Harem
In the
Arab tradition, imitated by other Muslim cultures, the
harîm Øريم (compare
haram) is the part of the household forbidden to male strangers.
In Western languages such as
English, this term refers collectively to the women in a
polygynous household as well as the "no-males allowed" area, or in more modern usage to a number of women followers or admirers of a man.
The word has been recorded in the
English language since 1634, via the
Turkish harem, from the
Arabic haram (wives and concubines), originally entailing "women's quarters," literally: "something forbidden or kept safe," from the root
harama: "he guarded, forbade." The
triconsonantal H-R-M is common to Arabic words entailing
forbidden.
Contrary to the common belief, a Muslim harem does not necessarily consist solely of women with whom the head of the household has sexual relations (wives and concubines), but also their young offspring; and it may either be a palatial complex, as in Romantic tales, in which case it includes staff (women and
eunuchs), or simply their quarters, in the Ottoman tradition separated from the men's
selamlik.
The
Ottoman harem, in the Turkish
Great Sultan's
Topkapi seraglio (closed palace of probably the richest and most powerful Muslim dynasty) in the imperial capital Istanbul, typically housed several hundred women including wives (only four could be legal under Islam), the Sultan's mother, daughters and other female relatives, as well as
eunuchs and
slave girls to serve the aforementioned women. During the later periods, the sons of the Sultan also lived in the Harem until they were sixteen, when it might be considered appropriate for them to appear in the public and administrative areas of the palace. The Topkapi Harem was, in some senses, merely the private living quarters of the Sultan and his family, within the palace complex.
Harems existed in Ancient Persia as early as the
Achaemenid dynasty and lasted well into the
Qajar dynasty. The women of the royal harem played important though underreported roles in Iranian history, especially during the
Iranian Constitutional Revolution.
Harem is also the usual English translation of the
Chinese language term
hougong, 後宮—literally meaning "the palaces behind."
Hougong are large
palaces for the
Chinese emperor's consorts, concubines, female attendants and eunuchs. The women who lived in an emperor's
hougong sometimes numbered in the thousands.
The institution of the harem exerted a certain fascination on the
European imagination, especially during the Age of
Romanticism (see also
Orientalism), due in part to the writings of the adventurer
Richard Francis Burton. Many westerners imagined a harem as a top-of-the market brothel consisting of many
promiscuous women laying around pools with oiled bodies, with the sole purpose of pleasing the powerful man for whom they had given themselves for service. Much of this is recorded in art from that period, usually portraying groups of nude attractive women lounging by spas and pools, congregating nude together, leisurely. See
Harem Art.
While some
Muslims assert that the Islamic religion never proscribes the use of harems, and that it (re)emerged rather as an extension of Ottoman culture, the institution pre-dates Islam and even Christianity (obviously under other names), but the
Prophet Muhammad and his followers practiced
slavery, accumulating women as war booty. The
Qur'an allots these captured women, married or not, as property "of the right hand," and sexual relations are said to be
lawful with them. As such, while these women were not kept in harem-style sections of the household, the tradition existed from the start in Islamic slavery practices.
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*
Harem, for other uses of the word
*
Hammam*
Köçek*
Odalisque*
Islam and Slavery*
Culture of the Ottoman Empire*
DevÅŸirme system*
Hammam*
Odalisque(incomplete)
*Mohammed Webb:
The Influence of Islam on Social Conditions Paper, World Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893
*
TheOttomans.org Historical Web-site.
*Leslie P. Peirce:
The Imperial Harem : Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition (September 2, 1993 ISBN 0195086775
*Suraiya Faroqhi:
Subjects of the Sultan : Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire I. B. Tauris (November 10, 2005) ISBN 1850437602
*Billie Melman:
Women's Orients : English Women and the Middle East, 1718-1918 University of Michigan Press (July 15, 1992) ISBN 0472103326
*Alan Duben, Cem Behar, Richard Smith (Series Editor), Jan De Vries (Series Editor), Paul Johnson (Series Editor), Keith Wrightson (Series Editor):
Istanbul Households : Marriage, Family and Fertility, 1880-1940 Cambridge University Press; New Ed edition (August 8, 2002) ISBN 0521523036
*Emmanuel Todd:
The explanation of ideology: Family structures and social systems B. Blackwell (1985) ISBN 0631137246
*Oleg Grabar:
The Formation of Islamic Art Yale University Press; Rev&Enlarg edition (September 10, 1987) ISBN 0300040466
Non-Fiction
*
Etymology OnLine*Alev Lytle Croutier:
Harem: The World Behind the Veil Abbeville Press; Reprint edition (July 1998) ISBN 1558591591
*Alev Lytle Croutier:
The Palace of Tears Delta; Reprint edition (January 2, 2002) ISBN 0385334915
*Anastasia M. Ashman and Jennifer Eaton Gokmen, editors:
Tales from the Expat Harem : Foreign Women in Modern Turkey Seal Press; Reprint edition (March 12, 2006) ISBN 1580051553
*Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul:
The Sultan's Harem Penguin (Non-Classics); New Ed edition (July 3, 2001) ISBN 0140270566
*M. Saalih :
Harem Girl : A Harem Girl's Journal Delta; Reprint edition (January 2, 2002) ISBN 0595313000
*Fatima Mernissi:
Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Modern Muslim Society Delta; Reprint edition (January 2, 2002) ISBN 0253204232
*Andrew Rippin:
Muslims (Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices) Routledge; 2 edition (November 30, 2000) ISBN 0415217822
*Malise Ruthven:
Islam: A Very Short Introduction Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition (June 15, 2000) ISBN 0192853899
*Kishori Saran Lal :
The Mughal harem Aditya Prakashan (1988) (June 15, 2000) ISBN 8185179034
Fiction
*Dora Levy Mossanen:
Harem: A Novel Touchstone (July 30, 2002), ISBN 0743230213
*Colin Falconer:
The Sultan's Harem Crown (July 13, 2004) ISBN 0609610309
*N. M. Penzer:
The Harem : Inside the Grand Seraglio of the Turkish Sultans Dover Publications (May 13, 2005) ISBN 0486440044
