate after a series of provocations from its ruler, caliph al-Musta'sim. Within ...
in 1258. When Baghdad was conquered by the Mongols, they gave made an inventory of the possessions of the Caliph. This included the inhabitants of his harem. The inventory proved that the Abbasid harem at that point contained 1000 eunuchs and 700 women, whom the Caliph claimed had never seen sun nor moon.Howorth, H. H. (1965). History of the Mongols: The Mongols proper and the Kalmuks. With 2 maps by E. G. Ravenstein. USA: B. Franklin. p200 The Caliph asked to keep the women, and was allowed to select 100 to keep. :"An order was given for the Caliph's harem to be counted. There were seven hundred women and concubines and a thousand servants. When the Caliph was apprised of the count of the harem, he begged and pleaded, saying, "Let me have the women of the harem, upon whom neither sun nor the moon has ever shone." The Caliph was however killed shortly after, and the members of his household and his family where killed or taken captive as slaves. The Persian historian Wassaf wrote: :“They swept through the city like hungry falcons attacking a flight of doves, or like raging wolves attacking sheep, with loose reins and shameless faces, murdering and spreading terror…beds and cushions made of gold and encrusted with jewels were cut to pieces with knives and torn to shreds. Those hiding behind the veils of the great Harem were dragged…through the streets and alleys, each of them becoming a plaything…as the population died at the hands of the invaders.”Justin Marozzi Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood (Penguin Books, 2014), 176–177.


Legacy


Impact

The Abbasid harem system came to be a role model for the harems of later Islamic rulers, and the same model can be found in subsequent Islamic nations during the Middle Ages, such as the harem 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 harem The Fatimid harem refers to the harem belonging to the rulers of the Fatimid dynasty during the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt (909–1171). The harem was the quarters of the royal court in which the female members of the court, including the female r ...
of 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 ...
, which also consisted of the model of prominent mothers; slave concubines who became
umm walad In the Muslim world, the title of ''umm al-walad'' () was given to a Concubinage in Islam, slave-concubine who had given birth to a child acknowledged by her master as his. These women were regarded as property and could be sold by their owners, ...
when giving birth; female Jawaris entertainers, qahramana's and eunuchs. The harem system was fairly the same during the Ottoman Empire, with only minor changes in the model of the
Imperial Harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...
.


Fiction

*
Assassin's Creed Mirage ''Assassin's Creed Mirage'' is a 2023 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux and published by Ubisoft. The game is the thirteenth major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series and the successor to ''Assassin's Creed Valhalla' ...
features the Abbasid harem, a concubine and a stewardess.


See also

* Harem#Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates *
Imperial Harem The Imperial Harem () of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the concubines, wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (serag ...
*
History of concubinage in the Muslim world Concubinage in the Muslim world was the practice of Muslim men entering into intimate relationships without marriage, with enslaved women, though in rare, exceptional cases, sometimes with free women. It was a common practice in the Ancient ...
*
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 ...
*
Safavid imperial harem The Safavid imperial harem refers to the harem of the monarchs of the Safavid dynasty of Iran. The harem of the Safavid shahs played an important role in the history of Safavid Iran (1501-1736). It was the quarters of the women of the Imperia ...
*
Qajar harem The harem of the monarchs of the Qajar dynasty (1785-1925) consisted of several thousand people. The harem had a precise internal administration, based on the women's rank. Hierarchy and organisation Mother of the Shah As was customary in Musli ...


References

* Marilyn Booth
Harem Histories: Envisioning Places and Living Spaces
' * Maaike van Berkel, Nadia Maria El Cheikh, Hugh Kennedy, Letizia Osti
Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court: Formal and Informal Politics
' * Jeroen Duindam, Tülay Artan, Metin Kunt
Royal Courts in Dynastic States and Empires: A Global Perspective
' * Leigh K. Jenco, Murad Idris, Megan C. Thomas, Megan Christine Thomas
The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Political Theory
'


Notes


Sources

* {{cite book, last=Ahmed , first=Leila , author-link=Leila Ahmed , title=Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0Grq2BzaUgC , year=1992 , publisher=Yale University Press , isbn=978-0-300-05583-2 Concubinage Harem Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate Sexual slavery Women from the Abbasid Caliphate Sexuality in the Middle East