The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan [1 ed.] 0195776933, 9780195776935
Drawing on primary sources, especially literature, the author endeavours to establish the separateness of Indus from Ind
269 89 52MB
English Pages 429 [435] Year 1997
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- Aitzaz Ahsan
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THE MAKING OF PAKISTAN
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Ori?Qut a rational and lasting compromise between the old and the emerging. The tribe demanded that the woman be excluded from inheritance. It had decreed that she had no such right. She was not even human: she could be owned, divorced, or killed at will, whim, or fancy. The family asserted that the woman had her rights. She had to be given a share in inheritance. The Isla.mic compromise entitled the daughter to inheritance for the first time in Arab history, but only to half the share of the son. The tribe had excluded the girl-child from the residue even in case of a failure of male heirs, howsoever remote. The family would give her a share in such circumstances. The Islamic compromise (except in the case of the Shia sect, dominant in Iran) was again the middle path between the tribe and the family. Patriarchal tribals wanted to retain the unrestricted right of polygamy and divorce. Family men were now more protective of their sisters and daughters, and sought the imposition of restrictions on polygamy and divorce. Though tribal influence remained dominant, some restrictions were accordingly placed by Islam both on polygamy and on the husband's erstwhile unfettered right to divorce his wife. The scope for agriculture in the Saudi peninsula was, as pointed out earlier, however, limited. The institution of the family could not therefore develop beyond a certain point. The fertile riverine tracts of Mesopotamia (Iraq)