Concubinage, in Islamic law - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
General Material Designation
[Article]
First Statement of Responsibility
Katz, Marion H.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Leiden
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Brill
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
(2,980 words)
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
While in English usage the word " concubine " is generally used to refer to a mistress or illegitimate sexual partner, in the context of Islamic law it is used to refer to a slave woman who is a man's legal sexual partner as a result of his ownership of her (see Marmon, 527). The Qurʾān makes several allusions to the sexual availability of female slaves, a practice that appears to have been widely accepted in the Arabian Peninsula before the rise of Islam as well as in the pre-existing