Pre-Islamic Arabia was chiefly matriarchal long before the arrival of Islam. The sex relations were erratic and egregious. There were temporary marriages. There were marriages between more than 2 individuals. The son didn’t know his father, his mother’s family took care of him. Most of the women used to live in their ancestral families, rather than with their husbands. Due to this, man started having affair outside the marriage and started marrying temporarily. The money economy had brought a revolutionary change of matriarchal to patriarchal families, but that didn’t have any positive effect on the sexual and familial relations, only men started to accrue money now.
Islam stood for patriarchal family system. The man was to marry a women permanently. Divorce was severely prohibited unless a serious need arose. Women now lived with their husbands and cared for their children. The man had now an
incentive to work hard to feed his family and save for his coming generations. Polygamy was allowed to man. He could marry 4 women at a time. This was because Arabia was a war-stricken land; men also died in their way of trading. This gave rise to numerous widows. Men could marry them only if they could treat them right. Men could also marry slave-girl. This was due to the fact that, so a man may not torture of force him on a slave-girl. They were to be treated with respect too.
For complete Islamic history notes click here.
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