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It was reported that Sawdah b. al-Kahinah. was, the aunt of Wahbe
1ý
the father of 'I'minah, the mother of the Pr9phet) was sent to a
place called al-7HujTn because when she was born, her father, noticed
that she was black (clearly as a result, of illness). So. she was ,
sent there to be buried alive, but the digger could not bury her
because he heard a voice saying.. "Do,, not, kill her. " When her
father knew that. he, spared her to become in, time the priestess of
Quraysh:
,1
It is also interesting to, find some sources suggesting
that some Arabs killed their daughters if they had some disease
because it was thought unlucky.
4. The fourth motive for infanticide might be descended from an
old kind of, worship in which females were offered as human
sacrifice or oblations.
2
3 This suggests that the practice of
infanticide was due to a religious motive, but most of the historical
sources do not mention this, except in the story of Abd al-M! jttalib,
who vowed, to kill one of his children when he had ten sons and
offered the last one as a sacrifice to, God. 4 Since pagan sacrifices
involved the shedding of. blood, which was the, main purpose in such an
offering, it is unlikely to be the, true source of the custom under
discussion by which daughters were buried alive without any. blOodshed.
How old were these girls ?
There are different opinions about the age at which parents
buried their daughters alive. Was it done at the first moment after
1. al-SI37af eki, op. cit. Vol* 19. P*50*
2. Ali, op. cit., P. 88
3. Ibid and Bint al-Shati, Taragim Sayyid; t--BaVt I-NubC; wwah, P. 449
4. Ibn Histram. Vol. 1, P. 140
5. Ali, Vol. 5, P. 97
,,,
55
5