Women Mourners in the Medieval Islamic World

Abstract

In this study, the adventure of the tradition of women mourners in the medieval Islamic world is discussed. Starting from the early periods of Islam, it covers the period of the Umayyads, Abbāsids, Fātimids, Buwayhids and Seljuks. The study discussed the practical aspect of the tradition in question within the framework of examples determined based on the historical, literary and biographical etc. works of the period. Women who performed mourning ceremonies and lamented were mostly the deceased’s mother, wife, daughter, sister, jariya/concubine, close relative, or professional women mourner who took up this job as a profession. Professional women mourners, who lamented for a certain fee, performed both verbally and in action during the lament ceremony. They were popular in the Islamic society and became regulars of funeral processions. Sellāme, Haleb/Hilb, Sukeyna and Hüsrevān are their famous ones. Various visual actions accompanied the lamentations by the relatives of the dead or by professional women mourners. The most frequently displayed behavior along with lamentation is crying. For this reason, the term crying lamenting woman is frequently used in this period. In addition, actions such as pulling out hair, tearing the clothes, slapping the face, clapping the hands, beating, and painting the faces black were also performed, despite the prohibitions in Islam. Their actions, which do not, which do not comply with Islamic manners, have brought them into conflict with the state and society from time to time. However, the tradition of women mourners was adopted and continued to exist in the medieval Islamic society.