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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > Classical, early & medieval
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Close Relationships - Incest and Inbreeding in Classical Arabic Literature (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R4,639
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Close Relationships - Incest and Inbreeding in Classical Arabic Literature (Hardcover)
Series: Library of Middle East History, v. 9
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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Close Relationships is Geert Jan van Gelder's groundbreaking and
comprehensive study of the diverse facts and opinions found in
pre-modern Arabic texts - both literary and non-literary -
concerning incest and inbreeding resulting from repeated close-kin
marriage. The pre-Islamic Bedouin Arabs knew about the dangers of
human inbreeding, yet by the time the Prophet Muhammed is said to
have warned Marry strangers, then you will not produce stunted
offspring marrying one's father's brother's daughter had
traditionally been the preferred choice in order to keep wealth and
marriage in the same family. The Qur'an laid down the basic rules
of marriage impediments, which, uniquely, include not only
blood-relationships but also milk-relationships i.e. being suckled
by the same woman. Later generations of jurists and exegetes
elaborated and discussed these rules; some of them tried to justify
and explain the prohibitions, mostly in ethical and social rather
than in biological terms. legends, creation stories (Adam and Eve's
children), dream interpretation, and polemics with other religions
or ethnic groups. In particular, the Zoroastrian Persians, who
allegedly recommended next-of-kin marriage in pre-Islamic times,
were attacked. Van Gelder acknowledges that while it is dangerous
to make general assertions about the difference between Western and
Arab or Middle Eastern customs and attitudes, he argues that the
theme of incest, so prominent at least in European literature since
the Greek myths, is somewhat marginal in Arabic literature. Many of
the relevant passages have been translated into English specially
for this richly documented book that will be of interest not only
to philologists and students of Arabic literature or Islamic
culture but also to the general reader interested in the history of
incest and inbreeding and attitudes towards these closely related
concepts.
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