• In rural areas, worked in fields and tended animals
• Urban women lived in seclusion and did not leave without veils
  • “Verse of hijab” was addressed only to Muhammad’s wives
  • Restriction is due to his house also being community’s mosque
  • Donning a veil is synonymous with “becoming Muhammad’s wife”
• Tradition was borrowed from Iranian and Syrian for segregation
• Veils were likely adopted by rest of Ummah long after Muhammad’s death
• Women sometimes became literate and studied with relatives
• Islamic law guaranteed daughters share of inheritance
• Could remarry after divorce and received cash payment upon divorce