Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society High rates of divorce, often taken to be a modern and western phenomenon, were also typical of medieval Islamic societies. By pitting these high rates of divorce against the Islamic ideal of marriage, Yossef Rapoport radically challenges the usual assumptions about the legal inferiority of Muslim women and their economic dependence on men. He argues that marriages in late medieval Cairo, Damascus andJerusalemhadlittleincommonwiththepatriarchalmodelsadvocatedbyjurists and moralists. The transmission of dowries, women’s access to waged labour, and the strict separation of property between spouses made divorce easy and normative, initiated by wives as often as by their husbands. This carefully researched work of social history is interwoven with intimate accounts of individual medieval lives, making for a truly compelling read. It will be of interest to scholars of all disciplines concerned with the history of women and gender in Islam. YOSSEF RAPOPORT is an associated member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilisation Editorial Board David Morgan (general editor) Virginia Aksan, Michael Brett, Michael Cook, Peter Jackson, Tarif Khalidi, Chase Robinson Published titles in the series are listed at the back of the book Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society YOSSEF RAPOPORT University of Oxford cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK First published in print format isbn-13 978-0-521-84715-5 isbn-13 978-0-511-11154-9 © Yossef Rapoport 2005 2005 Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521847155 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. isbn-10 0-511-11154-1 isbn-10 0-521-84715-x Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org hardback eBook (NetLibrary) eBook (NetLibrary) hardback To my parents, with love Contents Acknowledgments page x Glossary xi List of abbreviations xii Introduction 1 1 Marriage, divorce and the gender division of property 12 2 Working women, single women and the rise of the female rib¯at. 31 3 The monetization of marriage 51 4 Divorce, repudiation and settlement 69 5 Repudiation and public power 89 Conclusion 111 Bibliography 115 Index 133 ix Acknowledgments This book grew out of my doctoral dissertation in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, and I am grateful to my advisors there, A. L. Udovitch, Michael Cook and William C. Jordan, for both their criticisms and for enduring support. I was also fortunate to be able to draw on the wisdom and knowledge of many formerstudentsatPrinceton–morethanIcouldmentionhere.Inparticular,Iwould like to thank Shahab Ahmed, Nenad Filipovi¸c, Roxani Margariti, Christine Philliou and Baki Tezcan for their friendship and insights. Adam Sabra first introduced me to the field of Mamluk studies. His rigorous approach to social history has been an example I have striven to follow. Tamer el-Leithy shared my fascination with everything Mamluk, from queer anecdotes to coned hats, and his original and sensitive mind has been a constant source of inspiration. Many colleagues offered their help at particular junctures. I would like to acknowledge the kind advice and assistance I received from Maristella Botticini, Mark Cohen, Shaun Marmon, Donald Little, Christian M¨uller, Giovanni Oppen- heim, David Powers, Yusuf Ragib, Amy Singer, Daniella Talmon-Heller, Bethany J. Walker, Michael Winter and Amalia Zomeˇno. I am obliged to Rifaat Ebou-el- Hajj for reminding me of the reason for embarking on this project in the first place. The Graduate School of Princeton University helped with financial support throughout the course of my doctoral studies. The Department of Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University provided a timely post-doctoral scholarship during the later stages of the work. The librarians of the Chester Beatty Collection made my stay in Dublin both highly enjoyable and extremely useful. An earlier version of chapter 5 was published as “Ibn Taymiyya on Divorce Oaths,” in A. Levanoni and M. Winter (eds.), The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 191–217. An earlier version of part of chapter 4 was published as “Divorce and the Elite Household in Late Medieval Cairo,” Continuity and Change 16/2 (August 2001), 201–18. Gilat Levy, truly my better half, saw this book through from its conception. Her sharp logic and her feminism were as precious to me as her encouragement and patience. She is alsoa livingtestimonytothelittlewelearnfromhistory;despiteher intense involvement with this book and its contents, she still agreed to be my wife. x Glossary awl¯ad al-n¯as collective term for the children of the maml¯uk military elite. faskh judicial divorce, or annulment of marriage, by an Islamic court. fatw¯a, pl. fat¯aw¯a legal opinion issued by a muft¯ª, often as a result of a petition or enquiry. h. ilf bi’l-t.al¯aq oath on pain of repudiation; divorce oath. iqt.¯a� a right to land revenue held in return for military service. jih¯az dowry or trousseau, the property brought by the bride into a marriage. kh¯anq¯ah a Sufi lodge, often associated with prayers for the dead. khul� consensual separation, in which a husband grants a divorce in return for monetary compensation. maml¯uk a slave, member of the military elite. muft¯ª a jurisconsult, a learned man who delivers legal responsa (fat¯aw¯a). mut�a compensation sometimes paid to a divorc´ee following unilateral repudiation. nuz¯ul the practice of handing down an office or position, usually from father to son. q¯ad.¯ª a judge in an Islamic court. qas¯ama a sworn undertaking registered in court at the instigation of the authorities. rib¯at. a Sufi lodge, often reserved for female mystics. s.ad¯aq dower; the groom’s marriage gift, usually divided into advance and deferred payments. Also called mahr. tah. l¯ªl making permissible; marriage with the intention of permitting the bride to a husband from a previous marriage. t.al¯aq divorce achieved through unilateral repudiation by the husband. ta�w¯ªd. compensation for a widow in lieu of a deferred marriage gift. z¯awiya a Sufi lodge, often associated with male followers of a mystical order. xi Abbreviations AI Annales Islamologiques BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies EI2 Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden, 1960) IJMES International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies ILS Islamic Law and Society JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient MSR Maml¯uk Studies Review SI Studia Islamica xii Introduction Shih¯ab al-D¯ªn Ah.mad Ibn T. awq, a notary in late fifteenth-century Damascus, liked to keep a detailed record of his transactions and other memorable events. This is what he wrote in his diary on S. afar 19, 890 (March 7, 1485): Monday the 19th. In the last few days the weather was very windy. The gusts broke in half an almond tree in the garden, one of the big ones. The tree fell on a heavy pear tree and trimmed its upper half. Many trees were lost. Let us seek refuge in All¯ah from the wickedness of our souls and our evil deeds. I divorced my wife at her request, by mutual consent, after being accused of repudi- ating her and for doing things and not doing others. The witnesses were Ibn N¯ur al-D¯ªn al-Khat.t.¯ab¯ª and his colleague Ibn al-Dayr¯ª. She became unlawful to me. In the afternoon we witnessed the remarriage of Y¯usuf ibn Kh¯alid and his divorcee, the manumitted slave-girl of Amat Sult.¯an, in the Mosque of Manjak. The marriage gift was 10 Ashraf¯ª gold coins, which remain a due debt upon the groom. The witnesses were the writer of these lines and Ibn N¯ur al-D¯ªn al-Khat.t.¯ab¯ª. Shaykh Muhann¯a presided, and Ibn al-Dayr¯ª accepted the marriage on behalf of the groom.1 Divorce was pervasive in late medieval Damascus. As a notary, Ibn T. awq made his living out of witnessing the divorce deeds and the subsequent marriages of other Damascene couples, many of which he then recorded in his diary. Squeezed between the storm that swept through his backyard and his afternoon business in the mosque, Ibn T. awq’s own divorce has an almost casual air to it. The reasons for the divorce remain obscure. The relations between the long-time spouses appear to have been good. The only mention of a row came three years earlier, when the two quarreled over the bracelets worn by their daughter F¯at.ima, and Ibn T. awq threat- ened to divorce his wife if she let F¯at.ima wear them again.2 More recently, there was some domestic tension on account of the slave maid, whom Ibn T. awq felt showed him disrespect. He even records beating the slave-girl with a stick, some- thing for which he felt deeply ashamed.3 There was also the matter of Ibn T. awq’s 1 Shih¯ab al-D¯ªn Ah.mad Ibn T. awq, Al-Ta�l¯ªq. Yawmiyy¯at Shih¯ab al-D¯ªn Ah. mad Ibn T. awq (834/1430– 915/1509): Mudhakkir¯at Kutibat bi-Dimashq f¯ª Aw¯akhir al-�Ahd al-Maml¯uk¯ª, 885/1480–908/1502, ed. Ja�far al-Muh¯ajir, vol. I (885/1480–890/1485) (Damascus: Institut Fran¸cais de Damas, 2000), 449. 2 Ibid., 153. 3 Ibid., 431. 1 2 Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society outstanding debt to a textile merchant called Zayn al-D¯ªn. At the beginning of the month Ibn T. awq swore to repudiate his wife three times if he were to ask Zayn al-D¯ªn for another loan as long as the existing debt was not paid.4 While the diary has no mention of a remarriage, two-and-a-half months later Ibn T. awq’s wife gave birth to their third child, a daughter called � ¯A�isha.5 Only then do we learn that she was in her seventh month when the consensual divorce took place. The dramatic increase in the rates of divorce over the past several decades has changed the fabric of Western societies: it is associated with breaking away from traditional meanings of family and marriage, of gender relations, and of religion. Most of all, divorce is associated, for good and for bad, with modernity. The rise of divorce is attributed to diverse facets of modern life: decline in belief, breakdown in family values, unadulterated individualism and pursuit of self-interest, rising expectations about marriage, rising life expectancy, increasing economic inde- pendence of women and the empowering effect of feminism. The link between modernity and soaring divorce rates has led many to question the future viability of marriage as a social institution.6 This has been a Eurocentric debate if there ever was one. The outpouring of scholarly and popular works dealing with the rise of divorce in the West all but disregards the historical examples of past societies in which divorce rates have been consistently high. Two major examples are pre-modern Japan and Islamic Southeast Asia. In nineteenth-century Japan at least one in eight marriages ended in divorce.7 In West Java and the Malay Peninsula divorce rates were even higher, reaching 70 percent in some villages, as late as the middle of the twentieth century.8 In these societies divorce was part and parcel of tradition; it was frequent and normative, and did not involve any stigma that would hinder the remarriage of divorced persons. In direct opposition to developments in the West, modernity brought with it greater stability in marriage and a sharp decline in divorce rates.9 The pre-modern Middle East was another traditional society that had consis- tently high rates of divorce over long periods of time. Despite some current misgiv- ings over the imminent disintegration of the Muslim family as a result of frequent divorces, the fact is that divorce rates were higher in Ottoman or medieval Muslim societies than they are today.10 A decade of research on the history of Ottoman fam- ilies, mostly drawing on the abundant court registers, has shown that divorce was a 4 Ibid., 442. 5 Ibid., 472. 6 On divorce in Western societies, see R. Phillips, Untying the Knot. A Short History of Divorce (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); L. Stone. Road to Divorce: England 1530–1987 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990). 7 Laurel L. Cornell, “Peasant Women and Divorce in Pre-industrial Japan,” Signs 15 (1990), 710–32. 8 Gavin W. Jones, “Modernization and Divorce: Contrasting Trends in Islamic Southeast Asia and the West,” Population and Development Review 23 (1997), 95–114. 9 William J. Goode, World Changes in Divorce Patterns (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), 214–49. 10 On the current debate on divorce in the Middle East, see M. Zilfi, “‘We Don’t Get Along’: Women and Hul Divorce in the Eighteenth Century,” in M. Zilfi (ed.), Women in the Ottoman Empire: Middle Eastern Women in the Early Modern Era (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997), 264–5. On the current rates of divorce in Middle Eastern countries, see Goode, World Changes, 270.