Pre-Islamic Marriages

Marriages in pre-Islamic Jahiliyah – الزواج في الجاهلية

There were all sorts of weird marriages in pre-Islamic jahiliyah of Arabia. For example, some men allowed their wives to have intercourse with men of nobler lineages, so their seed carries on. It was like breeding animals!

Islam banned all those types of jahili marriages, and only kept the one we currently know – thank God.

One of those practices was that a woman used to have multiple men.

There was a poet in Jahiliyah, his name was: Abu Dhuʾayb al-Hudhali.

His wife also liked another man named Khalid. She wanted them both at the same time. This did sometimes happen in those days with mutual consent, but not everyone was into it.

Abu Dhuʾayb got jealous and didn’t like that, so he said his famous poem:

تُرِيدِينَ كَيمَا تَجْمَعينِى وَخَالِدَاً
وَهَلْ تُجْمَعُ السِّيْفَانِ وَيْحَكِ فِي غمْدِ؟
“Do you want to combine me with Khalid?!
Woe to you! can two swords enter into one sheath?!”