Page 35 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

Temporary Marriage in Pre-Islamic South Arabia 25
the same family had remained childless for a considerable period,
but had received from the deity a general directive that in the event
of a pregnancy they should acquire a votive statuette and vow this,
and the child ultimately born, to the deity; the definitive perfor­
mance of the vow to take place after the actual birth. In due
course, an opportunity occurred for them to contract a mut'ah
marriage with a passing stranger, in the hope of being able to get a
child by him. One of them did become pregnant, and then visited
the sanctuary and received a specific promise that she would be
delivered of a son, and the specific command to dedicate the
statuette; which she accordingly did.

Notes

1. H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte zum Allen Testament, Berlin-
Leipzig, 1926. 467-8.
2. Beeston, Descriptive Grammar of epigraphic South Arabian,
London, 1962. §37:3.
3. A particularly striking example is Ja.574/5-6 where the absolute
dual kdnn ‘two humps’ is followed in the next line by the dual
demonstrative hmyt with plural substantive 'kdnn.
4. Sec Lisan al-'Arab: wasaqat ’ida hamalat waladan fi bafnihz.
5. The noun wgr ‘funerary cairn’ occurs only in East Arabian texts,
which despite the use of South Semitic script are not Sabaic in language.
6. Qamus: mada li-fiajatihi wa-a*fa afa'an jazilan.
7. Cf. Qur.4.24 ma ’stamata ‘turn bihi minhunna fa atuhunna
ujurahunna faridatan, rendered by BIach£re, ‘celles des femmes que vous
avez prises par mariage temporaire, donnez-les leurs douaires comme
imposition’.
8. I Samuel l.w.2,9-11. In Sabaic votive texts, the preliminary ‘vow’
before the actual fulfilment of it in the hqnyl is a commonplace, though
usually expressed by the verb £ft.