It is said that the only occasion on which Othman ever shed a tear, was when his little daughter, whom he was burying alive, wiped the dust of the grave-earth from his beard!
Before the Seventh Century this practice seems to have been gradually abandoned, but was retained the longest in the tribe of Temîm. Naman, king of Hira, carried off among his prisoners in a foray, the daughter of Kais, chief of Temîm, who fell in love with one of her captors and refused to return to her tribe, whereupon her father swore to bury alive all his future female children, which he did, to the number of ten.
Subsequent to this, rich men would buy the lives of girls devoted to inhumation, and Sa Saah thus rescued many, in one case giving two milch camels to buy the life of a new-born girl, and he was styled "the Reviver of the Maidens buried alive."
The following Arabic Proverbs having reference to women and girls will illustrate the ancient Arab ideas with regard to their character and position, better than volumes of historic discourse:
"Obedience to women will have to be repented of."
"A man can bear anything but the mention of his women."
"The heart of woman is given to folly."
"Leave not a girl nor a green pasture unguarded."
"What has a girl to do with the councils of a nation?"
"If you would marry a beauty, pay her dowry."