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Jarya or jariya (; ), also jawari (), was a term often used for female slaves in the medieval Islamic world. (2025). 9780190622183, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190622183 In a courtly context, they could be "slaves for pleasure" (muṭʿa, ladhdha) or “slaves for sexual intercourse” (jawārī al-waṭ), who had received special training in artistic skills. In contrast to the Qiyan, however, they normally did not perform for men other than the man in whose harem they were placed.
They were acquired by purchase or captured as war booty. The term were applied to such enslaved women who, by instruction or self-education, acquired a great knowledge of artistic skills and intellectual knowledge by which they could entertain a man, rather than by sexuality and physical beauty. They could study issues from music and poetry to religion, history and literature, and many were known to be able to entertain their owner by both intellectual as well as musical abilities. There were many examples of jawaris who managed to gain influence over male rulers.
The jawaris differed from qiyan in that they appear not to perform in public, only in the harem to which they belonged. Royal harems could employ a very large number of jawaris, who acted as the entertainers of the royal harem and who were not necessarily synonymous with the concubines of the ruler.
The jariya category of sexual harem slaves were described by the 9th-century writer Al-Jahiz, who accused them of exerting a destructive influence over their owners created by their artistic skills, which created a web of dependent feelings such as love (hub), passion (hawa), affinity (mushakala) and a wish for continued companionship (ilf).
Though most scholarly attention has gone to courtly contexts, jawari were also present in non-courtly urban settings, including the homes of merchants and artisans, notably as domestic workers. A wide range of representations features jawari, including technical treatises and spiritual literature.
(2025). 9781474423182, Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474423182 The Abbasid harem had thousands of jawari as well as concubines who were not always the same, and this was adopted by the harems of many other Islamic rulers, such as the rulers of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the Fatimid Caliphate.
Examples
There were many famous jaryas noted in Islamic literature and history, such as Al-Khayzuran, Alam al-Malika, and Hababah. (2025). 9780195798685, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195798685
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