1022/1027: Ibn Ḥazm on the Relations between Masters and Female Slaves in al-Andalus

Abstract

In his treatise on love, “Necklace of the Dove” (Ṭawq al-ḥamāma), the Andalusī polymath Ibn Ḥazm (d. 456/1064) repeatedly deals with the relations between Muslim masters and female slaves in al-Andalus of the late tenth and early eleventh century. Although we cannot rule out that some of these female slaves were Muslims, most of them probably had non-Muslim roots. As opposed to sale contracts that focus on the female slave as an object, or juridical works that describe the relationship between masters and female slaves in legal terms, Ibn Ḥazm gives insight into the psychology of these relations. In this context, he credits female slaves with a high degree of agency within an obviously asymmetric patriarchal hierarchy. Presenting one excerpt as an example, the article gives insight into the range of relationships between masters and female slaves as described by Ibn Ḥazm. In this way, it discusses a variant of interreligious relations and communication that was prevalent in Muslim-ruled societies of the pre-modern period.