In Pre-Islamic Arabia a variety of different marriage practices existed. The most common and recognized types of marriage at this time consisted of: marriage by agreement, marriage by capture, marriage by purchase, marriage by inheritance and "Mot'a" or temporary marriag

Prior to Islam, women could not make decisions based on their own beliefs, and had little control over their marriages. They were never bound by contract for marriage or custody of children and their consent was never sought. Women were seldom allowed to divorce their husbands and their view was not regarded for either a marriage or divorce.If they got divorced, women were not legally allowed to go by their maiden name again.They could not own or inherit property or objects, even if they were facing poverty or harsh living conditions.Women were treated less like people and more like possessions of men. They, however, could be inherited and moved from home to home depending on the wants and needs of their husband and his family. Essentially, women were slaves to men and made no decisions on anything, whether it be something that directly impacted them or not. If their husband died, his son from a previous marriage was entitled to his wife if the son wanted her. The woman had no choice in the matter unless she was able to pay him for freedom, which was, in most cases, impossible.

One of the most extroadinary practices that took place was that if a husband died, his son could inherit his wife (his own mother) to be his own wife. Marriage by inheritance, andincestuous relationships between a son and his own mother was "a widespread custom throughout Arabia, including Medina and Mecca". If the son of a deceased husband (his deceased father) did not want his wife (own mother), the woman was forced to leave her home and live in a hut for one year. The hut that the women lived in was kept dark with very poor air circulation. After one year, the woman was allowed to come out of the hut, and people were permitted to heave camel excrement at her. ((Dubious)) People in Makkawould blame her for refusing to sleep with her own son.

In 586 AD women were acknowledged to be human. Although this appears to be a change in the status of women in Arabia, they were only acknowledged as human with the sole purpose of serving men.[8] They were considered human, but were not given the same rights as men and were not treated equally in respect to men. In fact, it was common for a new father to be outraged upon learning that his baby was a female. It was believed that the birth of a girl was a bad omen, and men thought that daughters would bring disgrace to the family. Because baby girls were thought to be evil, many of them were sold or buried alive.

Marriage by agreement

The first of the four common marriages that existed in pre-Islamic Arabia was marriage by agreement. This consisted of an agreement between a man and his future wife's family. This marriage could be within the tribe or between two families of different tribes.

Some women were forbidden from marrying outside of their tribe and had to either marry another member of the tribe or a stranger who would agree to live with the tribe.

In the case that involved a man and woman of two different tribes, the woman would leave her family and permanently reside with her husband. The children of these marriages were considered part of their father's tribe, unless a different arrangement had previously been made which returned the children to their mother's tribe.

The reason for inter-tribal marriages was to ensure the protection and possession of the children the couple would produce.Women in inter-tribal marriages had more freedom and retained the right to dismiss or divorce their husbands at any time. The women had precise rituals they used to inform their husbands of their dismissal, such as this: "if they lived in a tent they turned it around, so that if the door faced east, it now faced west, and when the man saw this, he knew that he was dismissed and did not enter".

Marriage by capture

The second of the common marriage practices that existed in pre-Islamic Arabia was marriage by capture ("Ba'al" in Arabic). Most often taking place during times of war, marriage by capture occurred when women were taken captive by men from other tribes and placed on the slave market of Mecca. From the slave market these women were sold into marriage or slavery. In captive marriages, men bought their wives and had complete control over them. Women in these marriages had no freedom and were subjected to following their husbands' orders. These women became their husbands' property and had no right to divorce or dismissal of their husbands. They thus completely lost any freedom they may previously have had. Her husband had absolute authority over her, including the exclusive right to divorce. The husbands in these marriages were classified as their wives' lords or owners and had complete control to his wife and her actions.

Marriage by purchase

The third of the common marriage practices that existed in pre-Islamic Arabia was "marriage by purchase." This was a more traditional marriage practice. These marriages consisted of the groom or groom's father paying the bride "Mahr", or a dowry; to marry them. The dowry usually consisted of items like camels and horses.Women in "purchased" marriages faced the same oppression as women who were forced into marriages by capture. This practice may have led to a decrease in female infanticide due to the wealth a family could derive from selling their daughter. Women in these marriages were subject to their husbands' control and had very few rights.

Marriage by inheritance

The fourth of the common marriage practices that existed in pre-Islamic Arabia was "marriage by inheritance". Arabia was a male-dominated society. Women had no status of any kind other than as sex objects. The number of women a man could marry was not fixed. When a man died, his son inherited all his wives except his own mother. Such "marriage" was "a widespread custom throughout Arabia, including Medina and Mecca".This practice also involved the possessions of a deceased man's wife being passed to his son. In such a case, the son could keep his father's other wives for himself or arrange the above-described marriages by purchase. In these cases, as in the majority of marriage practices at this time, the woman had few or no rights and was required to follow the orders of her inheritor.