The Qur’an often discusses marriage and concubinage together. In many translations, the word nisa is wrongly translated as wives when, in fact, it just means women. There are also places where the Qur’an does use the word that could be translated as wives (azwaj) when exclusively referring to wives and not concubines. However, when the Qur’an refers to women in the context of sexual relations and uses the word ‘women’ (nisa), it includes all women permissible under its law and not only wives. For example, the Quran states (33:32):
O wives of the Prophet, you are not like anyone among women.
The translations typically read, “O wives of the Prophet” as above, when in fact it is saying “O women of the Prophet.” This is because the Prophet didn’t only have wives but also had concubines.
However, the Qur’an also specifically refers to the wives of the Prophet in the following verse (66:1):
O Prophet, why do you prohibit [yourself from] what Allāh has made lawful for you, seeking the approval of your wives? And Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful.
The above verse actually mentions the word aswaj, which means wives and not women. This demonstrates that the Qur’an uses specific words for specific purposes and that they cannot possibly all mean the same thing- a practice that often takes place when people translate the Qur’an and when legal judgements are derived. In another verse, we can see both words being used together (33:50):
O Prophet, indeed We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have given their due compensation and those your right hand possesses from what Allāh has returned to you [of captives]….
In the above verse, the word that translates as wives (aswaj) and the word that translates as concubines (those that your right hand possesses) are both used. This further demonstrates that they are clearly two different categories. It is important to understand that when the Qur’an talks about women of men as sexual partners, it isn’t necessarily referring to wives but may also include concubines. Also, when the Qur’an talks about marriage, it may not necessarily be referring to a marriage contract but also to the act of having sexual relations, and this is particularly true when it comes to concubinage. These considerations are important to acknowledge in order to understand the discussion I engage in below, which will demonstrate the following points:
The Qur’an doesn’t condone forced marriages but insists on the consent of the prospective woman (and it may not be a wife).
The Qur’an does speak of marriage in terms of both a marriage contract and in terms of sex itself, but does not specify exactly what goes into a marriage contract and how it is ratified.
The law of contracts, which the Qur’an invokes with regard to debt, is sometimes applied by scholars to marriage because, in a sense, marriage begets debts (the fulfilment of rights). To that end, there are witnesses and the writing down of conditions. However, this isn’t agreed upon by all interpreters of classical law.
There is an age for marriage in the Qur’an, which must coincide with being financially literate in addition to puberty, but the Qur’an does not give an exact age.
The punishments mentioned in the Qur’an for sexual indecency (fahisha) are broad except for the punishment of adultery (zina), which is specified as one hundred lashes. The Qur’an does not specifically allocate a punishment for fornication. Translators have typically played around with the word fahisha to mean illegal sexual intercourse and zina to mean the same thing, but there are various shades of meaning in terms of contextual usage.
Polygyny isn’t actually introduced in the Qur’an but is merely referenced. However, all of the marriage and concubinage laws assume that polygyny exists.
Most of the rights spoken about in the Qur’an are aimed at protecting women, often also conflated with orphans, specifically. The Qur’an does not speak extensively about the rights of men and assumes that men generally take their rights. However, it does allocate to men authority in order to execute the rights allotted to women. Men are also given the powers of the judiciary and are allowed to carry out punitive measures where justified.
The Qur’an regulates modest behaviour at length, which specifies a dual dress code for women without stating exactly what it is. One dress code is permissible in front of blood relatives and those not affected by lust, except for the husband, and another dress code for strangers. Furthermore, it goes as far as to specify who they can eat with, which is actually congruent with current understandings of Muslim normative dress codes and behaviour in traditional societies.
Lastly, we will see that the Qur’an does not equate concubinage with slavery necessarily and that the words it uses for each are not the same. The notion of sex slavery does not exist within the text of the Qur’an. A concubine is not a sex slave, especially since consent is prescribed as a rule.
TO BE CONTINUE
