 Once when a few of the women insulted him, he had all of them burnt to death.The harem system first became fully institutionalized in the Islamic world under the Abbasid caliphate.Seclusion of women was established in various communities of the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and Persia before the advent of Islam, and some scholars believe that Muslims adopted the custom from the Byzantine Empire and Persia, retrospectively interpreting the Quran to justify it.