Statistical Approaches to the Rise of Concubinage in Islam

Abstract

A statistical analysis of an early Arabic text, Nasab Quraysh of al-Zubayri (d.c. 850), is used to examine the rise of concubinage during the first period of Islamic history. Using basic prosopographical and statistical techniques, the author argues for a sharp rise in reliance on concubinage by elite Arab families following the appearance of Islam during the seventh century CE. Contrary to what is often claimed, concubines and their progeny enjoyed a significant presence in elite Arab families well before the Abbasid era, and there is little evidence to suggest that either mothers or their offspring were discriminated against on a systematic basis. The value of new methods of reading medieval Arabic texts is emphasized in an effort to reconstruct the history of gender and slavery in Islamic history.