(d) Polygamy and Divorce Polygamy prevailed on an unlimited scale. It was also the custom for a widow, after the death of her husband, to be passed on as concubine to the son. According to H.G. Sarwar, ”There were no laws relating marriage and divorces. A man married as many women as he liked and divorced as he wished.”26
(2) Gambling and Drunkenness Drunkenness, gambling and fornication went hand in hand and those who were not addicted to these vices could be counted on one’s fingers. Those who were not so loose were considered mean, stingy and unsocialable. ”And’when I die marry not one who is humble, weak or who does not gamble and avoids his people.” This is the will left by a pre-Islamic poet to his widow. There were one hundred and more varieties of wine. There was not a single corner of the street without its grogshop. Promiscuous gatherings, hobnobbing, singing and dancing were the order of the day and it made them lead a hectic and irrepressible life.
(3) Usury The Arabs were also given to lending money on heavy rates of interest and when the money lent was not paid at the stipulated time, interest was added to the capital and further interest charged on the whole as is done by money-lenders all over the world. But the Arab usurers sometimes not only added interest to the capital but increased the latter too. If the loans were not paid the creditor sometimes took possession of the borrower’s wife and children, or sometimes the wife and children themselves became the subject of the mortgage.
(4) Tribal Wars The pre-Islamic Arabs were ferocious warriors. It did not matter what the cause was every tribe had its feuds and unless a tribe or an individual who considered himself wrong had its or his revenge there was no peace. But then the other side considered itself wrong
