Azizah Y. al-Hibri

"The northern Arabs of Jahiliyyah practised femal [sic] infanticide. It was prompted by one of two reasons: poverty or fear of shame (Mahmasāni; pp. 54-56). In the first case, some Arabs like Sa'sa'a Bin Najiah and Zeid Ibn Amrou Bin Nufayl, used to offer to buy these female infants from their fathers to save their lives. Sometimes, male infants were eliminated for this reason also, although only after there were no daughters left."