Some Aspects of the Financial Debit of women in Egypt during the first Centuries of Hijra in light of texts of some papyri and Arabic documents

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, University of Sadat City

2 Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Mansoura University

Abstract

A marriage, Divorce, sale and purchasing contracts are considered ones of the reasons of the right and Financial Debit of a woman in society, especially when she directly represents the second part of those Contracts without an intermediary or agent. We find out that Arabic Papyri Documents dating back to the first centuries of Hijra provided us with a number of contracts and receipts reflecting a financial Debit for woman in Egyptian Islamic society. For example, some marriage contracts stipulate conditions were recorded according to the desire of the wife to preserve her financial and social rights (the Dowry and hindrance), such as the condition that the wife has the freedom to dispose her property, without any intervention from her husband, "If she wants to sell, or to endow or to donate", then The contract ends with the names of the witnesses and its date of writing. Also those important documents mentioned that woman was managing her own business through selling, purchasing and renting interactions by herself in early Islamic society. Finally, the statistical analysis of monetary values of dowry in marriage contracts is an important indicator through which a graph can be drawn on the development of social and economic status among the Layers of society during the first centuries of Hijra.

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