The Dove

Scholars have said that seeing a dove carries multiple connotations; it may symbolize an Arab man or woman, and its abundance could indicate booty and goodness. It was said that its eggs represent daughters, and its chicks sons or concubines. Slaughtering a dove might refer to deflowering a virgin, and eating its meat to consuming a woman's money. It was also mentioned that a dove's cooing might express a man reproaching a woman, and its flying away without returning could indicate divorce or the death of the wife.