The ghulamiyyat fashion

Overview

The ghulamiyyat were close-cropped slave girls whom Umm Ja'far Zubayda kept, and people named them thus, according to al-Masudi. ²

The report

Zubayda saw her son al-Amin's passion for servants, so she had the girls' heads shaved and gave them forelocks, sideburns, and napes. She dressed them in tunics, shirts, and belts until they were mistaken for young men. ²

Then people imitated her, and called them the ghulamiyyat. ²

Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays comes with the delegation of Kinda

Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays came with Kinda's delegation, eighty riders according to al-Zuhri, who entered the mosque with combed locks and kohl, wearing Hira robes edged with silk; the Prophet asked whether they had not become Muslims, and what the silk on their necks was, and they tore it off. Al-Ash'ath said, we are Banu Akil al-Murar and you are Ibn Akil al-Murar; the Prophet laughed, attributed that lineage-claim to al-Abbas and Rabi'a ibn al-Harith who used it for prestige as merchants, and said: no, we are Banu al-Nadr ibn Kinana, we do not trace ourselves through our mother nor disown our father.

At a glance

Overview

The report

People and things also explored

Sources

Ideas

Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays comes with the delegation of Kinda