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who used to look after her. Safýya bint Musaýfir describes how her
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eyes were injured by tears as if they were having opthalmia. and how
she was crying from the early morning and how she was right in doing
that*-,, the home is ruined as a result of her father's death.
Moreover, some fathers were nicknamed by their daughter's name.
Examples of these were al frabighah al-Dhubyani who was nicknamed Abu
P 0- 9
UmZnah, Abu"Umayyah, Abu Azzah and katim al-fZ7was Aicknamed AbýT*
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Suffanah. This is a strong evidence that the emotion or the relation
between a father and his daughter was not overwhelmed by the griefs
associated with the ordeal of burying daughters alive, This is an
evidence for the father's love for his daughter, his mercy on her and
his worry about her. For some fathers, such emotion was so dtrong
that they preferred to bury their daughters alive instead of leaving
I
them to suffer hunger and endure the hardships of life. So. natural
and social conditions might appear to be the reason behind the spread
of the custom. This is a natural reaction to what mankind suffers
from severe conditions, famines, poverty and severity of life. This is
supported by the fact that parents' killing of their children was known
not only to Arabs in the peninsula but also to other nations.
However. when Islam came with its light. the custom of burying
daughters alive was among the many practices of paganism to be
abolished. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) had promised women not to
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kill their daughters, Ubada bin AL-Samit narrated. Allah's Apostle
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said to us while we were in a gathering. "Give me the pledge of
allegiance Not to OsociatO any. thing : witli AUahs AOt. tu
steal, not to commit illegal sexual intercourse and not to kill
your children...
4-
ýal-Hufi, op. cit.. 'P. 311
2. Ibid
3. For more details, see aý-jrufl% op. cit. P. 304
4. Sahih, al Bukhari. Vol. 9, P. 244,
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