In Islamic culture, houses and palaces were designed to ensure privacy for women, shielding them from the intrusion and inconvenience of strangers. Within this exclusively private sphere, women were free to go about their domestic business, see to their family commitments, socialise with other female members of the extended household, relatives or friends and look after their own needs and affairs. Women had the right to their own property and the dowry, including jewellery, which they had received from their groom when they married, remained theirs even in the case of a divorce. In the context of the royal court, women lived lavishly with all material comforts provided, within palace quarters exclusive to them.