Pre-Islamic Women in Tribal Wars

Frequent tribal wars are a fact that cannot be denied or overlooked, and the effects of these wars on human society as a whole, and women in particular, should be taken into consideration. Pre-Islamic society was itself an oppressor of women in different ways, including disastrous tribal wars that brought for woman only misfortunes. Since wars were, and still are, harmful to all aspects of human life, and women’s in particular, identifying the effects of those old wars on women is necessary. Thus, this article reviews the status of women in pre-Islamic wars and literary books on women in three stages, before the war, during the war, and after the war. It studies the impact of these wars on women’s living, psychological, and rational conditions. Tribal wars were a curse on women, and while wars would last, the women’s woes would be more and more. The pre-Islamic woman, like any other human being, instinctly did not like wars, and she knew that she was the first victim and the main target in wars. She was the one to suffer, to become a widow, and to lose loved ones. Women’s motivations for inciting wars were taking revenge, high values, gaining booty. Yet what they really faced was different for during the war they would have fear of captivity and would have to feed war horses and treat the wounded, and after the war they would escape, become captives, face an unknown destiny, be assaulted, become widows, and mourn their loved ones.