Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Laleh Bakhtiar, Encyclopedia of Islamic 

Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools (Chicago: ABC 

International Group, 1996); Juan E. Campo, The Other 

Sides of Paradise: Explorations into the Religious Mean-

ings of Domestic Space in Islam (Columbia: University 

of South Carolina Press, 1991); Yusuf al-Qaradawi, The 

Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (Al-halal wal-haram fi 

al-Islam). Translated by Kamal El-Helbawi, M. Moinud-

din Siddiqui, and Syed Shukry (Indianapolis: American 

Trust Publications, 1960).

harem

 

(Arabic: 

harim and haram)

A harem is a separate quarters for 

Women

 in a 

palace or upper-class house. It is also a way of 

referring to the women, particularly when they are 

a man’s legal wives, concubines, female servants, 

and other attendants. The word itself is a render-

ing in Western languages of the Arabic harim

(a sacred or forbidden place or woman) and its 

synonym, 

haram

. The harem is also known as a 

zenana in Persian and Indian contexts and as a 

seraglio, an Italian version of a Turkish word for 

palace (sarai).

Although often associated with the Islamic 

religion and society, the history of the harem is 

complex and varied, going back to the pre-Islamic 

times of the ancient Mesopotamians, Persians, 

and Greeks. The subordination of women to their 

fathers, husbands, and masters appears to have 

been a long-standing aspect of the patriarchal 

organization of these societies, particularly among 

rulers and other elites. By veiling his womenfolk 

and keeping them in seclusion, a man could 

demonstrate his wealth, status, and power. Dur-

ing the first millennium 

b

.

c

.

e

., Assyrian kings 

are thought to have had special quarters in their 

palaces for women and concubines, and the wives 

of nobles were required to wear veils in public. 

The Achaemenid and Sassanian dynasties of Per-

sia (sixth century 

b

.

c

.

e

. to seventh century 

c

.

e

.) 

were renowned for the size of their harems. For 

example, Darius III (380–330 

b

.

c

.

e

.) was said to 

have had one with nearly 400 women. a

leXander

the

 g

reat

 (356–323 

b

.

c

.

e

.), the Macedonian con-

queror, defeated Darius in battle and took control 

of his harem as well as his empire in 333 

b

.

c

.

e

.

Royal harems are thought to have become even 

larger in the days of the Sassanians, who ruled 

Persia and Iraq for several centuries before the