Marriages of Meccan Scholarly Families in 650–850/1252–1446

Abstract

Although many studies have argued for the frequency of cousin marriages and the significant role of marriage as an opportunity for employment or alliance between two families, extensive case studies on marriages within scholarly families have not been conducted. This paper is a case study on the marriages of four Meccan scholarly families from the mid-thirteenth to the late fifteenth centuries: the Ṭabarī family, the Nuwayrī family, the Fāsī family, and the Ẓuhayra family. It aims to examine the basic characteristics of these marriages, including the rate of consanguineous marriages and cousin marriages, and to reveal what kind of marriage strategies each family employed. This study is based primarily on the biographical dictionaries composed by contemporary intellectuals.

This study found that, first, each family utilized different marriage strategies. For example, as the only Ḥasanid sharīf family among these four families, the Fāsī family tried to connect with the family of the Meccan amirs who were also the Ḥasanid sharīfs.

Second, regarding the general tendency, nearly half of those with marriage records married their paternal relatives, and more than one third of consanguineous marriages were with sons and daughters of paternal uncles. The daughters of Shāfiʿī judges were apparently the most preferred candidates from other families. Among male members of the four scholarly families who married daughters of the Shāfiʿī judges, two-thirds succeeded in attaining the position of judge or deputy judge. In addition, around 40 percent of these men were sons of deputy judges. This indicates that judges and deputy judges tried to keep the legal offices within their extended families. Thus, extended households seem to have had a major role in marriages.