Nabia Abbott's chapter on The Umayyads takes an in-depth look at the rise and fall of this dynasty, paying close attention to women of this time and the roles they played. Abbott discusses early Umayyad Caliph's and their wives, giving awareness to Uthman and Na'ilah as well as Mu'awiyah and Maisun bint Bahdal. Each of these matches is portrayed by Abbott as somewhat equal or at least a mutual respect between the couples. But as time wore on slowly the ideal Arab wife was being infringed upon by the harems that the elite Umayyads were setting up. Filling their halls with slave women from far off lands, such as Persia. An example of the impact that these women had on the Caliph can be seen during Walid I reign, where although he had eight different free Arab wives only one borne him any children, the rest of his off spring came from his servant girls. This shows that Walid I preferred these foreign women to those of his own Arab decent.
Abbott states that with the rise of the Umayyad Empire came a change in the political status of Arab women. Pride and race and other virtues were gradually receding into the background. With the accession of Yazid III dealt the royal Arab women a hard blow since the sons of the harem wives stood up to become the next heir. With this the Arab Islamic women officially became a prisoner with in the political society. In the conclusion of this chapter Abbott blames Arab women as the case for the decline in the status of Muslim women, saying if such wives as Umm al-Hajjaj (Yazid II) had not catered to the harems of their husbands than perhaps the women would have had more control and respect during the Umayyad period.
Skipping over the Abbasid period we come to the Mamluk period of the Middle Ages, here Jonathan P. Berkey represents this women's advances in society through the educational system. Here Berkey shows to what extent women