There is very scarce information regarding women in pre-Islamic Arabia. Most of it originates from Hadith and historical traditions, pre-Islamic poetry, and early biographical accounts, or from conclusions from Qur’anic statements.
According to Islamic history sources, the first wife of Muhammad, Khadija, was a prosperous business woman who proposed to Muhammad (as opposed to being proposed to). They additionally say the wife of his chief-rival, Abu Sufyan (Hind), was politically active and was present at the Battle of Badr including conflicting accounts of her personally defiling the body of one of Muhammad’s uncles
Many assumptions have been made about pre-Islamic law due to discrepancies in the understanding of how law was enacted within the Arabian society. The main functional unit of the Arabian society, the tribe, was composed of those who had connections to a common relative.
The tribe itself was tied together by a mutual understanding of spoken rules which could vary considerably depending on the tribe and its economic activities, including women’s roles and rights. The rules were enforced by the tribal leader who also mediated the discussion of new laws.
Individual men within the tribe were allowed to suggest new rules, but they would not be enacted until a consensus had been reached by the entire group.Many of these tribes were of patrilineal descent and therefore were only formed by male links traced down from each generation.[1] In the tribal society, women generally had no right to dictate who they chose to marry.However, the tribe did offer the woman protection if she was maltreated by her husband.
