Custom of Wa’d al Banat (Female Genocide or Killing Daughters by Burying Them Alive) in Jahiliyya Arabs

Abstract

The custom of wa'd al-banat is one of the most frequent blames used against Jahiliyya Arabs by people who want to criticize them. Frequent usage of this blame has been causing to give someone an impression that the custom was commonly being performed among all Arabs in the time of Jahiliyya. In fact, after searching and evaluating the sources in this field, it is seen that the custom was taking place in few tribes, such as Tamim tribe, not in the others. Reports claiming that the custom of wa'd al-banat emerged just before the advent of the Prophet Muhammed, are far from being acceptable. The main reasons of wa'd al-banat were economic reasons and “possible honor problems” that might be caused or created by daughters when they reached to puberty or adult ages