Mutuality. A central aspect of all marriages was the sexual component, which attracted considerable attention and discussion during the years 622-1500. The Qur'an places a positive value on the sexual dimension of the marital relationship. In an explicit reference to sexual companionship, men are told that their wives "are an apparel for you and you for them," and the Qur'an further specifies that couples can have sexual relations even on most of the nights of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting—abstaining only for the last ten days of the month (2: 187), during which a man might choose to participate in a state of self-seclusion called ihtikhaf. Islamic jurists in the following centuries elaborated on the role of sex in marriage and wrote marriage manuals aimed primarily at instructing men how to treat their wives. They stressed a woman's right to sexual...