Deuteronomy 21:10-14

Of Marriage with a Captive of War

If a woman taken in war is desired for a wife (Deuteronomy 21:11 f.), she may be brought home, but the marriage shall not take place till she has shaved her hair, pared her nails, put away her former garments, and mourned her parents for a month (Deuteronomy 21:12 f.). If her husband's love for her fades he may let her go out free (Deuteronomy 21:14). In the Sg. address, with no feature incompatible with D's authorship, and impressed by his spirit both of humanity and of caution against infection by foreign idolatries. Yet in the light of Deuteronomy 7:3, forbidding marriage with the people of the land, and Deuteronomy 20:16 commanding that in war they shall all be put to death, this law can only refer to captives taken in distant wars, Deuteronomy 20:10-15. See further general note, introd. to ch. 20. There is no parallel in any other codes.

Mohammed permitted a female captive (though previously married) to become at once the concubine of her captor. But this is not Arab custom. -Women are not taken captive in the Arabian warfare, though many times a poor valiant man might come by a fair wife thus without his spending for bride-money" (Doughty Ar. Des.ii. 148).